I THINK JUST ONE JOB COULD PAY FOR MY TRACTOR ???
Could you pay for your tractor in just One project well that depends right Depends on the size of the project what Kind of project it is and I started Thinking about it with this one I'm in The middle of right now I think you could do just that so let's Run through it we're all looking for Ways to justify track their ownership Right and uh out here 40 acres a lot of Things to do I'm in the middle of a big Project I got a lot of it done in the Fall but I got a lot more to do and That's putting gravel down a Gravel Lane Got to bring that lane all the way back Here to the barn gravel parking pads and Turnarounds and everything else so a lot Of work to be done and I thought man how Much would that be for me to hire out to A contractor and did a lot of Google Searches a lot of ranges out there on Cost per foot to have gravel installed Like on a gravel driveway and most of Those results turned up a range of one To three dollars you know maybe a two Dollar average per square foot and Certainly there's a lot of factors that Go into that cost and if you're going to Take this seriously it may be worth Getting some contractors having those Quotes come in to see how much they Would charge you we've done a lot of Renovation on our house and our shop This year and I'll tell you what I think
Things are more on the high side these Days than anywhere near the middle okay Now take some notes all right so I did a Little bit of math I calculated the Square feet just the total length of What I've done already around here and Then the width of it I'm going to have 22 400 square feet of surface area Square feet to cover okay and that's not The depth right so we're going to put That In some areas maybe four inches some six Some eight depends what it is but at That average cost of two dollars a foot That's that's almost 45 Grand to have This project done forty five thousand Dollars forty five thousand dollars and That includes all the labor the material The equipment their overhead their Insurance yada yada yada so you know There's a lot of there's a lot of room To play with there so let's run through The numbers on doing it ourself and see Just how much we could save all right so There's going to be some variables There's going to be some must-haves in The in all of this so your numbers could Vary you could probably justify it one Way or another however you want to I'm Going to use eight inches of material All around that's just how I'm going to Calculate this so more on the high side You don't need eight inches really for a Parking pad for most things if you have
Really heavy equipment or it's going to Be used in a certain way maybe so so We're going to start with four inches of A cheaper material it's called 22A That's what we use around here at our Other property we put in a 2000 foot Drive with just 22A material it's about Half the cost of the the nicer cleaner Finish 21 double A that will Top dress It with with another four inches so that Cost for the first 277 yards at 21.45 a Delivered yard okay cubic yard is Basically six grand now we're gonna top That off with another four inches of the Nicer stuff the 21 double a 35 and 10 Cents a cubic yard gets us to about Ninety eight hundred dollars uh for that And again that's delivered all right I've already had all these numbers Available because I've had all these Deliveries done either out here or other Property and so I've got recent data Because it's not just the the cost per Yard of the stone but it's the delivery Driver his time as well and they charge By the hour there before we get too deep On the other options you might want to Consider first let's talk about the Company that you hire to do it if they Have an experienced driver an Experienced operator with their dump Truck then they can tailgate that Material and take a lot of the work off Of your hands we use balkama Excavating
We've used them out here use them at Other place too and Tom out there he's He just does all the deliveries for me He's awesome at what he does he knows What I need but he just lays it down Smooth and it's really just kind of Almost just clean up work after that Because he lays it down so well a nice Consistent layer and it just takes so Much of the headache we've we've had Some big massive piles of material Dropped off and it is so much work to Spread all those out with your tractor Compared to having it done with the Truck it's a huge Time Savings so lock That down before you select your company Okay so so far we're at about sixteen Thousand dollars out of our forty five Thousand dollar budget so 29 grand left To work with there But we have some options to still Consider and I've done this both ways All right in geotextile That fabric that road fabric you can lay Down underneath is going to be a big one And you're going to hear you're going to See it in the comments down here you Must get it it's a waste of time you're Going to see it both ways all right and Honestly you got to make your own Decision there where I think I stand on It is it's a trade-off you're gonna have To do more prep work if you don't want To use Geo fabric versus if you do want
To use it and I've done it both ways we Stripped off Well you want to strip off the topsoil And depending on your area that could be Just a few inches and it could be two Feet of topsoil you've got to get rid of The organic material because otherwise And I'm standing here on purpose I I Want you guys to see this area this Doesn't have Any geofabric down on it we haven't done Anything here yet I had a load of three Inch stone for another project dropped Off here and this is just kind of the Leftovers this big This big stuff like this all right Beginning in November is when the stuff Was dropped off scooped out what we Needed and just kind of scraped down the Rest of what we had and you can see how It's sinking down into the topsoil That's here we've had a lot of traffic Back and forth on it we've been Finishing off our barn and this is what Happens if you don't have The right base that's down now there's Geofabric you could lay that down and Put Stone on top of here and it's not Going to sink down into it but if you Have organic Mud right topsoil like this then that Stone as it's driven down is going to Pack down it's going to disappear and You're going to have the same mess
