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land clearing techniques
- Thread starter fiat41b
- Start date
Deere9670
Senior Member
opcorn
Same here, I always cook up a bag when Deas and Dozer575 get into it!:jerry
special tool
Senior Member
Yes, this sounds legitimate. FIVE considerable machines to accomplish this, I would never doubt.
Also, we need to remember that LOGGED trees are money....so the chainsaws are definitely NOT leaving a 5 foot high stump for leverage.
I'd still be worried about the weather....
get a foot or 2 of frost in the ground and uprooting those trees and clearing all the brace roots could become a real project. especially with no better than winter is shaping up too be. even if it is warmer, snow melt is a mess and cold weather means it takes longer to dry out.
get a foot or 2 of frost in the ground and uprooting those trees and clearing all the brace roots could become a real project. especially with no better than winter is shaping up too be. even if it is warmer, snow melt is a mess and cold weather means it takes longer to dry out.
Dozer575
Banned
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2007
- Messages
- 274
- Location
- Seattle, wa
- Occupation
- Machinist and occasional pt Dozer oper
So why would it take longer than say 30 seconds for a D8 to split and remove a 2 foot dia stump cut at maybe 1 foot above ground level? Yeah wish I had some videos. I never said I chipped or burned all the debris in the amount of time. It was all fairly flat and real good ground.
dieseldave
Senior Member
Deas, "Hard on him????????" Only about the pics, mate, only about the pics! LOL
Yeah, I remember some good posts by D8Bob back on the old ACMOC board. Unfortunately, "inflammatory" is good word to describe his style, whether he means to be or not. I do understand that he gets under your skin, and the hides of many others as well.
Regarding root systems, around here it seems to be more or less a crapshoot because we have such widely varied soil conditions. Case in point, I once gave a price for stumping a 2 acre building lot for a guy I know. He had a sawmill come in and cut the trees- needless to say there wasn't much showing above the ground to get hold of, and some of them were fairly good sized for these parts. I thought to myself "This is going to be a real ^$%$!" and gave a pretty high estimate accordingly. A few days later I finished up a job and moved my old D6 to his site around lunchtime. I had just intended to drop the machine off, but figured what the hell, I'll just bump one of the bigger ones to see what I'm up against. I braced for an abrupt halt, but the old 6 never slowed down- the stump came right out, neat as you please, as did the next one, and the next, and the next... Before the day was over the stumps were out, pushed to the back and piled where he wanted them. The property owner wasn't around, but I called him that night to tell him I was finished and he met me at the site the next day with a smile on his face and cash in his hand. There was no way I could charge him what I had quoted for what turned out to be such an easy job, so I started peeling off hundred$ from the wad he had given me and handing them back, explaining the reason as I did so. He said "Shoot, you didn't even count it yet! I put an extra $200 in there over what you quoted because you did a nice job and did it so FAST!" LOL We settled on some sort of compromise eventually, but that's the first and only time I've ever argued price from that position. LOL Those trees (mostly oak but a few pine) were in a sandy loam with a fairly high water table, but not high enough to be muddy, and they just didn't have many big roots.
On the other end of the chart I was clearing an old apple orchard once with the same old 6. The apples came right out, and I was pleased to be finished up early in the afternoon. Then the farmer came over and asked me if I could push out "that tree over there", pointing to a far off corner of the field. Flushed with my easy victory over the apple trees, I immediately agreed without taking the precaution of going over to look at it first. Well, I don't know what kind of tree it was (not an apple, that's for sure) but it had a gigantic tap root that went straight down forever- all the way to Hell, I presume- right through a bed of wet, slippery clay. I spent more time getting that one *&%^! tree out than I did clearing the apple orchard!:Banghead And I didn't get no tip, either!
Ah yes, slides, I know them well. As you say, for years there was no easy way to convert them , but I believe there is now- some earlier posts have covered it, I think. I hope you can get it done- I'd love to see them , again not as "proof" but just for enjoyment of seeing a young(er) Deas at work on some classic iron.:drinkup
Yeah, I remember some good posts by D8Bob back on the old ACMOC board. Unfortunately, "inflammatory" is good word to describe his style, whether he means to be or not. I do understand that he gets under your skin, and the hides of many others as well.
