What I found the best about the whole video, wasn't the sharing of all the excellent knowledge, but was the simple interaction with the boy. You simple action of interacting and the kindness you always show, made the whole video in my mind. You could of drove by the boy and not waved or said anything, but instead your brief interaction shows your character and how you care for the little things in life, which is very Christ like.
Could you do a short episode (maybe could fit into "short series" that covers small topics) on the differences/applications between a box blade, land plane, and power rake and whether all 3 are necessary or is there overlap. Thx.
I have found on our stone driveway after I have used the box blade with the scarifier to break it up and level it out, the dirt looks ugly for a while. But more times than not, after rains and settling, there was plenty of rock brought to the surface. Since I don’t have a land plane, I end up using a spike tooth harrow for final leveling. Several passes but works nicely. As always, I enjoy the videos. Blessings.
Good morning Tim and Christy. Another excellent video! We appreciate your efforts to bring us quality content that is interesting and educational. Looking forward to this "business" series. Thanks and God bless.
I don't plan on starting a small business, but I will be helping family and friends. Thank you for starting this series and explaining things. Love you guys. God Bless you all.
You need to add the max amount of weight to the rear of the tractor. Fluid, a 70 lb and two 50s on each side for a total of 540 lbs. I did that on my tractor what a difference it makes. It also adds great stability. It makes the tractor 55in wide in the rear with low center of weight. Good video thanks Larry
I have Rimguard and the 50’s on each side. I believe that is enough. No interest in having the tractor 55 inches wide. If I want a wider tractor, I bring the 2038r.
What's nice is to make each tractor the best it can be. 55 in really isn't that much wider. The stability you get from doing that is unbelievable, it makes a small tractor like that very stable when you use the loader you would be surprised. maybe it's not for you but I will bet there's a lot of small tractor owners out there that would really appreciate that extra weight. low center gravity. weight.
I love seeing the power rake. It may be my favorite attachment, but it is nice to see how good a job these other attachments can do. I think I even commented last time you did this asking why you didn’t have the power rake. Now I understand why, and appreciate the effort with these other attachments.
Tim, you're right on on about friendly and repeat customers. By building trust and relationships you could call that personal selling. When I was a manager at a landscape company my crews had had the most customer retention. And that was simply by communication with the clients and treat them as your friends. I miss that in my current government job now. I help out my neighbors I and I don't charge them for anything. One because I enjoy it and two, it's just nice to help out when I can because I miss that outside work. I might do more stuff on the side next year for charge, but by doing some work for free for friends and family is a great confidence booster as well like you said. You have a great set up for your business and I really enjoy seeing your kindness and faith show with your work. Keep it up! Alan Peterson
Nice work Tim although if you have problems with potholes you have a drainage problem time to set up your laser level and see what needs to be done to get the correct drainage back.
This is where the dilemma comes in. Fix it right or fix it ok enough that you get to come back in a year and make repeat work. You might be able to make more if by doing it right but that’s up to the customers budget.
Great video. I was always told the only way to get rid of the potholes was to over excavate via the rippers and compact a larger area than the potholes to get everything to bridge and mend together. I like the series so far. I believe most of your statements you've made up to this point in your videos is spot on in respect to compensation. It has been a consistent set of statements, know your abilities, strengths and weaknesses be honest and fair with yourself and with the client(s). You guys took an approach of working for tips or favors to build the skills as an extra spending money( regular employment was in place)plan that would benefit you in the future as skill levels improved. The other side of the coin is needing to use a set of skills to pay for your basic needs, food and shelter for example. We all have to "pay for our education" with putting in time (possibly years, in other countries an apprentice may be such for 10 plus years ) to learn a trade or skill or open the check book to get formal training or schooling. Tim you have presented this revolving topic very well in my opinion. People see a successful business and think "I can do that" and true they can HOWEVER, not at that level or degree of success right out of the gate. One thing I see is many times a person that is good at swinging a hammer and building a house per a set of engineered plans is most likely not as strong in the areas of marketing, sales, managing a project from cradle to grave, scheduling and general administrative elements . The point is they are different skills, each takes time to develop. All points Tim has touched on. Be ready to put in time, be ready to take some lumps no one and no business has ever been an instant success story. In fact I would venture a guess there are many closets( holding skeletons) that are locked and buried deep with in the ground encased in concrete never to be opened 🤷🏼♂️
I don't have a lambs plans but I have a 6 foot box blade. I usually go on payment to adjust everything. That way I know it's flat or I know exactly how much of an angle I'm giving it. Great video as always God bless you your family and your channel
Good work on the drive Tim. One thing that might help protect you from drivers is some small orange road cones. Working around cars a good bit, drivers can be dumb and careless. It also helps you see boundaries from your peripheral vision while working. They are cheap and easy to get.
That is so true! That is why it is so important to work with trusting people as well! Nothing more important than having respectful customers as well as we are respectful to them as well. I do need ask would a roller be beneficial for this. I also watch Mike Morgan from outdoors with the Morgan’s. He uses a heavy stone with a number 2 over that. Which after a while almost turns into a cement.
Great video. I’m Hoping to start taking paying customers with my 2038R next year. I have most of the attachments I would need. I’m just trying to build up my skill set first. I got the tractor in June and I have 130 hours on it so I’m getting more comfortable
Awesome episode. I love the concept of producing videos about using a small tractor for a side business. Hopping you cover difficult topics such as bartering, insurance, paperwork, taxes, and promoting the business in addition to bidding. I’ve wondered if processing and selling firewood would go hand and hand with a side-hustle small tractor service business. When there is no client project, go split some wood.
