I bought a 96 JD 550G LGP the other day to play around on my own place and some leased ground and to farm out here and there to make a little extra money. I work in the oilfield and that is my bread and butter so I dont have to run this dozer to make a living. However I only work 6 months out of the year so Im leaving alot of meat on the bone. Moving on. A guy contacted me the other day in regards to clearing some land.....35-40 acres! He said it was logged of the hardwood several years ago and left tree tops and stumps. There is also some standing wood on the place. Wants to just pile it up and burn it. I told him $80/hr (that seems to be about going rate here). I have also seen some people charge by the acre. $700ish give or take. I know this work will be harder since I only have stump to work with. Im not totally new to running equipment but Im am pretty green at estimating a cost.....especially on something this big. He wants to work on it here and there.....which is fine with me cause I have other things on my plate. I guess I should add he is pretty local to me also. Thanks for any and all help, good or bad!
I will leave actual cost to the guys who do land clearing but as a equipment mechanic you have a small dozer to be stumping that kind of acreage let alone hardwood stumps of saw log size.
Better off gettin a trackloader or excavator for that job, not going to be any fun for a 550. tell him to rent it and you will run it for him. For 30 or 40 acres, a 963 or a 300 size how would be alot better and cheaper in the long run than a trim dozer.
That is kinda what I was thinking honestly. Ive even toyed with the idea of buying a trackhoe to do the job.....let this job pay for it or dang near it anyway. Im I crazy to think like that?? Saw some smaller Kobelco machines locally for less than $10K.....sk100 was one and some really nicer machines for mid $20K. Or.... Like I said he only wants to work on it for a couple days at a time then pull off for a week or so while he works and I work. Should I just use my machine and make the money?
There won't be anything left to fix on that 550 after that job. Better to get a machine you won't destroy. Overworking smaller dozers takes a heavy toll.
okay I will take that for whats its worth. I dont wanna tear up my machine to make a buck. What about buying a trackhoe to do it.....am I retarded to think this? The guy has 450 acres and Im thinking maybe when Im done with the 35-40 acres he will want more, but not assuming this. Keep in mind that I dont put food on the table doing dirt work. But in a year or five if I have some "free" equipment I would be really happy.
If I were to buy a trackhoe what would be some good sizes to look at? Or maybe should I ask whats the smallest you would recommend? Both my tractor and dozer are JD.....kinda partial but thats not gonna stop me from buying a good deal. Seems the Hitachi type brands are quite a bit cheaper vs. Cat. Any suggestions here, what to stay away from?
hitachi is a deere, some have different engines, some don't. I would look at a 200 size, 160 at a minimum. that 100 you were talking about would have to do a lot of digging for sawlog stumps.
I thought the KB100 would be too small. Can someone explain to me the sizes a little better. 160. 200, etc? Does this carry over to all makes of excavators? Sorry Im not really familiar with trackhoes, more dozers and backhoes.
200 is 20 metric ton class, 160 is 16 metric ton class (operating weight), this applies to most makes except caterpillar, 3xx series cat last 2 digits are weight class; 2xx cat has no connection
Since you know deere numbers, a 892 or 992 is more the class of machine your going to want for that size and number of stumps. Machinerytrader in texas has several listed in the 30k range. Why a 892 / 992 because 590 / 690's are about the same money initially and your really going to like the added grunt of a large excavator. Hardwood stumps of saw log caliber are not the easiest thing to remove. I was asked to dig out a 3' stump from a maple that blew over with a 315clc cat (38k lbs about) and that root ball was all the 315 wanted, and 35-40 acres worth is alot of stumpin.
Just to give you an idea of what you're into... I have spent a fair amount of time pushing back bush lines, clearing the growth that creeps into fields over several generations. This means working my 240 (26tonne) into the edge of a bush line and walking along tearing out everything in front of me. In my area i get into mature oak, maple, birch, ironwood. I pile the refuse up against the bush and leave it. The thumb makes it easy to pick up the trees and scrub. I end up clearing a swath about 35'wide (35' is the max reach of the machine). I budget 50'/hr for this job. That works out to about 0.04 acres/hr. You are going to build burn piles, which you can use your dozer for, and that will add some more time. I'm not sure what kind of trees you're into on your job, but the bigger the trees, the slower it goes. If its all scrub it'll go lots quicker. Good luck
First off does any of this work into your equipment sizing now? Is the 100 size more of what your other stuff is or is it a toy compared to your other equipment. If your planning on paying for the machine off this job, get a contract to do just that, pay for the machine with a signed contract and then go find the machine, don't buy one first then think it'll get paid for off the job that he might hire you for. Next, avoid the acre rates thing, your not up on acres or up to speed on anything like that yet, do instead an hourly thing, you'll do so many hours at a set price and see how it goes, as for a dozer, other than maybe putting a rake on it and leveling afterwards its pretty useless in land clearing. I do land clearing and a fair amount of it and I never do the acre route, its always by the hour, it depends on tree species, location, type of ground your on, location, access, whats being done with tree tops if you can burn them and where etc. If your thinking you'll get more work from him because he has more land give that up right now, thats just a dream, he's looking for someone do it cheaper for him than those that currently do that type of work and thats all, if you bite on it and put it in writing for an acre amount you'll lose your butt and work for nothing, seen it many times, someone thinks they can do the job for such an amount and when it doesn't work out they end up working for nothing or at a loss to complete the job, work smarter not harder. If the machines needed don't fit your operation then why worry about them in the first place? If your going to do it for less, the only less invovled is going to be your end profit, your not going to undercut anyone in the business already with experience, they know their costs and you don't, avoid that trap and walk away right now, you'll be money ahead later on. If he doens't get along with anyone in the business of clearing now and is willing to work with you and have some kind of contract to cover your butt, then maybe, but go lightly, nows not the time to have a lot of iron sitting around not paid for or doing work for a loss just so someone can get cheap work done at your expense. I'd investigate further, go ask bankers and get a background of this guy and get money people invovled and see what they think, they usually have a good source of information on land owners and if your going to borrow money from them even if they don't know aobut him they soon will find out and it won't cost you a thing to ask questions and don't be afraid to ask questions and a lot of them.
