Help with land clearing.

[radracer]

Thanks for reading. Any and all replies are appreciated. I was recently given the opportunity to bid on the clearing of .85 acre near Zephyrhills Fl. The property is fairly wooded but all of the trees that they want cut are under 6” diameter. Most of the property is covered with thick brush and palmettos (see attached photos). The property is next door to an acre of land with a house on it and on the other side it is woods, across the back there is a lake and across the front there is a dirt road. It is in the middle of nowhere so pretty much anything goes. I have done some decent sized cleanup jobs but this would be the biggest that I have done so far. I currently have 1 employee but for this project I will probably hire a laborer from day labor for a few days. I was thinking of going in with 2 brush cutters and clearing all of the brush first. While we are cutting the laborer will be piling it up. Then we will pick up all of the trees and logs that are already down. As far as the trees and palmettos go I was thinking of getting a mini excavator or a bobcat. But will a mini excavator tear down a 4” tree and can it dig up the stump and palmettos. Or would I be better off doing it manually? I spoke with the fire chief and he said that I could burn the debris if I had an excavator or tractor on site to help put it out if necessary. I have a price in mind but I would like to hear your suggestions of both price and method.

What would you charge for a job like this?

Is a mini excavator capable of pulling out the stumps of the trees and palmettos?

Is the mini excavator worth the price to rent? ($180 per day $750 a week)

To get rid of the debris would you burn it, rent a dumpster or would you go the landfill?

Note: If I did burn I would probably just burn the brush and take the logs to the dump.

Thanks in advance for your replies.
Harold Burgess

[PTLlandscapingIL]

your gonna need at least a 3 man crew,stump grinder a few STihl chain saws adn a bobcat....id charge this job by time at least a 3 man crew with a bob-cat would run 250 bucks an hour

[cut above]

Radracer,

Since you don't have a very large area to clear out, I would almost reccomend renting a small bulldozer. The bulldozer would allow you to knock down any trees and also will take care of your brush. Renting a smaller bulldozer would probably be the only piece of equipment needed for the job you mentioned. I doubt it would take you much more than 2 days seeing as your land is'nt quite an acre.

Pile all of the brush up and haul it away. I think to the land fill would probably be your best bet. Be sure and add the cost of hauling away the debris to your bid. You may want to save some of the smaller trees and sell them for fire wood, that is if the owner dosen't want them.

As far as bidding the project: I would first go to your nearest rental place to see how much a bulldozer would be to rent. Add up all of your costs (rental, fuel, etc...) then add in what you want to make per hour X how long it will take you.

Hope this gives you a general idea

[radracer]

Any particular make or model bulldozer? Thanks for the help.

[Scaper-S2k]

I say you need to go rent a Bobcat, and get it with the brush hog attachment on the front end. It's about 5' wide and will easily take out anything up to about 3.5". Once you do that, put the bucket on, raise it up about 5', push the larger trees over. Then hook up the brush hog again and run over those tree tops you just pushed over! What ever it can't handle of the 6" diameter tree woun't be much.



You mentioned that you were going to attach a photo, but I didn't see it?

[Ric]

Any particular make or model bulldozer? Thanks for the help.

Rad

I am south of you and have cleaned a lot of land with my skid steer and a Root rake Grapple. I am too far to travel to help you out, You can rent one locally cheaper than I could transport in. BTW get a tree boom with it to pull trees under 6 "" right out of the ground.

[Blake]

I get some jobs like this off & on. I have a TC35 (35hp) New Holland 4x4 tractor with a front end loader. I don't have a root rake w/grapple but I have forks on the loader. Anyway, that kind of set-up would work for you. You would have more ground speed than the dozier & the loader would give you more leverage (higher lift) than the bobcat. Palmettos are no problem. I'd leave the under brush for last. I'd start with the trees, push them over then get under the root & push it. Then pile the trees & start burning in several piles. While that's burning push the under brush & palmettos in the piles. All the time being careful not to push alot of dirt in because it won't burn.

I'd pile the trees whole so you don't have to saw a whole lot. Your helper can make small piles of roots & limbs that you go back and push in the fire. Just about all of this can be done with the tractor so you shouldn't need that extra man.

Only problem I see is if you have a few trees that you can't push over. I have a stump grinder if that happens. If they're all as small as you said you shouldn't have any trouble.

I usually work alone & I charge $60/hr for the tractor. If I grind stumps it goes up. You really need the loader with the root rake & grapple & at least a 35hp 4 wheel drive tractor. In your area you can probably charge twice as much as can here. We're still in the 1970's but I'm not complaining. Anyhow good luck.