Ferry Job

J

johnsclem

Well-Known Member
I just received an offer to ferry a 172 from the east coast to the west coast. I have the costs totaled but the broker asked what I charged, and this is my first ferry. My costs include plates, hotel, fuel, and a return ticket back, totaling around $2,000. Thanks
 
johnsclem said:
I just received an offer to ferry a 172 from the east coast to the west coast. I have the costs totaled but the broker asked what I charged, and this is my first ferry. My costs include plates, hotel, fuel, and a return ticket back, totaling around $2,000. Thanks
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I'd add a bit more in fuel to be honest, that sounds pretty low to even make a profit... where from and where to?
 
Seems low to me when I consider a coast-to-coast airline ticket, hotels, FOOD, transportation from end airport to airline flight, fuel, possible weather deviations, oil, etc...
How many hours per day are you planning to fly? Weather aside, how many days are you planning the trip to take?
You might want to give a price for "X" amount of days subject to additional cost per days (or ANY portion thereof) for any weather/maintenance delays.
 
The trip will be from FLO to the LAX area (SC to CA), totaling around 1940 mi. I am planning on using 3 days. My $2000 cost listed above does not include profit, in that i am not sure what to charge in terms of my wage. I am projecting the trip to take around 25 hours on the hobbs. Thanks so far for everyone's advice.
 
I would personally do $250-$300ish as a profit per day away from home (including to/from the airplane, and i do halfday charges too) for a 172 trip.
 
johnsclem said:
The trip will be from FLO to the LAX area (SC to CA), totaling around 1940 mi. I am planning on using 3 days. My $2000 cost listed above does not include profit, in that i am not sure what to charge in terms of my wage. I am projecting the trip to take around 25 hours on the hobbs. Thanks so far for everyone's advice.
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There's any number of ways you could quote this trip. Ultimately it will come down to how much you value your time and how badly you want to take the trip.

The only thing I'd caution you of is that expected times and actual times can be quite different. What happens if something breaks and you spend three days sitting in the middle of nowhere, waiting on repairs? Who will pay the mechanic? How about weather delays?

When I make trips of this nature, the client pays actual expenses (charts, fuel, tiedown fees, lodging, food, airline tickets, ground transportation, etc.) plus a day rate for pilot services ($354/day regardless of type of airplane flown). If I get delayed by weather, maintenance, or anything else, I don't care. I still get paid. Obviously I do everything I can to make the trip go smoothly and as close to the estimate as possible, but I'm never scared I'll somehow lose money on a trip.

If the client doesn't see value in this arrangement, I probably don't want to work with them anyway.
 
I always bill stuff like this at day rate, with an expected cost if things go as planned. If weather blows, the plane breaks, etc, I'm not going to sit around for days for free.

I do my day rate x actual days spent on the trip (with either a half day or full day of airline time back, depending upon how much of a PITA the airline part was). Then, I bill everything back to the client- fuel, oil, hotels, food, cabs/ rental cars, tips, fees, etc.
 
johnsclem said:
I just received an offer to ferry a 172 from the east coast to the west coast. I have the costs totaled but the broker asked what I charged, and this is my first ferry. My costs include plates, hotel, fuel, and a return ticket back, totaling around $2,000. Thanks
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I do ferry work profesionally. (www.theferrypilot.com)

Give me a call (you can find my number on the website) and I will give you some pointers.

Cheers!
 
Get at least 1/2 up front and get them to buy your ticket if you have to travel to the plane. That way, when you see the airplane and for some reason it or the logs to out to be a POS you can drop and leave if the owner (new or old) isn't willing to work with you.
 
TwoTwoLeft said:
Get at least 1/2 up front and get them to buy your ticket if you have to travel to the plane. That way, when you see the airplane and for some reason it or the logs to out to be a POS you can drop and leave if the owner (new or old) isn't willing to work with you.
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THIS!
 
Make sure you get some way of covering expenses in advance, credit card, advance ect. I once did a 3 day trip to Las Vegas for a company that friends had flown for. They said that the company paid slow but did pay. I should have asked how slow! They owed me $1500 in pay and I had $1050 in expenses for crew, hotels and meals. I took me 3 months to get paid.
 
Corporate Pilot said:
Make sure you get some way of covering expenses in advance, credit card, advance ect. I once did a 3 day trip to Las Vegas for a company that friends had flown for. They said that the company paid slow but did pay. I should have asked how slow! They owed me $1500 in pay and I had $1050 in expenses for crew, hotels and meals. I took me 3 months to get paid.
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Im painting for insurance work right now and getting paid for a job 3 to 6 months later is the norm. I think its common biz practice when youre just a sub.
 
Since it's a ferry flight, the only tip I have there is to make your first fuel stop to an airport with maintenance. Might not be a bad idea for ALL of your stops to have this though. You'll probably have the plane pretty well figured out on the first leg. That first stop is where you'll find most issues I'd say.

In regards to your actual flight, I'd definitely plan on it taking longer. 3 days is reasonable, but daily flight time and where you stop for gas will likely not be what you originally plan. The nice thing is that the 172 can get into most places. Just be mindful that some of the really podunk airport's fuel pumps might not be working. :rolleyes:

I've done many many 1500+ mile cross countries in 172s and the one thing I can tell you is that your plan for the day will probably not go as planned. The 172 is slow enough that the weather will most likely change and change for the worst(winds mainly). The main thing I would do is set a limit on how much flight time you're willing to do and cut a little off of that so your final stop is still reasonable to get to if things go south. There's nothing worse than trying to force your way to an airport where you've got hangar/parking, hotel, and rental car already set up. Especially if it's becoming a fatigue issue. Been there, done that, didn't die, thankfully, and got the T-shirt. Stupidly of course. Maybe have a can of Red Bull handy if you really need an extra 30 minutes of alertness. Don't use this as a crutch though as a caffeine crash is usually worse than normal tiredness. At least with me.

Since it's getting cold out, I definitely recommend the Southern route through the rockies. Which is perfect since you're coming from the Southeast anyways. :)
 
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