# How do you quote a land clearing job?



## gink595

Alright fella's I need some quoting advice for a job I received today. I guy i know stopped out because he knew I have bobcat and cut firewood for myself. He wants to hire me to clear off about 200-300 small growing trees in his field. They range from 5" to 12"-14" range there is one maybe 30-35". the gov't is on his butt because he has this land in CRP (conservative land program) where they pay him not to farm it. He has had it in for about 30 yrs now and has never maintained it. Well the state is now aware of this and they want it removed or he gets penalized. So, how should I charge for this. I believe he has already had a quote on it, but says he hasn't. I'm just curious if any of you have way of pricing this. I have done a job like this before but I was a employee so I have no idea on what the job was sold at.


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## Canyonbc

You have a bobcat i see...do you have any attachments that can go on it??? Do you have a 40 hour a week job already??? If so what if your profession....?

Pictures???

How spread out? 

Anything need to be climbed, if so do you have the gear/experince. 

In Indiana....do you need to be licensed to do this work? Sounds like the state is going to find about this work...by who ever gets it done. 

Permits?? Are any needed? 

How well does i need to be cleared...like for Fire breaks just at the ground or stumps all ground?

Just questions, to help you..

Canyon


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## gink595

Canyonbc said:


> You have a bobcat i see...do you have any attachments that can go on it??? Do you have a 40 hour a week job already??? If so what if your profession....?
> 
> Pictures???
> 
> How spread out?
> 
> Anything need to be climbed, if so do you have the gear/experince.
> 
> In Indiana....do you need to be licensed to do this work? Sounds like the state is going to find about this work...by who ever gets it done.
> 
> Permits?? Are any needed?
> 
> How well does i need to be cleared...like for Fire breaks just at the ground or stumps all ground?
> 
> Just questions, to help you..
> 
> Canyon



Yes I have forks, grapple bucket and construction bucket. Anyhting special I will rent. Yeah I have 40hr. job. I used to be a welder in the structural steel buisness until some health issues occurred and now i'm a draftsmen in the same industry for the same company. I don't much care for it... boring! I don't have pictures yet, I'm going back out tomorrow to do so, I like before and after pics. The trees are spread out i have room to drop them without a frickin mess of pilling them on each other or hanging them up on others. so that is sorta nice. The trees i'm cutting are going to get piled up and burned off, which is legal here as long as you call the county and tell them that you are doing a controlled burn. Nothing needs to be climbed and no I have no experience at that! I have some ground in this CRP program and i have some knowledge of how it works, the land owner is responsible for the up keep of the property so getting a permit or problems with the state would be a no. Fire breaks or such isn't a problem in Indiana at least not in the northern part it's a majority of farm ground. He has to clear the site to what he has in contract and then chisel plow or disc the site afterwards, which i will also be doing for him. I plan on just cutting the stumps flush with ground, if that is good enough for him than i will proably have to grind them. I hope just cutting flat will sufice.


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## Canyonbc

Well if all the brush can be burned and basically everything stays. So i am safe to assume...you feel you have all the saws to do the job too??

Any one to help...you, for cheap labor???

Do you have a number in your head on what you would like to make an hour?

Then i would figure what it cost to run your equipment and any rentals. 

Then formulate a bid from that. 

Hope this helps, a lot of guys on here specialize in land clearing by closest thing to it is brush clearing and definsble space but that is always done by hand crews...in what i specialized in...steep banks, canyons, and stuff of this nature..but now i am res. tree work.


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## gink595

Canyonbc said:


> Well if all the brush can be burned and basically everything stays. So i am safe to assume...you feel you have all the saws to do the job too??
> 
> Any one to help...you, for cheap labor???
> 
> Do you have a number in your head on what you would like to make an hour?
> 
> Then i would figure what it cost to run your equipment and any rentals.
> 
> Then formulate a bid from that.
> 
> Hope this helps, a lot of guys on here specialize in land clearing by closest thing to it is brush clearing and definsble space but that is always done by hand crews...in what i specialized in...steep banks, canyons, and stuff of this nature..but now i am res. tree work.



yeah I'm okay in the saw dept. unless a misfortune happens, i have a stihl 310 and a 084 if i need it. I have real cheap labor, my wife, she can run the Bobcat. In fact i think she might use it more than i do taking care of her chicken coop!
Thats just it, i don't have a number. I have no idea on what to charge. I'm not a professional and I just don't know anything about the buisness end of it, the labor not the problem. I don't know what a fare rate is, I don't know what machine labor runs. I don't want to screw him and surely not myself. i have a idea on how long it could take me to do this, if it were just me. Like i said I have experience in clearing land for developments as an employee. So I have some idea on how slow or fast this process is. But i'm falling short in the $$ side of the quote. what is bobcat operator worth? 
There really isn't a whole lot of brush just trees, and i can cut the smaller trees with my brush hog and tractor. I'm just going to burn off the trees in piles while the snow is still on the ground.