I agree with you about the rock. I could see that right away as you used the box blade. You might want to suggest they do the rock sooner than later. As you know, people tend to use a common track when driving so, considering your tractor tire marks, I see a rut beginning within a couple of days...depending on the base, if it is solid 2-3 inches below grade, 3-4 rock would wear nicely
I agree on repeat customers I do all people around gravel drives and snow clearing plus I do brush cutting for them too I make decent money but I just picked up where my grandfather left off he helped all the people around him off
Tim from what I see the first time you were there you got the surface better than it was originally maybe you could suggest that a 4 inch underground pipe be put in with a rip wrap looking entrance and exit look on both sides to hopefully prevent the washouts from returning
Great video. I may add one or two points. If and when you decide to do projects for money you are essentially a contractor and many jobs will require a contractor's license and commercial insurance. It will keep you out of trouble and it is best to do things legal. It can be a painful process getting set up, but it sets you up for success in the future. Most states have many different levels of licensing so you simply get what you need to cover what you want to do. I don't want to scare anyone off from doing such work, I just don't want anyone to get in trouble. Also as you always tell people call your locat 811 call before you dig. Thanks for the vids, keep up the good work.
Wow, what a great way to explain how you all got into your business. I totally agree with how, in the early stages, you didn't charge your friends and that makes perfect sense. Thanks again for sharing your experiences.
That turned out better than i thought it would. After your first pass with the scarfires down, i was thinking that looked awful dark. Lots of dirt. Seeing her drive over it with barely any tracks shows you did an impressive job. Definitely good advertising
I have not heard of Farm Recuse previously. Sounds like a great program. I know of several times that a few local to me farmers have gotten together and done similar for farm families that have had such an incident.
Hey Tim great video my favorite implement I use on the rock parking lot where I work is my box blade with the scarifiers to rip it up there are parts where the semi's pull around to back up to the loading dock that gets packed in hard I have broke the tips off of scarifiers before but I finish up the job by turning my grader blade around and dragging it around the whole parking lot it levels it without picking up a lot of the rock and gives it a really nice finish
Because I don't have a truck or trailer I just drive our tractor to where I have to go. I find it fun to see how many people look or wave at me. Older people and young kids wave the most, went by one person walking in the street and they wanted a ride in the bucket and I told them not on that day. Guess if you are on a mower or tractor your just more friendly. Keep up the great work and tractor on from west central Illinois. By the way still no talk of opening up for tours at the John Deere plants in the Quad Cities area (Moline, East Moline Illinois, Davenport Iowa)
I'm planning on using my tractor in a new small business. I am going to offer to do work for my neighbors for free initially (while explaining that this IS ultimately a business). I will however need to make the equipment & overhead payments starting right away so need to get some paying jobs pretty quickly and I have a marketing plan. My thoughts on pricing, at least initially, is to charge an hourly rate & give an estimate "not to exceed" (NTE) based on what I "think" it would take an experienced operator to do the job. If I can do it in less time, the customer pays for that actual time, but if it takes me longer, they know upfront what the maximum amount will be and the rest of the time is on me as part of the learning curve both as an operator and estimator.
Nice work! I was gonna say it needs to be built up with gravel or stone dust and sloped for drainage but then you mentioned it needs rock. I would add better compaction, perhaps a roller for long term stability. The granny driveby was priceless! Best Regards, Jay
Just discovered this video. I'll be peeping the rest of the business series. You have a terrific attitude, and as is always the case, it is in that that your excellent work is rooted. I also applaud your use of actual dates. These videos can live for years and I always cringe when folks say "today," or "last week" or some such designation that, by the time we watch the video is well in the past or otherwise irrelevant. Anyway, I am a "repeat customer" of your video work and I guess that says it all.
key to pricing is figuring out your equipment cost per hour and figuring out what your time is worth, aka, if you were to work 30-40 hours a week, how much would you need to make per hour to support your desired lifestyle along with supporting business maintenance and purchases for growth you would like to make
Yassir Tim ya gotta use a box blade with scarifiers. The bottom of those hole are like pavement. I have a 500 foot driveway and every year Iv'e gotta do what you're doing. The winter ice really messes it up. Keep on Tractoring.
Great information on doing this kind of work and the customer side of things. I also can clearly see a big advantage of a quick attach. Thank you Mr. Tim.
At least the older lady that went through did it slowly. Alot of people speed through construction zones which is dangerous for everybody..Good video Kristy & Tim. Have a great day!
Top notch Tim. Your personality is a lot of your business. You are just easy to feel comfortable with. Very informative. Keep up the awesome videos.. elderly..... I laughed.
It would definitely benefit from some fresh stone. Even to just raise it a little bit and grade it from the middle out to each side should help water lodging
Agreed, it definitely looks like he could use some more rock. Andrew Camarata's channel has some great content that addresses all the issue you are encountering on this job which you may find helpful.
