# Land clearing rates and bidding



## MOE (Jan 8, 2013)

Kicking around the idea of trying to pick up some small land clearing jobs in addition to the stump grinding I already do. I have the equipment,(saws, skidsteer with root grapple, dozer and I'm working on a single axle dump truck). The types of jobs I'd be interested are smaller jobs where the slash could be burned. How are most people bidding them? by the job? by the hour? by the hour broken down to each piece of equipment? Thanks.


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## Mowingman (Jan 9, 2013)

Around here, land clearing is always bid by the acre. Also, we can not burn here, so everything is mulched in place, or hauled off to a landfill.
I doubt anyone would let you do it by the hour. That would be like handing you a blank check to do the job.
Jeff


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## husqvarnaguy (Jan 9, 2013)

My advice would be to stay away. But if you want to go on with it I would say $100-200 an hour. Depends on your fuel consumtion, materials, and how much you want want for your labor.


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## cfield (Jan 9, 2013)

husqvarnaguy said:


> My advice would be to stay away. But if you want to go on with it I would say $100-200 an hour. Depends on your fuel consumtion, materials, and how much you want want for your labor.



I just cleared a 3 acre lot of all pine ranging from 8"dbh up to 36". Only had to put ropes in a few of them. I charged the lady $100 an hr. We had to chip all the brush and cut n haul the logs to where a log truck could get them. I explained to the lady I do this kind of job by the hour, and estimated around 3wks to complete. I ended up making just over $15k, not great $ but Ill take it this time of year. Expenses were very low compared to regular work because my equipment stayed on site. Each job is different, take your time bidding these kind of jobs, theres always way more work once you dig in.


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## deevo (Jan 9, 2013)

cfield said:


> I just cleared a 3 acre lot of all pine ranging from 8"dbh up to 36". Only had to put ropes in a few of them. I charged the lady $100 an hr. We had to chip all the brush and cut n haul the logs to where a log truck could get them. I explained to the lady I do this kind of job by the hour, and estimated around 3wks to complete. I ended up making just over $15k, not great $ but Ill take it this time of year. Expenses were very low compared to regular work because my equipment stayed on site. Each job is different, take your time bidding these kind of jobs, theres always way more work once you dig in.



Around here it's between $3000 an acre to $4500 or higher depending on the density of the property and # of trees your taking out and getting rid of. Don't lowball yourself. The construction crew usually takes care of the stumps with an excavator.


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## MOE (Jan 10, 2013)

I'm assuming your rates your are bidding or trying to get in your bids are hourly weather running a chainsaw or operating a dozer? My thoughts are to go after some of the smaller, easier ones and if I bid them too high, no big deal, I have other work to do. How do you factor in if the logs are saw logs and have some value?


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## Gologit (Jan 10, 2013)

MOE said:


> I'm assuming your rates your are bidding or trying to get in your bids are hourly weather running a chainsaw or operating a dozer? My thoughts are to go after some of the smaller, easier ones and if I bid them too high, no big deal, I have other work to do. How do you factor in if the logs are saw logs and have some value?



Saw logs? Find out what the market is within a reasonable hauling distance. You'll need to know what lengths and grade in each specie that they're buying. Check with local mills for their rates. 

Trucking the logs can make you or break you.


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## old_soul (Jan 11, 2013)

Good luck to you buddy. Around here clearing doesn't pay much. Last clearing job i bid (lost) somebody bid 2000/acre to clear and chip. 3000/acre to clear and stump it. they finished it too. To me its not worth hauling everything out there for that. I can do residential work for that kind of money, with half the equipment overhead. 

If you had a nice stand of timber i could see making up some of that $ on the logging side of things. But thats still alot of chipping, and hauling. Nobody is just going to let you burn all the slash on their property. not around here anyway.

I can remember the days of getting $1200-2000 to clear a 1/4 acre building lot. those days are gone i'm afraid........


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## Gologit (Jan 11, 2013)

Another thing about saw logs...If the mills know that you're not going to be a steady source of logs and that you have to get rid of the logs they're not apt to offer you very much. If you just happen to have something that they're critically short of and need badly you might get a decent price but they'll screw you on the scale ...all fair and square, but a screwing nonetheless.


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## old_soul (Jan 11, 2013)

Gologit do you use the same mill or different ones. Some guys around here will get prices from the mills, on the stump before they even clear if they are trying to get the best price.

I always looked at it from the point that they would pay more for the logs, than I could get for chips, even if it wasn't top dollar. If not, into the chipper they go, not worth messing with hauling wood around..........


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## Gologit (Jan 11, 2013)

old_soul said:


> Gologit do you use the same mill or different ones. Some guys around here will get prices from the mills, on the stump before they even clear if they are trying to get the best price.
> 
> I always looked at it from the point that they would pay more for the logs, than I could get for chips, even if it wasn't top dollar. If not, into the chipper they go, not worth messing with hauling wood around..........