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## Frank Boyer

A larger tractor would get the whole thing done in a day or two. An excavator or large crawler loader could knock over most of the smaller trees including taking the stumps out. You might ask him if you could try to do a couple of the trees and see how long they take. Your bid can be a lot less accurate since you are cutting firewood and don't have any direct overhead to do the job. Employees, dump fees, insurance, trucking, etc can add a lot to the costs of doing a job.


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## Husky137

Are you insured?


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## gink595

Frank Boyer said:


> A larger tractor would get the whole thing done in a day or two. An excavator or large crawler loader could knock over most of the smaller trees including taking the stumps out. You might ask him if you could try to do a couple of the trees and see how long they take. Your bid can be a lot less accurate since you are cutting firewood and don't have any direct overhead to do the job. Employees, dump fees, insurance, trucking, etc can add a lot to the costs of doing a job.



A large tractor with a grapple bucket yeah i could get it done fast, but just a tractor with a bucket; i'll run circles around it with the skidsteer and grapple. I have had that debate before where I headed off with a guy with a JD 310 with loader. And he now has me help him when he cleans fence rows, or field trims on the edges. Yeah, I would love to have a 550E to do this job I have used one in the past and up rooting would be great, some of the small, small trees i will be able to pop up with my dirt bucket. Yesterday i did go and cut around 30 trees in a hour and half. so around 8hrs +/- a few of cutting and proably 8 bone jarring hours in that bobcat to make burn piles.
You are absolutely right, I don't have no overhead I never really looked at it that way. I'm thinking it will take me about a week to cut around 200-300 small trees, cut flush to the ground gather them in a pile and burn off, than come spring disc it with a very "well used disc" due to the stumps. for around 1200.00 what do you think?


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## Frank Boyer

Two people and a tractor for a week for $1200. That is a bargain for the land owner. I was getting that for a day in 1995 for my 555 sized crawler loader hoe with a drill and my 150 excavator with a drill. A crawler loader with a 4 in 1 could remove trees that size with one push.


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## gink595

Frank Boyer said:


> Two people and a tractor for a week for $1200. That is a bargain for the land owner. I was getting that for a day in 1995 for my 555 sized crawler loader hoe with a drill and my 150 excavator with a drill. A crawler loader with a 4 in 1 could remove trees that size with one push.



I figured that 1200.00 would get a good response, no really what are you thinking at todays prices? Someone told me that he charges per acre, and just completed a 4 acre job. He had to chip the trees so he charged around 3500.00 an acre.

yeah i won't debate that a 4 in 1 wouldn't be faster when you are up rooting them in one shot, but if the trees are cut down first and then moving them i can go like hell in the bobcat and grapple, as long as they aren't really big. much slower when i'm in a tractor.
But I see what you are saying and agree with you on that.


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## BC WetCoast

gink595 said:


> I figured that 1200.00 would get a good response, no really what are you thinking at todays prices? Someone told me that he charges per acre, and just completed a 4 acre job. He had to chip the trees so he charged around 3500.00 an acre.
> 
> yeah i won't debate that a 4 in 1 wouldn't be faster when you are up rooting them in one shot, but if the trees are cut down first and then moving them i can go like hell in the bobcat and grapple, as long as they aren't really big. much slower when i'm in a tractor.
> But I see what you are saying and agree with you on that.



You and your wife make $20/hr + 50% OH = $60/hr labour
Your machine is worth guessing $60/hr (fuel, oil, mtce and repair, load payments, insurance on the trailer etc)
So that's $120/hr + whatever you figure for profit and risk, say 20% or $24. Thats a total charge out rate of $144/hr. 144x8=$1152/day. 

So I think your customer is really getting a deal.


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## Husky137

I'll hire you and your wife and Bobcat for $240 a day. All you really have for overhead is your time and fuel so I can't see how you could possibly screw yourself on this one.

I typically charge by the acre, $2500-$3500, depending on what kind of BS is involved and whether or not there is any good wood. But I have overhead, so it really isn't a fair comparison.


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## gink595

Husky137 said:


> I'll hire you and your wife and Bobcat for $240 a day. All you really have for overhead is your time and fuel so I can't see how you could possibly screw yourself on this one.
> 
> I typically charge by the acre, $2500-$3500, depending on what kind of BS is involved and whether or not there is any good wood. But I have overhead, so it really isn't a fair comparison.



240 a day Sign me up!! Not sure about the wife!! It's a pretty simple project, I don't feel overwhelmed by the looks of it. But I'm not a pro or trying to pretend to be one. I wish I had a little better sense on the buisness side of things. I would proably push him off on a pro if I didn't really know him, but he lets me hunt his property and I've known him for years.


