Advice on clearing two acres (video inside)

[texansfan]

Hi,

I have a couple acres behind a trailer and chicken coop I want cleared. Land was timber logged about 7 years ago so now a good bunch of it is already thinned out but there is a good amount of underbrush. Well, you can take a look at the video. The soil is sandy and most of the trees are pines. This is East Texas (Harrison County) afterall.

I saw another post on here a guy recommended this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxfw66cFIdE&feature=youtu.be

Which is something the Kubota dealer offered to rent me for $3,000 for a week (Kubota SVL90 with mulching attachment)

Here is the land in question: http://tinyurl.com/twoacres

I start out at the backdoor of the trailer.
20 seconds in I pause at the chicken coop
45 seconds in I show the fence post where I want to begin the clearing
clear a 2 acre square from that post out into the thinned area you see

1. If I were going to buy something to do this what should I get?
I only need these two acres cleared and that's it. I'm not trying to get into the land clearing business so I will be selling the machine afterwards.

2. If I were going to pay someone to do this, how many hours do you think this should take? To clear everything in this 4mins video? I know hourly rates will differ around the country so I'm looking for the number of hours/days it should take and I can go from there.

Thanks.

 

[Duwop]

I hired a local company to come in and clean up my overgrown land. 14 hours at 150 per hour later my 6 acres was cleaned up. They had a cutter similar to what is in your video on a Deere skid steer. Some of the best money spent and countless hours of manual labor saved.

 

[zionview]

I'm hesitant to offer an idea without knowing what your goal is for the land, for instance cropping, pasture, trees, etc. A backhoe and a chainsaw would work for me if I were clearing it. My problem with flail type machines is what they leave behind- tree trunks and roots that are often spear-shaped and ready to poke a tire or someone's leg. I would cut the trees and underbrush low, then dig the roots out and smooth the ground over. I'd be interested in more detail about Duwop's experience. Were there sharp roots leftover? Was there a pile of brush and wood to burn, or was it flailed into a mulch on the ground as they went? If there wasn't much to do after they left, your talking about less than $1000 to drink coffee and watch someone else do the hard part.

 

[rustyshakelford]

You can rent a decent sized Dozer for 1200-1500 for the week. If you have a buddy that can run one I would go that route because you will be able to get a lot more done than with a mulcher. I could underbrush 2 acres in a day depending on how dense it is and soil conditions for reference.

Brett

 

[texansfan]

I'm hesitant to offer an idea without knowing what your goal is for the land, for instance cropping, pasture, trees, etc. A backhoe and a chainsaw would work for me if I were clearing it. .

I have 1,000 Virginia Pine Xmas trees coming in January that I will be planting with a dibble bar on these two acres. I simply want the land cleared and the brush to be stacked in piles on the back of the two acres so I can burn it.

I guess I can spend a few days with a chainsaw going at it but then I would have the problem of getting all of the downed trees into big piles.

I need to befriend someone with heavy equipment.
None of the neighbors have equipment but they have giving me numbers for guys that do and they are going to look at the property this weekend to assess.

 

[yellowdogsvc]

I still can't believe a dealer will rent a skid steer mulcher especially to people who may not have ever operated one. I was looking at rental machines while waiting on one of my machines and they are just beat to ****.

After re-reading the posts and seeing you want to replant, I'd either use a small excavator or small dozer or big skid steer with grapple.

 

[rustyshakelford]

I still can't believe a dealer will rent a skid steer mulcher especially to people who may not have ever operated one. I was looking at rental machines while waiting on one of my machines and they are just beat to ****.

After re-reading the posts and seeing you want to replant, I'd either use a small excavator or small dozer or big skid steer with grapple.

You are spot on. I wonder how many deposits they keep on these rental mulchers. It's not like a little track hoe your using to dig a trench with. These machines can get you hurt or damage the equipment quick. I'm sure the dealers only care about the money though. I run heavy equipment and would even be nervous running a mulcher the first time


Brett

 

[rustyshakelford]

I still can't believe a dealer will rent a skid steer mulcher especially to people who may not have ever operated one. I was looking at rental machines while waiting on one of my machines and they are just beat to ****.

After re-reading the posts and seeing you want to replant, I'd either use a small excavator or small dozer or big skid steer with grapple.

You are spot on. I wonder how many deposits they keep on these rental mulchers. It's not like a little track hoe your using to dig a trench with. These machines can get you hurt or damage the equipment quick. I'm sure the dealers only care about the money though. I run heavy equipment and would even be nervous running a mulcher the first time


Brett

 

[tonyoz]

Gees 2 acres is bugger all. I carry them around with me all day and night
Seriously though a good operator on a 100hp machine should take about a day to clean up that area where as you rent a machine for a week and get a bad job done expensively

 

[Duwop]

I'm hesitant to offer an idea without knowing what your goal is for the land, for instance cropping, pasture, trees, etc. A backhoe and a chainsaw would work for me if I were clearing it. My problem with flail type machines is what they leave behind- tree trunks and roots that are often spear-shaped and ready to poke a tire or someone's leg. I would cut the trees and underbrush low, then dig the roots out and smooth the ground over. I'd be interested in more detail about Duwop's experience. Were there sharp roots leftover? Was there a pile of brush and wood to burn, or was it flailed into a mulch on the ground as they went? If there wasn't much to do after they left, your talking about less than $1000 to drink coffee and watch someone else do the hard part.

