# Bidding/Flat rate/Pricing



## hay hauler (Feb 6, 2010)

So we are looking at pricing and getting a jump on the ball for next summer and i was thinking....

Why dont more of us bid each job individualy?

For example other industries give bids on jobs with reguard to time, price, dificulty, so on and so forth.

But as farmers or at least small time farmers will give a flat price for most of the sumer for example .50/ bale to stack hay, or $12/acre to cut, with small chanes here and there....

I was thinking in the end this does not give a set profit or close to a set profit through out the year....







... right? Each field is different, current fuel price for the day, density of the field, condition of the field, cost to travel to the field... the list can go on.... and it all effects the bottom line.

My question is has anyone tried to us a program like excel to bit each individual job? I work for a air ambulanc company and each flight is bid for the current conditions. So i thought about trying it with my hay business...

Imput is appreciatied! Or experences with this...? My main consern is with customers talking and saying i did this job for this and this one for this, and not seeing the reason for the price differences...


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## CockrellHillFarms (Aug 30, 2011)

I always do this. Most of the time mowing/raking/baling is the same. Its the hay handling/stacking/moving that I usually bid differently depending on how easy or hard it looks to be. Now if a field is very irregular shaped and it will take a ton of turns and longer to do, then heck yeah I add on some cost because its gonna take more time and fuel. But for most jobs, its about standard pricing.


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## hay hauler (Feb 6, 2010)

Anyone come up with a program or systme to determin what to charge? Or are most of you just going by past experences?


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## steve IN (Jan 13, 2010)

I have minimum charges for each operation. Usually 10 to 15 acres minimum charge. For baling it usually is 100 bales, this is to discourage the people wh have 2 acres of old worn out pasture from making thier own hay instead of buying it. It amazes me how many people think they are smarter than the hay producer.


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## customhaystacking (Jul 13, 2010)

past experience....I charge by the job, with new customers it is harder but I tell them up front, price depends on several factors, bale quality, field condition, where is the stack, and how big the job. I also have a $200 min fee for any job and I charge for travel time. I have several customers that are around 1 hour each way to the job and I charge them per/hr each way. I keep track of each job with the hour meter on the machine. I charged .50 cents a bale last season for wheat straw because it is a pain in the butt. I make sure I'm making enough, It costs around $150,000 to buy a new wagon these days, gotta make sure you can make it pay! I heard guys charging from .50-.55 cents a bale?


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