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## LTREES

I charge $250.00 to bring a small loader to pick up wood. This would be more then 1 load or very big wood ( too much for 3 men and a small child to pick up and put in the dump) then on top of that time for the labor and or dump charge ( pine or garbage i do not want) and of course gas charge. so i get between $450.00 - 600.00 to take out big wood. wish i had a log truck.:greenchainsaw:


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## Blakesmaster

*Bumping this up with a bit different question.*

Residential lot.
Houses on either side.
70% of the trees need to be climbed if only to put a rope in them.
Brush is chipped and hauled.
Wood is bucked and hauled.
95% hardwood even though I don't want that stuff either.
Stumps stay.
Needs the lot cleared for a house.

I've done plenty of lot clearing but never any for my own business. I'm thinking with my crew we could do everything in maybe 5 days. We would probably rent a skidsteer w/ grapple for 2 of them and hire my father and another friend with their own trucks and trailers to haul wood away. 

I know a lot of guys bid this stuff by the square footage but have no idea the going rate. I know we'll have close to $2K in fuel spent by the end of this and want to know if it's possible to make good money even though we don't have a log truck and all the fancy equipment to get it done fast. I want to bid somewhere near $12,500 for the job but I wonder if that's way to damn expensive and I'll just get laughed at.


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## ASD

1 a "Residential lot." is how big??????????????????????

2 how many trees and what size

3 how much brush

4 how nice of a clean up do they want


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## Blakesmaster

The lot is 50' by 100', roughly. I haven't measured it for sure so I don't know. I'm just looking for a rough idea what people charge per square foot. I can figure it out from there. I'm not raking it all down to nothing but am removing a the majority of brush.


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## A. Stanton

I had a company do work on my lot for a new garage. They cleared about 1/3 acre for $1,500 (30 trees). They took the trees for firewood and left me the stumps and tops. By the way they did the work in 2003. I would set a flat fee between $2,000-$2,500 to do an acre.


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## Blakesmaster

I do think that I am overpricing it but the price will obviously be higher than yours was simply because we're chipping the brush. I think I"m going to try to find someone who wants the firewood and bid the job to leave everything but the brush lay. That should make a much more reasonable # for the customer.


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## arbor pro

Stop thinking in terms of a rate for a bobcat with operator or a sawyer with saws and start breaking things down into labor, small equipment, big equipment, overhead, mileage and profit.

1) Labor: You said one week. If that means 40 hours and each of you (you and your wife) wil be working 40 hours, then 40x2=80 hours. Assuming you won't have any employees other than yourselves and no taxes, insurance or benefits to pay out, you just need to put a price on your labor. If you want to each make $15/hr, then $15x80 = $1200. Bear in mind, your going to have to claim your income (and expenses) on your taxes. No freebies - especially if the state will be aware of your work on the job.

2) Small Equipment: Saw maintenance, cost of oil & gas, chain maintenance, etc all costs money. A rental store probably gets around $75/day for saw rental. Say you're going to use your saw a total of 3 days (cleaning up debris the other two days), then you should charge around $200 or so for small equipment use.

3) Big Equipment: What's a bobcat cost to rent? Around here, one with a grapple costs about $200/day with a grapple. Say 3 full days with bobcat x $200 = $600. What about a pickup and trailer to haul equipment? 5 days x $50 = $250. Mileage???

4) Overhead: If you have absolutely no overhead, you might want to think again about doing this job. Does your homeowner's insurance cover you for any fire damage should the burn pile get out of control or your equipment spark a grass fire in the CRP? So, what will a rider on your insurance cost to get you coverage?

5) Profit: You don't necessarily have to make a profit if you're not really looking to make this a regular gig and if your pay is included in the labor calculations; however, it might not hurt to add a little something for the unexpected - a cushion persay.

Add it all up and I see a number somewhere around $2250 minimum just to cover basic labor and expenses. I think your biggest concern is liability. Make sure you have some kind of liability coverage in place or you could really wind up in trouble if you inadvertantly burn things up and get sued by the state for wrecking their leased property while maintaining it for the owner!


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## Blakesmaster

Sorry arborpro, I guess I should have just stated a new thread. This is a different job than the OP. Everything gets hauled away and I do have overhead.

I tallied up wages for all of us at $20 an hour and got about $2700. Figured the gas cost for the chipper, dump, and two pickups w/ trailers at about $800. I'm guessing at skid steer w/ grapple rental for 2 days somewhere near $500 so that's $4k in expenses total. ( I hope ) 

I do have overhead, though it's not much but I need to make something towards that. My price of $12.5k sounds way too high now but maybe that is what it's worth. I'm thinking we could toss a $7k bid on it and be comfortable.


