First bid on commercial job

[Sturgill]

I’m owner/operator and have the opportunity to bid a small commercial job of grading a site for building. (My first one). Drawing shows about 11000 cy to cut and fill. It’s only about 5-6 ft of cut and the spoil can be pushed with dozer. I have an experienced contractor that is helping me and going to partner with me. What is a ballpark cost for cy of dirt to move? He is suggesting $9-$10 per cy fro the cut and fill, this includes topsoil removal ( both can be done with dozer). Is this an accurate cost? We are in central KY. Thanks for any help!

 

[Ct Farmer]

There are guys on here that know more about this than I do and I'm sure they will be along shortly to give their input. They may correct me and then we both learn something!

The big things though are how far you will need to move the spoil and the shape of the area you are cutting. Long and narrow, sorta square all figures on time and travel distance. What size dozer you thinking?

Dozers are fine if the distance is short. Dirt pans and scrapers if longer run are faster and cheaper.

I just helped a neighbor (ya I know) and pushed about 2000 cy of heavy clay fill in his back yard. Area was maybe 30 feet wide by 250 feet long. Triaxles could only dump on one end. Pushed it all the way. At least in my mind it was too much for my old Cat D4D. Now I'm no great operator but I needed a bigger machine. And I had no cut or topsoil to deal with.

 

[AzIron]

Dozens really get after it under 300 feet to push I have seen some jobs were they pushed a quarter mile cause in those conditions it was the cheapest

Size of machine will dictate your cost somewhat each size has a minimum volume that you need to hit in order to justify the cost of machine witch will dictate the cost per yard it's all about cycle times and cubic yards moved per cycle and if you have to run a roller or using the dozer for compaction

Also if you own a dozer that is on the smaller side it may take you a couple extra days to finish but it might be more profitable to grind a couple days longer than rent a bigger machine and do it faster

Also what will you do if you encounter rock are you including that or rock clause. 11000 thousand yards is not big but it's also not small if your an owner operator

 

[Sturgill]

There are guys on here that know more about this than I do and I'm sure they will be along shortly to give their input. They may correct me and then we both learn something!

The big things though are how far you will need to move the spoil and the shape of the area you are cutting. Long and narrow, sorta square all figures on time and travel distance. What size dozer you thinking?

Dozers are fine if the distance is short. Dirt pans and scrapers if longer run are faster and cheaper.

I just helped a neighbor (ya I know) and pushed about 2000 cy of heavy clay fill in his back yard. Area was maybe 30 feet wide by 250 feet long. Triaxles could only dump on one end. Pushed it all the way. At least in my mind it was too much for my old Cat D4D. Now I'm no great operator but I needed a bigger machine. And I had no cut or topsoil to deal with.

Hello, it’s an easy straight push about 150 - 200ft. I have a D5K that we’ll use for finish. We’re looking at renting 2 D6 for a week to help meet the deadline for the project.