As usual, nice job. Seems you end up finishing with back blading with your bucket. I use a back blade for the whole project and first tear it up and then lay it back out with the blade and finish with blade in reverse. Same job as you did but attachment much less expensive and I use the same back blade for snow removal. I added shoes to the back of my blade for blading snow ob un-frozen gravel or if i want to limit the depth on grading. I agree an old fashioned flex harrow does a great job of leveling and doesn't consume too much space when hauling. Keep up the good work. I really appreciate you demonstrating the attachments so I can decide if it would make my job easier without having to buy it myself. God bless and take care.
Tim, I think you would benefit from a Hydraulic Top Link. On the pricing, even if Tim covers it later, it will probably vary widely from one area of the country to the next and even within particular states and also by type of work done. Certainly one has to cover costs and manage time. I had started myself about 6 months ago and am still learning how correctly price jobs.
Always don't take your nice repeat customers for granted and don't always expect them to be there when I was mowing lawns in middle school and high school had my best customer and elderly family friend who helped me get 50 trailer park lots to mow until his nephew moved in and didn't like that I didn't have insurance and I lost all of the lawns except for two even with no other complaints
Glad to hear pricing info coming in future videos. I’m using my 1025r for my landscape business and have people asking me all the time for tractor work. Curious to know your guys philosophy for pricing tractor work example, grading gravel driveways yards.
When the car drove through during recording, we were able to see real world use of your work. Ha ha. Appreciate these videos on doing jobs for friends/customers and the details that go with it. I figure I could only do so much work on my own land and it would be a waste not to use the equipment for better use than sitting around.
Thanks Tim doing the work is easy dealing with the customer is the work. Trying to figure out what they want and suggesting what they need are two different things. Thanks for sharing
God bless you, Tim and Christy. You represent the kind of business people I hope to become I'll pass on the ISO-Tunes. 85dB max isn't loud enough to hear anything useful, except in quiet environments where you don't need them in the first place. Dear ISO-Tunes, make it 100dB and I'll buy them.
It looks as if there is too much soil mixed in with the gravel as indicated by the wetness of the substrate. Frankly, I would have added some Sure Pack gravel and stone dust mixture to create a hard sealed surface and to build up the height of the driveway to be slightly above the grade of the lawn. I also would have domed it a bit to make the center higher than the edges to allow water to drain off. But that is just one suggestion and there are many ways to "skin a cat" as they say.
I don't mean to take over the comment section but to offer a different POV. Nobody asked for it but my advice is buy a used skidsteer from a dealer for work like this, I bought a used ssv65 with 1k hours which is a young skidsteer for less than what a new tractor would cost but the strength and ability of it is so much more and I still use it around the house moving firewood and doing larger projects in the yard. I was also able to get excellent financing on it and whatever attachments I couldn't afford yet I rented from the dealer and built an excellent relationship with my dealer and all things considered, the professional grade attachments you can rent from the dealer accomplish so much work in a short amount of time. I used to have a JD 4510 and yes it worked but for the same price I got a skidsteer in excellent shape that could work SO much faster but my one piece of advice is get tracks
I loooove Captain D’s. Don’t have any in AZ anymore. Great business acumen but I would expect no less from us IT guys. Going to make a box blader out of you yet!
Since you moved I would have thought you could just drive Johnny there. Were you paid in Fish Cheeseburgers. That looked like a fun job to do, nothing in the way and just drive Johnny back and forth for an hour or so. Nice finish too.
Maybe a thought or two on how you decide which tractor to use on a project and why. My first thought, when you mentioned that the box blade was a little to big for Johnny, was: why didn't you bring Johnny 2? I know you have a reason, I'm just curious how you decide. Thanks
You need to calculate your overhead. Once you know what your expense is then you can add your hourly pay to that and get your minimum required pay per hour. You can try to bid a job but this is better if you know exactly how long your gonna take. Otherwise hourly covers your ass but you might not make as much vs a bid.
I asked for folks to hold their comments on pricing for now. I’m guessing FishFind does not do the type of work I do, because his response is not helpful.
@@TractorTimewithTim Hi Tim, yeah maybe he doesn't. I'm sorry for the hassle. Didn't mean to cause a ruckus. I myself mostly do Woodlot work, here in wi. Restorations and such. Have a good day.
@@TractorTimewithTim I do some dirt work, but not the the scale that your projects can get to. But I still stand by my comment. If you don't know your overhead your doing it wrong. You must factor in depreciation of your assets, maintenance, and general wear and tear.
Great information, to the point and simply explained. Great job! It's nice to hear about the benefit too! There are a lot of family farms that are having a hard time.
I'm interested in insurance needs and approximate insurance costs for doing some custom work for others. Great video! Thanks for what you do and your Christian testimony. New subscriber here!!
Submit insurance questions to tractortimewithtim.com/insurance You will get personal / professional help there. Welcome to our channel! Thanks for subscribing!
When I first started helping people out, and they wanted to pay me after the work was done. I just told them to pay whatever they thought was fair, and it seemed that 99% of people were paying me $60/hour on average, so now that's what I ask for and no one ever complains. Most of the time, I'd do it for free because its just so much fun. But they never turn me away empty handed, and sometimes I get fed really well too! Lol
You definitely did a nice job Tim, no doubt. Around my way in Northern New Jersey, guys would have brought in a D3 sized Dozer. And if you had a ripper on it you would be Golden. A Dozer and roller would be just what the doctor ordered. You did a nice job in the end and you made money with what you own . Congratulations.
