hourly rate?

[Spradman]

Just curious as to what everyone charges for their hourly rate per man whenever you use an hourly rate. I live in TN and have a business that is about 1 year old. Currently I charge $50 per hour per man if I am using an hourly rate but i'm starting to feel like that is not enough. Some guys in my area charge $60-$75 an hour per man. What do you think? I'm not sure that my profit margin is big enough when charging $50. I just kinda wanted to get a feel for what the average going rate it. Thanks!

 

[Treeman14]

I get 24 MPG in my pickup truck. The bucket averages 9 MPG, but that number is misleading since the truck runs a lot while on the job and not driving. Hope this helps.

 

[Nickrosis]

Whoa, that's some good mileage.

"The going rate" is whatever's going in your neighborhood. We're the wrong people to ask.

 

[Tree Wizard]

"Currently I charge $50 per hour per man if I am using an hourly rate....."

So how do you figure out what to charge if you are not using an hourly rate? You need to know what your costs are. Just charging what the other guy charges with out knowing your costs could make you extremely high priced or you could be losing your butt.

 

[treeseer]

"Just curious as to what everyone charges for their hourly rate per man"

That would depend on the man.

 

[doggonetrees]

Our company is charging 100 per hour to take the trees down manually, 125 per for bucket work, and once the tree/limbs are on the ground, 25 per hour thereafter for clean-up. Usually a one man show unless my two ground guys aren't busy with their other jobs. If the landowner is willing to help, then the price goes down, as well the price drops for retirees/ disabled/ single moms. This has been working well for us.

 

[Sirpouralot]

$100 per man hour. We run a 5 man crew for almost everything. So $5000.00 a day is our target. There are some jobs that are under bid and some are over bid, but we always try to schedule the work so we end up with a $5000.00 day. Somedays we don't make it, but then somedays we make more. Over the month it all seems to average out. When the economy was doing better we were getting $6000 for a daily rate. We also had 6 men.

 

[Treeman14]

So, you're bringing in $1.25 to $1.5 mil per annum? Or do you just work one day a week? :monkey:

 

[doggonetrees]

So, you're bringing in $1.25 to $1.5 mil per annum? Or do you just work one day a week? :monkey:

I am only able to work our company 4 1/2 hours a day, then all day Thursday, due to conflict of being activated with the AIR NG. So, if we get the job okay-if not, oh well. Bid on two pecan takedowns in Clinton, Ms that had been topped 3 years ago and were butchered.

 

[Koa Man]

$100 per man hour. We run a 5 man crew for almost everything. So $5000.00 a day is our target. There are some jobs that are under bid and some are over bid, but we always try to schedule the work so we end up with a $5000.00 day. Somedays we don't make it, but then somedays we make more. Over the month it all seems to average out. When the economy was doing better we were getting $6000 for a daily rate. We also had 6 men.

Do your crews work 10 hour days? If not then your rate would be $125 a man hour. I find it hard to believe you can get that on a regular basis. Your production rate must be phenomenal. I feel I am doing quite well with a 3 man crew (myself and 2 others) at $160 an hour, and we have very little travel time between jobs, as almost all my jobs are all day or multiple day affairs.

 

[Treeman14]

I am only able to work our company 4 1/2 hours a day, then all day Thursday, due to conflict of being activated with the AIR NG. So, if we get the job okay-if not, oh well. Bid on two pecan takedowns in Clinton, Ms that had been topped 3 years ago and were butchered.

Sorry, I was asking Sirpoupalot.

 

[Spradman]

"Currently I charge $50 per hour per man if I am using an hourly rate....."

So how do you figure out what to charge if you are not using an hourly rate?

I price things per item usually... small and medium trees and boxwoods I do pretty good on. I have a hard time with large clearings and large takedowns. Clearings I've started to charge hourly plus cost on any equipment (skid steers with grapple buckets, or lifts) rentals. Takedowns I still pass on tho the guy I used to work for if they're HUGE and technical cause he has a crane and a sweet chipper truck with a knuckle boom fun stuff on it, so he can handle the big chunks all day long without breaking a sweat and send me a finders fee!!

