Huge Job Need Help

[darkstar]

IVE BEEN GIVEN OPPORTUNITY TO BID ... on a job i know some bids are excedding 50,000 im having a hard time pricing it its ... about 500 dead pines most on the ground ... would take 10 men and a 21 inch chipper and 2 steer skid loaders with grapple att. and major trucking to re locate the chips about 30 days .... ive been assured i would get the job if my bid is even close to the other ones .... problem is i only have 3 guys and 2 trucks and a 9 inch chipper ... a reallyhard one for me to arrange .... anyone interested the job is in chattanooga tennessee ....i submit my bid friday ..and am working on finding a free place to dump chips ......... dark

 

[Thor's Hammer]

Heres what I'd do, but obviously it depends on what you can get over there so tell me to shut up if it dont suit
cut out the manpower and hire a 360 excavator with grab or rake,
dont chip grind prefrably with horizontal grinder (saves on saw work) and arrange haulage company with bulk dumps or chipliners to haul offsite. price this up and stick 25% on for yourself.
meanwhile your equipment can carry on working for you.
If i were'nt on this side of the pond i'd do it for ya... good luck, be cool

 

[P_woozel]

That size job you'll have difficulty competing with a shovel, processor etc. Definitely sounds like a co-op gig, Find someone with a shovel and rent the grinder attchment.

 

[kf_tree]

since most are on the ground......are they real punky? will they keep clogging a chipper? 50,000 for 500 tree's is still only 100.00 a tree. whats the terrain like? can they all be notched and dropped? or will you need to mess with pull ropes etc.

what is your current average each week? 50.000 for 30 days is 12.5 a week.

i'd find someone with land clearing equipment and partner up for the job and still keep doing your regular work.

what about stumps? if there not getting done, get that in writeing.

or call all the chipper companies and ask for week long demo's of their biggest machines. but hauling all the chips would still be a problem......why chip them? could you get a log loader? what would it cost to get rid of the wood? if you take the wood out whole then you could use your machine to chip the small crap. it would be alot less cutting with a log truck.

that should give you something to think about for a little bit

 

[fwf]

What do have to pay your help? 10 men x 160 hours x $20 per hour = $32,000, and you still haven't dealt with equipment or disposal costs.

How bad do you need the work? If you and your 3 guys are staying busy, I would pass. Big money doesn't necessarily mean big profits.

Just thinking out load.

 

[darkstar]

ok no big equipement allowed other that steer skid loaders for reasons of soil compaction .... and yes my crew is busy ... we are lovin it .... im just gonna bid and take it from there ... the job is easy .... no hard take downs notch and drop ... or push overs .. about 60 stumps to ground ...[[[[ its the desposal of the wood thats hard ]]]] ... hauling etc.. i think 60000 would pass on the bid

 

[darkstar]

Heres what I'd do, but obviously it depends on what you can get over there so tell me to shut up if it dont suit
cut out the manpower and hire a 360 excavator with grab or rake,
dont chip grind prefrably with horizontal grinder (saves on saw work) and arrange haulage company with bulk dumps or chipliners to haul offsite. price this up and stick 25% on for yourself.
meanwhile your equipment can carry on working for you.
If i were'nt on this side of the pond i'd do it for ya... good luck, be cool

i like your thinking .... especially if i could move in heavy equ .....

 

[treeman82]

If you can bring in a descent sized loader, you can bring the debris right over to the grinder most likely, no?

 

[Mike Barcaskey]

I always end up losing my ass on big jobs (including any brush clearing), so I went to "time and material" bidding
I'll give them references and set up a payment schedule.
If they want a "not to exceed" number, its usually 2 to 3 times what my straight bid would be
I don't get all the big jobs that I used to (since I was always the lowest bidder {dummy that I am}), but now I make my goals when I do get them

I'll probably do 25% of my yearly sales this year on a "time and material" bid
haven't had any complaints and always make my goals

 

[begleytree]

how about selling the good pine logs to the mill? poles or pulpwood. Any way of stacking them out of the way for the loader to come get (one that you arrange) If you can team up with a logger, theres times here that it rains, and they can't get in the woods for a few days, could they pull up and load roadside if you stack them close enough?
-Ralph

 

[juststumps]

no pulp mills that will take the stuff????cut it down,, drag it out,,let them haul it away...old friend moved to greenville sc..bought a 300 acre plot..100 field,100pasture,100cedar... his winter time job was cutting trees and sending them to a mill...

 

[juststumps]

or a mulch guy?? place out here is a drop zone. you pay by the ton to dump. they make mulch.. they ran 270,000 yards,and they are out.. it's only the second week of may, and they are out,, they are begging for stuff,, dropped all dumping fees....just to get stuff to grind...

 

[Jim1NZ]

Heres what I'd do, but obviously it depends on what you can get over there so tell me to shut up if it dont suit
cut out the manpower and hire a 360 excavator with grab or rake,
dont chip grind prefrably with horizontal grinder (saves on saw work) and arrange haulage company with bulk dumps or chipliners to haul offsite. price this up and stick 25% on for yourself.
meanwhile your equipment can carry on working for you.
If i were'nt on this side of the pond i'd do it for ya... good luck, be cool

I reckon your on to it Hammer, I would get an excavator with a grapple and have at least two guys on saws cutting the wood into lengths that would fit into a big truck or two. BUT the only thing is how much are dump costs or could you burn the material? Can you burn on site?

Excavator = 120 per hr
6x4 truck = 75 per hr x2 = 150 per hr
3 men @ 40 each per hr = 120 per hr
= 390 per hr

I think it could be done in a week @ 10 hour working days.

3900 x 5 = $19,500 + your cut $4,875 (25%)

Total $24,375

Things to think about
-How far and how many trucks will you need, if dump is close = less trucks
-Macheriney based on New Zealand prices
-How much dump costs are...
-Extra men...
-GST...

Thats my 2 cents

 

[Thor's Hammer]

Thanks Jim, looking back at my post i forgot to mention log truck. Even if the logs are punky, its easier to load and haul logs than chip them first...

 

[texasnative]

If you get a track hoe on the job, you can excavate a hole and bury the debris. Bonus if you can burn it. If you build a burn pit, you might be able to get a burn permit if the job is in town. If soil compaction is an issue, might as well scrap a hoe that could handle that though. Skid steers do a pretty good job of compacting the soil, just not as much as say a dozer or hoe. Are there other trees on the property that will have to be worked around?

 

[Lumberjack]

Burying the debris under ground leads to problems later on.

 

[darkstar]

they will not let us use any heavy equipment ...only stree skid loaders and those mostly on old trails and road beds ... freakin tuff job to bid ... we are so busy im bidding high ... so win or lose i still win thanx for all the comments ... ill keep yall posted bid goes in tomorrow ...dark

 

[Lumberjack]

How big are the trees? Would you be able to use a four wheeler to get the wood to the trails for the skid steers?

Heck, just bid 60k or better. If you get it, you will figure it out and make money, if you dont get it oh well.

 

[Jim1NZ]

Yea burning material in a pit would be choice like tex said but if you cant push wood up with machines thats a big bugger.
What about a BIG winch and have a couple of guys breaking out. Less expenses but its gonna take way longer.
And thors rite you dont want to have to chip all that, unless you get heaps or $ for chip were you are

 

[Mike Barcaskey]

the problem with bidding high (real high) and not getting the job is that the customer sees how whacked out you are and wont bother calling you in the future, plus word spreads just as fast about who's too high as it does about who does a crappy job

IMO, if you cant make a competitive, "on the money bid" or bid it "time and materials", dont bother