How does everyone figure their cost to shoe a horse? How precise do you get? I have been trying to reform my business and so i am starting over with basics. Obviously it costs more to drive 50 miles to shoe a horse than it does to shoe one 5 miles away. Do you just average everything?
I charge a trip charge based on distance, vehicle mpg and cost of fuel. Some folks say to figure the cost of shoeing by taking your trim fee and tripling it. As with most things, It Depends. And when someone asks me if I give discounts, I reply, "Absolutely! I count dis, I count dat, I count everything..."
my book its 2 trims to one shoe...BUT I like what Bro Rick pointed out 3/1 now if I could get the other guys and gals shoeing to do the same.... in my area...
2 1/2 trims to a full set for me as a base line. Drafts/large breeds would be 3 to 4 trims per full set if not more. I also charge a farm call based on mileage/fuel cost as well as how I feel that day before/after the work. Best way to figgure your costs is to watch what you spend.
Anywhere from 2/1 3/1 here. I use 3/1. Don't charge mileage, but make sure enough to do to justify the trip.
I charge as much as I feel people can tolerate, which up here is $40. If I could charge more I would. Full set is $110. Regards
Maybe I asked my question wrong. I am trying to figure what it costs me to shoe a horse, not what to charge. Example: if I charge 100 dollars how much is profit and how much goes towards shoes, nails, truck insurance taxes, health insurance, etc. etc. etc? On a completely different side note, I HATE PONIES!
The last time I ran the numbers on my own business I came up with a cost of $40 for 4 shoes, and $35 for two shoes. Here's how I do it. YMMV Take your total overhead for the year EXCLUDING the cost of shoes, nails, propane (Consumables that you only use for shoeing) - well call this "Cost X." Cost X should include replacing your shoeing rig every so many years. Sooner or later you are going to have to replace your rig. If you haven't been saving up the money for it, then you will have to make payments. So you really need to account for that in the long run. A low figure would be about $5,000/year. - paying for a $30,000 rig every 6 years. This is realistic. Cost X includes fuel, insurance, tool replacement and maintenance, vehicle maintenance, continuing education, etc. Divide Cost X by the number of horse appointments over the course of the year. For example, if you see a horse every 6 weeks, divide 52 by 6 = 8.667 which is the number of times you see each horse in a year. If you have 100 horses on your books, then you have 866 horse appointments. So divide Cost X by 866. I'm going to make up some numbers. Lets say Cost X is $25,000 25,000 / 866 = $28.87 - this is your overhead cost per horse. Now take your cost of materials to shoe a horse - shoes, nails, pads, propane, etc. 4 shoes - $10 24 nails - $3 Propane - $1.50 Based on these hypothetical figures, your cost to shoe a horse is $43.47 Hope that helps.
Yep Tom, and some guys around my area are charging $80 a head... and our costs in Oz are higher. This job is way too hard to net $30-$35 a head (Mind you, those particular guys are probably overcharging for their work )
I work out what each client is worth to me. I take a decision as to how to deal with the extras on an individual basis. If someone has 10 sets done every 5 weeks it isnt going to cost as much as the person who has two a week done for 5 weeks, but both are good clients.
I guess it depends how precise you want to be when you figure that stuff out. I really just figure out my cost for raw materials. And before anyone else says anything, trust me I'm very aware of my costs for insurance, fuel, vehicle wear and tear, etc. But just a basic figure for me is something like this: 4 steel shoes $8 32 nails $2 Propane $1 Rasp $1 Wear on other tools such as nippers, hammers, nail pullers $3 So I figure it really costs me about $15 to shoe a horse. However, that's before I factor in less frequent purchases like a new toolbox, apron, grinder, etc. The trim cost is the above just minus shoes, nails, and propane. So like $4 or $5. Or if you want to get really in depth with it, Tom up there is absolutely correct. My cost isn't quite as high as his hypothetical figure but is pretty close. My actual cost is right around $35
Oh I forgot my two cents about the mileage question. I have several clients in a neighboring county which, depending on where they live, is a 50-80 mile drive one way. To determine how much work I need in a day to justify my driving up there here's what I did: It costs me about $40 in diesel alone just to go up there, so right away I'm out an extra $40. Then I have a total of 4 hours driving for that day. If I shoe at the rate of one horse per hour (which I usually do) I've "spent" 4 horses just in driving. I charge $90 (Which in my area is exorbitantly high. There's guys around here charging $45 for four shoes) to shoe a horse. So, I've missed out on $360 just in driving, and spent $40 on fuel. I feel that by getting $400 worth of work makes traveling that distance worthwhile. P.S. If anyone has some advice or opinion on why this may be acceptable or totally wrong, I would really like to hear it.
Did a client that is two hours away and two hours home...2 to shoe and 13 trims...I threw out 100 and 50. nice drive and not bad money ...but I do not like a lot of long distance clients...
