1/2 acre cost to clear.

[yellowdogsvc]

I'm bidding an approximate 1/2 acre clearing job.

Access isn't very good, that is, there will be a small entrance to work with and not much room to make piles
Scope:
Cut and remove all cedars and try and save all oaks and other native trees.
All stumps must be dug out and disposed of.
All shreds from mulcher have to be hauled off but chips from wood chipper can stay.

Trees range from a few inches to 20+" diameter at base ashe juniper (cedar). I'd say the average is around 9" and 16' tall. Some trees are too close to oaks to shear or use a mulcher so I need some hand labor. If I use mulcher, I have to clean up and haul off the shreds with stumps making for more trips. I would love to grind everything on site and leave it but there is a building in close proximity (windows) and the ground is rocky. Have a place to haul stumps within a few miles and they will take some bigger logs and any shreds I need to haul. Approximately 65 stumps between 12 and 20" to be dug out and a lot of smaller ones.

Equipment I have: Bobcat w/mulcher, 20" chipper w/loader, dump trailer, mini x and attachments for Bobcat.

I will need to hire some hand labor.. which gets expensive for good guys. I want to mulch a few trees to make some room then chip the rest. I know that between loader arm on chipper, hand crew, and bobcat or mini, I can get trees to the chipper once I make some room.

Problem I'm having is pricing. If I add up what I think it will take to make everything completely disappear, roots and all, it comes out to $4900 which seems high to me but I'm generally spot on with time. If it wasn't for digging out and disposing of all the stumps, I know this could be done for a lot less. There is no burning there so someone has to haul off everything or use a mixture of hauling and chipping or mulching or all three. About half the trees are too big for the typical rental chipper but mine will handle them.

Does this sound unreasonable? A parking lot is going in otherwise I'd recommend just shearing and chipping to save on soil disturbance. I don't usually do 1/2 ac sites because of the limited room to run a mulcher but this is a local job and I'd like to be fair to the people.

The pic is of a typical 5" but they get much bigger. Any thoughts?

 

[wolftree]

I would say you are being very reasonable, if not too cheap.

 

[jeff9366]

My house is on 1/2 acre in a gated community. Same vegetation, same equipment, same clearing to make my wife happy. Construction clear took four days with crew of four, plus me sort of part time. Debris hauled off-site.

Tree service insured and bonded. We hired service several times in the past, but not for a job quite so large.

Two large Palm trees brought in and planted. Palms minor compared to balance of the job.

$8400. Beautiful job. I was happy to write the check. A lot of work in hot weather.

 

[Bigfoot62]

My cousin is in the land clearing (among other things) business. He used one of his large excavators (CAT 320) and one of his dozers (D6) to clear some of his land for grazing pasture. Clear and grub all stumps. Pile on site, to be burned later. He and his brother did the operating. (so, no labor cost) He told me it was $3000/acre, just for the machine time.

Saying that, I don't think you're out of line. As Wolftree noted, you may be a little cheap, considering you have to haul a lot of it off.

Just a suggestion, but you might want to hire a dump truck to do the hauling. That dump trailer of yours will have a workout if you do it yourself.

 

[lumberjack1986]

If you are right on the time aspect and happy with your hourly rates, you're fine.

If possible, I wouldn't mulch anything, I would clear a hole for the chipper and get after it from there. The mulcher is a high hourly item that creates more work.

With all that equipment at that price, this is a 2-3 day job?

 

[Grumpy Old Man]

I'd say your to cheap also your forgetting what all that equipment you have cost you ! add in at least $1,000.00 for repairs /fuel/insurance and you should be around $7,500.00 remember you can't take bottom dollar on every job just to get them or you'll find yourself broke with a bunch of used up equipment ! :thumbsup:

 

[rustyshakelford]

In our area, I'd knock that out in a day with a dozer. Probably be about 4 boxes at 275 or 400 if they load themselves. Not much to rake. I'd do it for 5k all day long

Brett

 

[rustyshakelford]

In our area, I'd knock that out in a day with a dozer. Probably be about 4 boxes at 275 or 400 if they load themselves. Not much to rake. I'd do it for 5k all day long

Brett

 

[lumberjack1986]

I agree it's cheaper than I would do it for.

On a job that size, with a, CTL, mini ex, and truck/dump trailer (gooseneck tandem duals), myself, another operator and a laborer, we would be at $325/hr assuming there aren't any extra factors.

I don't have a chipper anymore, but that would add 100/hr pretty easily in production value.

 

[Coyote machine]

Quote: "If I add up what I think it will take to make everything completely disappear, roots and all, it comes out to $4900 which seems high to me but I'm generally spot on with time. If it wasn't for digging out and disposing of all the stumps, I know this could be done for a lot less. There is no burning there so someone has to haul off everything or use a mixture of hauling and chipping or mulching or all three. About half the trees are too big for the typical rental chipper but mine will handle them".

You said it all above - 'if it weren't for digging out and disposing of all the stumps'... BUT it IS digging out all the stumps, and it is fuel to haul, and it is your bigger than rental chipper, and it is you being more than fair. What if something breaks? What if you run into underground utilities?
I'll bet they are getting more than just your quote. Tell them what you said here about,' if it weren't for' certain aspects of the job you might be able to save them some $ and see if they want to adjust the job requirements or still do what they said originally. Sometimes people don't know what is gonna cost them vs. what might save them some $.
If they insist a certain way, then they have to pay for the results. But at least you gave them an option to consider. And that alone is worth something in itself.