I believe that one of the most overlooked items in any gravel drive/road/parking area is to break up the ruts/water holes before grading. Too many folks leave a nice looking area, but have only put loose material in to fill a hole and soon that loose material is knocked out by traffic. Great job how you approached the project.
Hi Tim and Christy Tim if your going to run a business thire is two ingredinets you need trust and punetuality without them you habe nothing and you have that in abundance and what you charge is nobody's business but yours
You have probably not had much experience with problem or difficult customers, but getting your view on them would be interesting. Good customers are great, but they all don’t have reasonable expectations and more move the goalposts outside what you promised.
on that land plane i wonder if you could cut your time in half by going backwards over the whole area one time to get it pretty level so the tractor is not messing the land plane up since its solid to the tractor and not being dragged .... hmmmm think if i owned one of them land planes i would make a custom pair of chains so i can drag it on the 3 point so it will float when i need it to
Well, pricing wise, for what you did on that short roadway, Around here, it would be easily around $1,250 to $1,750 job. Yeah not cheap around here to do. I do my own Driveway by hand. yeah it takes a week+ to do. but dont want to spend over $500 or well over $1,000
Always with the great info. I am curious what are you using for a land plans and box blade. I am doing my research and the LP1160/72 are for 2000-4000 series tractors. As far as the box blade I am just want to make sure I am not going to burn out my tractor just doing around the homestead or even helping neighbors.
I maintain a local airport. This mostly means mowing, spraying for weeds around the runway lights, etc, The grassed areas are VERY rough from elk and deer walking across it. What would be your recommendation for scrapping the high spots into the low spots. we are thinking about a land plane or a box scraper. However, we don't want to turn the grassed areas into a dirt lot. What would be your recommendation
Tim I have a question. Have you shown up to a job and people seemed to question your equipments ability to do a job? I know what your tractor can do and I know you have bigger equipment. But to the average person who doesn't know about tractors have people wondered if you can actually do the job with that (toy tractor). I have a 50 hp tractor and showed up to do a very large job and the land owner look at me kinda funny because I had brought a small machine. Also wouldn't it have been faster for you to use a 3 series tractor and the same implements? If any of that seems rude iam sorry I don't mean for it to be. Please keep up the great videos.
Looks great Tim. Perhaps you could do a video showing the maximum effectiveness of using only a boxblade. I wonder how good of a job could you do with just a boxblade. Any chance of a side-by-side comparison of boxblade vs land plane?
Tim, I am not thrilled at the bumpiness of the dirt after either a box blade or land plane. Can you try to get a pull behind version of either (box blade preferably) and do a comparison of the two? I really appreciate it. I have been reluctant to buy anything because I can't find information about them. Thanks! Jeff
As a volunteer, I've got repeat "customers." I've been doing hazard and fallen tree removal on our county's rail trail network and three land trusts. While doing that I see a lot of areas of the trails that need grading and drainage work. I'd like to see a mid-mount grader blade used at some point. I'm wondering if such a blade would work for maintenance of not only the trail surface but also allow for grading the shoulders for drainage maintenance.
@@TractorTimewithTim My neighbor is working to build a mid-mount grader for his tractors. He has around 20 of the small lawn and garden tractors which he has acquired over the years. The newest (in age) is a 1964 Sears. The oldest was made in the 1930's. All of them run!
What I found the best about the whole video, wasn't the sharing of all the excellent knowledge, but was the simple interaction with the boy. You simple action of interacting and the kindness you always show, made the whole video in my mind. You could of drove by the boy and not waved or said anything, but instead your brief interaction shows your character and how you care for the little things in life, which is very Christ like.
We gave him a ride later. Let him steer the tractor :-)
@@TractorTimewithTim that is awesome. Keep up the great work!
What a nice world this would be if everyone was as nice as you!
Could you do a short episode (maybe could fit into "short series" that covers small topics) on the differences/applications between a box blade, land plane, and power rake and whether all 3 are necessary or is there overlap. Thx.
I have found on our stone driveway after I have used the box blade with the scarifier to break it up and level it out, the dirt looks ugly for a while. But more times than not, after rains and settling, there was plenty of rock brought to the surface. Since I don’t have a land plane, I end up using a spike tooth harrow for final leveling. Several passes but works nicely. As always, I enjoy the videos. Blessings.
Good morning Tim and Christy. Another excellent video! We appreciate your efforts to bring us quality content that is interesting and educational. Looking forward to this "business" series. Thanks and God bless.
I don't plan on starting a small business, but I will be helping family and friends. Thank you for starting this series and explaining things. Love you guys. God Bless you all.
You need to add the max amount of weight to the rear of the tractor. Fluid, a 70 lb and two 50s on each side for a total of 540 lbs. I did that on my tractor what a difference it makes. It also adds great stability. It makes the tractor 55in wide in the rear with low center of weight. Good video thanks Larry
I have Rimguard and the 50’s on each side. I believe that is enough. No interest in having the tractor 55 inches wide. If I want a wider tractor, I bring the 2038r.
What's nice is to make each tractor the best it can be. 55 in really isn't that much wider. The stability you get from doing that is unbelievable, it makes a small tractor like that very stable when you use the loader you would be surprised. maybe it's not for you but I will bet there's a lot of small tractor owners out there that would really appreciate that extra weight. low center gravity. weight.
I love seeing the power rake. It may be my favorite attachment, but it is nice to see how good a job these other attachments can do. I think I even commented last time you did this asking why you didn’t have the power rake. Now I understand why, and appreciate the effort with these other attachments.
