Handy tools
Machinery cost calculator
Buy it or get a contractor in? See what a machine really costs you a hectare - depreciation, interest, insurance and running - and the area where owning starts to pay.
Owning this machine costs you
$47.81a hectare
$383an hour
$38,250a year
Enter a contractor’s quote ($/ha) to compare owning with hiring.
- Depreciation
- $15,000 a year
- Interest on the money
- $8,750 a year
- Insurance + shed
- $2,500 a year
- Ownership (fixed) cost
- $26,250 a year · $32.81/ha
- Running cost
- $15.00/ha · 100 h a year
- Contractor for the same area
- Enter a contractor’s quote
- Owning pays from
- Enter a contractor’s quote
How we work it out
- Ownership cost a year: depreciation (price − resale) ÷ years, plus interest on the average value ((price + resale) ÷ 2 × your rate), plus your insurance + shed % of the price.
- Per hectare: the ownership cost ÷ hectares a year, plus running cost ÷ hectares an hour. The more hectares a year, the cheaper each one gets.
- Break-even: ownership cost ÷ (quote − running cost a hectare). Above that area owning is cheaper; below it the contractor is.
Money is not the whole story - timeliness, having the machine ready when the weather is right, and your own time matter too. Tax, finance terms and resale prices vary; talk to your accountant before you buy. This is arithmetic on your own numbers, not a price, a valuation, a contract rate or financial advice. Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere.
Looking at a machine?
Talk to our machinery team about what you need, or check how many hectares an hour it would cover.