How are Agri-Contractors making money?

Aravo

Saw a local silage outfit passing recently.
S.P. Harvestor, big loader for the pit and 3 big tractors and trailers. The evening before the Big M mower passed, followed shortly afterwards by a rake, maybe the rake was for another job but from same outfit.

I see a local fella cutting lawns at your typical 0.6 to 1acre sites for approx. €50 each visit. He has his jeep, trailer, ride on lawn mower, a strimmer and blower. He is doing very well compared to the contracting outfit and much better hours.

K.G.

Arethere many contractors do ye know that gathered real assets not machinery in the years Houses,farms etc.if a a contractor has 1million in gear i wouldn't think he has 200 k in equity in that machinery now adays

patsy_mccabe

I sat up on my contractors new Fendt yesterday. Very nice. Not a sound in the cab. You would fall asleep on the passenger seat.
Nearly fainted when i googled the price last night.

Rowley Birkin QC

lab man wrote: »

I know of a guy new john deere missed a payment tractor was going grand went in for dinner at the customers house came out no go phoned the dealer and they were able to tell him why it wouldn't start there and then twas a bank holiday too tractor wasnt freed till the following tuesday

:eek: Was this in Ireland?

Eireog1

Hagimalone wrote: »

My calculations is average outgoing per week is €15000
Income is approx based on 80 acres per day, €120 per ac 6 day week.
(80x120x6)=€57600.
57600-15000=42600
A good week could bring in
120x120x7=100800-16800=€84k
Not too bad, l know it's a short season, but there must be money to be made.
Am l missing something?

The 15000 outgoing are only for the weeks of operation. The other weeks there is still finance costs to be paid even if your machinery is sitting in the shed. I think on my initial costing I factored in 1500 a week finance cost but that is every week so that would be 78K a year.

kevthegaff

If a contractor is cutting 3000 acres per year at 120, that's nearly 1.1 million over 3 years.also has the machinery for the rest of the year. Machinery doesnt depreciate a huge amount after 3 years. It's all about working the machines(acreage, hours)

Henry...

kevthegaff wrote: »

If a contractor is cutting 3000 acres per year at 120, that's nearly 1.1 million, also has the machinery for the rest of the year. Machinery doesnt depreciate a huge amount after 3 years. It's all about working the machines(acreage, hours)

The price will just work its way down until there's no profit in it

The more you work you'll just end up breaking even

enricoh

A lad near me got a self propelled outfit on the go. He was happy out as he was inundated with work from the get go.
Only problem was that most of them were tramps that wouldn't pay that no one else would touch! He packed it in after a couple of years n got his sanity back!

James2020App

kevthegaff wrote: »

If a contractor is cutting 3000 acres per year at 120, that's nearly 1.1 million, also has the machinery for the rest of the year. Machinery doesnt depreciate a huge amount after 3 years. It's all about working the machines(acreage, hours)

I wonder how many acres would they get through on average?


I suppose a lot depends on what part of Ireland they are based in. I know up here the farms would be smaller, many would be suckler herds. There would not be many larger dairy farms, so they would waste more time travelling from one small farm to another too.

kevthegaff

James2020App wrote: »

I wonder how many acres would they get through on average?


I suppose a lot depends on what part of Ireland they are based in. I know up here the farms would be smaller, many would be suckler herds. There would not be many larger dairy farms, so they would waste more time travelling from one small farm to another too.

Theres lads around here doing north of 4000 but on average 2-3k. Few lads winding down are doing maybe 1500 acres

jaymla627

kevthegaff wrote: »

If a contractor is cutting 3000 acres per year at 120, that's nearly 1.1 million, also has the machinery for the rest of the year. Machinery doesnt depreciate a huge amount after 3 years. It's all about working the machines(acreage, hours)

Broken calculator its 360k, its workable even at that money but skilled labour is the sticking point now, the wrong lad on a mower/rake could do a few k's worth of damage in a instant, the only outfits growing around here are father and son/sons set-ups where the expensive stuff is all drove by family and the trailer drivers employed in

Bass Reeves

Aravo wrote: »

Saw a local silage outfit passing recently.
S.P. Harvestor, big loader for the pit and 3 big tractors and trailers. The evening before the Big M mower passed, followed shortly afterwards by a rake, maybe the rake was for another job but from same outfit.

