Cost to clear 1.5 acres in Spartanburg, SC and Mulcher rental locations.

[Johndeereranger]

So I have about 2 acres that I'm looking to have as open land. About 1/2 acre is already open. So it's really a 1.5 acre job. I've had several quotes on the property and just to mulch the trees or cut and remove the trees it's $7800-$10,000. I just can't grasp that as the cost so I'm asking is that normal? The ground is flat. 70% is 6-11" poplar/sweet gums. 5% 15" cedar trees 10% 15-20" pine/ poplar. And 15% 3-6" oak/sweetgums


I'm not super particular as to how it's cleared. Ideally I would want the stumps removed but that was not included in any of my quotes. They were to be mulched flush. In the end I'm looking for ag land plant some blue berries and mucudines and peach trees. Other area I would like to be able to plant crops. But that could wait a few years it doesn't have to be next year that crops are planted.

My thoughts were about $3000

So the second question is any body know of locations that ret mulching equipment. I've found a couple places and I would really like more pricing to ensure I don't over pay. I would like to rent a gyro-trac. I've called every local place and only bobcat of Spartanburg has a mulching head and they want like $1500/day.

 

[yellowdogsvc]

Hello and welcome to TBN! I am way out of your area and can't speak on the mulching of larger trees but will tell you what I know. 15% large trees on a 1 acre tract means some hand work if you want a better price.. If the trees are bigger pines and cedar logs, they can be culled out and the limbs mixed in with the rest of the mulching. From what I remember from living in the south, Poplar and sweet gum is a soft wood. Am I incorrect?

I would think just for mulching that property you would be looking at about $3000-$3500 with a load of logs going somewhere. I don't think it would take more than two days. Down here we charge about $1200/day for a skid steer mulcher. The bigger machines get about $2000k a day and could probably mulch everything but the 20" pine/poplar but the tops could be mulched.

Even at 2.5 days, you are looking at about $3k for a smaller machine plus the haul off/hand labor. Might top $4k in my area for similar sized trees for an under 100hp mulcher. I'd do things a little different and shear the bigger trees and chip so there wouldn't be so many shreds then mulch the leftovers. You might be looking at $2k for that part based on $800/day shearing and $1200/day for a 200hp chipper with loader (slightly more prorated for the 20" trees) then a day to day and a half of mulching. Still puts you around $4k but the second method is a lot cleaner and you will have chips to fill low spots, sell, or haul off.
If you are talking about taking out the stumps, I can easily see $8000-10k.

Pictures would be helpful. There's a lot of guys on here with bigger machines or better setups.

Why not sell the pine/poplar to a logger or let them take it for free then you are only dealing with max 11" trees?

Keep us posted on your progress!

Cedar Clearing and Brush Mulching Texas Style!

 

[fishfactor]

The only place I know of that rents larger mulchers is Richardson Service out of Conway, but they don't have any gyro tracs, only Barko, Bron. They go for $20K - $40K per month plus tooth wear and I don't know if they do short term rentals. Give John a call , and tell him I referred you. The are great guys to work with, but it may be a little difficult for an individual to rent a several hundred thousand dollar machine. You are in a rocky area so you will have a considerable bill for the teeth. A skid steer mulcher will be able to get rid of the brush and small trees, but it cannot do anything with the larger hardwoods. We typically use the skid steer for material up to 4" for the best productivity, and bring in a larger machine if there is much over that.

 

[Soggy Bottom Outdoors]

Ya'll must do it different than we do but here is what I have planned and the prices for a land/fence clearing project for mid Sept. Cat 953 Hi-Lift and operator $105 hour, 5 hour minimum. No haul or fuel surcharge. Will have a few logs, cherry and poplar, about 20 logs. Local sawmill will buy them. For a truck load they charge .07 per board foot or $240 minimum for pick up with a knuckle boom truck. Most of the work will be condensing up old rotted down brush piles from many years ago into one or two. 2000' ft of old fence to remove, 6 or 8 trees in the 36" plus range, most in the 15" to 24" range. The logs will be cut off the tree after it's pushed out which is much easier and leaves no stump. The resulting stumps and "laps" are pushed to the brush pile. I personally don't burn brush piles, I like to rabbit hunt. I would prefer a Bulldozer because of all the pushing, but no one runs a big dozer 'round here anymore.

 

[rustyshakelford]

Can you burn where you are? I could probably knock that out in two days depending on how they push over with a Dozer and burn what I don't cut logs out of. Again, without pics it's hard to tell but I'd be around 2-3k

Brett

 

[Carl_NH]

Do you have a chip burning / wood fuel power plant in the area? I did a similar project on 2 acres 3 years ago, the fellow cut the timber and chipped up the tops and smaller trees for the wood and the chips (netted 12,000BF saleable Pine). and 5 trailer loads of chips for the power plant - they pay $30/ton range delivered. So the clearing cost me nothing.

The expensive part was the stump clearing $4000, then two trailer loads of stumps $1700. and then all the work to get the ground workable again and fill/loam another $1500 with a lot of sweat on my part getting it cleaned up and ready to plant.

Mulching does a good job, but you will need a lot of nitrogen in the soil as the chips decompose they take most of the nitrogen from the soil.

SO get a few bids for "clearing" the logs and tops chipped, then a mulcher for the stumps and rest of the small stuff.