Much as you described a little of each left for me clean up. I would have preferred to hire a couple of men to come in and chainsaw it down and get the stumps out but I'm sure you know not that many young men want to work that hard. For me I think it was my only option as I'm unable to do much work physically.

 

[zionview]

Much as you described a little of each left for me clean up. I would have preferred to hire a couple of men to come in and chainsaw it down and get the stumps out but I'm sure you know not that many young men want to work that hard. For me I think it was my only option as I'm unable to do much work physically.

Thanks for the reply. Not many young men in our area who want to work, either. The ones who do are always busy.

 

[texansfan]

Update.


Got three quotes.

1. Just knock everything down and leave where is, 1 day and $1500

2. Same as 1 but also push into burn piles then burn and bury in corner of property. 2 days and $2,200

3. Same as 2 but it will take 3-4 days and costs $3,500

All three quotes were from different companies.

I'm going to make myself and option 4 which is buy a $150 Stihl 170 and spend two full days Sun up to Sun down chopping these trees down then raking the remnants into burn piles myself.
Most of these trees are 3 to 6 inches in diameter so it should not take too long to bring them down.
Hard part will be raking all this stuff into piles.

Yes I will have stumps but I can deal with those later.
The stumps will be so small should be easy for me to burn them individually.

Thoughts?

 

[blueriver]

Option 2 ... Then it's done stumps and all

 

[zionview]

Update.


Got three quotes.

1. Just knock everything down and leave where is, 1 day and $1500

2. Same as 1 but also push into burn piles then burn and bury in corner of property. 2 days and $2,200

3. Same as 2 but it will take 3-4 days and costs $3,500

All three quotes were from different companies.

I'm going to make myself and option 4 which is buy a $150 Stihl 170 and spend two full days Sun up to Sun down chopping these trees down then raking the remnants into burn piles myself.
Most of these trees are 3 to 6 inches in diameter so it should not take too long to bring them down.
Hard part will be raking all this stuff into piles.

Yes I will have stumps but I can deal with those later.
The stumps will be so small should be easy for me to burn them individually.

Thoughts?

Is there any place you could rent a backhoe or skid steer for a day or so to help out? You're kind of racing the clock, with a load of seedlings coming.

 

[rustyshakelford]

Where is your place at? Those prices are high

Brett

 

[rustyshakelford]

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

 

[texansfan]

Is there any place you could rent a backhoe or skid steer for a day or so to help out? You're kind of racing the clock, with a load of seedlings coming.

Yeah as in the original post I could rent a SVL90 skid steer with mulching attachment for $3,000 for a week and try my hand at things.

I honestly think I can just go through here in a 10hrs day with a Stihl and at least have all of the trees down.
We are only talking about maybe a couple hundred trees that most arent more than 4 inches wide and anything over 6 inches I am leaving standing (and not many of those are in this 2 acre area)

most of my time will be spent sawing the trees into more manageable chunks and pushing these chunks into burn piles

also, the many vine bushes I have will slow me down too
i can't use a chainsaw on those and they catch on my pants legs and sleeves which slow me down
it looks like this in areas: http://www.biomimicron.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/brambles-yet-to-be-cleared-23april09.jpg
but not that thick/dense

and the close up of those vines can look like this: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/namegal/msg051625119737.jpg

 

[texansfan]

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

Funny thing is my neighbor gave the name of a guy.
I called him he said this work is too small for him.
So he gave me the names of three other guys that do this type of small work.
Dozer guys.
It was these 3 dozer guys that gave me these prices.
I've never driven a dozer before but looking at the land and what needs to be done I"m sure I could do all of this work in one day given the equipment doesn't break down on me or it doesn't rain.

I'm about to do it by hand in a day (or two) so I know a dozer can do it in a single day
I've seen youtube videos of lil dozers pushing over lil trees like mine in about 5-10 seconds
maybe i have a few hundred trees that need to be pushed over
few hours of work maybe?
then spend the rest of the time just pushing all these downed trees into a pile int he corner of these two acres

am i underestimating this job too much?
I'm not looking for pasture land
just knock down all trees and leave no stubs
you can leave a hole/divit where the tree was just fine

 

[rustyshakelford]

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

 

[texansfan]

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

Sunbelt wants $1,500 to rent a Case 650 for a week. (or $395 per day plus tax, plus insurance, plus delivery)

Delivery ($120 each way), taxes and insurances. The whole kit and kaboodle.
I will try to find a young guy with nothing else to do since it is around Christmas and offer $1,000 for the day and hope he takes it.
I'm not trying to lowball but I know bigger outifts have bigger overhead (insurances, taxes, etc) as they have much more machinery (and employees) sitting around.
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.