I see a local fella cutting lawns at your typical 0.6 to 1acre sites for approx. €50 each visit. He has his jeep, trailer, ride on lawn mower, a strimmer and blower. He is doing very well compared to the contracting outfit and much better hours.

I not sure if the lad doing lawns is any better off. If it l small lawns he is doing he be lucky to do 5/ day maybe only 4. The200-250/ day has to cover his costs. He may have to be CAT registered so 5 euro out of every lawn goes in vat. A lot of people will pay by card or bank transfer so the amount you f cash out there is not like it used to be.

Give hem 12-1300/ week for the he high season the rest of the year will be 6-800/ week at best. He need some sort of liability insurance and car insurance will also be more expensive because he should have commercial insurance. He may be lucky to turn over 50-55 k/ year. Give 3-5 to the vat man 3-4 k in insurance costs, 5-7k for machinery/ trailer/ jeep replacement and 120/ week(6k) for diesel and petrol so 20 k gone in costs

sob1467

jaymla627 wrote: »

Broken calculator its 360k, its workable even at that money but skilled labour is the sticking point now, the wrong lad on a mower/rake could do a few k's worth of damage in a instant, the only outfits growing around here are father and son/sons set-ups where the expensive stuff is all drove by family and the trailer drivers employed in

Probably too much time on my hands here, but anyway. This is my very rough costings of what 3,000 acres costs would be. Open to correction on all of the below, particularly the insurance & the labour and how long it would take to put in 3,000 acres:

Money in (€120 *3,000 acres) 360,000
Less VAT (360k *13.5%) - 48,600
Diesel (3,000 acres, 27.5 litres/acre, MGO: 65c/litre) - 53,625
Labour (5 men *€10 * 9 hours * 90days) - 40,500
Employer PRSI -4,050
Insurance (Complete Estimate) -5,000
Bad Debts - Money that will not be paid (At 5%) -18,000
Tyres/Oil/ Parts not covered by warranty -3,000
Mechanic not covered by warranty -2,000
Profit before maintenance, finance costs & depreciation 185,225

So it would leave around 185k, but that would be before any machinery financing or depreciation would be taken into account.

That area is so specific to each set of contractors so very difficult to put a figure against

josephsoap

They can make their own silage for free ?

foxy farmer

Bass Reeves wrote: »

I not sure if the lad doing lawns is any better off. If it l small lawns he is doing he be lucky to do 5/ day maybe only 4. The200-250/ day has to cover his costs. He may have to be CAT registered so 5 euro out of every lawn goes in vat. A lot of people will pay by card or bank transfer so the amount you f cash out there is not like it used to be.

Give hem 12-1300/ week for the he high season the rest of the year will be 6-800/ week at best. He need some sort of liability insurance and car insurance will also be more expensive because he should have commercial insurance. He may be lucky to turn over 50-55 k/ year. Give 3-5 to the vat man 3-4 k in insurance costs, 5-7k for machinery/ trailer/ jeep replacement and 120/ week(6k) for diesel and petrol so 20 k gone in costs

Plenty lads doing lawns are in the black economy.

patsy_mccabe

josephsoap wrote: »

They can make their own silage for free ?

How is it free? The real costs are the same as getting in an other contractor.

whelan2

josephsoap wrote: »

They can make their own silage for free ?

Henry...

Bass Reeves wrote: »

I not sure if the lad doing lawns is any better off. If it l small lawns he is doing he be lucky to do 5/ day maybe only 4. The200-250/ day has to cover his costs. He may have to be CAT registered so 5 euro out of every lawn goes in vat. A lot of people will pay by card or bank transfer so the amount you f cash out there is not like it used to be.

