Newbie Looking for Land Clearing Advice

[CKnott71]

Hello Everyone,
I'm a retired (military) Firefighter, I've been working as an EXPAT for the past few years and have recently been blessed with the opportunity of starting a new life in Texas without being away from family as I have been off/on for roughly 20+ years. I'm looking to starting a land clearing business considering our farm needs some work done on it I would start there using a skid steer with forestry attachment (hydro ax, forestry mulcher, this attachment goes by many names) to hone my skills and then advertise out to the local community. Was looking to get some information regarding start-up, insurance, etc. any/all advice, stories of past/present experiences as well as positive/negative aspects of the business in which I wish to start will be appreciated.

I look forward to reading your replies

Thanks in advance

:thumbsup:

 

[mguitas]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[deerseeker001]

Welcome from Wisconsin

 

[Briana03]

Welcome to TractorByNet!

We moved your thread to the Land Clearing Equipment forum.

 

[ROWmulcher]

You have a good start up plan, research before you buy a machine, don't believe what a salesman tells you, there are good low hour used machines out there. Have them inspected. Practice on your property, learn your machine. Don't oversell what you can do, you will have a pissed off customer. Approach some of the larger contractors, ask if they will send you the small jobs they don't want to bother with. As a firefighter,your not afraid to sweat, that will be a big help lol. Good luck

 

[CarlR2010]

CK,

Welcome to the forum, you are in the right place. The Land Clearing Equipment forum contains too many lessons to count and they are free. This is far less than what the guys in the discussion paid for them.

IMO, the best thing to do to start is start on page 51 and read back to page 1. Then ask all the questions you can think of. These conversations are a treasure.

Carl

 

[CKnott71]

Everyone,
Thanks for the advice and vote confidence

Carl
I just started going through the pages and writing questions as I go

ROWmulcher
I will definitely utilize your advice approach larger contractors and do more extensive research regarding the tools of the trade

Again Thanks Everyone

 

[yellowdogsvc]

Hello Everyone,
I'm a retired (military) Firefighter, I've been working as an EXPAT for the past few years and have recently been blessed with the opportunity of starting a new life in Texas without being away from family as I have been off/on for roughly 20+ years. I'm looking to starting a land clearing business considering our farm needs some work done on it I would start there using a skid steer with forestry attachment (hydro ax, forestry mulcher, this attachment goes by many names) to hone my skills and then advertise out to the local community. Was looking to get some information regarding start-up, insurance, etc. any/all advice, stories of past/present experiences as well as positive/negative aspects of the business in which I wish to start will be appreciated.

I look forward to reading your replies

Thanks in advance

:thumbsup:

I'm from Texas and that's pretty much how I started.
What part of the state are you in?

A few things come to mind.
You will need a sales tax permit, insurance, and I'd look into workman's comp. I have all of that. Most of the guys I run into, have none of it and are fly by night in my opinion. If you are going to work beyond your neighbors, I'd hone those skills at your place. You will quickly find what works and doesn't work.
You don't need to jump in with 100k machine to get started.. I'd find a used machine/used head and let it take the learning curve. You will pick it up pretty quick and if you are handy with tools, you can keep it running pretty good.

There really is a lot to discuss so it might be better to throw questions out there. I could tell horror stories all night around a campfire about the dumb things I did or the lessons learned the hard way. I've been at this almost 20 years and I'm still learning something new everyday but luckily I think I've got the machine operation part down pat. I was blessed to have my own place and an in-laws ranches to practice on as well as neighbors' properties. That's about all one can hope for if you want to hone the skills before going commercial.
I'm sure your military training will make you a natural around the machines so it will boil down to what you choose to operate and how you plan on doing clearing.

Anyway, welcome to the forums and thanks for that service!

 

[MacLawn]

Oh me, I wish you were near my place! I'd let ye practice a bit!

 

[CKnott71]

I'm from Texas and that's pretty much how I started.
What part of the state are you in?

A few things come to mind.
You will need a sales tax permit, insurance, and I'd look into workman's comp. I have all of that. Most of the guys I run into, have none of it and are fly by night in my opinion. If you are going to work beyond your neighbors, I'd hone those skills at your place. You will quickly find what works and doesn't work.
You don't need to jump in with 100k machine to get started.. I'd find a used machine/used head and let it take the learning curve. You will pick it up pretty quick and if you are handy with tools, you can keep it running pretty good.

There really is a lot to discuss so it might be better to throw questions out there. I could tell horror stories all night around a campfire about the dumb things I did or the lessons learned the hard way. I've been at this almost 20 years and I'm still learning something new everyday but luckily I think I've got the machine operation part down pat. I was blessed to have my own place and an in-laws ranches to practice on as well as neighbors' properties. That's about all one can hope for if you want to hone the skills before going commercial.
I'm sure your military training will make you a natural around the machines so it will boil down to what you choose to operate and how you plan on doing clearing.

Anyway, welcome to the forums and thanks for that service!

Thanks for the welcome YellowDog
Sorry for the delayed response internet out here has been hit/miss the past two weeks. I'm in West Point and with reading all the post to answer most of my questions (Thanks again to your post/replies) I'm hoping to be up/running by Feb just gotta finish getting all my ducks in row.