Tim, you're right on on about friendly and repeat customers. By building trust and relationships you could call that personal selling. When I was a manager at a landscape company my crews had had the most customer retention. And that was simply by communication with the clients and treat them as your friends. I miss that in my current government job now. I help out my neighbors I and I don't charge them for anything. One because I enjoy it and two, it's just nice to help out when I can because I miss that outside work. I might do more stuff on the side next year for charge, but by doing some work for free for friends and family is a great confidence booster as well like you said. You have a great set up for your business and I really enjoy seeing your kindness and faith show with your work. Keep it up!
Alan Peterson
Nice work Tim although if you have problems with potholes you have a drainage problem time to set up your laser level and see what needs to be done to get the correct drainage back.
This is where the dilemma comes in. Fix it right or fix it ok enough that you get to come back in a year and make repeat work. You might be able to make more if by doing it right but that’s up to the customers budget.
You’re so calm, patient and informative. That’s how all of us men should be like in the industry and in all aspects of life
People can learn a lot from this channel...how to be safe, use tractor implements, and practice good philosophy. I really enjoy your efforts.
Thanks for the kind words!
Great video. I was always told the only way to get rid of the potholes was to over excavate via the rippers and compact a larger area than the potholes to get everything to bridge and mend together. I like the series so far. I believe most of your statements you've made up to this point in your videos is spot on in respect to compensation. It has been a consistent set of statements, know your abilities, strengths and weaknesses be honest and fair with yourself and with the client(s). You guys took an approach of working for tips or favors to build the skills as an extra spending money( regular employment was in place)plan that would benefit you in the future as skill levels improved. The other side of the coin is needing to use a set of skills to pay for your basic needs, food and shelter for example. We all have to "pay for our education" with putting in time (possibly years, in other countries an apprentice may be such for 10 plus years ) to learn a trade or skill or open the check book to get formal training or schooling. Tim you have presented this revolving topic very well in my opinion. People see a successful business and think "I can do that" and true they can HOWEVER, not at that level or degree of success right out of the gate. One thing I see is many times a person that is good at swinging a hammer and building a house per a set of engineered plans is most likely not as strong in the areas of marketing, sales, managing a project from cradle to grave, scheduling and general administrative elements . The point is they are different skills, each takes time to develop. All points Tim has touched on. Be ready to put in time, be ready to take some lumps no one and no business has ever been an instant success story. In fact I would venture a guess there are many closets( holding skeletons) that are locked and buried deep with in the ground encased in concrete never to be opened 🤷🏼♂️
I don't have a lambs plans but I have a 6 foot box blade. I usually go on payment to adjust everything. That way I know it's flat or I know exactly how much of an angle I'm giving it.
Great video as always God bless you your family and your channel
Good work on the drive Tim. One thing that might help protect you from drivers is some small orange road cones. Working around cars a good bit, drivers can be dumb and careless. It also helps you see boundaries from your peripheral vision while working. They are cheap and easy to get.
I've always thought a heavy roller would make finishing up a project like that almost perfect.
A heavy roller compresses the gravel and sand together and seals it so water runs off
That is so true! That is why it is so important to work with trusting people as well! Nothing more important than having respectful customers as well as we are respectful to them as well. I do need ask would a roller be beneficial for this. I also watch Mike Morgan from outdoors with the Morgan’s. He uses a heavy stone with a number 2 over that. Which after a while almost turns into a cement.
Great video.
I’m Hoping to start taking paying customers with my 2038R next year. I have most of the attachments I would need. I’m just trying to build up my skill set first.
I got the tractor in June and I have 130 hours on it so I’m getting more comfortable
You are taking the right approach!
Awesome episode. I love the concept of producing videos about using a small tractor for a side business. Hopping you cover difficult topics such as bartering, insurance, paperwork, taxes, and promoting the business in addition to bidding. I’ve wondered if processing and selling firewood would go hand and hand with a side-hustle small tractor service business. When there is no client project, go split some wood.
I agree with you about the rock. I could see that right away as you used the box blade. You might want to suggest they do the rock sooner than later. As you know, people tend to use a common track when driving so, considering your tractor tire marks, I see a rut beginning within a couple of days...depending on the base, if it is solid 2-3 inches below grade, 3-4 rock would wear nicely
I agree on repeat customers I do all people around gravel drives and snow clearing plus I do brush cutting for them too I make decent money but I just picked up where my grandfather left off he helped all the people around him off
Thank you for actually listening to your viewers. I'm excited about this series
Tim from what I see the first time you were there you got the surface better than it was originally maybe you could suggest that a 4 inch underground pipe be put in with a rip wrap looking entrance and exit look on both sides to hopefully prevent the washouts from returning
One thing I like about the woods land plane is the scarifiers in it.
Great video. I may add one or two points. If and when you decide to do projects for money you are essentially a contractor and many jobs will require a contractor's license and commercial insurance. It will keep you out of trouble and it is best to do things legal. It can be a painful process getting set up, but it sets you up for success in the future. Most states have many different levels of licensing so you simply get what you need to cover what you want to do. I don't want to scare anyone off from doing such work, I just don't want anyone to get in trouble. Also as you always tell people call your locat 811 call before you dig. Thanks for the vids, keep up the good work.
As I said, we are not attempting to cover all business issues in a single episode.