Pretty well second all that, Randy. He is looking at this as a part-time thing, but your advice is still good. I have seen many guys who don't do this for a living underestimate their costs, try it, go out, and then sell the equipment to another part timer who will try to undercut us. You need to know what you need to make it, and that you'll get it. No point in subsidizing the clearing of this guy's land. Good Luck, Mitch
No Im looking at undercutting anyone in the business. This is a PART TIME deal for me at the MOST. If the equipment never leaves my land its not gonna hurt my fealings OR bankrupt me by any means. With that said, I dont have a silver spoon in my mouth either. I just have a different way of thinking than most. Example. Im putting new cabinets/countertops in my bunk house. I dont have ALL the tools needed to do it right. Contractor A wants $500 bucks for instance. Why not go out and spend probably less than that on the right tools and do it yourself and end up with a "free tool". NO Im not banking on the guy having me do extra work, no Im not gonna go out and buy a $30K dollar piece of machinery on handshake and a wing and a prayer. Im a mud engineer in the oilfield and I didnt get there by being a dumbass. Im a small timer and dont need D8's and stuff for my property.....reason I bought a JD 550G. Good size for my place and if I can make a little side money with it so be it.
Thanks for all the advice. I wasnt too keen on the $$$/acre thing. To many variables to that. My equipment right now is fairly small I would say. JD 5203 4x4, 50hp tractor w/front end loader and JD 550G LGP.
These are some huge machines. Im in haul truck/lowboy territory there. I have a Class A CDL with every letter behind it but I really dont wanna be out buying $20K worth of trucks and trailers. I would think a nice big dumptruck and pintle hitch trailer would be nice to have but couldnt put this caliber of trackhoe on that.
The large machines do require specialized rigs to haul. I have some friends with 980 size loaders, 350 hitachi's and stuff and they hire them moved at the rate of $150 or better per hour. 20k would be about 1/2 what you should have to buy a decent heavy haul rig. I have 12k tied up in a 88' ford f800 & a 9 ton pintle trailer, both used. 40 acres of clearing isn't exactly beginner's work, and its going to take awhile. I recommended the large machine because the project isn't going to be done in a week. watglen is sayin he gets not quite a 1/2 acre a day with a 26 ton machine, thats 1k machine hours with his machine, if he is gettin $120 per hour thats a 120k dollar job at cost no less. The guys that are building the well pads up here for the marcellas shale wells are clearing 10 - 15 acres and are bringing in 892elc's and simular machines. Using a 30 hour week your going to be clearing for 33 weeks, thats more than enough work to justify having a heavy hoe hauled in. Shoot, you spend 40k on a older nice 30 ton + hoe, allow another 10 - 15k for repairs, your going to go thru 10k gal of diesel (30k), so now we are at 80- 85k worth of expenses without labor into a 150k dollar job thats is going to take you a year to do. Then you have a large excavator to move back home or to sell and buy something smaller, plus you made some $$ to boot. Using that 550g for more than cleaning up and raking is going to kill it, for 3 acres, I'd use it, for 40 I'd be backing away or bringing the proper equipment to the plate.
Couldnt have been said better Stumpjumper. Looks as if Im not properly equipped to do the job and thats cool. I would love to be able to do it and make a little cash and come out on top with another piece of equipment. Or even brake even and come out with a nice trackhoe. Or worse case scenario come out with a nice trackhoe for pennies on the dollar. Another tool in the shed is where I wanna be. Just not sure I have the operating capitol to get the machine, have it hauled to location and then have to buy a truck/trailer to move it to its next job. Ive always wanted an 18 wheeler to toy with (another disease I suffer from) an haul hay south when there in drought conditions but all of that is just not in the cards right now.....maybe in a year or so. I do appreciate all yall opinions and value them highly. Yall do this everyday, I dont. Thanks for the advice.