I totally understand where you are coming from. We just got a difference on a bid of 7000.00 just to move dirt. So I get how frustrating it is when someone trys to make a huge amount of money on you so they can take 2 weeks off. I guess that is why I will continue to get bids when I have my shop built. Everyone gets the same plans most competent person with a reasonable price gets the job

I think you took what I said a bit personal....it was just a reply and my opinion...maybe you're just really really tore up about this.
At $25 an hour and employer would literaly be paying out of his pocket to have his guys work for you. He would have to charge atleast $50an hour to have any chance to make any money at all.
After seeing your smart ass post to my reply I believe there could also be a second issue here (thought the prices are not as out of line as you think anyways).......When biding a job you have to account for the people you are working for. Maybe you are rubbing the contractors the wrong way...maybe they think you were being rude or acting like you are a know it all, etc, etc.... Some people will just take extra efforts to work with...time is money, so you charge more....some people you charge even more for, because it will probably not be a good working environment and they will complain all along the way.
Figure every hour at least $50 and start the ticker the second you're having coffee looking at the empty lot.

When your project gets finished I'm sure we will hear aaaaaallllllll about it! Who's going to post for you when it doesn't?

You can't make an honest post from the heart and not expect people to reply to it the same way. That's a double standard. There are other ways to describe it, but I'll stick with double standard.

Never said you weren't capable of doing the work, not sure anyone else did either. It just seems like you're missing the correlation from what you THINK acceptable labor costs are without factoring in all the little things. Each piece of the puzzle you're making a bit of a mockery of is an expense to the contractor. There are more as well. Sure, some building contractors are predatory, but when you actually stop to think about all of the costs involved in having a crew, equipment, employee health & welfare benefits, and all of the governmental required crap on top, it gets rather expensive. Plus, they have to turn a net profit, otherwise there is no point to be in business in the first place.

If you're plenty capable of doing the work, and feel the contractors are delusional, then I must ask why you even bothered to get a bid in the first place?

How much dirt? Equipment involved? Trucking?

I have almost 9 acres in Ravensdale. The guy we are going to use is local. He is not moving a ton of dirt more taking wood piles and moving into one big brush pile and taking larger logs that are down and separating out those to be cut up for firewood and removing some stumps. So the one quote is about 1500.00 per day probably only 1 maybe 2 days the other guy needed 7-9 days. Makes absolutely no sense that it would take that long. We don't care how or what equipment is used as long as it is done the way we expect it to be. I mean a guy could come in with a d9 dozer and probably get it done in 4 hours

I'll give you an honest quote. I have a D8, which is quite a bit smaller than a D9, but we'll play anyway.

A lowboy move for a D8 is going to run $250/hr, 3 hour minimum. Pilots and permits will be extra. A private pilot car company is going to charge around $100/hr for two pilot cars. Lucky for you, I can have a guy follow in a pickup truck for $30/hr @ 3hr min while I follow ahead in another pickup for FREE, and my dad will drive the lowboy. Oversize permits will run about $376. One way charges, I'll eat the diesel going back home.

So, if we can move it inside the minimum period, which I seriously doubt based on our traffic, you're looking at $750 in mob, plus $376 in permits, plus $90 for the one pilot vehicle. So, now we're there on time and you're out of pocket $1216.00

Now, to operate the D8 on site you're looking at the WaGuns discounted price of $215/hr, 4 hour minimum. So, let's say without seeing this site, that all the clearing, piling, AND sorting can be done with just a D8 within your expected 4 hour timeframe, which is extremely doubtful but I digress.
Sooooo.....that's 4 hours @ $215 = $860. Mind you to get all of that done in your 4 hour expectations this thing will be set on full kill so the fuel burn will be about 60 gallons @ 3.82/gal, plus about $80 worth of grease, plus about $240 for the operator, plus the standard "wear n tear" rate on a D8 of $55/hr, you will notice I'm making $90.80 off having that $230,000 machine (used price) up there beating its guts out for ya.

Now, I'm all done. So here comes the lowboy again, along with the two pilot vehicles. This is another $1216 out of your wallet, if there is no traffic.

Soooooo.....subtotal, $1216 + $860 + 1216 = $3292.00 Plus Tax. Ravensdale is currently 8.6% so that would make the total $3575.11

Sounds like a fair quote I concur. My father and law works for cedar grove and I am familiar with how the pilot cars work and cost. Like I said I found a local forester and he is going to do it for me thanks though. Cheers

All of a sudden, I like you Dan. That is a quick bid over the computer, with VERY VERY narrow profit margins. I have been self employed for 7 years, been the industry for 22. I have done a bid or two. I get every once in a while the guy like powder who laughs at me like I just started in this game. More power to you, If you knew half of what you think you know, your shop would already be done. Dont waste a family man's time if you already knew how much it was going to cost and were willing to do the work yourself.

I wasn't really planning on winning the job LOL it was more just to put things in perspective. Truthfully it could not be done for that as it's a barely break even bid, probably actually a net loss.

The guy who quoted more time probably has small equipment and is charging big equipment prices.

tag for later

Your posts in this thread make you sound very bitter......just saying.

Simple, and already stated. I didn't want to do it. Someone already said it, but time is money... it's just that 2 months or so of hard labor is not $40k imo.

The long and short is i wouldn't have gotten bids if i knew what someone would charge me. I'm not that dishonest with anyone, especially myself. I didn't laugh at anyone, i just said "That's not even close to my budget, thanks for your time. I will have to do it myself." Guess who laughed then? I'll give you a hint... it was someone like you. I'm glad you know so much about how everything went down though. Thanks for your time in this thread, you've provided insight into the reasons i've always done my own work.