New here - Clearing the pine trees on our land, is this contract fair?

[two_bit_score]

Thank you all dear friends.

I am going to need more time to process this. The logger in reference is working on a small job down the street, which he has completed. His machines are there, so he is wanting to start my job tomorrow itself. Or he says he has another job 20 miles or so away.

Of course, I do not know if he has another job or not, or if that is a pressure tactic.

What do I tell him? That we need some time to evaluate?

thank you kind friends

If he is legit there will always be another day.


TBS

 

[sd455dan]

I agree with everyone that said to check out references and if possible inspect previous work.
most loggers I have met (not all) really fudge the clean up part, they hit the tree removal hard and heavy , pile up a huge amount of dirt with the slash piles and overall leave a huge mess.
NO WAY I would let them just drop trees and leave the stumps, If they have a big excavator and are willing to push the trees over and then fill the holes ( they provide the soil) it may be worth considering

 

[MossRoad]

Cut and remove merchantable pine timber.
Semi-pile tops/timber debris (6"+).
{clean-up in exchange for timber}
And 12 months to do it.

So he's going to cut and remove any pine timber worth any money and keep any money for himself.

He's going to semi-pile anything OVER 6" that's left... what's semi-pile? And anything smaller than 6" will be left on the ground. That's a LOT of branches and tops.

What's stopping him from not cleaning-up in exchange for timber? He's already taken and sold your timber. There's no money to hold over him until the job is completed.

In a nutshell, he basically has the right to take everything worth anything, leave nothing worth anything, leave you a mess of branches and tops up to 6" in diameter and pay you nothing, leaving you acres of stumps and slash to clean up yourself.

I'd rather have a forest than a mess to clean up.

Hire yourself a consulting forester to do a timber sale for you. They work for you. The logger works for himself.

 

[treemuncher]

Hire yourself a consulting forester to do a timber sale for you. They work for you. The logger works for himself.

The BEST possible advise so far. My father and uncles sold timber off of the family farm back in the 90's. The same company bought the timber from them with the use of a consultant BUT, they also netted another $20k on top of the preliminary offers prior to the consultants work. The difference paid for the consultant's fees as well as netting each partner an extra $5k each.

Take the extra money and then hire out someone like me who can clean up any residual mess and make something of your property. This parcel had been selectively cut over and was very thick with brush & smaller trees. The homeowner wanted a "park like" setting that was easy enough to get a tractor through once grass was established.

 

[kthompson]

My brother and I had just little larger tract logged that was pines and hardwoods. Price we got was about what you mentioned. Logging standards probably do vary from area to area on what is acceptable. (Just my thought on that.) We did use a Forester to cruse the timber and market it. Really made it easy on us. He charged I think it was 10% of the gross which to me it was worth it. Have not looked at all the land since being logged but based upon what I have seen I am not sure could have all the trash left piled and stumps dug and piled for what the timber sold for. That is including the filling of stump holes and ground graded. We gave them 18 months for the job to be done one reason was we did not want it logged when wet and that gave them two summers to help be sure they would most likelybe a dry time to do the work.

My suggestions have been given in part or hold: get a good forester or consultant who can do all the work for you with loggers unless you have the time and understand the job. If you do the work yourself advertise the job or search for local loggers and have them bid the job. Then check some of the jobs from the ones with the bids best for you But first you must know what you want. Not a time to rush.

 

[TractorGuy]

I'll give you an example of how mine went. I dealt with a so called reputable logger on 5 acres with a handshake. He estimated a $6500 return. At the end he started talking under $5000 but eventually settled a bit over 5k.

They said going in they would rake debris into manageable piles. They left 3 huge piles and debris all over the property.

Afterwards I got 2 estimates on digging up the stumps and burning the piles. One person quoted me $10,000 and said I would need a larger tractor than my jd855 to come behind him. Another company quoted $4500 per acre to clear and finish grade.

Sounds like your guy wants to do what mine did to me AND get the trees for free.

At the end I decided to buy a backhoe and tackle it myself. I retired this year so I need to devote more time to it than I have.

 

[Soldier415]

Following

 

[topbuilder]

To the OP, It's hard to find someone to do small acreages in your area. You need it cleared. Your options are have someone burn it on site, or haul it away. If you have it hauled off, know that they will leave you a mess. They will leave trees standing close to property lines. If you are leaving "select" trees, they will more than likely die. If you have an area you want to save trees, don't let them any closer than the canopy. Hand clear where needed. Don't use a 'hoe to dig stumps. You have a guy in your area that has a 400 hp machine he built himself and he will do your entire property in a day and a half. $8 a piece I think is what he's up to. Size makes no difference. No chip piles, it sprays chips out 100 feet. If you want his # pm me. Beware advice from people who do not live in your state.

 

[rustyshakelford]

To the OP, It's hard to find someone to do small acreages in your area. You need it cleared. Your options are have someone burn it on site, or haul it away. If you have it hauled off, know that they will leave you a mess. They will leave trees standing close to property lines. If you are leaving "select" trees, they will more than likely die. If you have an area you want to save trees, don't let them any closer than the canopy. Hand clear where needed. Don't use a 'hoe to dig stumps. You have a guy in your area that has a 400 hp machine he built himself and he will do your entire property in a day and a half. $8 a piece I think is what he's up to. Size makes no difference. No chip piles, it sprays chips out 100 feet. If you want his # pm me. Beware advice from people who do not live in your state.

Are you talking about the guy that built an old skidder into a tree grinder. Based out of new caney? If so, I've had him do stuff for me on a decent sized job. The chip mess was something I hadn't previously considered. He was great but for 2k a week plus diesel, I'd rather dig and burn. The ones he did for me where huge and would've been rough on a hoe. Most were plywood grade pine.

Brett

 

[topbuilder]

I think he is out of Conroe now.
500 stumps... I don't think you can't dig and burn and grade back smooth for $8 a stump. But hey, there is all kinda ways to say tomato.

 

[3Ts]

I agree with the posts that say to get a consulting forester. I've got 50 acres of mixed hardwood & pines and that's a little on the small side to interest the loggers around here (up near the Crockett forest). The forester is putting several tracts my size together for a sale. They keep tabs on the market, know who the good loggers are, etc. And the logging contract is HIGHLY negotiable. Don't settle for the first thing the logger presents.

 

[Tangoddess]

Thank you to everyone. I am going to read through these, it has been so busy for me.

Thank you!