# Contract beekeeping on a reservation



## CPfor3 (Nov 24, 2018)

Okay, this is a new one for me. I have been contacted by a native american reservation to help them keep bees on their reservation and teach them how to care for them. They want to know how much it will cost for me to have weekly visits and to teach them to care for the bees. Has anyone done this before? For context, I run 400 hives by myself and two part time jobs. Serious answers only please. Thank you


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## Gray Goose (Sep 4, 2018)

figure the travel time and what you need to "be ahead" how many hours onsite, to get a weekly cost, then have a "retainer" for the phone calls which will be sure to come.
also ask for a percentage of the gross (3 percent-5 percent) if you can get it, after all all the product they will eventually ship was you.

the day of the week you go is likely a whole day time you get ready drive there and drive back so be sure you have a days wage, in it for you.

An option is to trade some time have one of the folks learning come out to your place for a day a week to help you, charge for the "offsite training"

time is money.

GG


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## CPfor3 (Nov 24, 2018)

Gray Goose said:


> figure the travel time and what you need to "be ahead" how many hours onsite, to get a weekly cost, then have a "retainer" for the phone calls which will be sure to come.
> also ask for a percentage of the gross (3 percent-5 percent) if you can get it, after all all the product they will eventually ship was you.
> 
> the day of the week you go is likely a whole day time you get ready drive there and drive back so be sure you have a days wage, in it for you.
> ...


Yeah I agree with everything you said. Thank you for your input!


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## username00101 (Apr 17, 2019)

400 hives and part time jobs? If time is money then they're going to be paying you a fortune. In the past certain organizations seemed interested in having me perform actions like this.

However with how little time remains in my schedule, it did not interest me.

Were I retired, with time a plenty, certainly not a problem. 

IMO charge them $100/hour. Time comes at a premium.

Everyone's getting $1400 they can afford the price.


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## CPfor3 (Nov 24, 2018)

username00101 said:


> 400 hives and part time jobs? If time is money then they're going to be paying you a fortune. In the past certain organizations seemed interested in having me perform actions like this.
> 
> However with how little time remains in my schedule, it did not interest me.
> 
> ...


Yeah the time it will take to do weekly visits is the hard part to swallow for me. I am young( 25 years old not married, no kids) so there is no way I am going to say no. Just dont know how to structure the contract. Its gotta be hourly because who knows how many phone calls I will be getting.


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## Gray Goose (Sep 4, 2018)

CPfor3 said:


> Yeah the time it will take to do weekly visits is the hard part to swallow for me. I am young( 25 years old not married, no kids) so there is no way I am going to say no. Just dont know how to structure the contract. Its gotta be hourly because who knows how many phone calls I will be getting.


Be straight up with them, tell them this is your first contract deal and some adjustments may need to be made depending on how it unfolds.
get a paper binder, log start and stop times, dates what was done.
then when you make the bill out Bi-weekly or monthly that can be the feed for the billing outline.

Ideally they either have a charge card or a "petty cash" for the bigger expenses, like packages or woodenware and you do not need to by it first.

If they prefer built hive and you have the time to put them togather then that is another billable time consumer.
offer the options
price if factory built
price unassembled
price if I assemble and paint..

good luck

GG


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## CPfor3 (Nov 24, 2018)

All great points! Honesty is the best policy. They ordered and paid for three nucs from me. They have all the gear and equipment to run those hives. Thank you for the help!


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## Old Goat (Apr 20, 2020)

There is a gentleman in my area who charges $60.00 an hour for one on one training at his location. This is probably very area specific. I would think you would need to add travel expense to that in addition to charging your hourly rate from the time you leave home until you return.


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## CPfor3 (Nov 24, 2018)

Old Goat said:


> There is a gentleman in my area who charges $60.00 an hour for one on one training at his location. This is probably very area specific. I would think you would need to add travel expense to that in addition to charging your hourly rate from the time you leave home until you return.


Yeah good point. It's a thirty minute drive one way from my house.


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## Struttinbuck (Mar 8, 2020)

CPfor3 said:


> All great points! Honesty is the best policy. They ordered and paid for three nucs from me. They have all the gear and equipment to run those hives. Thank you for the help!


Honesty and Integrity. Both worth a fortune today.


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

Struttinbuck said:


> Honesty and Integrity. Both worth a fortune today.


Supply and demand. Both have become quite rare.


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## Struttinbuck (Mar 8, 2020)

JWPalmer said:


> Supply and demand. Both have become quite rare.


As soon as they regulate something, its pumps up.


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## crofter (May 5, 2011)

I would suggest that there be some type of curriculum of study that the participants would be expected to self study. If they do not study on their own you will spend too much time answering questions like what is the difference between a drone and a worker? That will be a waste of your time and when all is said and done there might be the feeling that you took all that money and didnt show them anything. There is lots of things that are much easier to absorb when pointed out in real time, things like actually handling equipment and organization for inspections, hive splitting, mite counts and treatments etc. but other things are more efficiently absorbed self study or in classroom situation.

Will you be getting the same group of individuals continuously or will it be a ride with new people getting on an off?

My experience was instructing in an entirely different topic area but I can foresee some of the same issues arising. Make sure you and the operation co ordinator are on the same (written preferably) page.


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## CPfor3 (Nov 24, 2018)

Update for those interested:

I have signed the contract to work with them on managing their bees. I feel good about the terms and have taken all your advice into consideration. 
I am to help them go through their hives once a week (their idea not mine) and just manage their hives as I see fit. They will have a couple people that will come with and learn each time. I show up on Wednesdays at 1pm and whoever is there gets to follow along and learn. 
I also talked them into letting me keep a yard of my own bees there so it makes it more worth my time to drive there (30 mins one way)

Compensation:
$100 for travel and the first hour of work
$50 an hour for any additional time used that week.


Thanks for all your advice. 
The money is fine but I'm more stoked on having a yard there so i am not wasting any time.


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