 

[Sirpouralot]

Do your crews work 10 hour days? If not then your rate would be $125 a man hour. I find it hard to believe you can get that on a regular basis. Your production rate must be phenomenal. I feel I am doing quite well with a 3 man crew (myself and 2 others) at $160 an hour, and we have very little travel time between jobs, as almost all my jobs are all day or multiple day affairs.

Yes we target a 10 hour a day schedule. We come in when the day is done. Sometimes we do well and come in early, sometimes we are out late, but 10 is the number we are working with. Typically we have close to 40 by thursday and we use Friday for a makeup day if we got rained out, or we do maintainance.

We feel that we have a good production rate, but I would not say that is totally the driving factor. I think sales plays an even larger role. I will describe a typical day. We punch in at 7:00Am and get equipment ready that we will need. Grab our work orders for the day and then our first stop on route is breakfast. This is essential for the health, happiness and productivity of our crew. We also discuss safety related issues, maintenance or any other concerns that the crew might have. We arrive at our first job about 8:30. We try to take lunch on route to the next job. With a good breakfast, no one is complaining if the first job takes us past noon to complete. If it is hot, I try to make sure that I have Gatorade there for everyone who needs it. This type of mentality has resulted in less turnover of employees and has meant that we are able to retain good quality help. The whole crew is more productive as a whole just like the Detroit Pistons who have the same starting five in there lineup.

I should also mention that we also have every mechanical advantage out there in the industry. Crane, Prentice loader , Hi Ranger 70' and one over center Altec 60'. We have a Bandit 1990 chipper with 200 horse under the hood and a wench to assist us. We have a Kawasaki mule for transporting tools personal and climbing assist in hard to reach places. We have three ISA certified arborists that we feel are highly skilled, safe and proficient. Remember though I think sales and market are the biggest factor as to how much your earning potential is. Aside from that there is also profitability which is a whole other subject. You might be more profitable running your three man crew than we are at 5 with all this equipment, but I highly doubt it.

 

[Koa Man]

I also try and use machines whenever possible. I have 2 mini loaders with grapples, 2 stump grinders, a Intl 4300 and a Dodge 3500 chip truck, a Dodge 3/4 ton pickup, a dump trailer, a 18X chipper w/200hp and winch, a DC50 chipper, GRCS, chainsaw capstan winch, and a Spiderlift which is supposed to be here already but is not. I had an Altec material handler bucket which I sold. So I have a lot of equipment to help production. Of course not all of it is never used on a single job. When I can bring the mini loader, production goes up dramatically and so does the amount I make in a day, but my target rate is $160 an hour. Still I find it hard to believe a 5 man crew can make $5000 a day on a daily basis.

No matter how good your salesperson is, there is a limit to what people will see as perceived value for the work that is done. If they get other bids, it will be extremely easy to underbid someone basing their time at $100-125 per man hour. Even if your climber is extremely fast and productive, he is NOT going to beat me or any other good climber 2 to 1, and neither will your groundmen beat mine 2 to 1 either.

 

[Sirpouralot]

I guess work in Hawaii doesn't pay well. If our economy here in Michigan wasn't so down because of the car industry right now, you can be sure that we would be pulling in $6000.00 a day on average. We are right at the epicenter of the emerald ash borer problem and I don't think with the equipment you have, you are going to beat my crane and Prentice loader for Ash removal. The new redesigned Bandit 1990's with remote control wench are faster than what you currently have, but your chipper is certainly adequate. You should at least look into picking up a Prentice 120C.
Loading with a skidster is way slower. We use our Giehl skidster on only rare occasions. Most everything now we just lift up and over the house and while the tree is hanging from the crane line, we run the wench line out and grab hold of the butt of the tree and the Bandit 1990 does the rest. The large trunks we either haul out on the back of our crane or set it down for the prentice loader.

We also command a higher price for our pruning since we have an establised reputation of employing certified arborists. People expect to pay more for a Sony, and that is fine with us.