It's a little different where I am. Most of my stuff goes to the same mill every time but the company also has other mills and own a considerable amount of their own timber....almost 2 million acres of it. See where this is going? 

They don't really _need_ to buy timber from outside sources unless it's something that they're short on. They rarely are. They pretty much control the log market in our area. And they never, ever, set a price on the stump. It's always a delivered price...tonnage or by the bf...based on mill scale. Sometimes the rate isn't even set until enough loads have been scaled to get an average. We call it 'working in the blind'. I've seen times when we had decks in the woods and they'd come up and price the logs...and then drop the price once we started to haul. Again, based on mill scale.

If they're buying from outside sources, private landowners etc; they generally don't pay much. They know just exactly how much they can get away with paying before a guy gets mad and cuts the logs up for firewood.

If the OP can get a good deal on his logs I hope he does. I was just giving him a couple of things to watch out for. If you're logging you know how many ways there are to lose money in this business. I thought maybe we could keep the OP from finding out the hard way.


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## MOE (Jan 11, 2013)

old_soul said:


> Good luck to you buddy. Around here clearing doesn't pay much. Last clearing job i bid (lost) somebody bid 2000/acre to clear and chip. 3000/acre to clear and stump it. they finished it too. To me its not worth hauling everything out there for that. I can do residential work for that kind of money, with half the equipment overhead.
> 
> If you had a nice stand of timber i could see making up some of that $ on the logging side of things. But thats still alot of chipping, and hauling. Nobody is just going to let you burn all the slash on their property. not around here anyway.
> 
> I can remember the days of getting $1200-2000 to clear a 1/4 acre building lot. those days are gone i'm afraid........



Most of the jobs I'd be after are ag related. With high corn prices there is a lot irrigation pivots going in. Any groves of trees or fence lines in the way of the pivot swinging around are coming out. A chipper wouldn't be needed. Most farmers are also part pyro and love to burn stuff,(meadows, ditches, sloughs,and who knows what else). I think piling with my bobcat and grapple for them to burn as part of the deal would work out well. If theres enough and demand for chips I suppose the farmer, (or me) could hire a tub grinder to grind the pile.


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## old_soul (Jan 11, 2013)

Gologit said:


> It's a little different where I am. Most of my stuff goes to the same mill every time but the company also has other mills and own a considerable amount of their own timber....almost 2 million acres of it. See where this is going?
> 
> They don't really _need_ to buy timber from outside sources unless it's something that they're short on. They rarely are. They pretty much control the log market in our area. And they never, ever, set a price on the stump. It's always a delivered price...tonnage or by the bf...based on mill scale. Sometimes the rate isn't even set until enough loads have been scaled to get an average. We call it 'working in the blind'. I've seen times when we had decks in the woods and they'd come up and price the logs...and then drop the price once we started to haul. Again, based on mill scale.
> 
> ...



Sounds like you've been there and know what you're doing. We don't have millions of acress owned by the mills here, a lot of lumber comes from private land. However the thought of a tree company is to make money on the clearing job, if you can make some extra selling a few loads of logs that's great but i wouldn't go into bidding it, expecting to make lots of $ on the logs


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## Gologit (Jan 11, 2013)

old_soul said:


> . However the thought of a tree company is to make money on the clearing job, if you can make some extra selling a few loads of logs that's great but i wouldn't go into bidding it, expecting to make lots of $ on the logs



Exactly right. I do quite a bit more land clearing work than I used to but usually all I do is the timber. Just watching, and not really knowing much about it, I see a lot of different outfits try it for a couple of years and then move on to something else more dependable. In our area it's too hit and miss to rely on.

Again, I don't know much about the dirt work but I'd think you'd want to know exactly what your operating costs are, the basic cost of each machine per hour...right down to the penny, a set-aside for maintenance, a set-aside for taxes, crew costs, moving in and moving out, permits, and then factor in a little extra for those nickle and dime expenses that, added together, just kill you. If you don't know what your costs are you can go broke so slowly that you might not be aware of it until it's too late. It happens in logging, too.

Maybe if there's anything left, you can make a profit.


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## old_soul (Jan 11, 2013)

MOE said:


> Most of the jobs I'd be after are ag related. With high corn prices there is a lot irrigation pivots going in. Any groves of trees or fence lines in the way of the pivot swinging around are coming out. A chipper wouldn't be needed. Most farmers are also part pyro and love to burn stuff,(meadows, ditches, sloughs,and who knows what else). I think piling with my bobcat and grapple for them to burn as part of the deal would work out well. If theres enough and demand for chips I suppose the farmer, (or me) could hire a tub grinder to grind the pile.



That actually sounds like a lot of fun to cut,no targets to work around and lots of machine time. The only clearing around here is for roads, and development sites. I can tell you that around here no farmer is going to pay to have fence rows cut, if they want them done they dig them with a track hoe and burn them, or let guys cut them for firewood one pick up load at a time.

