Fair price to clear an acre?

[4570Man]

I’m looking at cleaning an acre for someone. The lot doesn’t have any good trees. Most trees are 6” or less in diameter. There’s a few bigger than that and it’s mostly black pine. There’s a high percentage of pine trees and the soil appears to have a lot of rock. I’ve only done one job like this so any advice is appreciated. The equipment at hand is a John Deere 310J backhoe and a Kubota 95-2 CTL with a grapple, toothed bucket, tree puller, and pallet forks. Please don’t derail the thread with insurance and taxes or stuff like that.

 

[Shaneard]

$85 an hour. I don’t think you can quote a job like that with rocks etc. you may lose money if you quote it. They will either pay it or find someone else.

 

[airbiscuit]

$85 an hour. I don’t think you can quote a job like that with rocks etc. you may lose money if you quote it. They will either pay it or find someone else.

That would be a pretty good deal for someone. Will there be a person or persons on the greound with a chainsaw?

 

[Shaneard]

That would be a pretty good deal for someone. Will there be a person or persons on the greound with a chainsaw?

Yeah I’m saying $85 an hour with one body, of course it goes up if more bodies.

 

[Bigfoot62]

Rule of thumb is $3000-5000 per acre to clear and grub.

As Shane said, I would do it by the hour. You could give them an estimate, and then your hourly rate.

 

[4570Man]

That would be a pretty good deal for someone. Will there be a person or persons on the greound with a chainsaw?

If I can get someone. I’m probably the operator and the chainsaw man. I forget to upload pictures in the original post. Here’s a few.

 

[4570Man]

I try to avoid hourly rates. There’s always someone with a beat up 8n ford and a 1985 backhoe willing to work for less per hour despite getting half as much done.

 

[Diggin It]

Are the people driving fancy new cars or old worn out wrecks?

Are they building a million dollar McMansion or moving in a used single wide?

Those questions would matter to me on pricing.

 

[airbiscuit]

A 96hp tracked skidsteer is not an 8n!

 

[ZTMAN]

When you say "cleaning" an acre, does that mean getting rid of the trees, stumps and rock?

If your CTL has the flow to operate a forestry mulcher, that would be the ticket. Don't know if they rent them around you, but you could charge the cost of the rental plus a per hour charge.