How to bid lot clearing?

[UrbanLogger]

Today I helped a friend's son cut about a cord of firewood and got to talking about tree work when he informed me that he works for a developer/contractor who is in need of someone to clear lots for them. He asked if I would be interested in doing this kind of work. The company he works for is relativity new and hasn't developed a good working relationship with any one yet and is looking for someone to do their lot clearing. I told him to have his boss (the company owner) call me and we could talk about it. I have only really done residential tree work, and never gotten into large scale tree removal such as this.

My Question: How do I bid a lot clearing job?

I know I can't bid it like a residential tree removal (priced per tree) or I would have a huge, ridiculously high bid.

 

[cntrybo2]

First, do you have the equipment to do this type of work Excavator, Dump Truck, saws, and a piece of equiptment to grade and de-root the ground.
Second, The way to bid this type of work is by time. lets say you have this equipment, if you are really wanting to get these bids, the best way to do it is set up an hourly fee at which you can cover your costs and make the amount of profit you see fit and arrange to clear 1 or 2 lots. At the end of this, you should know how much work goes into clearing such lots and be able to formulate a bid on the lots going by lot size and tree density (# of trees and size of trees per lot).

Another thing to look at is what to do with the logs that are rendered from the job, are they your logs, his logs or do you share what the mill will give you?

Lot clearing can be a live or die trying venture, dont be affraid to cover you expenses and make alittle money.

 

[M.D. Vaden]

My guess is, if you can't figure out the cost, you may not be ready.

Maybe you have the solution and don't realize it.

I used to think that I didn't know how to bid a large landscape install. Then I realized it's just bigger, and can be calculated in increments.

If the area is 10 times bigger, then its probably 10 times more, if the extra is similar. Although bigger often means a slight discount due to volume. And small areas are often harder to work in.