getting undercut !!!!!!

[dave fox]

Yeah it is tough this year. been getting undercut on sround 70% of jobs i price and i have lowered my prices to £200 profit a day with 40k worth of gear. Seems that only a small hand full of people want to get a professional to do job...the rest want it done for nothing.

 

going to see how the next few months pan out...if its still the same i am done with arb work.

 

also...does anyone else work from 7am till 8pm regular to make there day rate?

the trouble is that money is tight for everyone at the moment if they can get it done cheaper they will, no one cares how much your kit costs or how much fuel and oil has gone up or that your insurence has gone up all the general public want is it done , like the budgie.....cheap!

[nick channer]

Agreed tree work is better bucks for your your bang than agriculture Nick, but some machines earn far more in other fields.

 

Coffee with popcorn anyone?

 

in farming the biggest earner for one machine would be a combine harvester... even that is gonna cost over £250.000, it will cut 150 acres a day but you will only average 120 at most through a season.. £30 acre is the rate round here.. £3600 a day.. 800 litres diesel at 70pL.. plus drivers wage so your lot less than £3000 a day.. and you get no change from couple grand when it breaks down.. and after 5 yrs it has to be replaced cos its becomin unreliable... the most a combine of that price and size will cut is 2500 acres in a season.. thats £75.000 gross, for machine of that cost and the return on the money tree work returns a better profit margin for amount of outlay.. its same with skip lorry's.. 8 wheel tippers.. running artics on low loader work and grain haulage.. 360 excavators.. i've tried em all and nothing beats tree work for earning money...

[Mesterh]

try going out with 60 grands worth of tractor and hedge cutter on back worth 20 to 30k and gettin £30-35 an hour if your lucky.. or same tractor with 70 grands worth of big baler on back to earn£2500 in 18 hrs if your lucky..and thats not profit.. i did job today to remove 60metres of 8ft high and 6ft wide privet hedge and grind all roots out.. didnt get there till 10.. back in yard by 4.. used 2 litres petrol prob 30 litres diesel in mog and grinder and job was £1100 and we did one 1st thing for £150.. trust me theres nothing else that earns money like tree work for the machinery thats used..

 

in farming the biggest earner for one machine would be a combine harvester... even that is gonna cost over £250.000, it will cut 150 acres a day but you will only average 120 at most through a season.. £30 acre is the rate round here.. £3600 a day.. 800 litres diesel at 70pL.. plus drivers wage so your lot less than £3000 a day.. and you get no change from couple grand when it breaks down.. and after 5 yrs it has to be replaced cos its becomin unreliable... the most a combine of that price and size will cut is 2500 acres in a season.. thats £75.000 gross, for machine of that cost and the return on the money tree work returns a better profit margin for amount of outlay.. its same with skip lorry's.. 8 wheel tippers.. running artics on low loader work and grain haulage.. 360 excavators.. i've tried em all and nothing beats tree work for earning money...

 

If you can get that money on tree work then why not sell all the farm equipment and run more trees gangs if its easier and more profitable?

[dave fox]

try going out with 60 grands worth of tractor and hedge cutter on back worth 20 to 30k and gettin £30-35 an hour if your lucky.. or same tractor with 70 grands worth of big baler on back to earn£2500 in 18 hrs if your lucky..and thats not profit.. i did job today to remove 60metres of 8ft high and 6ft wide privet hedge and grind all roots out.. didnt get there till 10.. back in yard by 4.. used 2 litres petrol prob 30 litres diesel in mog and grinder and job was £1100 and we did one 1st thing for £150.. trust me theres nothing else that earns money like tree work for the machinery thats used..

those machines never will pay for themselves, take my massey 135 my father paid £400 for it back in the day i have just finnished drilling our 30 achers of sugar beet like it has done for 40 years ,its still going strong ,dont think it o's us anything, but a 60 grand tractor you really need to be turning over some to make it pay. by the way is it a new holland on your avitar or is it a (landini )

[dave fox]

the trouble with a combine is that it stands in the shead 11 months of the year!

[nick channer]

its def a new holland.. we've gone back to buying tractors that are 10 yrs old or older... these new ones go wrong to often.. tractors for 15 grand [10yrs old] will still make 10 grand in 5 yrs time.. and cost fraction to run..

[nick channer]

the trouble with a combine is that it stands in the shead 11 months of the year!

 

in an ideal harvest they would.. last couple yrs they been out lot longer in rain going rusty mostly.. hope this yr is gonna be different..

[nick channer]

If you can get that money on tree work then why not sell all the farm equipment and run more trees gangs if its easier and more profitable?

 

not sayin its not profitable... the profits in farming.. we're farmers not contractors.. but a contractor is only relyin on those figures.. we bale lot of straw to use and sell so we're savin £3.50 bale cos we do it ourselves.. we then make good profit on the actual sale of the delivered bale straw.. theres still money to make if your a contractor just not the sorta money you can earn in tree work...

[Mark Bolam]

I wonder what the most profitable set-up in tree work would be then (and I totally agree that the return on investment in ag kit and earth plant is poor)?

 

You can earn £250 in a day with a Silky and a set of loppers or £5k in a day with big kit, but which costs a fortune to buy, run and maintain.

 

There must be some optimum point for expenditure vs. profit in arb.

 

Where is it?!!!!!!!!

[3dogs]

I buy tackle when i can afford if that means saving then that's fine, it takes longer but its mine, so the way i look at it, if it doesn't go out that day in affect its not actually costing me anything. I can price for just a wage when works slow or i can price high when works busy or i can simply price fair my options are open. That could be seen as undercutting or just a safe business strategy. As nick says going big can pay off but staying small has its own benefits we will all get undercut the big question is as a buisiness can you afford to occasionally be undercut if you can't then you need to look at changing your buisiness plan or maybe the way you conduct your buisness.