I'm getting a contractor to look at clearing about 4 acres(300' x 600') of light to medium brush and was trying to get a ballpark on how long it might take. It would take me too long with my 931B and someone else is mostly paying the bill. Some of the brush is thick as in hard to walk through but not a lot of big trees. Mostly poplar and a few up to maybe 8" or so that I think will come out easy. The rest is pretty light stuff just lots of it. I think the guy has a fair amount of experience and has worked for the county on forest fires. He charges $160/hr for the JD 850J and says he can do quite a bit in an hour. Is it best to get an estimate on hours or just how much to do the job? Depending on how much it is to clear, I need the area leveled off and built up to make a pad for a 1/4 mile flat track oval. I can dig clay with my backhoe and we can get trucks and some smaller equipment in to spread it but if the clearing is reasonable, we'll hire some of that out too. The ground is higher so could be scraped down 8" or so to save on the amount of fill to build the rest up. The contractor also has a 200 size hoe for $130/hr. What do you guys with more experience think?
**Should** be a couple short days with the 850. Of course, I'm saying that with absolutely no knowledge of the site. Maybe get some pics if you can?
I'd let the contractor do the bulk of the work or rough it in then take over with your equipment. You will be money ahead doing this. Especially if the guy is straight with you.
I do about 2 acres in 8 hrs with the same size machine in heavier trees. 12" or so and down poplar with thick brush is what I normally contend with. That is walked down and pushed into piles or rows and leaving the area ready for a disk. That brush should go much quicker but hard to tell without seeing the site. #1 Find a good honest contractor with the correct tools and good references. #2 Let him do what he/she is good at.
I would have him give me an estimate of how many hours it will take to get the job done to your spec's. Now what are your spec's? Pushed into one pile in one location, windrowed, several small piles, etc? How will the debris be disposed of - burned, buried, chipped or left to rot? Just have a clear scope of work for what you want him to do and if he is a professional he can give you a pretty close estimate to what it's going to cost. Where deals like this go to crawfishing is when one party has a different expectation for a given price than the party doing the work.
And don't forget about different ideas about what the finished job SHOULD look like. What's acceptable to him might be a far cry from what you are expecting.
Sometimes the little scrub bush can be more miserable and time consuming to deal with then the bigger stuff. Almost have no choice but to take some topsoil off to get the roots and smaller stuff out. Course you know where that topsoils Gona end up in your burn pile. That's where the hoe can work better and faster sometimes. Especially if he has a rake for it. For medium sized bush with my old d7 I used to figure around 1/2 acre a hour if it was good going. Worst case take half that again you'd be looking at no more the 16 hours to do that job. His rates are pretty reasonable too so as long as he's not running the hours up on you, you might be wise to hire him and save the wear and tear on your own equipment.
Amen Brother ! :beerchug
It's OK if he takes some topsoil off. The high part is going to be scraped off anyway to save on the amount of fill needed to build up a level pad. I'm hoping he can just push the thick, light brush in a pile. I'm not concerned too much with how it looks after clearing (I'm sure he won't leave a total mess) because it needs to be leveled and the low spots built up anyway. That will be much easier for me to do with the help of a dump truck and smaller machines. Depending on how long it takes to clear the area, I might get him to do dig bunch of fill and or spread it. I had the edge of a big forest fire go through about 4 years ago so most of the bigger tree's are dead anyway. The smaller brush is a lot of new growth and is a pain. I could clear it with my equipment but it would a slow job. If he could clear it and scrape what's left reasonably level, would make it a lot easier to finish.
We just mounted the Grim Reaper on the 16 for couple cut jobs . Wish I was a little closer , really enjoy that work . From what you describe probably around $ 3,000.00 and a case of Busch Light . http://www.heavytruckforums.com/showthread.php?51-Fwd-Trucks&p=2352&viewfull=1#post2352 I would give the contractor with the JD850 a chance at it working on the hour with estimate & see how it go's . Good luck with the project .