Need help pricing tree transplanting, etc.

[Preston]

Now that I'm finally getting the hang of giving out proper quotes for landscape maintenance, I came across a new situation today that involves a lot of manual labor. Here's the situation:

The property owner has 2 seperate items she wants a quote for:

1. She wants 4 birch trees in her yard dug up and replanted in a different location. Each tree is 8' - 10' tall and 1 1/2" in diameter.

And....

2. Her husband dug a large hole for a pond, then decided that they want the pond in a different location. She wants a quote to fill in the hole, using the fill dirt that's located 40 feet away. Rough guess is that it's 4 or 5 yards of dirt.

What would you charge? By the hour or by the job? (I would prefer to give her a quote for the entire job). Also, they just installed a brick patio between the fill pile and the hole, so using a bobcat is not an option

Thanks for your help!

Preston

[BRL]

If the brick patio was installed corectly there is no reason to not use the skid steer, unless there are retaining walls incorporated that you can't drive through. Lay some sheets of ply wood over the patio to help keep it clean while doing that part of the job. Without seeing it I would figure a 10 hour day with 2 people should get all of it done, plus the skid steer cost.

[Scaper-S2k]

You could also rent a small skid steer if the larger one won't do. I'm not talking about one of those Dingos. I'm speaking of a Bobcat 453 or something that size. You WILL need it. You need a pretty good sized ball on each of those trees, and lifting it from the hole won't be fun to do by hand. Almost impossible. I wouldn't attempt it without some type of machinery.

I would try pushing her into getting new trees to install versus moving the 4. If you must move them, don't gaurantee them at all.