You're going to be right where you Started so here's a really good example In the lane that we're going to gravel You can see the darker topsoil but then You can see in these ruts that have been Driven over where it's washed away and We're down to the next layer down below That which is going to be sand the Difference is the topsoil is full of Organic material and organic matter That's going to break down over time That's why topsoil is really good for Growing grass and weeds and everything Else but nothing grows in sand right There's there's no organic material There there's no nutrition value that's In there at all it's not going to break Down either so it's a really solid Substance to start your foundation but That's where the decision Might come into play right how much Topsoil do I need to strip out if it's Just a few inches like this maybe you go For it you can still lay down geofabric On top of it if you want to but that's a Decision you have to make and another Really good example we're right on the Edge of where we put our road fabric Down and we're going to extend up this Way you can see some of the stone is Spilled over to the other side and on This side over here There's nowhere for that stone to sink Down into but on the other side off of
The road fabric you can see how Everything's pressed down in there this Area's been driven on a lot and this is What's going to happen you're just going To have to bring in more Stone over time If you try to to pull it back up you Know with a box plane or land plane You're just going to mix in all sorts of Dirt along with it it's never going to Look right so that's the decision you Have to make it's a critical one but you Need to do it right the first time folks If you're watching this there's a good Chance you own a tractor and you're Going to need more attachments in the Future check out what we have to offer At goodworkstructors.com we sell and Ship all over the country every day of The week we are proud to be sponsored by Rim guard Solutions a liquid ballast Weight it goes right inside your tires Completely hidden we're big on safety on This channel these tractors are just too Light and Tippy right out of the factory Not only is it going to help with safety Keeping those rear tires planted on the Ground it helps us loader efficiency and Traction too the benefits of rim guard Include being the heaviest all-natural Liquid ballast weight on the market it's Not going to corrode your rims like the Old calcium chloride it's not going to Freeze and it's available at over a Thousand dealers Nationwide find the
Dealer near you at rimguardsolutions.com Our 2000 foot drive we put out at our Other property we stripped off the Topsoil so we had just a nice sand base That was there we brought in our 21A About eight inches of that we have right Now that's all pressed down and it's and It's doing great Out here I did it a little bit Differently the first small section Coming off the road I did not put any Geo down there was already Stone there That was existing I don't know if it had Geo fabric underneath it or not but then The rest of what we've done so far had Fabric underneath there I just kind of Roughed up the top couple of inches with A soil pulverizer and strip that a Little bit off just I didn't want the Drive to stick up too high so I got it Down a little bit then rolled out the Fabric it was nice and smooth that way And then we had Tom our driver tailgate Everything layer and layer and then you Can use your tractor in between yeah Well what do you have 10 I don't know 10 12 14 delivery Something like that You're just kind of smoothing it out in Between he'll also drive over that and Compact it down you need something heavy To roll over it and get that stone to Stay in place too and so that's a big Benefit as well of a good driver now
I've been trying to find the geofabric As cheap as I can on Amazon it's going To be around 14 1500 for me to get what I need to do it here there is a made in The USA option as well but it's Literally I think four times the price Of getting the the not made in the USA Version and so for me that's going to be A tough pill to swallow but there's a Big range a project this size about 1500 To almost six grand I think it was to Get the main the USA version so that's An optional cost but again Getting that fabric is saving more prep Time you don't have to take out nearly As much topsoil depending on what Conditions you're working with for me Going down this Lane I'm going to strip out some Just again I don't want that road built Up too high But I'm not going to strip out a lot I'm Going to use fabric everywhere here I think it's going to save Maybe money in the long run effort up Front for sure and just make it an Easier job to tackle so I'm going to Budget two grand for the Geo on you know Something one of the cheaper ones not The made in the USA one unfortunately But even if you did that's another Another Four grand something like that but with Two grand plus a 16 we're at eighteen