Maybe it is different up north, I wish you luck with your business plan


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## redprospector (Jan 13, 2013)

cfield said:


> I just cleared a 3 acre lot of all pine ranging from 8"dbh up to 36". Only had to put ropes in a few of them. I charged the lady $100 an hr. We had to chip all the brush and cut n haul the logs to where a log truck could get them. I explained to the lady I do this kind of job by the hour, and estimated around 3wks to complete. I ended up making just over $15k, not great $ but Ill take it this time of year. Expenses were very low compared to regular work because my equipment stayed on site. Each job is different, take your time bidding these kind of jobs, theres always way more work once you dig in.



Wow! This makes me want to pack up and move. Are you serious? $5,000.00 an acre? How buisy do you stay? 
Why did it take you 3 weeks to clear 3 acres? Are you clear cutting, or thinning? 

Andy


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## cfield (Jan 13, 2013)

redprospector said:


> Wow! This makes me want to pack up and move. Are you serious? $5,000.00 an acre? How buisy do you stay?
> Why did it take you 3 weeks to clear 3 acres? Are you clear cutting, or thinning?
> 
> Andy



We took out just over 250 pines, it was quite a mess! Yes we clear cut it, there was some serious brush, and we couldnt haul the whole trees out because I only have a 40hp tractor. Just one of those nice jobs where the lady had the $ and didnt care what it cost. Kinda got old being at the same site everyday. This is only like the 2nd land clearing job Ive done. Residential and municipal tree work are my bread and butter. I got the job back in august but because the lady was in no hurry I didnt do it til december when my regular work slowed down. I wish there were more jobs like that one around!


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## RDAA (Jan 13, 2013)

I just did a clearing job with a my tractor backhoe and skid steer. It was a 350ft section of a grove. just dug around the trees and pushed them over, piled it up and burned it. I charged him $2300 for it and i probably had ten to twelve hours into it with two machines and two people. My First little clearing job. For the slow part of the season I still was happy. Even ended up with about $1500 in scrap i picked up from that place. Not to mention he is looking to get a few small buildings knocked down in the spring time. Around here to get an acre cleared is about $3500. Almost always an excavator and dozer is used and nothing gets ground out. Most of the clearing is agricultural related so rootballs in the ground would not be a good thing.


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## OLD MAN GRINDER (Jan 14, 2013)

MOE said:


> Kicking around the idea of trying to pick up some small land clearing jobs in addition to the stump grinding I already do. I have the equipment,(saws, skidsteer with root grapple, dozer and I'm working on a single axle dump truck). The types of jobs I'd be interested are smaller jobs where the slash could be burned. How are most people bidding them? by the job? by the hour? by the hour broken down to each piece of equipment? Thanks.



Hey MOE, down here its by the acre, hope u have a track skid steer, yrs ago i worked for a dozer outfit, when the owner would run out of dirt work for us he would go out and bid clearing jobs just to keep us busy, we had a old cable skidder, a prentice log loader and many dozers everything from a d3 to a d9, we would work with the loggers on the trees, they would tell us what size to cut, we would pull them with the skidder to loading site, we had a guy from canada that did the falling for us, he was really good, your pricing will depend on what the customer wants, just cleared and burned or making it look pretty, just be carefull, u can really get burned on this kind of work, some jobs depending on the area u will have to dig a pit and use blowers because of epa concerns, like the guys say lots of variables,,,good luck....

Bob.....


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## MOE (Jan 14, 2013)

OLD MAN GRINDER said:


> Hey MOE, down here its by the acre, hope u have a track skid steer, yrs ago i worked for a dozer outfit, when the owner would run out of dirt work for us he would go out and bid clearing jobs just to keep us busy, we had a old cable skidder, a prentice log loader and many dozers everything from a d3 to a d9, we would work with the loggers on the trees, they would tell us what size to cut, we would pull them with the skidder to loading site, we had a guy from canada that did the falling for us, he was really good, your pricing will depend on what the customer wants, just cleared and burned or making it look pretty, just be carefull, u can really get burned on this kind of work, some jobs depending on the area u will have to dig a pit and use blowers because of epa concerns, like the guys say lots of variables,,,good luck....
> 
> Bob.....



I've got a full time job and a side buisness grinding stumps. I'm in a nice position in that I don't need to do this to make my payments but if the right job at the right bid comes along, I'll do it. I have a bobcat 873 with tracks and a root grapple, a dresser TD8E dozer,(d4 cat size) and a carlton 8018 stump grinder. The info you guys are giving is very helpfull. The types of jobs I'd consider taking on is smaller jobs where the debris could be piled up and burned.


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## Rio_Grande (Jan 20, 2013)

We are doing ok. I have a brush cutter and grapple bucket. For a woods that we are just taking out the small stuff and not the trees runs about 400 an acer. The trees get expensive if they. Want them out. I use a pro cutter to drop and I buck and move myself. I haven't had much luck with making money off logs. The trucking kills it.


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