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## arbor pro

Blakesmaster said:


> Sorry arborpro, I guess I should have just stated a new thread. This is a different job than the OP. Everything gets hauled away and I do have overhead.



No problem Blakemaster, I was responding to the original post by gink595regarding the CRP clearing job.


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## gink595

arbor pro said:


> Stop thinking in terms of a rate for a bobcat with operator or a sawyer with saws and start breaking things down into labor, small equipment, big equipment, overhead, mileage and profit.
> 
> 1) Labor: You said one week. If that means 40 hours and each of you (you and your wife) wil be working 40 hours, then 40x2=80 hours. Assuming you won't have any employees other than yourselves and no taxes, insurance or benefits to pay out, you just need to put a price on your labor. If you want to each make $15/hr, then $15x80 = $1200. Bear in mind, your going to have to claim your income (and expenses) on your taxes. No freebies - especially if the state will be aware of your work on the job.
> 
> 2) Small Equipment: Saw maintenance, cost of oil & gas, chain maintenance, etc all costs money. A rental store probably gets around $75/day for saw rental. Say you're going to use your saw a total of 3 days (cleaning up debris the other two days), then you should charge around $200 or so for small equipment use.
> 
> 3) Big Equipment: What's a bobcat cost to rent? Around here, one with a grapple costs about $200/day with a grapple. Say 3 full days with bobcat x $200 = $600. What about a pickup and trailer to haul equipment? 5 days x $50 = $250. Mileage???
> 
> 4) Overhead: If you have absolutely no overhead, you might want to think again about doing this job. Does your homeowner's insurance cover you for any fire damage should the burn pile get out of control or your equipment spark a grass fire in the CRP? So, what will a rider on your insurance cost to get you coverage?
> 
> 5) Profit: You don't necessarily have to make a profit if you're not really looking to make this a regular gig and if your pay is included in the labor calculations; however, it might not hurt to add a little something for the unexpected - a cushion persay.
> 
> Add it all up and I see a number somewhere around $2250 minimum just to cover basic labor and expenses. I think your biggest concern is liability. Make sure you have some kind of liability coverage in place or you could really wind up in trouble if you inadvertantly burn things up and get sued by the state for wrecking their leased property while maintaining it for the owner!




Thanks Arbor pro where were you a couple months back when I needed you? LOL. I have the job completed now and I was right on with your quote, I own my own Bobcat and grapple and saws so really no extra being paid out there. But like you said I figured a "cushion" for unforeseen breakage to replace or repair. I think he got a good deal and I'm happy, so it worked out great.I completed the job, just myself in 4 days. Thanks for the break down on quoting just in case the word of mouth spreads and it becomes more than a planned one timer.


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## Blakesmaster

On a side note. 

What do you guys charge per mile for a pickup with dual axle trailer loaded or unloaded? 
For some reason the number $1.20 comes to mind. Good ballpark figure?


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## arbor pro

Blakesmaster said:


> On a side note.
> 
> What do you guys charge per mile for a pickup with dual axle trailer loaded or unloaded?
> For some reason the number $1.20 comes to mind. Good ballpark figure?



$1.50/mile pickup only (one-way), $2.00/mile w/trailer in tow (one-way.

Way too low to really cover expenses so, I usually try to pad the actual job quote with a little extra to cover travel time also.

Mileage is a hard one to break out on a bid form. Some clients completely understand the need to charge for it and appreciate seeing it separated out from the actual cost of doing the work while others might think $20 for mileage is outrageous.


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## arbor pro

gink595 said:


> Thanks Arbor pro where were you a couple months back when I needed you? LOL. I have the job completed now and I was right on with your quote, I own my own Bobcat and grapple and saws so really no extra being paid out there. But like you said I figured a "cushion" for unforeseen breakage to replace or repair. I think he got a good deal and I'm happy, so it worked out great.I completed the job, just myself in 4 days. Thanks for the break down on quoting just in case the word of mouth spreads and it becomes more than a planned one timer.



Help on the first bid is free - help on additional bids is at a 15% commission on the final sale...


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## ASD

arbor pro said:


> Help on the first bid is free - help on additional bids is at a 15% commission on the final sale...



  lol


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## gink595

ASD said:


> lol



LOL. Like I told Arbor Pro in the Rep I gave him, I'd proably be more profitable that way. I hate quoting anything, I have no common sense when it comes to it, not a problem doing the work. Just have a major fault when trying to put a price tag on it. I'll never make it in the buisness sense of things I'm to nice, I figure that I would never pay that price and figure no one else would either. ahhhhh :censored: what can ya do!


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## Prune Juice

*Sticks an Stones*

Always give a pro bid. 1,200 a day is good. Don,t screw it up for everyone who pays licensing, bonding, insurance ( liability & workmans comp. / every head on the jobsite in CA can cost you up to 10,000 in fines.)


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