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Pricing mulching work by the hectare

Fuel reduction, roadside and vegetation management tenders are priced per hectare, so a productivity figure you have not measured is a margin you have not got. Enter your own numbers and the rate falls out.

Productivity

Measure it on your own site. Brochure figures are best-case, in light material, on flat ground.

Hourly costs

Mulching burns more than general excavation. Do not use your dig rate.

Job costs

Tender rate per hectare

$1,133

Your cost per hectare

$944

Break-even, direct only

$700

Hours on site34.3 hr
Direct cost, whole job$8,400
Plus mobilisation$9,600
Plus overhead$11,328
Quoted total$13,594
Margin, dollars$2,266
If your real productivity is not 0.35 ha/hr
ProductivityHours on siteYour cost / haTender rate / haMargin held
0.17 ha/hr68.6 hr$1,770$1,133-56%
0.26 ha/hr45.7 hr$1,219$1,133-8%
0.35 ha/hrYOURS34.3 hr$944$1,13317%
0.44 ha/hr27.4 hr$779$1,13331%

Read the productivity claim honestly

Halve the hectares-per-hour figure and watch the tender rate move. That sensitivity is the whole argument for measuring your own output on your own material before you price a job, rather than pricing from a brochure figure and discovering the difference on site.

Where hectare pricing goes wrong

  1. 01

    Brochure hectares

    Published productivity is a best case: light material, flat ground, an experienced operator and no interruptions. Measure your own output on your own material before you commit to a rate, because the difference between 0.5 and 0.25 hectares an hour doubles your cost base.

  2. 02

    Dig-rate fuel

    Mulching is continuous load on a machine designed for intermittent load. Fuel burn, cooling demand and service intervals all move. Costing a mulching hour at your excavation hourly rate understates it every time.

  3. 03

    Teeth treated as a spare

    In abrasive or stony ground, teeth are a monthly budget line, not an occasional order. Put a real hourly figure in above — including the downtime to change them — rather than absorbing it in overhead.

  4. 04

    Mobilisation spread thin

    Float on, float off and set-up are fixed per job, so they hit small jobs hardest. A twelve hectare job carries mobilisation comfortably; a two hectare job does not, and pricing both at the same per-hectare rate loses money on one of them.

Forestry mulcher guide →Shear or mulcher? →
OMEF TE series forestry mulcher on an excavator, showing the fixed-tooth rotor, front pusher bar and hydraulic hose routing
OMEF TE series — fixed-tooth rotor and front pusher bar

Talk to a specialist

Rotor choice is the decision, not the model number. Tell us the material you are clearing and we will tell you which rotor suits it.

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