Wow, what a great way to explain how you all got into your business. I totally agree with how, in the early stages, you didn't charge your friends and that makes perfect sense. Thanks again for sharing your experiences.
That turned out better than i thought it would. After your first pass with the scarfires down, i was thinking that looked awful dark. Lots of dirt. Seeing her drive over it with barely any tracks shows you did an impressive job. Definitely good advertising
I have not heard of Farm Recuse previously. Sounds like a great program. I know of several times that a few local to me farmers have gotten together and done similar for farm families that have had such an incident.
Hey Tim great video my favorite implement I use on the rock parking lot where I work is my box blade with the scarifiers to rip it up there are parts where the semi's pull around to back up to the loading dock that gets packed in hard I have broke the tips off of scarifiers before but I finish up the job by turning my grader blade around and dragging it around the whole parking lot it levels it without picking up a lot of the rock and gives it a really nice finish
The lady driving through at the end...priceless. Couldn't have done that better if you had planned it!
Exactly!
Great video. I'm starting to help my neighbors to learn how to use my tractor and attachments.
Because I don't have a truck or trailer I just drive our tractor to where I have to go. I find it fun to see how many people look or wave at me. Older people and young kids wave the most, went by one person walking in the street and they wanted a ride in the bucket and I told them not on that day. Guess if you are on a mower or tractor your just more friendly. Keep up the great work and tractor on from west central Illinois. By the way still no talk of opening up for tours at the John Deere plants in the Quad Cities area (Moline, East Moline Illinois, Davenport Iowa)
I'm planning on using my tractor in a new small business. I am going to offer to do work for my neighbors for free initially (while explaining that this IS ultimately a business). I will however need to make the equipment & overhead payments starting right away so need to get some paying jobs pretty quickly and I have a marketing plan.
My thoughts on pricing, at least initially, is to charge an hourly rate & give an estimate "not to exceed" (NTE) based on what I "think" it would take an experienced operator to do the job. If I can do it in less time, the customer pays for that actual time, but if it takes me longer, they know upfront what the maximum amount will be and the rest of the time is on me as part of the learning curve both as an operator and estimator.
Nice work! I was gonna say it needs to be built up with gravel or stone dust and sloped for drainage but then you mentioned it needs rock. I would add better compaction, perhaps a roller for long term stability. The granny driveby was priceless! Best Regards, Jay
Love how you two are always growing and always thinking about how to make new content
Invest in a roller, leaves a cleaner more compact result. I roll every driveway and parking lot.
Just discovered this video. I'll be peeping the rest of the business series. You have a terrific attitude, and as is always the case, it is in that that your excellent work is rooted. I also applaud your use of actual dates. These videos can live for years and I always cringe when folks say "today," or "last week" or some such designation that, by the time we watch the video is well in the past or otherwise irrelevant. Anyway, I am a "repeat customer" of your video work and I guess that says it all.
Welcome to our channel. Thanks for the kind words.
Never saw a 3 point chain harrow like that. What a great idea
When running a small business above the friends and family crowd means that the tractor is the least of your worries.
The information on pricing would be a greatly appreciated.
key to pricing is figuring out your equipment cost per hour and figuring out what your time is worth, aka, if you were to work 30-40 hours a week, how much would you need to make per hour to support your desired lifestyle along with supporting business maintenance and purchases for growth you would like to make
Yassir Tim ya gotta use a box blade with scarifiers. The bottom of those hole are like pavement. I have a 500 foot driveway and every year Iv'e gotta do what you're doing. The winter ice really messes it up. Keep on Tractoring.
Great information on doing this kind of work and the customer side of things.
I also can clearly see a big advantage of a quick attach. Thank you Mr. Tim.
At least the older lady that went through did it slowly. Alot of people speed through construction zones which is dangerous for everybody..Good video Kristy & Tim. Have a great day!
Top notch Tim. Your personality is a lot of your business. You are just easy to feel comfortable with. Very informative. Keep up the awesome videos.. elderly..... I laughed.
It would definitely benefit from some fresh stone. Even to just raise it a little bit and grade it from the middle out to each side should help water lodging
Agreed, it definitely looks like he could use some more rock. Andrew Camarata's channel has some great content that addresses all the issue you are encountering on this job which you may find helpful.
As usual, nice job.
Seems you end up finishing with back blading with your bucket. I use a back blade for the whole project and first tear it up and then lay it back out with the blade and finish with blade in reverse. Same job as you did but attachment much less expensive and I use the same back blade for snow removal. I added shoes to the back of my blade for blading snow ob un-frozen gravel or if i want to limit the depth on grading.
I agree an old fashioned flex harrow does a great job of leveling and doesn't consume too much space when hauling.
Keep up the good work. I really appreciate you demonstrating the attachments so I can decide if it would make my job easier without having to buy it myself. God bless and take care.
You don’t have a loader?
I’m looking forward to you putting the harrow to work. I like the looks of the one you have, and I could possibly use one next spring.
Tim, I think you would benefit from a Hydraulic Top Link. On the pricing, even if Tim covers it later, it will probably vary widely from one area of the country to the next and even within particular states and also by type of work done. Certainly one has to cover costs and manage time. I had started myself about 6 months ago and am still learning how correctly price jobs.
