How do people clear subdivisoin lots in yalls parts of the country. I'm talking about 1/4 to 3/4 acre lots in paved subdivisons with utilites already installed. Around here everyone just loads the trees in dump trucks, hauls to the landfill, and backhauls dirt. Anyone ever seen any small scale chipping or grinding done on lots. I could make money clearing lots if I could get 6-8 at a time, but I cant use my large equipment in subdivisons, w/o blocking the roads and tearing the utilities up(100,000 lbs grinder)
The trees are piled up as high as a 160-200 size machine can reach and start burning. One of the subdivisions in the area was burning for almost a month steady but they had 40 1 acre lots to clear. Then putting in the utilities took 2 months it was almost a month of blasting. The total project has almost taken 1.5 years and they still haven't finished. They hauled in over 1/2 a million tons of gravel just to put in the road. Its going to be a landscapers nightmare because there is not a ounce of topsoil on any of the lots it is all solid granite. You want a lawn be prepared to haul in couple hundred ton of sand gravel and topsoil. You can't even put a fence around your property without drilling the rock. The roads into subdivisions is what kills subdivisions because the roads have to meet highway spec's so they have to be so many feet wide the asphalt has to be the same thickness as the highway. The road base has to be the same spec's as a highway. One of the subdivisions that was put in years ago the road cost so much to install the guy went bankrupt. The road is well over 4 kilometers 6.4 miles long the road cost was in the millions back in the late 80s early 90s. Most newer subdivision lots in my area now are already cleared a little bit you need to dig the spot for the foundation.
The ones I do around here I haul the wood off to be turned into firewood, pulp, or logs. The brush gets burned on site or taken off site to burn. Stumps get burned with the brush, remains hauled off for fill. Loam is stripped and hauled back to my stockpile for screening. Pretty similar operation for most contractors in the area. Some contractors bury the stumps onsite, I find it less expensive to burn and use for fill elsewhere.
If its just a small lot we haul any good logs to the mill, the rest gets cut up for firewood. All brush we haul to somewhere out of city limits so we can burn, or if we have a site where they are clearing a large area and will be bringing in a tub grinder we dump there. Never seen any small grinders on site for clearing a lot.
If we get a lot that is at least 2 acres, we will burn. We use a excavator to clear and grub. We burn the brush and stumps and stack the logs. We have a logger that comes and we give him the logs. He takes the goods for saw logs and keeps the rest for firewood. If we get a 1/2 acre lot where the houses are close by or if we have a dry spell, we will chip the brush and haul out the stumps to our quarry and burn them in the winter.
most times they cut what they can with a bush hog,then cut the smaller trees and run them though a chipper,most of the bigger trees stay as long as there not were the house is going. thats just what goes on,on the jobs i have been on
Jimmyjack, What size chippers are guys in your area using. I would assume they are selling the chips?? You kinda described what I'm thinking about. Bobcat bushogs the little stuff first, Excavator takes down tree and walks it to the street, Mexican cuts the stump off, Excavator puts tree in chipper and stump in rolloff, chips go to the mill, stumps go to my grinding site. No piling or reloading. We are pretty good at this kind of operation on large tracts, using large equipment, I'm just wondering if I could make it work on lots using alot less manpower and smaller equipment. I can get $1500-$3000 more per acre, doing 1/4 and 1/2 acre lots
We use a 315 with a thumb and a 15" chipper and 1 laborer running the saw and chipper. I can clear a 1/2 acre lot in one day. As far as the chips go, I'll just mix it in with the dirt. We charge no less than $2,500 for a 1/2 acre lot.
the chippers are the size you tow around with a one ton, and most times they chip the brush and mix it with the fill,but if its a lot they haul it off site. most people won't buy it cause its not the fancy colored mulch:lmao