land clearing help

[BC WetCoast]

Rather than skidding your logs with the excavator, you might try a technique called hoe chucking. Essentially you start at the farthest end from the chipper, and working perpendicular to the chipper make a windrow of logs. Then sit the machine between the windrow and the chipper, lift the logs from the pile and make a new pile closer to the chipper. (Think of it as picking up the pile with the left hand and making a new pile with the right hand).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shovel_logging
http://s291.photobucket.com/albums/ll308/Again_Duh/?action=view&current=HoeChucking.flv

This video and explanation shows the technique that you could modify to suit your job.

 

[sgreanbeans]

I would recommend using the excavator to up-root the trees with the stumps attached. By using the weight of the tree as leverage, the stump comes out much easier. Just dig out the roots opposite the direction you want the tree to go and the put your bucket up high enough to gain leverage without breaking the tree off. This will save you a ton of time in cat work,opcorn: digging out the stumps. Then all you have to do is buck the stumps off and proceed as planned.
Have you checked into disposing of the stumps? Out here, that is the biggest hassle.


:agree2: To a Point, I do a lot of land clearing, your on the right track, I would lay over the trees, leaving the stumps about 4-5 ft tall, use the excavator to pop them out, we load them in a dumpster, a roll off, making sure that I throw some garbage in with it, makes a diff in price at the dump, no garbage goes to yard waste, more money, if garbage in it, it goes to regular dump, much cheaper. Clean as u go, don't lay every thing over at first, make a trail to/for your chipper that you can get equipment through and start from the chipper and work back, clearing your work space as you go. Much easier on the guys and more proficient. MAKE SURE EVERYONE CAN SEE EVERYONE, doing a heavy clearing there is often very low visibility, heard of a horror story wear a dad spun his machine into his boy, killing him. Kid had on hunting camo.

 

[fishercat]

around here.................

i didnt really know how to bid it so i did it like i would tree work i figured out how much i wanted per day and tried to estimate how many days it would take me to complete the work.

so i figured 30 days worste case. with 5 guys figured 10-15 days to clear the trees . 2 days to push the stumps and 2-4 days to haul junk away

exact equipment im moving in is a

case 1150 dozer

kobelco 140 excavator with thumb

bandit 1990 chipper

s250 skid steer with grapple

and grapple truck to haul away the crap


when i did the math it seemed well worth it to do this job i wouldnt move this kinda machinery enless i was putting a grand a day in my pocket

to make a profit,you need to charge about 5k an acre for heavily wooded lots.especially with that equipment.land clearing is a lot different than tree work.it is fun though as long as you don't get in over your head.

stumps suck!

 

[JS Landscaping]

What kind of timber is on the lot? Before you go and clear cut, it might be worth it to take a look and see if you have any saw logs, or veneer logs in some of those trees. Dont want to chip away potential money. If there are definatly fell the trees properly and stack the wood of to the side...Many mills will come and pick it up with a picker and pup, or even by the semi load, as long as you have a loader there. Granted you need enough for a full log truck load....if some of the wood can be sold to the mills, if there are any around by you, it can be good money if you know your timber.
I worked for a logging company for a while and we would have trucks comming from canada for the low grade, which ends up being used to make pallets, shipping crates, ect. The medium grade used to go to Wagner Lumber in Owego NY, and the high grade (veneer logs) would be picked up by Tri-state hardwoods. Definatly worth looking into if the option is available

 

[mattfr12]

to make a profit,you need to charge about 5k an acre for heavily wooded lots.especially with that equipment.land clearing is a lot different than tree work.it is fun though as long as you don't get in over your head.

stumps suck!

my estimate came out around 8.5k an acre once i figured out all expenses

i broke it down into 3 sections of payment 25% 1 week prior to work then 25% every week after that. i estimated 4 weeks.

 

[Burley Boys]

tub grinder

absolutely should contract out for an excavator operator, rent a tub grinder and grind everything on site. haul and decent logs with a logging truck.
You can pre fall many of the trees and have the machine clean it u, or work with the machine, limbing and bucking as needed as you go.

big mistake to try to chip brush after it has been handled with a machine.

 

[jefflovstrom]

i have a job to clear a five acre lot. i dont have alot of experience in land clearing so im gonna see what you guys think of my approach to doing it.

i was gonna first fell the trees or as many as i can and still be able to move around. then drag them to the wood chipper with an excavator with a thumb on, it keep in mind this is a 30,000 pound machine it will move alot.

the owner of the lot wants the chips in a pile at the rear of the lot so thats why im dragging them to the chipper.

then i can feed the chipper with the excavator. the chipper is a bandit 1990. with 20+ inch compacity.

once all the trees are down and chipped we have a few stihl brush cutters for the small brush.

then i rented a case 1150 dozer for the stumps. i figured i would push them all out and close to the road so i can load tri axle with the excavator.

what do you guys think let me know if you got any easier methods or ideas or if im on the right track thanks.