Regarding root systems, around here it seems to be more or less a crapshoot because we have such widely varied soil conditions. Case in point, I once gave a price for stumping a 2 acre building lot for a guy I know. He had a sawmill come in and cut the trees- needless to say there wasn't much showing above the ground to get hold of, and some of them were fairly good sized for these parts. I thought to myself "This is going to be a real ^$%$!" and gave a pretty high estimate accordingly. A few days later I finished up a job and moved my old D6 to his site around lunchtime. I had just intended to drop the machine off, but figured what the hell, I'll just bump one of the bigger ones to see what I'm up against. I braced for an abrupt halt, but the old 6 never slowed down- the stump came right out, neat as you please, as did the next one, and the next, and the next... Before the day was over the stumps were out, pushed to the back and piled where he wanted them. The property owner wasn't around, but I called him that night to tell him I was finished and he met me at the site the next day with a smile on his face and cash in his hand. There was no way I could charge him what I had quoted for what turned out to be such an easy job, so I started peeling off hundred$ from the wad he had given me and handing them back, explaining the reason as I did so. He said "Shoot, you didn't even count it yet! I put an extra $200 in there over what you quoted because you did a nice job and did it so FAST!" LOL We settled on some sort of compromise eventually, but that's the first and only time I've ever argued price from that position. LOL Those trees (mostly oak but a few pine) were in a sandy loam with a fairly high water table, but not high enough to be muddy, and they just didn't have many big roots.
On the other end of the chart I was clearing an old apple orchard once with the same old 6. The apples came right out, and I was pleased to be finished up early in the afternoon. Then the farmer came over and asked me if I could push out "that tree over there", pointing to a far off corner of the field. Flushed with my easy victory over the apple trees, I immediately agreed without taking the precaution of going over to look at it first. Well, I don't know what kind of tree it was (not an apple, that's for sure) but it had a gigantic tap root that went straight down forever- all the way to Hell, I presume- right through a bed of wet, slippery clay. I spent more time getting that one *&%^! tree out than I did clearing the apple orchard!:Banghead And I didn't get no tip, either!
Ah yes, slides, I know them well. As you say, for years there was no easy way to convert them , but I believe there is now- some earlier posts have covered it, I think. I hope you can get it done- I'd love to see them , again not as "proof" but just for enjoyment of seeing a young(er) Deas at work on some classic iron.:drinkup
dieseldave
Senior Member
Not PO'd, you just gave me a good opportunity to expand on my original post:drinkup About those pics of our grandads- maybe that would make a good thread? It would give me a reason to get my old photos scanned and into the computer...
That's what I've been worrying about...in areas of bare ground we had a good foot of frost last week, and that was before it went below 0° F. last night.
EZ TRBO
Senior Member
Was actually talking to my uncle the other day and he, like many of his generation, has tons of photos on slides. I would love to be able to get them on to a computer and see them. Yes that would make a good thread.
Trbo
fiat41b
Senior Member
clearing
Well guys the job bid today out of 7 bidders 2 only bid the thing the company I was going to bid with backed out they were covering the bond as I would be their subcontractor and they would handle the erosion control seeding,riprap ditch checks ect. I do alot of work with them off and on I also hire them for all my underground work they are the biggest underground outfit where im from, I think with all the risky strings attached to this project it scared everyone. I told them 2 companies bid they wished they would have. However I still might get a shot at this I had talked to one of the owners yesterday afternoon prior to the bidding and sent hime photos and info on the 41 with rake and the tree shear - grapple for my excavator ect he seemed impressed by the info. and told me to call them tomorrow morning the high bid went for $950,000+ winning bid was for $500,000 the high bidders were crazy on their price as always.
Well guys the job bid today out of 7 bidders 2 only bid the thing the company I was going to bid with backed out they were covering the bond as I would be their subcontractor and they would handle the erosion control seeding,riprap ditch checks ect. I do alot of work with them off and on I also hire them for all my underground work they are the biggest underground outfit where im from, I think with all the risky strings attached to this project it scared everyone. I told them 2 companies bid they wished they would have. However I still might get a shot at this I had talked to one of the owners yesterday afternoon prior to the bidding and sent hime photos and info on the 41 with rake and the tree shear - grapple for my excavator ect he seemed impressed by the info. and told me to call them tomorrow morning the high bid went for $950,000+ winning bid was for $500,000 the high bidders were crazy on their price as always.