Thousand dollars out of our forty five Thousand dollar budget What are we sitting at 27 grand left to Work with another Factor you got to Think about is a culvert and some areas Are going to need them some are not I have been trying to avoid them Whenever I possibly can and so far I've Only had to put in one and our different Roads that we've had this last attempt Was pretty much an effort of trying to Work with the terrain instead of kind of Working against it and trying to get the Water to change direction Um It's nice to put a crown on your gravel Drive if you can just gonna let the Water kind of slope off to both sides Instead of sitting there pooling and Puddling But in a different area that I had out Here it was kind of on the side of the Hill right we were driving this way and It was kind of tilted so I just Included that slight plane you know that Slight Hill or slope with my driveway so Instead of having a big Crown in there And water would want to get kind of hung Up here on the high side the water just In general just kind of naturally wants To sheet off there haven't been any any Ruts any washouts anything like that as Of yet and we're in the middle of our Rainy season it's just the first winter
So we'll see how it is long run and you Can always dig out the gravel right and Put in a culvert if you need to it's not Like an asphalt driver or concrete or That's a really big challenge it's a lot Easier to do with stone But a culvert's an extra expense to Consider okay so what do you really need To put in a gravel driveway well you can Get by with a small tractor like this Summit right here get something on the Back of it could be a box blade could be A lamp plane right here we have the box Plane The Best of Both Worlds okay you Get that from Summit tractors there on The front you're going to have a bucket We've got to Grapple on here now I'm too Lazy to take it off but just a bucket That comes with your loader is all you Need up front the caveat is The soil preparation all right and Something that I do like to do and it's Not a requirement by any means but I Like to till that topsoil before I'm I'm Getting rid of it and the reason I like To do that is because oftentimes there's Weeds and sod and everything else that's Mixed in with there and you can use the Shanks on your real rear tool here and Just kind of rough it up and loosen it Up a bit before you scoop it out and get It out of the way But I like to have that soil ready to go And so with something like a tiller that
You go through first and work up the top Two three four five inches of soil all That sod's chopped up really nicely all The weeds are everything's nice and Fluffy you know it's ready to go and be Reused at another project so if you have Some Landscaping needs around your house Or you're going to use it in the future For something and you're not sure what You don't have to worry about those big Side clumps and getting fishing all Those out later on that soil is just Ready to reuse okay so we have twenty Seven thousand dollars left to work with Before we start to exceed what it would Cost for a contractor to come here and Do the work themselves So the tractor here currently about Nineteen thousand dollars according to Summit's website that's with the front End loader and the bucket Okay add on Your rear tool all right that could be 1500 to 2500 bucks we're going to use 2500 bucks on the high side So we're at 21.5 let's just throw in Some random costs like all the fuel that You have let's say uh I don't know let's Say you break something right let's just Throw another 500 bucks get that up to Around three thousand dollars so you Have the 19 for the tractor three grand For the attachment And the miscellaneous Fuel and things That break and go wrong so we're at
We're at twenty two thousand dollars we Still have five grand to play with let's Add on a tiller for three grand okay So now we're at twenty five thousand Dollars we still have two grand to play With I don't know I'll get a grapple and then We're basically right at the same budget To have a contractor come here and do it And yet at the end of the day now we've Got a tractor instead of paying a Contractor to do it we just had a whole Bunch of seat time we got to do it Ourselves take our time make sure it was Done the way that we wanted to be done I'm telling you if if I can do a gravel Drive install project then you guys can Too it's a fun easy job to get done You get to know your track a little bit Better You get time outside You have something fun to come home and Do when you're done with work it doesn't Have to be knocked out all at one time You can chip away at this too right it's Just something you can plug away at In the evenings on the weekend doesn't Take too long once you have a good Driver to deliver your stone so folks There you have it That's how you can pay for your tractor In just one project and of course Situations vary but it just kind of came To mind with what I have going on out
Here and of course maybe if you're Looking for that side hustle right you Wanna Do this kind of thing for other folks Well it helps you justify that cause too You can make a case for there and There's risk involved with everything Right but you you got to have fun going Through the numbers and kind of Wondering what it would be like and this Gives you another way to justify Own an attractor having it around your Property Just one project here we're using our Tractor all the time every day I know a Lot of you guys are too so if you have Something else to share Maybe a similar situation that helps you Justify getting your tractor let us know Leave a comment down below and if you're In the market for something for your Tractor for the front end loader or the Three-point hitch we'd love to help you Out check out goodworktractors.com we Sell and ship all over the country every Day of the week we include free shipping Rewards and financing too and if you Want to see how this gravel project Turns out then hit that subscribe button Down below to follow along I want to Thank you for taking time out of your Day to stop by and until next time stay Safe we'll see you soon foreign [Music]