Well Matt, You sure got alot of advice, so I am not giving none. I am not even going to say to you to do it your way, the way you bid it. I am not going to try to make your bid the way I would bid. Hope you let us now how it go's.
Jeff

 

[lxt]

Good luck matt, usually on lot clearings guys are bidding very low!!!! I mean very Low!!

Look at what I posted earlier this year, I bid 60+ acres of state gamelands at about $1850 an acre! winning bid......under $8,000 dollars to do 60+ acres in terrain you can barely walk on!!

Hell I thought the above was a mistake so I bid the 81 acre job & another company bid & got it for under 10 grand.....when I went on the Pa gamelands website to check the awarded bids.....dozens of companies had bids of $300 to $500 an acre....!

hopefully you get it & make money.....dont mean to be a buzzkill for ya, but didnt want you to get your hopes up & put in a ton of time only to be disappointed!


LXT...............

 

[mattfr12]

Good luck matt, usually on lot clearings guys are bidding very low!!!! I mean very Low!!

Look at what I posted earlier this year, I bid 60+ acres of state gamelands at about $1850 an acre! winning bid......under $8,000 dollars to do 60+ acres in terrain you can barely walk on!!

Hell I thought the above was a mistake so I bid the 81 acre job & another company bid & got it for under 10 grand.....when I went on the Pa gamelands website to check the awarded bids.....dozens of companies had bids of $300 to $500 an acre....!

hopefully you get it & make money.....dont mean to be a buzzkill for ya, but didnt want you to get your hopes up & put in a ton of time only to be disappointed!


LXT...............

im good to go i gotta start it in 3 weeks we got it even being a higher bid because of some of the other companies being shakey i guess. i figured it would be a learning experience. im just trying to see if im taking the right aproach to doing the job. 3rd week of july we start.

LXT you know any climbers in the area looking for a job i can hire 2 fulltime but need one badly i hurt my back and climbing is killing me at the moment putting me on the couch daily. i need someone to take some of the strain off of me. ill pay them top dollar if thier good.

 

[kawimudslinger]

I have cleared some land on my property and used a mini excavator for some pretty massive stumps. Its amazing at how strong those little things are. then i dug a massive hole and burried all the stumps and filled them over and packed it down really well. Atleast it took care of transporting and disposing of all the ugly stumps.

 

[jefflovstrom]

LXT you know any climbers in the area looking for a job i can hire 2 fulltime but need one badly i hurt my back and climbing is killing me at the moment putting me on the couch daily. i need someone to take some of the strain off of me. ill pay them top dollar if thier good.[/QUOTE]

Did you bid this Before or After your back injury? Questionable at best!
Jeff

 

[mattfr12]

LXT you know any climbers in the area looking for a job i can hire 2 fulltime but need one badly i hurt my back and climbing is killing me at the moment putting me on the couch daily. i need someone to take some of the strain off of me. ill pay them top dollar if thier good.

im just asking him because hes 45 min from me i get around just fine. but if i had some time to give my back a break im sure it would heal up alot faster.

as far as doing jobs we work at 2 and sometimes 3 seperate locations if i had to sit out we would just make less money for a week or 2 wich is fine if it came down 2 that. plenty of qualified employees but always have my eyes out for a few more.

doing the work myself costs me more jobs because of not enough time to bid. i can only visit so many people a week and i never get to them all if i had more time to bid and spend with clients alot more jobs would come our way.

 

[mattfr12]

I have cleared some land on my property and used a mini excavator for some pretty massive stumps. Its amazing at how strong those little things are. then i dug a massive hole and burried all the stumps and filled them over and packed it down really well. Atleast it took care of transporting and disposing of all the ugly stumps.

ya they work well but on this job i dont think i can dig that big of a hole a few hundred stumps would have to go in it.

 

[lxt]

Matt, glad to hear you landed that job & hope all goes well for ya!! as far as climbers go.....I get a couple calls here n there from ex-local 1919 line clearance guys, I have tried out a few guys who have called...but they didn't work out!

every one wants paid under the table cause they`re layed off!!! one I had to talk down cause he froze (50ft cherry at best)..then he got mad cause I told him his $18 hr to start just dropped to starting groundman wages $12.50...guess he didnt like that cause he didnt come back & never filled out the W-4 form!

cant say I could recommend anybody but if any thing changes I`ll PM ya!

 

[electrictrimmer]

Where I'm from here in maryland, the builder takes care of the stumps. We just cut the timber, stack the logs, get a burn permit and burn all the brush. With the equipment you have your looking at a week maybe a week and a half tops. Definitely use the excavator to do the stump work if you must fool with them.