Always don't take your nice repeat customers for granted and don't always expect them to be there when I was mowing lawns in middle school and high school had my best customer and elderly family friend who helped me get 50 trailer park lots to mow until his nephew moved in and didn't like that I didn't have insurance and I lost all of the lawns except for two even with no other complaints
Glad to hear pricing info coming in future videos. I’m using my 1025r for my landscape business and have people asking me all the time for tractor work. Curious to know your guys philosophy for pricing tractor work example, grading gravel driveways yards.
When the car drove through during recording, we were able to see real world use of your work. Ha ha. Appreciate these videos on doing jobs for friends/customers and the details that go with it. I figure I could only do so much work on my own land and it would be a waste not to use the equipment for better use than sitting around.
Thanks Tim doing the work is easy dealing with the customer is the work. Trying to figure out what they want and suggesting what they need are two different things. Thanks for sharing
Thx you for all your helpful advice bud 😃 I'm in the stages of starting my tractor service and firewood business
💥 The old lady at the end! That was hilarious!! 😂😂
*Keep on tractoring!*
She was quite determined to get her Captain D's fix!!!
God bless you, Tim and Christy. You represent the kind of business people I hope to become
I'll pass on the ISO-Tunes. 85dB max isn't loud enough to hear anything useful, except in quiet environments where you don't need them in the first place.
Dear ISO-Tunes, make it 100dB and I'll buy them.
We love all your stuff portrayed. (Even without the yellow).
It looks as if there is too much soil mixed in with the gravel as indicated by the wetness of the substrate. Frankly, I would have added some Sure Pack gravel and stone dust mixture to create a hard sealed surface and to build up the height of the driveway to be slightly above the grade of the lawn. I also would have domed it a bit to make the center higher than the edges to allow water to drain off. But that is just one suggestion and there are many ways to "skin a cat" as they say.
Pipe and a piece of chain link fence will do a great job of leveling and takes up little space.
How does that work? I have 3/4 of an acre in soil which needs leveled but I'm not very experienced at trying to level things.
Tell me you couldn’t be more right the word-of-mouth is a powerful advertisement👍
I don't mean to take over the comment section but to offer a different POV. Nobody asked for it but my advice is buy a used skidsteer from a dealer for work like this, I bought a used ssv65 with 1k hours which is a young skidsteer for less than what a new tractor would cost but the strength and ability of it is so much more and I still use it around the house moving firewood and doing larger projects in the yard. I was also able to get excellent financing on it and whatever attachments I couldn't afford yet I rented from the dealer and built an excellent relationship with my dealer and all things considered, the professional grade attachments you can rent from the dealer accomplish so much work in a short amount of time. I used to have a JD 4510 and yes it worked but for the same price I got a skidsteer in excellent shape that could work SO much faster but my one piece of advice is get tracks
Welcome to our channel!
@@TractorTimewithTim thanks tim, love all the reviews on the attachments
I loooove Captain D’s. Don’t have any in AZ anymore. Great business acumen but I would expect no less from us IT guys. Going to make a box blader out of you yet!
Nice work. Miss the get together we had. A lot of fun. Hopefully maybe next year we can do it again. Great looking group. 👍
Since you moved I would have thought you could just drive Johnny there. Were you paid in Fish Cheeseburgers. That looked like a fun job to do, nothing in the way and just drive Johnny back and forth for an hour or so. Nice finish too.
Great video Tim,slow and steady always does not the trick. Better for the equipment also.
Maybe a thought or two on how you decide which tractor to use on a project and why. My first thought, when you mentioned that the box blade was a little to big for Johnny, was: why didn't you bring Johnny 2? I know you have a reason, I'm just curious how you decide. Thanks
I like these business videos. Good info.
Morning Tim, that has always been a huge question for me, the how $$ per job.
You need to calculate your overhead. Once you know what your expense is then you can add your hourly pay to that and get your minimum required pay per hour. You can try to bid a job but this is better if you know exactly how long your gonna take. Otherwise hourly covers your ass but you might not make as much vs a bid.
I asked for folks to hold their comments on pricing for now. I’m guessing FishFind does not do the type of work I do, because his response is not helpful.
@@TractorTimewithTim Hi Tim, yeah maybe he doesn't. I'm sorry for the hassle. Didn't mean to cause a ruckus. I myself mostly do Woodlot work, here in wi. Restorations and such. Have a good day.
No worries. We’ll try to address our experiences on pricing over the next few months.
@@TractorTimewithTim I do some dirt work, but not the the scale that your projects can get to. But I still stand by my comment. If you don't know your overhead your doing it wrong. You must factor in depreciation of your assets, maintenance, and general wear and tear.
Great information, to the point and simply explained. Great job! It's nice to hear about the benefit too! There are a lot of family farms that are having a hard time.
I'm interested in insurance needs and approximate insurance costs for doing some custom work for others. Great video! Thanks for what you do and your Christian testimony. New subscriber here!!
Submit insurance questions to tractortimewithtim.com/insurance
You will get personal / professional help there.
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When I first started helping people out, and they wanted to pay me after the work was done. I just told them to pay whatever they thought was fair, and it seemed that 99% of people were paying me $60/hour on average, so now that's what I ask for and no one ever complains. Most of the time, I'd do it for free because its just so much fun. But they never turn me away empty handed, and sometimes I get fed really well too! Lol
Great results when using the right tools and techniques...great job, Tim
Seems like if you’d too dress that with some 53s or even just clean rock it would help it hold up better over the winter maybe.
