Moving 140 yards of dirt - need estimate

[NLWoods]

Hello,

I have watched this forum for over a year and decided at the end of the year to join the "owners". I have a 30CK HST with the kioti LK 130 loader. I think it is 1/3 yard capacity. I am advertising and doing custom work with the tractor.

I have been asked to bid on moving some dirt for a home owner. I have calculated about 140 yards using a trepezoid formula. It is in two piles approx 100 and 200 feet from the location where the dirt needs to be. After being moved, it needs to be smoothed out around a mound and feathered to match surrounding levels.

Any ideas on bidding? Is it too large a job to take on with the little tractor?

Thanks!

 

[EddieWalker]

Figure out what you will charge for hour, then estimate how long it will take you to move one yard of dirt. My guess is that it will be at least half as cheap and three times faster for the homeowner to hire it to somebody with a full sized tractor with a one yard bucket. Even though the full sized tractor will charge more per hour, it will get done so much faster that you can't compete.

If the material has to be moved any distance at all, it will be even more wasteful to try to do it with a compact tractor for hire. I'm not saying a guy with a compact tractor can't do this, he can, but he can't do it for hire and by anywhere competitive with somebody with the right tools.

With my 5 yard dump truck and one yard loader, I could do it by myslef in two days for around $700. That is if the move was on small acreage and the roads were dry. If it was close enough for me to get two loads an hour. It would be allot cheaper if the distance was close enough that I could get 3 or four 5 yard loads per hour.

Time is your enemy here. You can't move it very quickly and you will have to charge $30 to $40 an hour to make it worthwhile.

Eddie

 

[BTDT]

Nothing in your profile. Where are you located? You might be better off renting a larger machine (rubber tired articulated loader) and moving the dirt. Then use your tractor to clean up around the edges. Weather, terrain, access, etc. all comes into play. Good luck. And welcome to TBN, where members will attempt pretty much anything.

 

[john_bud]

And welcome to TBN, where members will attempt pretty much anything.

I like that!



To the original poster, it's a big job. You can really (and I mean really) push your tractor and self to get one round trip every 2.5 minutes. You have to be superb with the bucket getting a full load with no wasted motions, back up and haul azzz to the dump area, feather dump forward and peal off head back and hit the pile again. Probably plan on a 3 min per round trip for the 200 ft distance and 2 min for the 100 ft distance. (giving the 2.5 min/rd trip)

So, you need 3 x 140 trips x(1/ bucket filling efficiency). I would guess you at 75-80%.

So 3 x 140 x (1/.8) = 525 round trips (420 trips if you have perfect bucket filling skills)

525 round trips * 2.5 minutes = 1312.5 minutes or 21.9 hours
420 trips * 2.5 minutes = 1050 minutes or 17.5 hours

With your tractor that's basically 2 long 12 hour days to move the pile and smooth it all out. At 40 - 50 bucks an hour (guess) that's 960 to 1200 bucks.



A 75 hp tractor with a 1.5 yard bucket could do it in 100 trips or 330 minutes (bigger = a little slower) or 5.5 hours. With 2.5 - 3 hours for finish work with your tractor and the big one. Figure on that tractor costing you 350-400 bucks for an 8 hour 1 day rental.

So, is 8-10 bucks a yard to move and smooth a "get-able" amount? $1100 to $1400 for the job?

jb

 

[LoneCowboy]

I have a MF 1433, it too has a 1/3 yard bucket, it's also a syncho-shift (i.e. slower than HST)
just last week I moved and spread 260 yards (yes!) of compost. They would dump it in 45 yard piles and i would spread it around about 1/2 to 1" deep. (which is slower than moving the whole pile). It took me 7 hours. I could move almost the whole 45 yard pile before the semi would get back.

1 day job to move 130 yards at most
whatever you charge for 1 day.

Another comparison. i dug out where a driveway used to be. Horrible rocky, nasty dirt. Difficult to dig down in (no toothbar), I moved the spoils about 250 feet to a now much bigger berm to get rid fo it and then trucked back (same tractor). took me about 3 hours. took 75 yards of dirt to fill it back in.

1 day job. i'd bid it at one day.

 

[flusher]

Hello,

I have watched this forum for over a year and decided at the end of the year to join the "owners". I have a 30CK HST with the kioti LK 130 loader. I think it is 1/3 yard capacity. I am advertising and doing custom work with the tractor.

I have been asked to bid on moving some dirt for a home owner. I have calculated about 140 yards using a trepezoid formula. It is in two piles approx 100 and 200 feet from the location where the dirt needs to be. After being moved, it needs to be smoothed out around a mound and feathered to match surrounding levels.

Any ideas on bidding? Is it too large a job to take on with the little tractor?

Thanks!

I have a 21-hp (engine) Kubota B7510HST with the LA302 FEL (~ 1/4 cy capacity, heaped). Just moved about 8 cy of topsoil about 300 ft. Took about 40 cycles and 2.5 hours. This dirt had been sitting around about 6 months and was getting somewhat compacted. So it usually took me several stabs to get a heaping load in the bucket.

140 cy with a 1/3 cy bucket is about 400 trips. Looks like a few days at least for this job, unless your bottom is cast iron and you don't mind spending 16 hours or so straight on the tractor.

Don't forget to lube the FEL before you start, halfway through the job, and when you finish. You'll really give your FEL a workout doing this amount of work.

Hope you have a toothbar for your FEL bucket. It makes a big difference on a job like this one.

Based on my experience with that 7510, I would say that your 30CK is on the small side for a job like this.

 

[DANOCHEESE]

Lone cowboy: 45 yard loads of mulch??? What kind of truck are they hauling that in?

 

[LoneCowboy]

not mulch, compost

big semi truck
it made a BIG pile (6 of them actually)

 

[daTeacha]

They make a lot of the stuff around here. Semi's with long dump trailers filled with mulch are not an uncommon site, but they aren't usually headed for someone's yard -- more like a landscaping dealer who delivers or loads it in smaller amounts for a higher price.

 

[DANOCHEESE]

Don't mean to pick a fight but!! Are you saying 45 yards of compost in one truck? A yard of gravel takes the same space as a yard of compost. If you were getting one truckload I would think it was a bit less than 45 yards. more like 45 cubic feet.