1/2 acre cost to clear.

[yellowdogsvc]

I'm bidding an approximate 1/2 acre clearing job.

Access isn't very good, that is, there will be a small entrance to work with and not much room to make piles
Scope:
Cut and remove all cedars and try and save all oaks and other native trees.
All stumps must be dug out and disposed of.
All shreds from mulcher have to be hauled off but chips from wood chipper can stay.

Trees range from a few inches to 20+" diameter at base ashe juniper (cedar). I'd say the average is around 9" and 16' tall. Some trees are too close to oaks to shear or use a mulcher so I need some hand labor. If I use mulcher, I have to clean up and haul off the shreds with stumps making for more trips. I would love to grind everything on site and leave it but there is a building in close proximity (windows) and the ground is rocky. Have a place to haul stumps within a few miles and they will take some bigger logs and any shreds I need to haul. Approximately 65 stumps between 12 and 20" to be dug out and a lot of smaller ones.

Equipment I have: Bobcat w/mulcher, 20" chipper w/loader, dump trailer, mini x and attachments for Bobcat.

I will need to hire some hand labor.. which gets expensive for good guys. I want to mulch a few trees to make some room then chip the rest. I know that between loader arm on chipper, hand crew, and bobcat or mini, I can get trees to the chipper once I make some room.

Problem I'm having is pricing. If I add up what I think it will take to make everything completely disappear, roots and all, it comes out to $4900 which seems high to me but I'm generally spot on with time. If it wasn't for digging out and disposing of all the stumps, I know this could be done for a lot less. There is no burning there so someone has to haul off everything or use a mixture of hauling and chipping or mulching or all three. About half the trees are too big for the typical rental chipper but mine will handle them.

Does this sound unreasonable? A parking lot is going in otherwise I'd recommend just shearing and chipping to save on soil disturbance. I don't usually do 1/2 ac sites because of the limited room to run a mulcher but this is a local job and I'd like to be fair to the people.

The pic is of a typical 5" but they get much bigger. Any thoughts?

 

[wolftree]

I would say you are being very reasonable, if not too cheap.

 

[jeff9366]

My house is on 1/2 acre in a gated community. Same vegetation, same equipment, same clearing to make my wife happy. Construction clear took four days with crew of four, plus me sort of part time. Debris hauled off-site.

Tree service insured and bonded. We hired service several times in the past, but not for a job quite so large.

Two large Palm trees brought in and planted. Palms minor compared to balance of the job.

$8400. Beautiful job. I was happy to write the check. A lot of work in hot weather.

 

[Bigfoot62]

My cousin is in the land clearing (among other things) business. He used one of his large excavators (CAT 320) and one of his dozers (D6) to clear some of his land for grazing pasture. Clear and grub all stumps. Pile on site, to be burned later. He and his brother did the operating. (so, no labor cost) He told me it was $3000/acre, just for the machine time.

Saying that, I don't think you're out of line. As Wolftree noted, you may be a little cheap, considering you have to haul a lot of it off.

Just a suggestion, but you might want to hire a dump truck to do the hauling. That dump trailer of yours will have a workout if you do it yourself.

 

[lumberjack1986]

If you are right on the time aspect and happy with your hourly rates, you're fine.

If possible, I wouldn't mulch anything, I would clear a hole for the chipper and get after it from there. The mulcher is a high hourly item that creates more work.

With all that equipment at that price, this is a 2-3 day job?

 

[Grumpy Old Man]

I'd say your to cheap also your forgetting what all that equipment you have cost you ! add in at least $1,000.00 for repairs /fuel/insurance and you should be around $7,500.00 remember you can't take bottom dollar on every job just to get them or you'll find yourself broke with a bunch of used up equipment ! :thumbsup:

 

[rustyshakelford]

In our area, I'd knock that out in a day with a dozer. Probably be about 4 boxes at 275 or 400 if they load themselves. Not much to rake. I'd do it for 5k all day long

Brett

 

[rustyshakelford]

In our area, I'd knock that out in a day with a dozer. Probably be about 4 boxes at 275 or 400 if they load themselves. Not much to rake. I'd do it for 5k all day long

Brett

 

[lumberjack1986]

I agree it's cheaper than I would do it for.

On a job that size, with a, CTL, mini ex, and truck/dump trailer (gooseneck tandem duals), myself, another operator and a laborer, we would be at $325/hr assuming there aren't any extra factors.

I don't have a chipper anymore, but that would add 100/hr pretty easily in production value.

 

[Coyote machine]

Quote: "If I add up what I think it will take to make everything completely disappear, roots and all, it comes out to $4900 which seems high to me but I'm generally spot on with time. If it wasn't for digging out and disposing of all the stumps, I know this could be done for a lot less. There is no burning there so someone has to haul off everything or use a mixture of hauling and chipping or mulching or all three. About half the trees are too big for the typical rental chipper but mine will handle them".

You said it all above - 'if it weren't for digging out and disposing of all the stumps'... BUT it IS digging out all the stumps, and it is fuel to haul, and it is your bigger than rental chipper, and it is you being more than fair. What if something breaks? What if you run into underground utilities?
I'll bet they are getting more than just your quote. Tell them what you said here about,' if it weren't for' certain aspects of the job you might be able to save them some $ and see if they want to adjust the job requirements or still do what they said originally. Sometimes people don't know what is gonna cost them vs. what might save them some $.
If they insist a certain way, then they have to pay for the results. But at least you gave them an option to consider. And that alone is worth something in itself.

