Profit per Push: Where Edge Wear Sits in a Contractor’s Per-Event Price

Worked example (invented numbers)

Suppose a contractor has one truck with a plow. All figures are made up.

1. Edge cost: 400 per edge, installed.
2. Edge life: 80 hours of plowing, from the contractor’s own log.
3. Cost per hour: 400 divided by 80 gives 5.00 per hour.
4. Hours per push: an average push takes 2.5 hours.
5. Edge wear per push: 5.00 times 2.5 gives 12.50.

Add the same working for bolts and shoes, say 3.00 per hour in total, giving 7.50 per push. Edge, bolts and shoes together come to 20.00 per push in this example.

Where it sits in the price

In the example, edge parts are 8% of the price. If wear were doubled by hard surfaces, 20.00 would become 40.00, and the profit line would shrink unless the price rose.

Checking against your own records

The check is only as good as the two numbers you put into it.

• Use real edge life from your own log, by surface type.
• Use real push times, not an estimate.
• Revisit after each season, since prices and wear change.

Limits

These figures are invented and do not reflect any market. Local competition, contract terms and taxes also shape the price.

Sensitivity check

Rerun the example with edge life 20% shorter and 20% longer. If the per-push figure moves by only a dollar or two, wear is not your main risk; if it moves a lot, tighten your records and your contract wording.

One more check: compare your result with what you actually earned per push last season, after all costs. If the two differ a lot, either the records or the assumptions are off, and it is worth finding out which before you quote next year’s contracts.

Boundary: Every figure is invented to show the method and none reflects a real market, price or contract.