Land clearing cost

[GSmith4965]

Hello
Can anyone help me with rule-of- thumb costs to strip clear land In the northeast? I have a moderately wooded (mostly maple some oak) two acres. 80% of wood is less than 15" trunk

How is this typically costed? Is it by the hour? Or acre? What type of contractor is best? A land clearing company (would this be too small a job for them?) or a excavation contractor?

Thanks in advance of you insight!!

 

[tcreeley]

Hello
Can anyone help me with rule-of- thumb costs to strip clear land In the northeast? I have a moderately wooded (mostly maple some oak) two acres. 80% of wood is less than 15" trunk

How is this typically costed? Is it by the hour? Or acre? What type of contractor is best? A land clearing company (would this be too small a job for them?) or a excavation contractor?

Thanks in advance of you insight!!

Any firewood dealers in your area- sell the wood and hire someone else to level it.

 

[EddieWalker]

Hello
Can anyone help me with rule-of- thumb costs to strip clear land In the northeast? I have a moderately wooded (mostly maple some oak) two acres. 80% of wood is less than 15" trunk

How is this typically costed? Is it by the hour? Or acre? What type of contractor is best? A land clearing company (would this be too small a job for them?) or a excavation contractor?

Thanks in advance of you insight!!

You have to be VERY SPECIFIC in what you want. Rule of thumb is that if you take anything for granted, you will be disapointed.

Decide exactly what you want. Put it in writing. If you want everythign gone, stumps out of the ground, debris hauled off, dirt graded and ready to plant, then you need to specify that. If you just want it cut down and the stumps ground or dozed and burried, then you need to say so. There are dozens of ways to do it, and dozens of versions of what the finished land could look like.

Rule of thumb is that the nicer you want it, the more it will cost. Hauling is expensive. Burning is cheap, but there is still clean up after it's done.

The more people and the more equipment, the faster it will get done. That might or might not be the most expensive.

Talk to at least five different contractors. More if you need to, but never less!!!! Never tell each of them what you know, just what you want. Some will educate you, others will lie to you and some might be so arrogant that they will insult you. Try not to hire on personality, that guy is usually a great salesman, but not always the best worker.

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[pat32rf]

What Eddie said!!!

But, if you were my new neighbour (no travel time) and you didn't want the stumps out, I would probably do it for the wood, if you were in no big rush.(you burn the brush) If you wanted the stumps out and wanted to help, then a slight charge would be there.,

 

[greasemonkeyok]

If you don't follow Eddie's advice, and you get a contractor that does not do what you want in anticipation of spending more time on the job, you will end up paying a lot more.

We had one of those contractors who did what he wanted instead of what was asked, and it was going to take more hours to finish it the right way. Paid him and sent him on his way. You could tell he thought he was going to get to spend more time on the project.

FYI, we hired the contractor out of convenience, he already had his equipment next door. As it turned out, tying to save the delivery charge was a waste of time and money.

 

[JD 4520]

Hello
Can anyone help me with rule-of- thumb costs to strip clear land In the northeast? I have a moderately wooded (mostly maple some oak) two acres. 80% of wood is less than 15" trunk

How is this typically costed?

It's almost always by the hour or by the day. An excavator is likely the best but depends on if you want haul out or not.

 

[QwikDraw]

Cost in the norteast in almost always per acre. If you want a good job in a reasonable amount of time I would call a land clearing company with good refrences. The cost varies depending on how much merchantable wood is on the lot, terrain, wetland/mud and access. It also depends what you want for a finished job. All logs and brush gone, stumped..or wildlife projects where some brush and mulch can be left behind.

I see you are in Old saybrook, I have jobs coming up in Mystic and Ledyard. Send a PM if you would like to walk the land with me and get a better idea of cost.