Give hem 12-1300/ week for the he high season the rest of the year will be 6-800/ week at best. He need some sort of liability insurance and car insurance will also be more expensive because he should have commercial insurance. He may be lucky to turn over 50-55 k/ year. Give 3-5 to the vat man 3-4 k in insurance costs, 5-7k for machinery/ trailer/ jeep replacement and 120/ week(6k) for diesel and petrol so 20 k gone in costs

Doubt anyone doing lawns is getting paid by card or bank transfer

French Toast

enricoh wrote: »

A lad near me got a self propelled outfit on the go. He was happy out as he was inundated with work from the get go.
Only problem was that most of them were tramps that wouldn't pay that no one else would touch! He packed it in after a couple of years n got his sanity back!

Hardest thing for lads starting out is they'll often get jobs other established contractors don't want - small/rough fields, farmers who'll duck paying etc.

Only hope is for a lad to set up at the same time another is getting out.

farawaygrass

Bass Reeves wrote: »

I not sure if the lad doing lawns is any better off. If it l small lawns he is doing he be lucky to do 5/ day maybe only 4. The200-250/ day has to cover his costs. He may have to be CAT registered so 5 euro out of every lawn goes in vat. A lot of people will pay by card or bank transfer so the amount you f cash out there is not like it used to be.

Give hem 12-1300/ week for the he high season the rest of the year will be 6-800/ week at best. He need some sort of liability insurance and car insurance will also be more expensive because he should have commercial insurance. He may be lucky to turn over 50-55 k/ year. Give 3-5 to the vat man 3-4 k in insurance costs, 5-7k for machinery/ trailer/ jeep replacement and 120/ week(6k) for diesel and petrol so 20 k gone in costs

Doesn’t sound too bad in my eyes. Something like that could suit a farmer down to the ground

lakill Farm

You take away the sales vat ? but don't add back any vat on inputs such as MGO , Derv , parts, machinery purchases, repairs etc.


Also insurance for most good size self propelled outfits where they have work going all year around at other work is north of 15-20K

sob1467 wrote: »

Probably too much time on my hands here, but anyway. This is my very rough costings of what 3,000 acres costs would be. Open to correction on all of the below, particularly the insurance & the labour and how long it would take to put in 3,000 acres:

Money in (€120 *3,000 acres) 360,000
Less VAT (360k *13.5%) - 48,600
Diesel (3,000 acres, 27.5 litres/acre, MGO: 65c/litre) - 53,625
Labour (5 men *€10 * 9 hours * 90days) - 40,500
Employer PRSI -4,050
Insurance (Complete Estimate) -5,000
Bad Debts - Money that will not be paid (At 5%) -18,000
Tyres/Oil/ Parts not covered by warranty -3,000
Mechanic not covered by warranty -2,000
Profit before maintenance, finance costs & depreciation 185,225

So it would leave around 185k, but that would be before any machinery financing or depreciation would be taken into account.

That area is so specific to each set of contractors so very difficult to put a figure against

_Brian

farawaygrass wrote: »

Doesn’t sound too bad in my eyes. Something like that could suit a farmer down to the ground

Know a farmer who has a window cleaning round. 2 days a week out doing the windows, 20 sucklers and maybe same number of sheep.

Local lad used to empty septic tanks, €50 each, just dump it into his slatted tank. That stopped with the need for certification.

