Stumping & Clearing Project Estimates

[Carl_NH]

All,

I have several acres of pine stumps and ledge - probably 35 - 30"+ stumps and 25 stumps in the 15-20" range. Ledge and rock 4-6' in size also need to be realigned to reclaim the land to replant trees and generally reclaim the area after this years storms. Land is reasonably flat, no nasty terrain other than ledge outcropping here and there.

Cost estimate to remove stumps - 3 days $1K/day, ledge and stone realignment 2 days $1K per day, stump disposal, $800/100 yd load in a live bottom trailer - estimate 3 loads or $2400. Total job about $7500.

This is a large excavator 60K class with thumb etc The stump disposal is the big unknown since they can get big, so the plan would be to remove 3-100 yd loads of stumps and bury the rest - not ideal but to contain cost this was the solution offered.

Good value or look for other bids? Contractor is known and a neighbor.. so thats a factor..

 

[randot]

I am in a similar situation. I have 6-8 acres of willow to be pulled out, it is too thick to cut with a brush hog and the excavator is going to cost 120/hour for the same size excavator. I am in Eastern WA and this is the best price I could find for someone reliable and recommended. No disposal required, we can burn just about all of it but the trees are 4-5 inches in diameter and too thick to even walk through. The contractor recommended we just go hourly as he has no idea how fast or slow going it will be. Hope that helps some!

 

[MarkV]

It may be my lack of experience or your rock but with that big of excavator 3 days to remove approximately 60 stumps seems like a long time. An excavator that size should be able to pull your smaller stumps in one bite. Given that you plan to reforest this area why not bury all the stumps. Ten years from now you may have some minor settling but you will also have established trees by then. Actually around here you could have those stumps ground for under 1K and plant around them.

MarkV

 

[dave1949]

Carl, I agree with Mark, three days for the stump removal sounds like a lot, but maybe your neighbor is seeing something that makes him think it will take that long. Probably best to ask about that. If lots of travel time around/across the field on the excavator is needed, that slows things down.

The $1000/day is a good/fair price for a big excavator around here.

I wish I could get some of the rocks in my head 're-aligned' Are you going for an aesthetic look or just getting them out of the way?
Dave.

 

[workmytractor]

What type of pine trees are they? Some pine trees have huge tap roots and the sizes you mentioned 30-35 inches would be a challenge even for the big excavator. We have Long-leaf yellow pine around here and the tap roots make it nearly impossible to remove. Stump grinding may be a more cost effective way of removing the larger pine stumps. Maybe you could have him pull the smaller stumps with the excavator and hire someone to grind the larger stumps down.

I had to pull up a few pines when I was adding an addition to my barn. I wrote a little article on it and posted it on my website Brad's Barn Addition | Work MY Tractor there are some photos you can look at by clicking on the highlighted words in the article. The pine in the photo wasn't even a long-leaf...it was a hybrid I planted about 8 years ago.

 

[Carl_NH]

Thanks for the replies.

MarkV - agreed - he will probably pull 30-40 a day, but the landing/loading area is 500' or so from the furthest point so the process would be to rake them back as removed so this will take some additional time. Then i want to have the rock that I cant move arranged in a wall of sorts and around the perimeter, so he will probably clean up one area and move on.

Since 1/3 the cost is hauling the stumps we'll see what we can bury reasonably then haul the big ones. Thats a TBD based on what the digging is like.

As far as grinding them, thats a second option, the fellow who has done work for me gets about $350 a day and can do 40" stump (which becomes a 60" dia area to get 6" below grade) in roughly 45 min to an hour, so probably 8-10 a day. The other issue is stones in the stumps and since he knows our land this is one way to NOT make your day..

As suggested maybe a combo of stumping where I need to, then grinding on the perimeter areas, to 1) reduce the excavator time and 2) reduce the haulage. This would still meet my goal and probably reduce to a total of 3 days for about 40 stumps and hauling maybe one truckload. Wont really know until we get into it.

workmytractor - these are white pine - I left the good hardwoods, and white pine roots typically spread about 6-8' around the stump and there are main roots but usually no main tap root such as your pics showed. When you stump these it leaves a crater 10' around on the big ones. Plus we are on a lot of ledge here so the roots intertwine with the rocks making leverage difficult.

dave1949 - My wife wants to realign my rocks too when she heard the estimates. Basically its moving them to the perimeter, and maybe some "farmer style" walls on the interior area to create a nice looking natural effect not a "landscaped" effect.

Once the large rocks (3-6') are generally placed and the medium ones in order, I will deal with the balance. There is probably an area 60' x 80' that is just ledge and needs the most work - see the pics. Also I got the "new" 1/2" thick rachet rake two weeks ago for my B21 so it will be getting a workout once the major stuff is out of the way.

Here are several shots of the "project" area, and one is of our current lawn area - these rocks are all natural, lived here all their lives, and dont like to be realigned with little machines like my B21..

 

[dave1949]

Carl,

I think the part that is already done in the first pic looks good. Adds character. On the bright side, ledge requires very little mowing
Dave.

 

[Carl_NH]

Well the stumping is done, lots of ledge so the dozer didn't do much to rip up the roots so that has been my task with my york rake. Lots of piles of roots now and more rocks!

The stumping took 3 days then a day loading out the stumps and then final rough grading with the excavator and burying the left over pieces of stumps and misc debris.

Here are some shots after york raking and some 300' of walls built. After york raking and rock picking I seeded grass to get some ground cover.

Next is the select replanting with some hemlock and hardwoods.