Not sure what to do....

[Piston]

I have been having a hard time trying to figure out what I should do in my situation. I know just enough to realize I don't really know enough:laughing:

Without be tooooo wordy, here is my situation.
I am in the process of getting about 10-15 acres of my grandfathers 50 acres in the Lakes Region of NH. It is almost all forested, it was logged about 30 yrs ago and hasn't been touched since.

My wife and I want to build a cabin on the land, about 800' in from the road.
We (mostly I) want to have a forester come in, and work up a management plan for the land/forest.

This spring I will need to put in a driveway and clear about an acre or two for a spot for the cabin. The trees where I will be clearing are all sorts of different sizes, everything from saplings up to around 20"DBH (but not many that large) I would say the majority are around 12-14" DBH mostly pine.

I just posted a thread about 'which tractor to buy', I have 2 tractors and a backhoe to sell, and want to buy a nice tractor with that money plus some. However, I am now realizing that I'm an idiot! I already have the backhoe (old dynahoe runs good but SLOW) and I know I need to clear land.

So what would be the best way for me to clear it? Should I have the backhoe hauled up there and use that to put in my driveway and clear my lot? Then use the tractor and my log arch to carry away the larger trees.

Or should I still just try and sell all three of them and buy one nice tractor with everything I need (other than the land clearing ability of the backhoe) and have a local guy come up with an excavator and clear my land out in a tenth of the time that I could do it in? Then come up with my new tractor and clean up the mess left over?

Of the two tractors I have now, one has a bucket 2wd and one is 4wd but no bucket, I really need a bucket and 4wd. The 4wd has turf tires and is 29hp and I dont want to put a bucket on it, since I want to upgrade tractors soon anyways.

Oh also, my neighbor has a skidsteer with on of those bada#* mulcher heads on it, and he said he would help me out at a very fair price with mulching up the smaller stuff.

I just don't know if for what I want to do, the backhoe is 'worth it' in a sense that it will probably be about 500 to haul it up there, then 500 back, and I really only need it for the initial clearing. I dont know how much it would be to have a local come in with his excavator and do the clearing, but I'm torn on what to do.

The good thing is I'm not in a rush, so I'm trying to get my ducks in a row nice and early. I learned so much on this forum already, but I have a WHOLE lot more to learn!

What do you guys think? I know I need help in deciding this because I don't have the experience that you guys do.
I feel like I'm all over the place with this. :laughing:

 

[Thomas]

Its good you have options.

Do you have time on your hands to dig push etc. hopefully no break downs.

Excavator heavy equipment can do alot in short time..clearing,driveway,cellar hole,ditch for well line etc...maybe sell one tractor help pay for heavy equipment bill.

Don't forget NH know for growing large rocks just under surface.

 

[LostInTheWoods]

Would it be feasible to sell or trade the equipment you have now, then use this money for the tractor you will need in the future. In the meantime, maybe hire someone with a dozer to clear the drive and space for the cabin? The dozer could probably clear out what you need quickly compared to the "slow" backhoe and without the pain (and cost) of transportation.

 

[picker77]

For a couple of acres with lots of smaller trees, maybe consider just marking it off and hiring a local with a small crawler and root rippers to pile it all in the middle. He'd probably do it all in a day and it would be a LOT faster and safer than other options. You also don't get hurt messing with trees (very easy to do), and your personal equipment doesn't end up with expensive repairs doing things it wasn't built to do. Then while you're deciding about the rest, the pile will be drying out and you can get a burn permit, wait for the right weather, and poof!!

I don't know what a small-job dozer guy gets per hour these days or what the minimum is, been many years since I hired one. Anybody know?

Best part is then you'd have a starting point for your tractor/box blade/backhoe/road work, and you could do all that yourself.

 

[LostInTheWoods]

I don't know what a small-job dozer guy gets per hour these days or what the minimum is, been many years since I hired one. Anybody know?

Between $60 -$75/hour around here.

 

[Gator6x4]

I wouldn't worry about equipment upgrading at this time. I would hire someone with large equipment to cut the 800 foot roadway and the one acre cabin site. When looking for someone to do the work discuss with him about clearing a burn pile location in the center of the one acre cabin site. Then work with him as he pushes over the trees cut the largest portions off and stack at one location and have the brush pushed to the burn location and burn everything when dry. The old backhoe you have now could be left at the site for fine tuning when the rough grading is done. (Assuming the backhoe has a loader and backhoe to work with). When one starts installing electric, telephone, water, septic tanks, gravel or stone, etc, etc they usually think they have fallen into a never ending money siphon. Money spent on equipment upgrading could be diverted towards cabin construction. After the cabin is completed you will then be able to access your equipment needs to maintain the property at the cabin site as well as your residence and consider a trade or upgarde at that time.

 

[Dr_Zinj]

I live over in Barrington, NH; and have spent quite a bit of time tramping in the lakes region with the scouts. Not having seen your site, it could range from forested over bog to barely covered bedrock hillside. Usually very large boulders if you start digging.

All this means that your current equipment may not be up to the job; even taking it slow. I'd go with what a couple folks already recommended and hire someone with a big excavator to do the dirt and rock work.

Too bad the trees aren't a wee bit larger. I think 15 inch diameter is as small as they will take for lumber; so you could theoretically get it cleared for the price of the lumber. Smaller than that you can cut up for firewood which should be selling for about $180 to $200 per cord. The chip market crashed due to all the downed wood from that twister that went through a couple of years ago. Too bad you didn't get the full 50 acres; that might have given enough selective lumbering to pay for your work.

 

[Snapper Head]

I'm in a similar situation, except I don't own any equipment (in process of buying a tractor). I will hire a dozer with operator to come out and push the trees over, and pile them, then I will do the rest with my tractor (FEL, Grapple, BB)

Around here, dozer with operator will run about 80 bucks an hour, and 2 acres a day can be cleared and piled fairly easily, depending on the lay of the particular spread. We don't have any rocks to deal with though.....


Big Al

 

[Soundguy]

normally I say to hire 1-time big work done.. but if you already have a hoe.. and time.. you can get some clearing done once the standing firewood is out of the way.

past that.. get a machine that will do 80% of what you want.. and not be to big to get into and out of the woods if you plan on keeping the woods.

quick detach loader, 4wd are nice.. so is hst for that type of work

soundguy

 

[MikeD74T]

Talk to a few local "dirt" guys. They'll know more about what you need than you do because they've done it before in your area. They know how good the road has to be both for construction access & for longevity. Pretty much the best piece of equipment for NH woods roads is a large excavator. They'll be moving/burying rocks that would scare any tractor to death. With an 800' road, septic system, & foundation hole to be done you should get some pretty competative bidding. Ask for references & go look at their older work, especially roads. If there's significant clearing to be done they usually can recommend someone they've worked with before.
As for using your own equipment, anything you could get to be effective in phase 1 would be too big to be useful on 15 acres when you're done. Stick with a 15 acre maintenance machine which you'll get many years out of. MikeD74T