Pinsnbushings

sob1467 wrote: »

Probably too much time on my hands here, but anyway. This is my very rough costings of what 3,000 acres costs would be. Open to correction on all of the below, particularly the insurance & the labour and how long it would take to put in 3,000 acres:

Money in (€120 *3,000 acres) 360,000
Less VAT (360k *13.5%) - 48,600
Diesel (3,000 acres, 27.5 litres/acre, MGO: 65c/litre) - 53,625
Labour (5 men *€10 * 9 hours * 90days) - 40,500
Employer PRSI -4,050
Insurance (Complete Estimate) -5,000
Bad Debts - Money that will not be paid (At 5%) -18,000
Tyres/Oil/ Parts not covered by warranty -3,000
Mechanic not covered by warranty -2,000
Profit before maintenance, finance costs & depreciation 185,225

So it would leave around 185k, but that would be before any machinery financing or depreciation would be taken into account.

That area is so specific to each set of contractors so very difficult to put a figure against

Can't see that many lads working for 10 an hour now but don't know maybe that's what they are being paid.if so has a lot to do with it being hard to find lads to work

kevthegaff

jaymla627 wrote: »

Broken calculator its 360k, its workable even at that money but skilled labour is the sticking point now, the wrong lad on a mower/rake could do a few k's worth of damage in a instant, the only outfits growing around here are father and son/sons set-ups where the expensive stuff is all drove by family and the trailer drivers employed in

Sorry meant over 3 years

James2020App

It seems that bales would be more profitable than a full pit silage.

DBK1

sob1467 wrote: »

Probably too much time on my hands here, but anyway. This is my very rough costings of what 3,000 acres costs would be. Open to correction on all of the below, particularly the insurance & the labour and how long it would take to put in 3,000 acres:

Money in (€120 *3,000 acres) 360,000
Less VAT (360k *13.5%) - 48,600
Diesel (3,000 acres, 27.5 litres/acre, MGO: 65c/litre) - 53,625
Labour (5 men *€10 * 9 hours * 90days) - 40,500
Employer PRSI -4,050
Insurance (Complete Estimate) -5,000
Bad Debts - Money that will not be paid (At 5%) -18,000
Tyres/Oil/ Parts not covered by warranty -3,000
Mechanic not covered by warranty -2,000
Profit before maintenance, finance costs & depreciation 185,225

So it would leave around 185k, but that would be before any machinery financing or depreciation would be taken into account.

That area is so specific to each set of contractors so very difficult to put a figure against

When you get a chance could you send me on a few contacts. I definitely want the numbers for your diesel man, insurance rep, tyre man, oil supplier, spare part supplier and mechanic. Thanks.

Maybe give them a shout yourself first too and let them know they’re going to be inundated with calls as soon as you put up their names.

I’d like to know too who’s going to drive the machinery for the other 9 hours a day when the labour you’ve hired head for home at 2 or 3 in the day as they’re only getting paid for 9 hours.

A local enough contractor here doing a lot of pit silage never switched off the harvestor for 15 days straight a few weeks back when the pressure was on.

Low Energy Eng

This thread makes for sobering reading.
Thought I'd like a bit of farm work while making a decent living.

James2020App

Mistype

sob1467

lakill Farm wrote: »

You take away the sales vat ? but don't add back any vat on inputs such as MGO , Derv , parts, machinery purchases, repairs etc.

Also insurance for most good size self propelled outfits where they have work going all year around at other work is north of 15-20K

Ok updated my figures below to exclude VAT on Diesel, Tyres & Mechanic. Increased the insurance by 10k. The end result is still very similar at 182k

sob1467 wrote: »

Open to correction on all of the below, particularly the insurance & the labour and how long it would take to put in 3,000 acres:

Money in (€120 *3,000 acres) 360,000
Less VAT (360k *13.5%) - 48,600
Diesel (3,000 acres, 27.5 litres/acre, MGO: 65c/litre VAT Ex) 47,255
Labour (5 men *€10 * 9 hours * 90days) - 40,500
Employer PRSI -4,050
Insurance -15,000
Bad Debts - Money that will not be paid (At 5%) -18,000
Tyres/Oil/ Parts not covered by warranty (VAT Ex) -2,439
Mechanic not covered by warranty (VAT Ex) -1,762
Profit before maintenance, finance costs & depreciation 182,402

DBK1 wrote: »

When you get a chance could you send me on a few contacts. I definitely want the numbers for your diesel man, insurance rep, tyre man, oil supplier, spare part supplier and mechanic. Thanks.

