$100.00 Per Hour Mulcher/TimberAx

[hunterridgefarm]

I have finish clearing for our house except for stump removal. I had a track loader remove all the under growth where the house will be and about 1 acre around it. I am going to leave it as natural a setting as possible and really don't want anymore brush to deal with, 45 stumps will be enough.

We are building on a 42 acre track and want to thin out the surounding woods around the house not the entire 42 ac. I have looked into renting a skidsteer and mulcher but the companies around here don't rent these anymore, the mulcher that is.

I know a guy in the tree removal/trimming business that recently bought a track skid and mulcher. He said he would charge $100.00 and hour and would like to have 5-8 hours of work. Basically if I used him for 8 hours I would get 7 hours of mulching with 1 hour charged as travel time, total cost $800.00.

My question is how much land could be cleared in 7 hours? I know this depends on the under growth and size. Most of the trees will be pine and just mainly trying to open up the woods a little. May have the occasional 6-9" dia pine but really very few of these. The area that I want cleared is a gentle slope so that may affect the amount being cleared verses flat land.

I have watched alot of videos on the mulchers and I know this is the way I want to go.

So any ideas how much clearing in 5-7 hours?

I told him I would be there moving logs and brush with my tractor while he was doing the mulching. He said I could just point to where I wanted him and he would mulch where ever I wanted it mulched. He has one person driving the skidsteer and another persons with a chainsaw incase the driver needs a little help.

So I think $100.00 and hour is a good price...?

 

[EddieWalker]

My neighbor hired a guy to do an area that was very steep so he'd have a nice view from where he wants to build his house. He did around 2 acres of thinning in half the time they expected him. Since he'd payed for the day, he had him cut trails around his land. The results were amazing!!

Eddie

 

[randy41]

$100 an hour for 2 guys and their equipment sounds reasonable.

 

[FL4400]

Depending on the materials that he will be mulching I would figure about an acre an hour, maybe a little more or less. I have rented a full sized hydroax with an operator for 275 an hour and he did about 30 acres in 3 days.

 

[HGM]

I just looked at these machines this evening and the salesman told me they get $150-200hr in my area .. I'd love to have one myself, but $70k would take a lot of weekends to pay off....

 

[hunterridgefarm]

An acer and hour would be good. I was thinking 1/2 to 3/4 with the skid steer. I was going to have him do this over Christmas but may wait until Jan or Feb to get a better idea of what all I want him to take out. And I have about 12 trees down that I need to move with around 5-10 more to cut that way I can pile some brush for him to mulch. I'll take plenty of before and after pictures to post.

I may have him cut some trails so I can hide some stumps .

 

[Robbie Hegwood]

To all the posters on this thread, $100.00 per hour is a very good price. Around Atlanta area I charge 125.00 per hour with 4 hour min. As far as production rate a safe number is more like 3 hours per acre, that's real world estimate. You can beat that alittle with thinner stuff but there are just too many factors that affect the production rate. I too usually have a helper, usually my dad to help pull debri out into the open so I can mulch but that is an operator's choice not a customer's problem. It is also a saftey issue to not be alone on a job. I now from experiance [spell]. So yes that rate is good.
HGM, I too was told those rates when I bought my tractor and they are not realistic numbers. Hat's off to the operators who can get that rate, it's just not for me. Also if you had a quote of $70k for a complete package that pretty good, for don't I know that expensive. But they sure are incredible. But if you need a little work done just call me and save yourself $69,500..I had to put that in there, just had too. Talk soon Robbie

 

[HGM]

HGM, I too was told those rates when I bought my tractor and they are not realistic numbers. Hat's off to the operators who can get that rate, it's just not for me. Also if you had a quote of $70k for a complete package that pretty good, for don't I know that expensive. But they sure are incredible. But if you need a little work done just call me and save yourself $69,500..I had to put that in there, just had too. Talk soon Robbie

I thought that was high, but thats what he said.. How busy do you stay? It seems like its a good market, but I wonder....

 

[hunterridgefarm]

To all the posters on this thread, $100.00 per hour is a very good price. Around Atlanta area I charge 125.00 per hour with 4 hour min. As far as production rate a safe number is more like 3 hours per acre, that's real world estimate. You can beat that alittle with thinner stuff but there are just too many factors that affect the production rate. I too usually have a helper, usually my dad to help pull debri out into the open so I can mulch but that is an operator's choice not a customer's problem. It is also a saftey issue to not be alone on a job. I now from experiance [spell]. So yes that rate is good.
HGM, I too was told those rates when I bought my tractor and they are not realistic numbers. Hat's off to the operators who can get that rate, it's just not for me. Also if you had a quote of $70k for a complete package that pretty good, for don't I know that expensive. But they sure are incredible. But if you need a little work done just call me and save yourself $69,500..I had to put that in there, just had too. Talk soon Robbie

From reading threads on this site I was expecting $125-150 hr. He has only had the machine a few months and told me he bought it to clear 30 acers for a builder. He told me to go by his house and look at the machine but I have not had time. He paid around 70-80k for it. He seems to have plenty of work to do and I want to get him before he goes up on his hourly rate since he is the only one around who does this

 

[Robbie Hegwood]

Everyone in the industry says those exact numbers but I have learned none actually own or operate these tractors. I'll tell on myself. I was staying business enough up until the month of november,that's when all my summer leads and word of mouth jobs came to a hault. That when advertising would have kicked in if I had done any. So, since then we have quickly ramped that up and next week I will begin a 2 week project removing a beaver dam and material on a lot near work. A good job and just in time because I thought I had lost my mind getting into this business. But the Lord is my guide and he knows the proper timing so all is well.
Side note about the mulching business. When I began I tried my best to see how many of these machines were running around here to see if my busi. would fly. There were only about 4 that were close enough to my local to compete so I went for it. Since I've been in the busi. I have found that number to actually be double with reports of more being sold frequently. If I were starting now I'm not sure I would, market saturation. The actual best set up is to either have a bobcat/grading busi. first or be in the timber field. Both go hand in hand to these tractors. There is definitly work for them I just have to go find it. Learning as I go. Robbie