Holy Hell 10 grand an acre that is incredible!! Wish we could get those sort of dollars out here, would retire after a couple of jobs.That sort of money means I could run my D7H for a week and a half and only clear 1 acre,could you imagine the cocky when he revisits you after a week and your still on your first acre :cussing there would be no chance of getting any money from him or another job.
Deas Plant
Senior Member
Everything's bigger.....................................
Hi, Billy X.
You should know by now that EVERYTHING is bigger over there, INCLUDING the bills. LOL. And remember, those are U.S. dollars. One of our's is currently only about 69cents, U.S.. :beatsme
So what would you charge for clearing a block like that? Maybe we can start a business transporting blocks DownUnder, clearing them and sending them back topside. LOL.
Waddaya wreckin?
Hi, Billy X.
You should know by now that EVERYTHING is bigger over there, INCLUDING the bills. LOL. And remember, those are U.S. dollars. One of our's is currently only about 69cents, U.S.. :beatsme
So what would you charge for clearing a block like that? Maybe we can start a business transporting blocks DownUnder, clearing them and sending them back topside. LOL.
Waddaya wreckin?
special tool
Senior Member
I don't understand your post?
I understand you think the price is high, so do I.
But the entire point of his thread is the VERY tight (despite what some superheroes would claim) time constraints on the project -THAT is the real reason for the high bid prices. So doing an acre a week, like you said, would earn you more than just kicked off the job, you would LOSE you bond.
Yup, too many strings attached. That's why the bidders just threw out ridiculus high bids, gotta cover their butts. I'm not so sure I would go in and take on the job if the owner refused the other bids and just hired you. To me, that shows that he isn't reliable and trustworthy enough to begin with. Plus it makes you look bad coming in and undercutting the other bids. If he doesn't like the prices offered, he should change some specs, make it a little less risky for the contractors, and open it up for a rebid.
fiat41b
Senior Member
clearing
The winning bid was for 500,000 i have to talk to them this morning not the owners sorry for the misunderstanding.
The winning bid was for 500,000 i have to talk to them this morning not the owners sorry for the misunderstanding.
wilddanz71
Well-Known Member
me too!!!!
special tool
Senior Member
No misunderstandng by anyone, I don't think.
You were very clear/concise.
In my opinion, the misunderstanding stems from the time constraint priority.
Some might not understand that these are not always just about time, but just as much about seperating wheat from chaff.
They don't even want chaff BIDDING on this.
fiat41b
Senior Member
clearing
I would say your are right Specialty Tool by the way I called into the winning bidders office but the guy I needed to talk to had left for a little while so I called back this after noon. I left him a message to call me as he had someone in his office, havent heard anything back from him yet guess i will have to wait till the morning my joint venture bid would have been around 400,000. Do you think if you were in the other companies shoes would you sub it out and end up putting easy 100,000 in your pocket? They do sub once and a while and im interested.
The other half of my brain is telling me this, even though i really would like to have the work as this year really sucked for me due to lack of jobs around here the weather is terrible now we already have temps in the teens and single digits freezing rain snow on top of it and more freezing rain and snow coming this week with the temps staying low.
I would say your are right Specialty Tool by the way I called into the winning bidders office but the guy I needed to talk to had left for a little while so I called back this after noon. I left him a message to call me as he had someone in his office, havent heard anything back from him yet guess i will have to wait till the morning my joint venture bid would have been around 400,000. Do you think if you were in the other companies shoes would you sub it out and end up putting easy 100,000 in your pocket? They do sub once and a while and im interested.
The other half of my brain is telling me this, even though i really would like to have the work as this year really sucked for me due to lack of jobs around here the weather is terrible now we already have temps in the teens and single digits freezing rain snow on top of it and more freezing rain and snow coming this week with the temps staying low.
australian pete
Senior Member
i would like some jobs at that rate also, i just finished clearing 30 acres in 15 working days, 11 hours a day,only had sundays off, after clearing had to shear and grind the trees they were mostly small trees, around 12 inch diameter, took 45 hours to grind with 630 horsepower vermeer grinder, got less than 10 % of $500,000..we were also on a tight finishing time, excavators and dump trucks were working around us while we were grinding. i may move to the US.