Maybe give them a shout yourself first too and let them know they’re going to be inundated with calls as soon as you put up their names.

I’d like to know too who’s going to drive the machinery for the other 9 hours a day when the labour you’ve hired head for home at 2 or 3 in the day as they’re only getting paid for 9 hours.

A local enough contractor here doing a lot of pit silage never switched off the harvestor for 15 days straight a few weeks back when the pressure was on.

Do feel free to tell me the correct figures to use from diesel, insurance, parts and mechanic then.


Same goes for labour, for both hours worked and rate per hour. I did say that they were all estimates, but more than happy to update it with more resonable figures, if you have some.

kevthegaff

DBK1 wrote: »

When you get a chance could you send me on a few contacts. I definitely want the numbers for your diesel man, insurance rep, tyre man, oil supplier, spare part supplier and mechanic. Thanks.

Maybe give them a shout yourself first too and let them know they’re going to be inundated with calls as soon as you put up their names.

I’d like to know too who’s going to drive the machinery for the other 9 hours a day when the labour you’ve hired head for home at 2 or 3 in the day as they’re only getting paid for 9 hours.

A local enough contractor here doing a lot of pit silage never switched off the harvestor for 15 days straight a few weeks back when the pressure was on.

He has 90 days, contractors have most of the silage done in 3 to 4 weeks

Easten

sob1467 wrote: »

Ok updated my figures below to exclude VAT on Diesel, Tyres & Mechanic. Increased the insurance by 10k. The end result is still very similar at 182k

Do feel free to tell me the correct figures to use from diesel, insurance, parts and mechanic then.


Same goes for labour, for both hours worked and rate per hour. I did say that they were all estimates, but more than happy to update it with more resonable figures, if you have some.

182k :eek: that's a very nice profit. Them contractors should at least be providing free lube to the farmers

Reggie.

sob1467 wrote: »

Probably too much time on my hands here, but anyway. This is my very rough costings of what 3,000 acres costs would be. Open to correction on all of the below, particularly the insurance & the labour and how long it would take to put in 3,000 acres:

Money in (€120 *3,000 acres) 360,000
Less VAT (360k *13.5%) - 48,600
Diesel (3,000 acres, 27.5 litres/acre, MGO: 65c/litre) - 53,625
Labour (5 men *€10 * 9 hours * 90days) - 40,500
Employer PRSI -4,050
Insurance (Complete Estimate) -5,000
Bad Debts - Money that will not be paid (At 5%) -18,000
Tyres/Oil/ Parts not covered by warranty -3,000
Mechanic not covered by warranty -2,000
Profit before maintenance, finance costs & depreciation 185,225

So it would leave around 185k, but that would be before any machinery financing or depreciation would be taken into account.

That area is so specific to each set of contractors so very difficult to put a figure against

Pit here is €100 or less an acre. Fuel is now 73c a litre.

Also I'd say the pit crews are using way more than 27lts an acre. Mowers alone would be 12lts. Harvester has to be a thirsty beast aswell

sob1467

sob1467 wrote: »

Ok updated my figures below to exclude VAT on Diesel, Tyres & Mechanic. Increased the insurance by 10k. The end result is still very similar at 182k








Do feel free to tell me the correct figures to use from diesel, insurance, parts and mechanic then.


Same goes for labour, for both hours worked and rate per hour. I did say that they were all estimates, but more than happy to update it with more resonable figures, if you have some.

Your mechanic,non warrenty repairs and oil rate are very optimistic


You'll not get anyone below e50 an hour nowadays....oil is up 30% last few months....pirtek are going up from augest for call outs


Good luck getting drivers for e10 an hour,thats below the min wage


That being said,180K profit on 3K acres is only e6 an acre,......its nothing for the money tied up in it

jaymla627

Reggie. wrote: »

Pit here is €100 or less an acre. Fuel is now 73c a litre.