 

[Koa Man]

If I was doing a lot of removals, I certainly would get a crane or a grab truck, but removals are only about 10% or less of what we do. Mostly all my work is pruning. I have noticed that removals are a big part of what is done on the continental US. I had a climber who moved to Virginia in 1999 and is working for a tree company there. He said 85% of the work he now does is removals. I went out with a tree company in Ohio for a day and they made 3 stops, all removals. I don't know of one company in Hawaii where removals would even be 40% of what they do.

 

[jmack]

Yes we target a 10 hour a day schedule. We come in when the day is done. Sometimes we do well and come in early, sometimes we are out late, but 10 is the number we are working with. Typically we have close to 40 by thursday and we use Friday for a makeup day if we got rained out, or we do maintainance.

We feel that we have a good production rate, but I would not say that is totally the driving factor. I think sales plays an even larger role. I will describe a typical day. We punch in at 7:00Am and get equipment ready that we will need. Grab our work orders for the day and then our first stop on route is breakfast. This is essential for the health, happiness and productivity of our crew. We also discuss safety related issues, maintenance or any other concerns that the crew might have. We arrive at our first job about 8:30. We try to take lunch on route to the next job. With a good breakfast, no one is complaining if the first job takes us past noon to complete. If it is hot, I try to make sure that I have Gatorade there for everyone who needs it. This type of mentality has resulted in less turnover of employees and has meant that we are able to retain good quality help. The whole crew is more productive as a whole just like the Detroit Pistons who have the same starting five in there lineup.

I should also mention that we also have every mechanical advantage out there in the industry. Crane, Prentice loader , Hi Ranger 70' and one over center Altec 60'. We have a Bandit 1990 chipper with 200 horse under the hood and a wench to assist us. We have a Kawasaki mule for transporting tools personal and climbing assist in hard to reach places. We have three ISA certified arborists that we feel are highly skilled, safe and proficient. Remember though I think sales and market are the biggest factor as to how much your earning potential is. Aside from that there is also profitability which is a whole other subject. You might be more profitable running your three man crew than we are at 5 with all this equipment, but I highly doubt it.

wow the gear sounds pretty sweet

 

[CaseyForrest]

I guess work in Hawaii doesn't pay well. If our economy here in Michigan wasn't so down because of the car industry right now, you can be sure that we would be pulling in $6000.00 a day on average. We are right at the epicenter of the emerald ash borer problem and I don't think with the equipment you have, you are going to beat my crane and Prentice loader for Ash removal. The new redesigned Bandit 1990's with remote control wench are faster than what you currently have, but your chipper is certainly adequate. You should at least look into picking up a Prentice 120C. We have a picture of ours on our website somewhere if you want to check it out.
www.dawsontree.com

Loading with a skidster is way slower. We use our Giehl skidster on only rare occasions. Most everything now we just lift up and over the house and while the tree is hanging from the crane line, we run the wench line out and grab hold of the butt of the tree and the Bandit 1990 does the rest. The large trunks we either haul out on the back of our crane or set it down for the prentice loader.

We also command a higher price for our pruning since we have an establised reputation of employing certified arborists. People expect to pay more for a Sony, and that is fine with us.

I noticed you are in MI. Not trying to hijack the thread, but was wondering if you chip all your waste or if you have someone that wants trunks to mill into personal use wood if you give that away?

 

[Sirpouralot]

We do what ever we can. If the wood is fit for lumber, then we sell a load to those who mill, but the vast majority of our wood is simply not suitable for that purpose. We do not recycle our woodchips. We offer free Prentice loads of wood to people and have a number of them that take a load on a regular basis when we are in there area. The same is true of woodchips. Other than that our Woodchips get dumped at our yard and once a year a recycler company comes in and buys them by the semi load. We don't get much for them, but we are happy to free up the space.

 

[reachtreeservi]

I charge 120 an hour for time in the tree for myself , 60 an hour for me on the ground and charge 50 an hour for my one ground guy, I pay him 25 an hour.