Contract spraying — how to work out cost per rai so you do not quietly lose money
Setting prices by feel makes many operators lose money without realising it. This article gives a calculation framework you can fill in with your own numbers.
About 3 min read
In this article
People who buy a drone for contract spraying often set their price at whatever others in the area charge, without calculating their own costs. That is why some work hard all season and end up with less money than they expected.
Costs fall into two groups
Group one: costs every time you work
- Fuel for the vehicle carrying the equipment
- Electricity or generator fuel for charging batteries
- Wages for helpers, if any
- Water and the cost of carrying water
Group two: periodic costs, averaged per rai
- Depreciation of the aircraft: divide the price of the drone by the number of rai you expect to do over its working life
- Batteries: divide the battery price by the number of cycles it can be used for, then convert that to per rai
- Consumable parts such as propellers, nozzles and filters
- Expected repair and maintenance costs
- Insurance
Numbers you must know before you can calculate
- The number of rai you can really do per day. Not the figure calculated from flight speed, but one that includes travel time, refilling, battery changes and time lost to unexpected problems. This number is very different from what most people expect, and should be measured from several days of real work.
The number of real working days per year. Spraying is seasonal work, with days of rain, strong wind or no jobs. Assuming you will work every day makes your depreciation per rai badly wrong.
What is often forgotten
- Time spent taking jobs, talking with customers and visiting fields
- The opportunity cost of the money tied up in the drone
- Taxes and running costs
How to set the price
- Once you have your cost per rai, add the profit you want, then compare with the market price in your area. If your cost is higher than the market price, you need to fix your costs or increase your workload, not cut your price to match.
A price below cost does not get you more work in a sustainable way. It just means working hard for nothing for longer.
What really helps
- Take jobs in groups in the same area to cut travel time
- Have enough batteries that you do not wait for charging
- Record every job so you know your own real numbers, not estimates
Questions about this?
Message our team on LINE any day
