How to quote? Prices? Should I do it?

[Brenden]

Hey everyone! Today I was asked by a gentleman if I was up to remove and dispose of approximately 2 miles of trees off the county road ROW. 1 mile of trees on both sides of the road. 4-8" average a few up to around 15" and possibly up to 30' tall, some parts he said are pretty thick. Havent seen the job yet. Typically dont do these kind of jobs but I also dont like turning away work. At this point Im in search of info on how to quote the job and or prices? (cost per acre, square foot, hourly?) Proper equipment? Anything I can sponge for info is greatly appreciated.

 

[hedge hog]

Hedge, hack ?????
Locust????


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[Brenden]

???. Cottonwoods.

 

[Brenden]

Still green to this industry. My full time job is in construction so Ill be upfront with you Im not catching what you're saying. Sorry

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

What kind of wood it is. I'd just bill out at $135 per machine hour and go from there. How wide a swath? Sounds mostly like brush and pecker poles if it's 4-8". Just doze it into piles and burn.

 

[northmanlogging]

Go look at it.

Never quote sight unseen.

 

[jefflovstrom]

I bid pretty good, here is what I would do,
go and spend some time at the site,
start on one side and figure out how far a crew size you put there can do in a day, (ie, 4 guys can do this much a day,)
and walk it out, print out a google map of the area and take it with you,
take the map and your crew size production a day and mark on the map and when you are done, go sit in your truck and do the math and then add for some set-up time, dump runs, traffic control, etc,,,btw, do not listen to the radio when you are in your truck doing math,, you will be starting over a lot,, lol,
then add $500,,
Jeff

 

[Benjamin S Pendleton]

If your new at this and don't have some good equipment and guys to back you up you might be better off declining.

 

[teacherman]

T

If your new at this and don't have some good equipment and guys to back you up you might be better off declining.

This looks to be a huge job, and if you're doing this weekends, you'd be on it so long you might lose touch with your client base, and visibility in the community, which could impact you down the road. Also, unless you have a good-sized crew and a way to move the trees once they're down, it would take forever, and the owner might not be happy with the speed of progress. Seems a risky business proposition, one for the big guys.

 

[no tree to big]

Do you own a chipper? Bobcat? full size or mini?

How far off the road do you have to go? Do you have to stump? Herbicide? Can you chip on site? Do you have a good dump site if you have to haul? If you have to haul does the dump charge? Make sure they can take a lot of material b4 you show up with 50 loads of chips. Since its pretty hard to estimate exactly how many loads of chips would be from a project of that scale charge disposal per load, dump cost plus drive time. Your receipts from the dump are your proof of how many loads do they don't have to have somebody out there counting...
If you can, go through and cut and make neat piles with a machine ready to chip then chip it all at once with a good machine and chipper. Back up to a pile and chip away maybe move a little once or twice then pull up a few hundred feet to the next pile rinse and repeat. If you can chip onsite and they don't want huge piles drive the chipper along the road as you go.

Spending all day bent over cutting little **** is hell on your body be prepared to slow down a few days in. if you are dragging by hand don't bury the guys dragging I've found with small stuff one good guy cutting can keep 4 guys pretty busy depending on the length of the drag if they keep caught up to you that's good it gives them a little breather b4 the next piece. when you have huge never ending jobs like that don't try to kill yourself get a nice steady tolerable pace and keep it.

Do you have good in shape busy their ass people to help you? Or old and fat never done this but want in on the get rich quick scheme kinda guys?

Orrr skip all of this and get a big bad forestry mower and mow it all from your climate controlled cab...

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[ChoppyChoppy]

Like to the last part.... that's what a sane person would do.