ATV Billing Rates

I am solo, and I just have it built into my hourly rate. I don't have an itemized charge out for the ATV or UTV on jobs.

I am interested in seeing what others so. Most of my jobs are lump sum, and the ATV helps me get the job done quicker. My ATV has been paid for for years, so the only real costs I have now are maintenance, insurance, and fuel.

No separate charges here. It's all sort of smoothed into how I set my field rate.

My opinion is that invoices should be as simple as possible. I do not like going to an automotive shop, for example, that has clearly stated hourly rates posted for all to see and then get an invoice with about 20 percent extra tacked on under various labels, such as shop charge or rack fee.

#People, tools, ATV, boat, tpost, monuments are all added in as a set fee for the job if they are needed.

I would not be able to do some jobs without an ATV, so it works both ways on the economic scale.

Look at hourly or daily rental rates at an ATV rental place near a trail ride. I looked at a few stores in Russellville, Arkansas near the Ouchita National Forest and a couple of places in Knoxville, TN, near Coal Creek Mountain ATV trails. I got anywhere from $5 per mile to $10 per mile. Daily rates varied from $75 to $125 per day. These prices were from several years ago, so they may not be current.
I price my ATV in with my hourly or daily rate. I pay myself federal reimbursement rates on mileage for my truck and $5 per mile for my ATV. I do not think that is quite enough. I am interested in what others say about this.

When I am putting together a cost estimate on a job, I visualize which of my tools are going to be necessary.

I itemize the scope of work performed, but I have never charged on paper any one tool or another.

Getting charged for a special wrench or air compressor time from a mechanic would tick me off.

BTW, always get permission to use your ATV on the cients land, you never know!

Randy

This is a perfect example of why so many surveyors never get ahead. A businessman would have figured out what he could bill for a new piece of equipment BEFORE purchasing it, not after.

No harm intended, just sayin'...

we charge $5 hr more to our GPS time if the ATV is used, otherwise it's $100 Hour.

We charge a day rate for UTV on top of hourly rate, etc. If we lump sum bid a job the day rate of the UTV is calculated in.

We charge $150 a day for the use of ATV

:good:

100$/day

Unfortunately in a corporation, I don't have the luxury of asking the non-surveying managers that require justification for every purchase the direct question of "Can I buy this?". As a result, it all has to be justified and accounted for especially when you are ran by bean counters. I follow a typical 5 years straight line depreciation divided up by the number of crews all the way down to an hourly scale so that I can include this in my rate sheet. Keeps it simple and doesn't create a lot of questions when it comes time to bill. I do this honestly for all my equipment needs because I like to maintain pace with the ever changing side of survey technology and the only way to do that is find a break even cost to upgrade as necessary without living in the Stone Age.

I'm not here to make money off the equipment or off-road vehicles. There is a point and time to make money but when a new rover cost $25k or a new robotic instrument runs $35k you would be hard pressed to get anyone on board for that purchase. I tend to pick my battles and that's not one of them.

Now increasing surveying costs across the board for all firms is a battle I would love to fight but I will save that for another forum.

Mark Keeton

Uncommon transportation; Once doing a boundary on a seeded 1000 acre +/- dry land field land locked by a canyon on one side, Pine Creek, and neighbors on the rest with no connecting roads. Owner says no driving anything in the field except the D-6 that he provided. I was the only one who had operated Cats, so I drove. The owner rode along until I had proven I knew what I was doing and he went back to the shop. The instrument, tripods and reflectors all tied on, the 2 crew members rode where they could. Worked fine with no soil compaction, the tracks, as always dusted us up. I was a party chief, but think it was a flat rate job with no provisions for transportation, before the days of ATV's but Cushman had came out with their Trackster. I bought a Trackster later, it's tracks would give you a good dusting, just like a cat.
jud

$250/day per ATV includes trailer/sled and fuel.
Same rate whether running tracks or wheels.

I had a client view this as a big money maker for us. I offered to rent them from him at that rate. I told him that they would have to be customized for surveying (GPS and controller mount, rod tubes, box for tools and equipment), they'd always have to be available and in good working order - I wouldn't be paying him for the days when they just sat there because they weren't needed or on any day when there was a breakdown/stuck - he'd have to recover them and take them to the shop when they broke down in far away places or got stuck in the swamp. The cost for the mechanic and parts was his. He'd need to provide a trailer to haul them to the job and outfit our truck to haul the trailer. He'd also need to provide a sled or trailer for hauling additional supplies when needed. I'd also need a certificate of insurance covering the ATV and trailer which also named our client as an additional insured party. He did the math, realized there was more to this than buying and driving an ATV and decided that $250/day was a very good deal for him. (I didn't even have to mention that I wouldn't be able to bill for the crew when they were dealing with the stuck/dead/broken ATV so that cost would be his too.)

We've replaced or repaired nearly every suspension/steering part on our ATVs - they're not abused they're simply well used. The engines are amazing - super reliable. I figure we break about even at this rate. ATVs are not cheap to operate in a commercial environment.

If you're not charging for consumption of your ATV, where does the money to maintain/repair it come from?
Where will you get the money to replace it when it reaches the end of it's useful life?

Good point Randy. I always have that clause in my proposals.

I always factor in the use of my ATV on most of my jobs. I am the one using it, and it is far from abused. I expect it will last another ten or twelve years. I am pretty easy on my stuff, because I paid for it.

I am very close to having all of my stuff paid for, and the coffers will be replenished for replacement of equipment in the next few years. The fees that some of you guys can charge can't/won't fly in my neck of the woods, at least for the private landowners that some of my projects are for. The larger commercial clients, I can definitely do that for, and I do add in that surcharge in my proposals.