Clearing a lot

[Frank H.]

Hey there.  I've got a question to pose to you all.  I've got a lot to clear, not much saleable timber, most is really crappy, although a few saleable cherry left on it.  The owner wants it all cut down, putting a barn up.  It is about 150ft by 200 feet, mostly big old cherry with holes in it, and some hard maple.  Owner wants me to skid it to three big piles, and he will burn it all.  I will do all the cutting.  Not quite sure how to charge for this.  Is there a general amount per hour to charge for cutting, or skidding.  I will cut by hand myself, and will skid with my S-7 IH skidder.  all the skids are short, more pushing them around than skidding.  I figure a week into the project or so.  I'm guessing around  $1800- $2000.  The saleable trees would be a bonus, but not much is any good.  Very gnarled, holey, etc.  I will haul out what is good for firewood.  Thanks for any info folks.

[beenthere]

Frank
Are you going to charge for your labor/equipment while removing your logs from the burn piles?

Or just charge for the hours moving what is left to the burn piles?

Seems you have some figuring to do, if coming up with a fixed fee. Or just quote a fee/hour that you can live with and hope the owner agrees.

[DirtForester]

A man + saw + skidder, around here, is worth $45-$60 buck depending on the machine.

[Ron Wenrich]

I remember the fee for land clearing down in the Philly area was about $2000/acre and they kept the timber.  They also had to pull out the stumps and grind up the tops.  I don't know how that compares to your situation, but it may act as a guideline.

Those guys had a lot more money wrapped up in equipment, but it was offset with the sale of the chips or mulch and the timber. 

[ford62783]

around here in ny that is pretty cheap 2 grand and the wood we get anywhere from 4000 to 5500 and the wood

[sjfarkas]

I've built an excel spreadsheet to help in estimating.  if anyone is interested and doesn't do work in CA I would be happy to share it.  It might not help you without a little tweaking.  it just depends on how much equipment you have.

[SwampDonkey]

Up here it's $1600-2000/acre and the wood isn't free. They pay the landowner stumpage like in any clearcut and he's billed for the clearing. I'm talking farmland clearing here. I can see where a building lot could be different, but landowners will wheel and deal to get something out of their wood I can guarantee it. ;)

[treefarmer87]

charge him like $2000-$3000

[Madman_Mark]

I just looked at a piece of land the same size a couple of weeks ago. It's a house lot. They want everything cut and piled so that they can burn it later. Mostly small fir trees about 6 inch diameter on average, no machine required because there not enough wood to send to a mill. Just me and my saw.I told him $2000 Canadian.

[chucker]

lol !! yepp anytime you can get 20 franklins or the equil  to that in canadian its a good week with a saw and time for a workout... sure would be a great week if some of that prosperios work came this way to the midwest?? danged housing crunch hey!

[Frank H.]

Thank you everyone for your help.  I figure if I can I'll try for 60/hr, and if he wants a hard number, I'll give him 2000.00 and I keep the sawlogs, although there are not too many.  I appreciate the information.

Frank