Thread: Job Pricing

Howdy Folks,

Let me start by saying I am not an arborist by trade but I have done work with tree removal before. I have been offered a job by a family friend to clear a property for them. It is a 2.5 acre property that is covered (think 3/4) with pine trees. They are purchasing the property as a vacant lot with the intention of clearing it and building a 4000sqft house on the land. To accommodate that, they want almost all of the trees cleared (not all but for simplicity we'll call it all). The issue is I am not in this business and do not know how to go about pricing the job. I have a crew of 4 guys all who are quite adept at chains work, the main issue I foresee is that we really don't have any heavier equipment (skid steers, chipper etc) so we are probably going to have to either rent or more hopefully borrow (for a fee obviously) equipment from our present employers. I am looking for a rough estimate of pricing for the job.

land.png

Here is a picture of the land if it helps.

Thanks

Tree Removal Pricing Here ya go, check out the cost calculator on this thread and add it up. Good luck.

Originally Posted by reclaw33

Howdy Folks,

Let me start by saying I am not an arborist by trade but I have done work with tree removal before. I have been offered a job by a family friend to clear a property for them. It is a 2.5 acre property that is covered (think 3/4) with pine trees. They are purchasing the property as a vacant lot with the intention of clearing it and building a 4000sqft house on the land. To accommodate that, they want almost all of the trees cleared (not all but for simplicity we'll call it all). The issue is I am not in this business and do not know how to go about pricing the job. I am looking for a rough estimate of pricing for the job.

land.png

Here is a picture of the land if it helps.

Thanks

what kind of equipment do you have and how many men

One million dollars. If they are your friends knock 10% off. Seriously, very hard to do given the general description. What kind of equipment will you have? What will you do with the debris? Are you working alone or with a crew? Too many variables to give you a price.

Originally Posted by Zale

One million dollars. If they are your friends knock 10% off. Seriously, very hard to do given the general description. What kind of equipment will you have? What will you do with the debris? Are you working alone or with a crew? Too many variables to give you a price.

Crew of 4 guys, currently a chainsaw per person. If we do the job we will be getting a chipper, skid steer and stump grinder. The wood will be chipped and the land owner hasn't specified yet whether they want the chippings or not. I'm not looking for a solid quote just something for a general idea i.e. how much would you charge per tree or something. As noted its a 2.5 acre lot with appox 75 30-50' pines. Any helps is useful to me at the moment.

I'm not a true tree guy but a GC. If you are unsure how much it is going to cost you to do the job, the only way to price it is either a sky high price (which the homeowner won't like) or go cost plus/hourly/daily price. Say you thought the job was a 5 day job. Your costs would be:

1. 3 employees at at least $100/each/day $1500.00
2. Skid steer at 300/day $1500.00
3. Chipper at 300/day $1500.00
4. Stump grinder 300 a day $1500.00
5. Your labor 200? a day $1000.00
6. profit and overhead $1400.00
7. Fuel/oil/chains/gloves/lunch ect at least $500.00

If the job takes you one extra day and you have 1 broken saw, you'd be better off working at Mcdonalds. 2 extra days and your paying to go to work. Being any type of self employed contractor means
a. knowing how to get the job done properly, safely and on time
b. knowing how to estimate the job properly and profitably

I have had many carpenters that work for me when they are slow and they always seem to do better working for me by the hour than they do on there "own jobs" strictly because they have no idea how to bid a job!

Where is it located in Ontario? You mentioned getting a stump grinder. If they are building a house on it they are gonna have to have an excavator there to dig the hole. Have the hoe pop the stumps out, throw em in a dump truck and gone. No point grinding where they have to dig cause they will have to pull the stumps anyway. Leave em knee high to give em something to pull on.

call a logger.

Originally Posted by reclaw33

Howdy Folks,

Let me start by saying I am not an arborist by trade but I have done work with tree removal before. I have been offered a job by a family friend to clear a property for them. It is a 2.5 acre property that is covered (think 3/4) with pine trees. They are purchasing the property as a vacant lot with the intention of clearing it and building a 4000sqft house on the land. To accommodate that, they want almost all of the trees cleared (not all but for simplicity we'll call it all). The issue is I am not in this business and do not know how to go about pricing the job. I have a crew of 4 guys all who are quite adept at chains work, the main issue I foresee is that we really don't have any heavier equipment (skid steers, chipper etc) so we are probably going to have to either rent or more hopefully borrow (for a fee obviously) equipment from our present employers. I am looking for a rough estimate of pricing for the job.

land.png

Here is a picture of the land if it helps.

Thanks

Good post I have a similar dilemma, im an arborist by trade but want to do electrical work. I've put in numerous light bulbs and decorated countless christmas trees. I have a friend of a friend that needs a 10,000sqft estate rewired. My main concern is i have no idea what im doing. I'll prolly burn the house to the ground, but maybe you guys will have some helpful advice.
I have a Calk shot if that helps.
Sgreenbeans get this post outa here.

Originally Posted by treemandan

call a logger.

this

that's an easy job (for a tree guy) for you maybe not... first question how are you going to move AND get rid of your logs the brush is the easy part but the logs..... and you never said how big in diameter they are

almost forgot i think we could knock that out in 2-3 days with 4-5 guys just for reference

Originally Posted by mr. holden wood

Good post I have a similar dilemma, im an arborist by trade but want to do electrical work. I've put in numerous light bulbs and decorated countless christmas trees. I have a friend of a friend that needs a 10,000sqft estate rewired. My main concern is i have no idea what im doing. I'll prolly burn the house to the ground, but maybe you guys will have some helpful advice.
I have a Calk shot if that helps.
Sgreenbeans get this post outa here.

No don't burn the house down! Call ME! I've installed ceiling fans, wall outlets, outdoor lights, and wired up a submersible pump...hot!