Also I'd say the pit crews are using way more than 27lts an acre. Mowers alone would be 12lts. Harvester has to be a thirsty beast aswell

Double pottingers on the case here is burning less then 3 litres a acre, real heavy stuff maybe 4 liters

Waffletraktor

Mooooo wrote: »

Only crowd I've heard of doing it arent even a dealership. Buy em in and use it themselves or lease em out and deal with manufacturer is once they are 12 months old and 1000hrs on em they can be sold.

There's plenty of hire fleets doing something similar alright, a few guys like you say that buy a number of machines anually direct from manufacturer and are given access to the fancy diagnostic software and parts ordering as all the work would be warranty or user charged repairs.
To have a very high spec deere or fendt eg. you need to be doing 2k hrs or turn over towards 100k per anum on the tractor never mind implement for a contractor to make the calculator work. Work back for less costly machines to do things like haulage work. Things like not turning off machines if leaving it for more than a minute or 2, driving to and from jobs or paying lads to grease up/wash/blow out rads -filters/ cleaning cabs etc.

Cavanjack

Reggie. wrote: »

Pit here is €100 or less an acre. Fuel is now 73c a litre.

Also I'd say the pit crews are using way more than 27lts an acre. Mowers alone would be 12lts. Harvester has to be a thirsty beast aswell

Same here €100 including vat.

GrasstoMilk

120 here with 8 mile draw if the crop is heavy

K.G.

125 + if a long draw around here.

mycro2013

Contractor in the local area that i previously worked for doing 3k acres use to break down his expenses as follows.

1k acres payments/hire of equipment.
1k acres diesel,wages and repairs.
1k acres profit, insurance.

The silage outfit pays for the machinery, the profit is made on other less diesel intensive operations. Another consideration is what other industry would offer a turn over of 360k in 3-4 weeks.

kevthegaff

mycro2013 wrote: »

Contractor in the local area that i previously worked for doing 3k acres use to break down his expenses as follows.

1k acres payments/hire of equipment.
1k acres diesel,wages and repairs.
1k acres profit, insurance.

The silage outfit pays for the machinery, the profit is made on other less diesel intensive operations. Another consideration is what other industry would offer a turn over of 360k in 3-4 weeks.

Theres money in it, long hours and trying to collect money the biggest detterrents

older by the day

K.G. wrote: »

125 + if a long draw around here.

Got charged 140 here this year, 2 mile bumpy draw. He says the price but I say the acres

Nobbies

mycro2013 wrote: »

Contractor in the local area that i previously worked for doing 3k acres use to break down his expenses as follows.

1k acres payments/hire of equipment.
1k acres diesel,wages and repairs.
1k acres profit, insurance.

The silage outfit pays for the machinery, the profit is made on other less diesel intensive operations. Another consideration is what other industry would offer a turn over of 360k in 3-4 weeks.

I love your last line, i must level that one at a few of them in time to come.

GrasstoMilk

K.G. wrote: »

125 + if a long draw around here.

We mow ours too fir that price
Thats worth another 20
They cover the pit with us
Definitely worth the few extra pound

Grueller

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

We mow ours too fir that price
Thats worth another 20
They cover the pit with us
Definitely worth the few extra pound

Trevor?

tipptom

Combine harvesters!!

Is there a machine used so little that costs so much.

One bad year weather or payment wise and the repayments surely knocks you out of the game

Bass Reeves

foxy farmer wrote: »

Plenty lads doing lawns are in the black economy.

Problem with that is when you it's impossible to stay in the BE. More and more people are paying by card or credit transfer. Ask the average restaurant or pub what amount of card transaction they had 5 years ago compared to now. Kids just do not use cash

The other thing about the BE is you can never grow you business. It's very hard to do anything with the cash. Even most of them that are in the BE are trying to say below the vat threshold.