Another fine video. Thank you for all the information you have given me.
Well done Tim! "I think she....is....elderly....."
Doh!
The land plane sure does a nice job Tim!
To bad you didn’t have a vibrating compactor attachment.
Surely someone makes one that runs off the PTO?
Definitely would help being compacted!
Nah. Watch the car drive over....no imprint at all.
yeah, your not pulverizing 12" down or dealing with 30" of fresh material. no need for vibratory equipment here.
You definitely did a nice job Tim, no doubt. Around my way in Northern New Jersey, guys would have brought in a D3 sized Dozer. And if you had a ripper on it you would be Golden. A Dozer and roller would be just what the doctor ordered. You did a nice job in the end and you made money with what you own . Congratulations.
Hi Tim - how about a video of you showing how to remove and sharpen your frontier rotary cutter blades for your 1025R?
Tim, you keep pushing gravel out into the grass!!! Nice crisp line, please.
Oh this awesome- I’ve been wondering a lot, how your tractor services kind of work.
I live walking distance from WW Cousins, love their burgers. May have to stop by on the next get together.
I believe that one of the most overlooked items in any gravel drive/road/parking area is to break up the ruts/water holes before grading. Too many folks leave a nice looking area, but have only put loose material in to fill a hole and soon that loose material is knocked out by traffic.
Great job how you approached the project.
Land plane. The next attachment I would like to get. Thought about getting one for about a year now.
Hi Tim and Christy Tim if your going to run a business thire is two ingredinets you need trust and punetuality without them you habe nothing and you have that in abundance and what you charge is nobody's business but yours
You done good with boxblade and overall...Teaspring is sending me another cup ,thanks for help
Sweet!!
You have probably not had much experience with problem or difficult customers, but getting your view on them would be interesting. Good customers are great, but they all don’t have reasonable expectations and more move the goalposts outside what you promised.
on that land plane i wonder if you could cut your time in half by going backwards over the whole area one time to get it pretty level so the tractor is not messing the land plane up since its solid to the tractor and not being dragged .... hmmmm think if i owned one of them land planes i would make a custom pair of chains so i can drag it on the 3 point so it will float when i need it to
Love the Box blade proc÷ss
Well, pricing wise, for what you did on that short roadway, Around here, it would be easily around $1,250 to $1,750 job. Yeah not cheap around here to do. I do my own Driveway by hand. yeah it takes a week+ to do. but dont want to spend over $500 or well over $1,000
Where are you?
@@TractorTimewithTim Virginia near Richmond area
@@ChakatNightspark Interesting. Wow.
Always with the great info. I am curious what are you using for a land plans and box blade. I am doing my research and the LP1160/72 are for 2000-4000 series tractors. As far as the box blade I am just want to make sure I am not going to burn out my tractor just doing around the homestead or even helping neighbors.
5’ land plane...or 4’ if it has scarifiers.
4’-5’ box blade.
I maintain a local airport.
This mostly means mowing, spraying for weeds around the runway lights, etc,
The grassed areas are VERY rough from elk and deer walking across it.
What would be your recommendation for scrapping the high spots into the low spots.
we are thinking about a land plane or a box scraper. However, we don't want to turn the grassed areas into a dirt lot.
What would be your recommendation
Working in Greenwood! You should have outsourced that one to me and my Orange B2150.
Ha! Shoulda had you help me!
Tim that bushing surprise is a senior moment for me
Tim I have a question. Have you shown up to a job and people seemed to question your equipments ability to do a job? I know what your tractor can do and I know you have bigger equipment. But to the average person who doesn't know about tractors have people wondered if you can actually do the job with that (toy tractor). I have a 50 hp tractor and showed up to do a very large job and the land owner look at me kinda funny because I had brought a small machine. Also wouldn't it have been faster for you to use a 3 series tractor and the same implements? If any of that seems rude iam sorry I don't mean for it to be. Please keep up the great videos.
Looks great Tim. Perhaps you could do a video showing the maximum effectiveness of using only a boxblade. I wonder how good of a job could you do with just a boxblade. Any chance of a side-by-side comparison of boxblade vs land plane?
Wouldn’t be fair with me driving! I’m such an amateur with a box blade!
GP outdoors has a video where he compares the two. Good stuff no matter what color tractor you like.
Tim, I am not thrilled at the bumpiness of the dirt after either a box blade or land plane. Can you try to get a pull behind version of either (box blade preferably) and do a comparison of the two? I really appreciate it. I have been reluctant to buy anything because I can't find information about them. Thanks! Jeff
I think a pull type box blade would be much easier in that regard.
As a volunteer, I've got repeat "customers." I've been doing hazard and fallen tree removal on our county's rail trail network and three land trusts. While doing that I see a lot of areas of the trails that need grading and drainage work. I'd like to see a mid-mount grader blade used at some point. I'm wondering if such a blade would work for maintenance of not only the trail surface but also allow for grading the shoulders for drainage maintenance.
Would be much better than our rear mounted equipment!
@@TractorTimewithTim My neighbor is working to build a mid-mount grader for his tractors. He has around 20 of the small lawn and garden tractors which he has acquired over the years. The newest (in age) is a 1964 Sears. The oldest was made in the 1930's. All of them run!
Very informative. Thanks for sharing.
Can u do a video on pricing how to calculate and u charge for jobs
Exact video I agree with 100 %in this video..