Demo and land clearing

Hello. Im brand new to this forum
and I'm waiting to get into residential and commercial demolition and land clearing. looking at used excavators in the 160 to 23 tone range with thumb.
my questions are are those size machines good enough? should i rent first then buy one? also to is how to find jobs like that for someone starting out? all suggestions greatly appreciated

Cadre, you asked some good questions, first of all, i will say landclearing was the most enjoyabe thing ive ever done in my 20+ year career as an operator, i cleared right of ways for pipelines for 4 years, quit cause i have young kids and the job kept me away from home, but to try to help you answer some of your questions,
size of hoe is critical, but cannot be answered with one specific machine class, it all depends on what type of clearing you want to do, how big are the stumps, hard woods or pine, grubbing is clearing brush and small trees, so the scope of the job depends on the machine required, if you have a small machine with large stumps it will kill your productivity, yet a large machine in a small area may do large amounts of destruction that may require you to pay to fix, when i started clearing we had all 320 size machines, when i left we upgraded to pc290's, tried pc360's but they were a pita to move and we required moves quite often, the productivity was amazing over a 20ton class machine, plus we fitted 2 of the 290's with rotobek grapples, wow what a difference

consider if timber is standing or hand cut, how to top trees and sort marketable timber, how to stump and what to do with the stumps, burn, bury, grind, haul away, stumps dont burn very well, most people dont want stumps buried, grinders are very expensive, and so is trucking if u find a place to take the stumps

Tops, you can chip them, if u have a chipper

Look into a forestry mower, they make attachments for hoes, although they require very high flow, also have attachment for skidsteer, and companys like cmi out of canada make 600+hp track machines with available stumping heads($650,000).
if your gonna start, start small and i would suggest a hoe with a hyd thumb is a must, and a forestry mower, hoe size agian depends on how big job is and scope of work and how big of a machine you can move.

I do some small res. clearing jobs now with my 8 ton machine and a skid steer with a mower, just dont price yourself out of the market, you can grind stumps with a mower just takes awhile, and anything that grinds is high maint.

hope this helps, i dont do much demo, so i wont try to offer advice.
god bless

and a quick coupler on a hoe is a must if you are going to switching attachments

Good advise from the others, thumb is a must.
Starting from scratch is hard but possible, dependable dry equipment, fair honest pricing to your costomers, gouging/skimming is easy but bad business, word of mouth is cheap advertising., be on time with jobs, daily start up and contract start., be fair with employees, no yelling or fits/ looks bad for customers too. be willing to learn .

when you get some experience you can bid on tenders but don't bight of too much in case you mistakenly underbid. easy to loose money if the job turns out bigger than planned. i used MEANS construction data as a guide for a lot of work, did not hold it as gospel but MEANS IS a good guide.

LEARN to estimate, basically build it in your head, allow for material costs increasing and weather conditions,depending on the time frame. all get better with more experience.

I LIKE HITACHI, size ? I started with a ex 120, did ok, 20,000 hrs but often struggled with big rock and stumps,old ones are 5 feet in Vancouver area, so i upgraded to a zx200, if heavier work look to a 330 size. the 120 was good on fuel and good for residential construction. the 200 a lot harder on fuel but worth it for the work i got done. it depends on what you are doing, , heavier weight gives you freedom but limits you in tight spots, go zero or reduced swing.

Demo, some, it comes along once in a while, nowhere landfills now i imagine, so its important to know what must be separated/recycled , drywall, roofing, misc, pipes, concrete, 40 yard bins work best.
In all aspects of the work use the right size trucks and sub trades to make the job efficient. $ in your pocket.

FINALLY network with the right people, after 36 years i was first in line on a golf coarse, it failed due to financing but still i learned.

https://www.rsmeans.com/products/cds/2018-costworks-cds/2018-heavy-construction-cost-data-cd.aspx
https://www.rsmeans.com/products/bo...oks/2018-site-work-landscape-costs-books.aspx