 

[redprospector]

Just remember that being fair is a 2 way street.
If you accept the job, you should do the very best job you can.
If you do that being paid an amount that puts you in the black on the job should be expected.
That is fair, it's fair to everyone.
If you don't make a profit, you can't stay in business. But you already knew that.

Other than breaking my knee, second guessing myself on the price of a job is the biggest mistake I've made on a job.
You know what your figures are, and you know how much wiggle room you have. Run the numbers and stick with them.

I've done 1/2 acre jobs that I charged more for, and didn't have to remove the stumps. Without seeing the job, I can't say for sure, but it doesn't sound too high to me.

Andy

 

[yellowdogsvc]

Just a suggestion, but you might want to hire a dump truck to do the hauling. That dump trailer of yours will have a workout if you do it yourself.

Normally that would be the case but I can get more shreds, chips, and stumps and logs in my dump trailer than a tandem truck can dump because of the tailgate. Unless it has barn doors, the stumps or chips can and do get hung up. Ask my trucker.. He's still mad about that!

 

[yellowdogsvc]

Here in Texas, I'm competing with the guys that will take two weeks to haul it all off and dump it on some ranch. No insurance just a backhoe and tag trailer. I see it a lot. I was under the impression that when someone started this, they wanted it done. I know another contractor who occasionally competes against me. He told me he does not carry insurance and rents machines as needed. Hard to price when the playing field isn't level but it is what it is.
thanks for the opinions..

 

[redprospector]

Yep, unfortunately I have to deal with the same thing here some.
I get to clean up after those guy's once in a while.
I still say that you know what it will take to make a profit, and if you don't make a profit you can't stay in business.

Andy

 

[wolftree]

yellowdogsvc,

I would make your having insurance and completing jobs in a timely and professional manner part of your advertising and on your business cards. Make yourself known to the business professionals in your area, realtors, contractors. The professionals do not want to deal with fly by night operators. They want timely results, done in a workmanship manner.

 

[yellowdogsvc]

yellowdogsvc,

I would make your having insurance and completing jobs in a timely and professional manner part of your advertising and on your business cards. Make yourself known to the business professionals in your area, realtors, contractors. The professionals do not want to deal with fly by night operators. They want timely results, done in a workmanship manner.

You would think that would be true. I started here in 1997 and have advertised in almost all mediums but t.v. and only one radio ad. My name was is out there and I have a lot of repeat customers but mostly land owners. Many real estate agents use whomever is cheap that day. Some demand quality but many just want a quick fix.

I know a few good contractors and try and take care of them. Unfortunately, there is no licensing in Texas for tree work or home building and there is not much regulation unless you are in the big city on what can and can't be cut so I see a lot of lots that have been raped or oaks gouged up because the "contractor" was not astute and opened up the oaks to oak wilt. While I'm not a big government guy, oak wilt is devastating our trees in Central Texas and there are too many contractors who do not care, don't understand, don't know any better or have bad information. At least if there was some licensing and continuing education and insurance requirements, we might have higher caliber contractors.

 

[wolftree]

I am normally a small/ no government person. But I see this as a failure of the Government to protect the taxpayer.

While building my home, I did most of the work myself, but I had to hire somethings that just made sense to. I demanded that they be licensed and insured before setting foot on my property. This protected me, the home owner.

 

[yellowdogsvc]

I am normally a small/ no government person. But I see this as a failure of the Government to protect the taxpayer.

While building my home, I did most of the work myself, but I had to hire somethings that just made sense to. I demanded that they be licensed and insured before setting foot on my property. This protected me, the home owner.

I agree. It's sad that I actually want more regulation but I was an EMT for a long time. Had to be licensed, fingerprinted, background checked, and need a lot of schooling, hours of rotations, and a lot of CEU's each year. Ditto for when I was a realtor after college. In addition to what I needed to satisfy the state, to be Realtor, I needed a lot of ceu's each year at my expense.

I get frustrated by the fly-by-nighters and guys who work for beer money..literally. I've been insulted a few times by potential clients who wanted me to work "under the table" for a couple of twelve packs. I think my truck, trailer, Bobcat and mulcher cost more than his property... said "no thanks, this equipment isn't cheap to operate or repair."
When people try and chew me down because joe skid steer only charges $50/hr, I tell them they get what they pay for and my mechanic charges me $90/hr to fix the machine. I won't work for less than the shop rate for repairs.. otherwise I'm behind before my other costs are factored in.

 

[notrees]

Ive been trimming, removing, chipping, grinding stumps in FL for 17 yrs.. and I also come across some of these, "too hard for the average large excavation company" jobs. I absolutely bid them to do as a tree service, and often get them because nobody wants to do the hand work required to complete these jobs. and most tree services don't have the capabilities of total stump removal by means of excavating. Your price is more than fair in my opinion, and many of these guys are spot on about educating the customer about exactly what it will take to complete your task in such a tight and strict environment.. I would be about $6500 based on your detailed description, but you have laid eyes on the job, and we haven't. Best of luck to you

 

[RDrancher]

I agree. It's sad that I actually want more regulation but I was an EMT for a long time. Had to be licensed, fingerprinted, background checked, and need a lot of schooling, hours of rotations, and a lot of CEU's each year. Ditto for when I was a realtor after college. In addition to what I needed to satisfy the state, to be Realtor, I needed a lot of ceu's each year at my expense.

Yep, pretty ridiculous at times. The realtors and even the home inspectors have to be trained and licensed to do business, but the builder and the grading, concrete, framing contractors etc...Nope.

Anyway...I hope you got the job and made some money.