10 years ago there was a few independent mechanics around.now they are few and far between. Most have end up either going working for a garage or have had to vat register

Henry... wrote: »

Doubt anyone doing lawns is getting paid by card or bank transfer

Cash is getting harder and harder to access. Its even the hassle of collecting it. If you are at something like that when you call to the average Joe, there is nobody at home or if the are they are WFH.
You will have to be calling back to collect you cash. If you are cutting a lawn once a week for a householder they just want to set up a DD.
Talking to s lad about this( small business sole trader) and he has a card machine. He says virtually everybody has a card now. They may forget the Credit transfer, they probably will not have the cash on them...that is if they are home. You can do the card transaction with or without the card being present. That is what the three digits at the back are for.

farawaygrass wrote: »

Doesn’t sound too bad in my eyes. Something like that could suit a farmer down to the ground

The figures I quoted are for an eight hour day, probably a 5 and a half day week. Moving from one small job to the next eats time. It's 5 minutes to take the lawnmower off and put it back on the trailer is another 5 minutes Any decent Lawn will take an hour to cut. Give yourself twenty minutes to travel between jobs. If it out in the country you will have longer spins between jobs and harder to get enough work to make it worth while.

GrasstoMilk

Grueller wrote: »

Trevor?

Nolans
Trevor wouldn't give ye a minute, but wouldn't be happy you went with someone else!

Didn't know you were this area!

Grueller

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

Nolans
Trevor wouldn't give ye a minute, but wouldn't be happy you went with someone else!

Didn't know you were this area!

I'm not. I am up on the Wicklow border. I have a few contacts down there though. The GAA goes everywhere.

FintanMcluskey

kevthegaff wrote: »

Theres money in it, long hours and trying to collect money the biggest detterrents

I think it’s the only industry in the world that offers credit at a real 0% interest

If offering credit wasn’t part of the deal I would start up a business contracting in the morning

It’s a horrific addiction

Aravo

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Problem with that is when you it's impossible to stay in the BE. More and more people are paying by card or credit transfer. Ask the average restaurant or pub what amount of card transaction they had 5 years ago compared to now. Kids just do not use cash

The other thing about the BE is you can never grow you business. It's very hard to do anything with the cash. Even most of them that are in the BE are trying to say below the vat threshold.

10 years ago there was a few independent mechanics around.now they are few and far between. Most have end up either going working for a garage or have had to vat register





Cash is getting harder and harder to access. Its even the hassle of collecting it. If you are at something like that when you call to the average Joe, there is nobody at home or if the are they are WFH.
You will have to be calling back to collect you cash. If you are cutting a lawn once a week for a householder they just want to set up a DD.
Talking to s lad about this( small business sole trader) and he has a card machine. He says virtually everybody has a card now. They may forget the Credit transfer, they probably will not have the cash on them...that is if they are home. You can do the card transaction with or without the card being present. That is what the three digits at the back are for.





The figures I quoted are for an eight hour day, probably a 5 and a half day week. Moving from one small job to the next eats time. It's 5 minutes to take the lawnmower off and put it back on the trailer is another 5 minutes Any decent Lawn will take an hour to cut. Give yourself twenty minutes to travel between jobs. If it out in the country you will have longer spins between jobs and harder to get enough work to make it worth while.

The fella I know is also farming and does the lawns from probably April to Oct. As a part time operation it seems to work well for him.
No 20mins between jobs as he would generally cover the same area one one day and another on another day so can do more these days and less fuels costs. With people WFH it would be easier to get paid as people are about.
He has the same jeep and trailer for the past 10 years and minds it and same goes for lawn equipment so minimising costs here also.
If a lawn takes an hour to cut that would be extra.
If it rains and the lawn has to wait a few days then no problem. Not like if there was silage to be made and the contractor is late.

The biggest issue affecting him is the popularity of robotic lawnmowers.