Clearing a wooded acre

[Buxus]

Need one acre of a 2 acre lot cleared for a homesite and driveway in Delaware. Fronts a state road so no issue getting to it. Like all of DE, it's flat.

There is tremendous population growth here, and we are told they can't get to it until October.

A few questions:

How long will it take a professional company to clear it? I would have guessed a few days, but online says 2-3 hours??

What's a reasonable per hour cost for the work? I'm guessing a few hundred assuming professionals with big equipment.

Not interested in trying it myself.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Need one acre of a 2 acre lot cleared for a homesite and driveway in Delaware. Fronts a state road so no issue getting to it. Like all of DE, it's flat.

There is tremendous population growth here, and we are told they can't get to it until October.

A few questions:

How long will it take a professional company to clear it? I would have guessed a few days, but online says 2-3 hours??

What's a reasonable per hour cost for the work? I'm guessing a few hundred assuming professionals with big equipment.

Not interested in trying it myself.

It will take a few hours just delivering equipment and unloading it. Then they either haul debris or leave you brush piles of your very own. Stumps, I wouldn't bury it because you'll have a large sink hole when it decays. Dressing it all off. It takes time. I guess if you went total nuclear it could be done like the online figure of 3 hours. But you can't live there for 200 years because of radiation. So I guess, overall, a crew with equipment will be best.

 

[kenmbz]

What kind of growth is on the lot now. Is it mostly brush or trees, and how big and how many.
Large trees call for different equipment than brush. Excavator vs. skidsteer etc.

Do they need to get you to a smooth lot, or will that be taken care of during build?

 

[Bill Guenthner]

Yes, a few hundred per hour with a minimum and travel time. It's going to take more than 3-4 hours unless it's really small stuff.

 

[WVH1977]

Need one acre of a 2 acre lot cleared for a homesite and driveway in Delaware. Fronts a state road so no issue getting to it. Like all of DE, it's flat.

There is tremendous population growth here, and we are told they can't get to it until October.

A few questions:

How long will it take a professional company to clear it? I would have guessed a few days, but online says 2-3 hours??

What's a reasonable per hour cost for the work? I'm guessing a few hundred assuming professionals with big equipment.

Not interested in trying it myself.

A few hundred might get the equipment there to your site but not even close to clearing the land. Based on what I know which is not much I am thinking 300 to 500 just to bring equipment to the lot and then 3 to 5 thousand to clear it depending on taking the piles/burning/etc. Diesel is 5 dollars a gallon. A good sized excavator working for an 8 hour day is probably 400 dollars in fuel cost alone. Again, not an expert but definitely more than a couple hundred.

 

[Buxus]

Thanks for the information. It is densely wooded, but mostly 8 inch to 12 inch deciduous street, probably about 50 -70 feet. One can walk through it, it's not like woods in lots of the south or deep in the mountains that are impassable. No conifers. Ground is damp clay.

 

[Bill Guenthner]

Thanks for the information. It is densely wooded, but mostly 8 inch to 12 inch deciduous street, probably about 50 -70 feet. One can walk through it, it's not like woods in lots of the south or deep in the mountains that are impassable. No conifers. Ground is damp clay.

BTW: If the contractor has to remove the biomass from your land that will add considerably to the cost.

 

[bcp]

Bruce

 

[WVH1977]

Also, I cleared almost 3 acres with a mini-ex (14,000 lbs. machine) about 4 years aga. I rented it for 2 weeks and worked everyday on it. With delivery, fuel and rental fee, it was right at 3 thousand. I ended up with 10 piles that took me 3 years to finally burn up and get rid of it. I did all of my burning in winter during rain and snow. They were big piles.

Just trying to give you an idea of cost doing it yourself. Will be cheaper for doing just an acre if you decide to tackle it.

 

[RalphVa]

We've an estimate for a guy with a forestry mulcher to come in with it and other equipment to clear out dead trees and stumps and "trash trees", pile up and burn for $5k on probably about 7 of our 8.5 acres. Think it is something like $130 to $160/hr. Be about 3 days.

Neighbor next door with only about 2 acres has hired similar equipment 3 different times that has taken 3 days to a week. In his territorial rat mode, he's made piles along the lines between us and two other neighbors. No burning. Wish he would do it, e.g. make a pile or two and burn it.