Charging per hour?

[Rennie29]

Got a load of emergency work through a local council. Didn't give a price was just told the work needs done and send an invoice later, its early starts and late finishes but I have never done work where i haven't gave a price beforehand and its an on going line.. so just looking for some guidance on what to charge per hour for a team of 3?

 

Advice appreciated 

Thanks

[Will C]

Same as you normally would plus a bit for urgent call out, make hay while the sun shines but don’t take the piss or the sun will go in for you and come out for the next team.

[Rennie29]

Yeah i dont want to take the piss but i never charge per hour as it doesnt make sense to, always go by the job... i could do a job in 2 hours that might take you 4 or vice versa. So just asking to see roughly what hourly rate others are charging for this type of work? also ive had to to rearrange a ton of work and mess people about to get this done so wouldnt make sense to charge the same rate

[Will C]

Do the job, then work out what you would of charged, add some for your Agro  rearranging the diary, add some for call out and add a bit more for extra profit for the extra agro.
Forget the hourly rate if you have the go ahead and work out what the job was/is worth after.

 

if you have to give a hourly rate before hand  I would work along the lines of

 

£x per man hour

£X per chipper hour 

£x for the tractor/loader etc etc that way you can roll out any toys you need knowing there earning there keep.

Edited November 29, 2021 by Will C

[Mark J]

I would be wanting at least £200 per hour for a 3man crew with van/chipper. 
That rate would increase significantly if the works were inside the M25.




 

[Stere]

So & as a day rate thats  £1200?

[Mark J]

44 minutes ago, Stere said:

So & as a day rate thats  £1200?

On site from 0800 to 1530 is 7.5hrs. So nearer £1500.  Then back to the yard and servicing stuff, so they're quite long days.

 

Edited November 30, 2021 by Mark J

[Con]

17 minutes ago, Stere said:

So & as a day rate thats  £1200?

Yeah. Seems fair. We do lots of little £200 take downs, that don't take much more than an hour.

When it comes to emergency work. The cost of the actual tree work pales into insignificance compared to damage repairs, road closures effect on the economy 

[Jamie Jones]

If you are turning out on your own or with a crew. You need to price it all as day rate and call out fee, because you might have to cancel another job to do the call out

[Clutchy]

I find the problem with emergency call out rates are that you are 1, punished for being good and efficient, 2 they often don't take that long (typically 1-2 hours).

 

Therefore if my hourly charge is £250ph for emergencies and I get a call at 2am, like hell am I going to the yard, getting loaded up, driving to the job, do it, drive back, unload and then drive home for 4am, knackered for the next day. 

I now have a minimum charge of £600 plus vat for the 1st hour, then £250 an hour for all subsequent hours. 

 

If im too expensive I really don't care, I'll stay in bed 

Edited November 30, 2021 by Clutchy