Advice on clearing two acres (video inside)

[RDrancher]

If I was in a better spot I'd rent one and show you how to run it at my place near Montgomery. I hate to see a guy get screwed over. You could rent a mini ex with a thumb. They are easy to pick up and would be better than a saw. Mulcher would be a terrible idea for someone to try and wing.

Brett

I tend to agree with Brett on the excavator, although I think he's willing to work for too cheap. Pines come out pretty quick with an ex. Do you know anyone with a grapple? That would make moving the trees to burn pile areas easier.

 

[yanmars]

Keep us posted how it all comes out when done.

 

[yellowdogsvc]

Just looked at Harrison county. That's to far from me. I could rent a Dozer for a week and still be cheaper than your $1500 quote and be done in a day or spend two and get it piled and burned. Those prices are high. Don't look for a business. Find a guy that does Dozer work. Drive around and look for a place getting cleared. A lot of great operators aren't on the internet and get business word of mouth. Pound the pavement.

Brett

But hire a legitimate business with insurance, etc. Too many fly-by-night guys who are cheaper because they don't have to pay sales tax, texas workforce commission, etc. To me, they are cheating the system and fly-by-night at best. There are cheap guys around here. No advertising, no sales tax permits, no insurance and nowhere to be found when something goes wrong. I get called a lot to fix those type of things. Not saying there isn't a starving farmer out there looking for work and has the skills but he should at least be carrying 1,000,000 liability especially if they are going to burn. That makes it more expensive to work but it's the right thing to do.
I believe you get what you pay for in life.

 

[yellowdogsvc]

But a young guy with a used dozer sittin on the side of his house might want to make some nice "weekend money" for a day's work on a Thursday.

Maybe this doesn't apply to your situation but for others..
That's the problem. If he's just sitting there.. no insurance, no nothing, why would you want to hire someone like that? I'm not saying that you have to pay $1500/day for pushing over little trees (that sounds high for a small dozer) but don't get someone who will make a bigger mess. I'm not kidding when I say I get to clean up this stuff often. I've posted pics on other sites where inexperienced operators leave the customer with a bigger mess than they had. If the operator/business has nothing in the game, what happens when a fire gets out of control or they didn't call before they dig or push and the roots of a hackberry pull up a fiber optic line? It happens every day. A larger outfit here knocked all of our phones out because they didn't call before they dug.. and ran a dozer of the phone box which was inside a fence line. If they can do it, imagine what the little guy who is working for weekend money will do. Again, I'm not saying that you can't find someone responsible that will work cheap but make sure you get someone who won't screw you over.

 

[mbohuntr]

Maybe this doesn't apply to your situation but for others..
That's the problem. If he's just sitting there.. no insurance, no nothing, why would you want to hire someone like that? I'm not saying that you have to pay $1500/day for pushing over little trees (that sounds high for a small dozer) but don't get someone who will make a bigger mess. I'm not kidding when I say I get to clean up this stuff often. I've posted pics on other sites where inexperienced operators leave the customer with a bigger mess than they had. If the operator/business has nothing in the game, what happens when a fire gets out of control or they didn't call before they dig or push and the roots of a hackberry pull up a fiber optic line? It happens every day. A larger outfit here knocked all of our phones out because they didn't call before they dug.. and ran a dozer of the phone box which was inside a fence line. If they can do it, imagine what the little guy who is working for weekend money will do. Again, I'm not saying that you can't find someone responsible that will work cheap but make sure you get someone who won't screw you over.

I just completely cleared a little under an acre in a couple of days. It contained brush, and small trees up to about 12". I rented a Case 550, and put forks on the front of my Mahindra. Never ran a dozer before.

I didn't wear my seat belt because of all the spring poles and sharp stuff coming in the cab, That turned out to be a so-so decision., but I should have worn a hard hat as I drove the dozer into a hole I made and launched my head into the roll bar. Got a nice scar now, and consider myself lucky....Thought I broke my neck.

I won't advise you to do what I did, but I survived it. Cost me $480 plus an urgent care visit...

 

[Patstb]

I don't see why a legitimate business wouldn't charge around $1500 a day for dozer work. So I agree with Yellow. Honestly not worth the risk for someone you don't personally know for a couple hundred cheaper.

I would choose option 2.

How would you plan on moving all the wood and the getting the stumps out after you cut it out with a chainsaw yourself? Just feel like that's way too time consuming.

 

[tmc_31]

If you were closer to me, I would take about 2 days to push those trees down and rake them into burn piles. The burning would be up to you. Would cost you about $1200.00. I use a large skidloader with a dozer blade, rake and grubbing tool.

Tim

 

[Gary Fowler]

Here in Bismarck area a nice D6 Dozer with operator is $85 per hour with 4 hour minimum. 2 acres wont take more than 4 hours to do if nothing larger than 8" trees. I don't know why Harrison county would be any higher.

 

[redprospector]

Here in Bismarck area a nice D6 Dozer with operator is $85 per hour with 4 hour minimum. 2 acres wont take more than 4 hours to do if nothing larger than 8" trees. I don't know why Harrison county would be any higher.

Wow! That would be $340 to clear 2 acres. NICE!
It cost me more than that to have my Hydro Ax hauled in to a job a while back.

 

[texansfan]

Here in Bismarck area a nice D6 Dozer with operator is $85 per hour with 4 hour minimum. 2 acres wont take more than 4 hours to do if nothing larger than 8" trees. I don't know why Harrison county would be any higher.

He wants to bring a D7
Says the TXDOT permit just to move that piece of equipment is $225
I looked at the land again and really only 0.75 acres could use heavy equipment to clear
the other portion could easily be down with a machete or handsaw as it is mostly twigs and underbrush/vines/thorns

i was like a D7 could have 2.0 acres cleared in 2-3 hours if you ask me!
i've seen these things work before and a 220hp D7 just mows right thru stuff

I mean I know he has to eat as well but if a job is too small folks should just say so instead of throwing out such high prices.
I had another guy flat out say the job wasn't big enough for him to start his dozer let alone get out of bed for.
But he is used to clearing 60 acre parcels for housing developments and industrial complexes.