Cost to clear 2 acres

[illinoisboy]

Curious what you guys would charge to clear 2 acres of saplings. It is completely flat, and no trees bigger then 5"diameter. Just pushing them into the treeline. nothing fancy. Have 400 bucks in cost to haul the TD20 down there and back. Thanks!

 

[stumpjumper83]

Do you have a rake for the dozer? I'd be suprised if you were there more than a day.

 

[digfaster]

In an 8hour hour day I try to get $600 bucks for my self and my john deere 450g. I think a person could easily clean up 2 acres in a day ( of saplings). If I had to pin the rake on I may charge a little more

 

[digfaster]

Especially with a td20 ( 60,000 pound machine). Almost cost more to haul the machine than what its worth.

 

[grandpa]

Unless your working for the adjacent neighbor you have to charge for the whole day, unless your just doing it for sport. If thats the case take up golf or better yet girl watching

 

[d5cat]

I would think you could get that done in a few hours, but you would have to charge a whole day to make it worth your while. I would charge $800-$1000 if it is going to cost your $400 to move it.

 

[illinoisboy]

I think some people might be a bit off on the length of time to do things. It isnt as simple as just pushing the trees over. But there arent much roots to them, so root rake doesnt help much, and so you have 5-6 inches of dirt your taking off the top to get all the debris out. then piling everything up. I would much rather clear 2 acres of 6-12" trees then these little willows, its like pushing over grass. Either way, Im glad I was too high and didnt get it, there is always someone willing to lowball and beat you out. Took him a few days I think. And he did it for 1000 bucks. Def not worth it. Thanks for all the replies guys.

Oh, and my Td20C weighs in right at 44000. Had it on the IDOT scales.

 

[ironpounder]

... as people throw the rotten fruit at me....
That all depends, I would not have a problem with 1000.00 for a job like that ($6-800.00 a day). That is the kind of money I need to support my habbit(my equipment and tools I use at home). Just side jobs... there are lots of big jobs for the professionals. The small stuff that folks just would't have done otherwise is good money for us little guys. but... you need to know when to back off and not take someting on that you can't finish.

 

[MattR]

I agree with Illinoisboy, pushing saplings is a nightmare. I would rather rake larger trees anyday. Saplings are dangerous too. They are spagetti spears and you can't see everyone unless you are a spider. Good way to get impaled. Taking them out with a blade or having a pin on rake so you have blade behind at least is better. Yes you take a bunch of dirt, but if you mow them over in one direction then come sidways at the whole pile they can be rolled relatively clean of dirt for burning etc.

Some may argue, but we did alot of clearing for Walmart and some others and we did the best by having our old 215 come first and just quickly root them and move on. The D6 with full rake could "sweep" together the saplings into a massive pile and carry the whole works at once to the burn location. When the excavator gives them a quick flip at the roots they all lay down the same way for fast and safe clean-up. We definetly felt we were money ahead. I know 2 machines may not sound like it but when you put the whole ball of wax together we were well ahead. Way faster and cleaner at least when dealing with saplings.

 

[250c]

illinoisboy I hope Mr Dot was kind to you. How do you like your td20c?It and the 250c are pretty close cousins.

 

[clansing1]

Grubbing trees should be a last resort for bulldozers. I would agree that the new guys on the block will always do it at a very cheap rate. You need to charge more for this work than your normal pushing dirt rate as there is more stress to the machine and more potential for damage. It can be very difficult to compare one bid to another and how much debris can be left. The wrong client can make to miserable by having you go back and pick up debris and final clean up.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[rezod1]

I would charge a days time plus mobilizing in and out, with fuel, insurance and wear and tear costs from continuous turning and running over uneven ground that add up over time you are doing yourself no favors by bidding to low. I agree with clansing1, the new guys work cheap to get the job and usually have unsatisfactory performance.

 

[D3DaveC]

I'm clearing about 25 acres of willow trees and some poplars for my neighbor with my D4G for $110/hr here in Canada. Doing a very good job since the winter here is mild and the roots of most trees are coming out. There is some very rocky high ground with trees more sparse than the peat land and this slows me right down as I don't want to destroy my crawler. The neighbor figures it is costing him about $200/acre to have it cleared and piled. Government rate for my D4G equiped the way it is was $148.20/hr last summer before the diesel price went way up. I don't have to haul any trees away. Am I working too cheap according to the previous posts or maybe you guys are talking about residential clearing? I'm clearing for farmland.

 

[sasman]

I have 150 acres of clearing to get done before March 30. I have a Deere 850B long track witha 12.5 ft blade. The bush varies in size but nothing to large. The thing about this is it has been aerial sprayed 5 years ago and is dead, some is standing and some has blown over. Does anyone have experience dealing with clearing dead trees? It looks like it should be quicker than green trees because i shouldnt have to scub the ground very hard because there is no undergrowth. Any advice?
Thx

 

[54j]

can you set fire to it?

 

[sasman]

No there wont be any burning, its up against a provincial forest.

 

[pf/l]

Without transportation costs I probably would've said 1-1200 just for the cat work. A guy could spend a full 8 hour day on a job like that to get it nice and tidy looking without to much dirt in the piles. Defiantley not the most fun job taking out willows or other shrub bush.

sasman, just watch out for falling trees and try to keep the engine compartment clean of that dry wood. Even just branches on the exhaust will catch fire if they happen to sit right over the exhaust or on the manifold. Which provincial forrest are you working by? I'm not far from Fort A la Corne on the south side of the river.

Ryan

 

[sasman]

@ pf porcupine

 

[pf/l]

Sold a D85 Komatsu to a fellow over there in the 70tys and he did quite a bit of brush cutting with it. Still has it yet I beleive. Motor went out though I beleive. He was over by Weekes in the curves of the Hwy.

Ryan

 

[1970Cat16]

Curious what you guys would charge to clear 2 acres of saplings. It is completely flat, and no trees bigger then 5"diameter. Just pushing them into the treeline. nothing fancy. Have 400 bucks in cost to haul the TD20 down there and back. Thanks!

$2000 total and make him pay you cash when the tractor hits the dirt off the truck, so many crooks out there call up every new dozer guy and shop until they get the lowest bid and then diseapear when u are done and wanting to get paid, i hate lilttle jobs unless u know the guy and he signs a contract, if you had a angle blade u could just shave them down to one side should take longer moving the tractor in and out and trying to find the landowner to get paid than to do it for sure, make sure u look for pipelines, swells cowlicks and dumped junk especially wire to wrap on u r sprockets, why does he not do it with a backhoe rather than a dozer with the expensive moving is my question???