Overpay for land clearing?

[JMER]

I have two heavily wooded acres. I got 2 quotes from two companies. In both cases, they will clear most everything but leave a few scattered hardwoods and push the refuse up into piles. This is being cleared to be a homeplace and lawn with a couple small wooded areas (total maybe 1/4 acre)left untouched. There are maybe a total of 40 trees larger than 12" in diameter. If anything, there are less than that.

1st guy - 10-12k to clear and haul the mess away
2nd guy - 4k to clear and $700 to burn it. Said it would take 2 days to clear and pile it up. There would be 2 of them there working on it.

This would obviously take out stumps, rootballs and all.

My other plan is to have a guy w/a mulcher come in and do it. I've been talking with cbturf on this and he has been very helpful. Only thing I don't like about the mulching is that the poison will keep trying to grow back. We've got some serious poison here in Ala.. vines up to 3" thick. Also, I worry about the larger trees. I have some trees that are up to 3' in diameter... not sure if a mulcher can take these down?

I started out thinking I would do this myself, but now realize the heavy machinery is the best way to go to do the bulk of the clearing work. I guess my question is, do the quotes up top sound reasonable? And can the mulchers handle these larger trees? (1'-3' diameter). I'm in North Alabama... and can't stop reading these dang forums!!

 

[deniscimafinc]

Hello JMER,

The industrial "tree-mower"-types will cut the trees, but mulching them will take more time. However, most drum-type mulchers will be ok with 3"-dia trees. Of course, some technologies are better than others rolleyes so who you'll hire will depend on the result finish you want, the amount of time in which you want the job done, if you want the mulching to go underground or not...

How soon do you need this lot be cleared?

 

[JMER]

Hi and thank you for your reply. I assume you meant 3' instead of 3" when you said: "most drum-type mulchers will be ok with 3"-dia trees". I would like the mulcher to get down into the soil enough to shred up the poison ivy roots. Lot doesn't have to be cleared in any time frame, but I would like it cleared within the next month. we won't be building on it for at least another year.

 

[Terra Firma Scott]

1 to 3 inch NO PROBLEM with a mulcher....Poison is another story-I dont think even IF you cleared with the guy1 or guy 2 youd get rid of that stuff...Even so, youll have to implement some sort of mowing plan for your 2 acres...If you keep it cut down it shouldnt get to be as bad as it is now...Herbicides are great...

 

[cbturf]

I forgot to mention the poison ivey thing in the email. Scott is right it will most likely try to regenerate. Once you get it cleaned up initially you will be able to spot spray a Roundup type product to keep it dead. We have the same climate here in Nashville that you have in Huntsville and we can easily get rid of the stuff but it takes a couple of tries sometimes. Big trees are just matter of time to grind them...wood is wood and a big tree just takes me longer to grind.

 

[EddieWalker]

I've found that areas with poison ivey that are wooded, don't have poison ivey after the woods are removed. If it's there, mowing it on a fairly regular basis will take care of it. I don't have any poison ivey where the trees have been removed and I have grass growing. I did nothing about the poison ivey, so I might have just gotten lucky.

Eddie

 

[JMER]

that does make sense about it not regrowing as thick once the woods are cleared.. diff micro climate after trees are gone I guess.

good call on the Roundup. I use that at our current house and yeah, it needs a few applications!

I think my plan now is:

1. Hire mulcher to clear and grind all but scattered trees

2. buy a CUT w/fel, bh and bushog to do finish work and maybe dig out a couple of smaller stumps. Also to do landscaping and seeding. Won't need as beefy a CUT as before now that I won't be doing the heavy clearing work myself. that'll be my next dilemna.. which CUT. will be tough to tell my dad 'no' to New Holland! I've heard great things on the Kubota BX24.

3. wait till i know exactly where house, driveway and septic will go before I rent a large backhoe to dig out the big stumps in the way of the house, etc.

Man, I've learned a ton over the last couple weeks about this stuff.. having a ton of fun and haven't even started doing the work yet! thanks for the email cb.

 

[Robbie Hegwood]

Hire a mulching guy with the biggest equipment you can find. CB's will work and mulch all you can. Then you will be able to SEE where you would like your home site to be and can clear only what is needed. This should help control cost and work toward the desired result.

 

[Eagleview]

That's why i like the vertical tree extraction grabs below . You can walk through the scrub and pluck the trees out of the ground , shake the dirt out of the roots back into the hole and throw the tree onto a pile . Then follow up with the mulcher which makes it like a park land . Unfortunately mine is the one still sitting on the pallet waiting for me to modify the hitch so it will fit my 23 tonner .

 

[Western]

I agree with Eddie, I haven't had a problem with poison Ivy after clearing land, a few spots persist that can be mowed.

Last summer I hired a busy dozer guy to clear 1 1/2 acres, took him about 12 hrs with a D6, trees ranging up to 14" very very thick. He charged $80 hr.
he even used his 18 rippers to dislodge some persistant roots.

I also got a price for renting a D6 at Sunbelt, I think (Nations rent), for $1500 for 40 hrs and delivery, may be another option if you feel up to it.