# Hourly cost



## 7441aaron (Aug 2, 2011)

How do I come up with an hourly cost to operate? I can come up with the cost of equipment lump sum but I don understand how you figure that in to how much an hour. Also how do you guys figure your fuel consumption an hour, breakdowns, maintenance, etc.?


----------



## buckwheat_la (Oct 11, 2009)

Most of what you are looking for is the law of averages. Fill up your equipment, use it for a couple hours, refill, divide fuel amount by amount of hours worked, do this a couple times and you well soon get a average cost per hour to run that equipment. Same with maintenance, take the cost of servicing your equipment, divide it by the amount of billing hours you run this equipment, and you have a idea of how much you need per billed hour to pay for a service. Repairs are a bit more tricky being that you don't know when/where/how your equipment well fail, for that I usually add 10-15% on the top. Monthly costs are fixed, so again, fixed costs per month/divided by billied hours, and there you go. Average these things out over 4-6 months and you well have a pretty good idea what costs are for you per billied hour. After that add in your wage and profit margins and you should be set.


----------



## Mick76 (Aug 2, 2009)

What did we do before the internet? We had to make mistakes and LEARN from our mistakes......

Well, here ya go......... enjoy!

http://lawnchat.com/?page_id=341


----------



## Camden (Mar 10, 2007)

Mick76;1296823 said:


> What did we do before the internet? We had to make mistakes and LEARN from our mistakes......
> 
> Well, here ya go......... enjoy!
> 
> http://lawnchat.com/?page_id=341


First time I've ever seen that. Very cool Thumbs Up


----------



## merrimacmill (Apr 18, 2007)

Having your expenses figured out exactly is the key to your success, spreadsheets are key. And when calculating all of this, I always assume the most realistic worst case scenario.


----------



## ANA Proscapes (Jul 14, 2011)

Camden;1296839 said:


> First time I've ever seen that. Very cool Thumbs Up


X2. I've been looking for something like that for a while.


----------



## Wayne Volz (Mar 1, 2002)

*We offer what you are looking for*

WE have a spreadsheet CD called "Know why you charge what you charge" that calculates cost per hour of operation based on your company's overhead, expenses and use-rates. It is simple to use and you can use it for any service you offer.

Call us if you have any questions. You can also order on-line at www.profitsareus.com

Thanks.


----------



## NickT (Feb 1, 2011)

Wow lots of info here what would I do without plow site??? Thx for honesty and integrity fellas


----------

