Fair price to clear an acre?

[TractorGuy]

Not apples to apples but this may help in the idea department. I had 5 acres clear cut a few years back. Shortly after I got two different quotes for cleaning it up. The ground was left with lots of debris and 900 to 1000 stumps. No rocks or stone in my area. One guy quoted 10,000 to dig up the stumps and burn all 5 acres. He told me I would need a bigger tractor than my 855 to finish up behind him. A larger excavation company quoted $2400 per acre to dig it all up, burn on site, and finish grade.

I decided to buy a backhoe and work on it myself in my spare time. I'm 3 years in and have about 3 acres done. The front 2 acres are level enough to mow and have grass growing on it.

At one stage I hired a guy to break down some of the large piles into smaller ones so I could burn them. He only charges $50 an hour. He has two different tractors with different attachments depending on what you want him to do. The $50 per hour only get one tractor and whatever attachments he can load on one trailer. I expect to hire him again one day. At his rate I can't justify buying my own grapple and doing the hydraulic conversion to run it.

 

[4570Man]

Large tracts of land compared to an acre is a big difference. A 30 ton excavator and a d8 dozer with a root rake would be way faster which reads cheaper, but getting that equipment to the job would cost more than this job is worth. There’s a construction company in town that has 15 ton excavator and a 8-10 ton dozer that they move with a dump truck which is probably an ideal setup for this kind of work.

 

[Oldoak]

4570,I believe your comment is right on the mark with pricing pricing. Also rural verses sub-urban locations, road permits for transportation and excavation permits (where required) and erosion control (where required), etc. affect final price.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Not too many folks will do work for a fixed price. Most will give you an estimated time to do the work (usually a low ball estimate) but charge by the hour. When clearing and digging out stumps, levelling hills etc, an experienced operator can get pretty close on his estimate but there is always a Murphy around to lay down his law, so an estimate is just that. In most if not all instances, if a customer insists on firm fixed price it is going to be higher than what an hourly rate would have ran due to the possibility of Murphy showing up.
You could give the client a fixed price (really high) but suggest that an hourly rate might save some money if not big obstacle is encountered.
Around here it is always an hourly rate for dozer work or backhoe work. For this work, I would just use the skidster to take out all that I could then move in the back hoe to clean everything else up. After the backhoe, the skidster could then smooth out all the dirt unless the property owner has a tractor and wants to do that himself.

 

[hawkeye08]

either charge a lump sum with you taking the risk (so priced higher than you expect it to take) or price it by hour with an estimated number of hours.

Not the same, but when we put our septic system in when building our house, we got a quote that was lump sum, I asked what hourly rate was, I chose the hourly rate and assumed the risk of it taking more than the estimate. When we finished, the guy wanted to hire me, he had never got so much done in one day as we did that day. I was the manual labor, he was the operator.

 

[Jstpssng]

Decide how much you need to it by the hour, perhaps with a "not to exceed" price. If somebody wants to undercut you because his equipment is junk and his time isn't worth anything; or perhaps he simply can do it for less money, more power to him. I played that game 25 years ago when I was starting out working for myself; once you start working for a little less than you should be, that's what people will expect no matter how good your work is.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I have a pile of equipment to do something like that, and even I would simply bring in a good sized excavator. Then, I would do the clean up. This applies even to my own projects. Use the best tools for the job at hand.

I never take peoples money if I don't think it's a good deal for them. It seems like a lot of people are not very objective when taking other peoples money.

 

[4570Man]

The acre is closer to 26000 square feet figuring the area is about 130x200 which is less than an acre. I said $3500 and got the job. I don't think it'll take 35 hours on the machine but we'll have to wait and see. I don't have an excavator which would be the preferred tool, but my equipment isn't like going after a bear with a BB gun either. This is mostly small trees which is less work, but also there's no extra money in logs.

 

[Piston]

The acre is closer to 26000 square feet figuring the area is about 130x200 which is less than an acre. I said $3500 and got the job. I don't think it'll take 35 hours on the machine but we'll have to wait and see. I don't have an excavator which would be the preferred tool, but my equipment isn't like going after a bear with a BB gun either. This is mostly small trees which is less work, but also there's no extra money in logs.

Of course there are tons of variables, but I wouldn't imagine that clearing less than an acre of small tress with your machine would take more than a 12 hour day, then another day for cleanup. Glad you got the job, that way you can post pics of your progress.

You shouldn't even need your chainsaw either, you can knock the trees down and break them half using other standing trees as leverage. I find that is quicker than getting off my tractor and cutting the logs up. This of course is assuming they will simply be piled to burn/rot and not used as firewood. Brush piles are good for wildlife.

 

[4570Man]

Of course there are tons of variables, but I wouldn't imagine that clearing less than an acre of small tress with your machine would take more than a 12 hour day, then another day for cleanup. Glad you got the job, that way you can post pics of your progress.

You shouldn't even need your chainsaw either, you can knock the trees down and break them half using other standing trees as leverage. I find that is quicker than getting off my tractor and cutting the logs up. This of course is assuming they will simply be piled to burn/rot and not used as firewood. Brush piles are good for wildlife.

It’ll be piled to burn. The landowner wants nothing for firewood. I’ll take any good trees for firewood but there’s not many.