Biggest Bid Projection Of My Career

Tyler Durden

Tyler Durden

Branched out member
Location
North Texas
I am down in the Florida Panhandle, do I g relief work for Hurricane Michael. I met a local contractor today that brought me to a 17 acre property outside of town to look at. I would say 80% to 90% of the trees on the property are blown over or snapped in half. There are 16 hardwood trees on a steep sandy slope behind the house that must come out, canal at the bottom of the slope, but no marine contractor access.

The client wants the property cleaned up, and all of the material delt with. Thousands of trees. All hardwood, I didn't see a pine on site.

The only way I can think of getting the trees out of the back it a helicopter.

I think I am going to need a full size skidder in site, as well as a tub or horizontal grinder.

I guess my question is this.

Hey all you big guys!!! How do you approach jobs that are going to be in the 6 figures? How do you price that much labor and equiptment? How do you estimate time till completion on a project of that kind of scale? I can possibly keep 10 guys busy for a month. But how do I not loose my ass in the mean time?

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ATH said:
Touch base with a traditional logging company. They are often better fit to deal with such jobs. Is there a pulp mill anywhere in the area? May be able to take whole logs there instead of having to get a tub grinder on site???
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Second this. It’s always way worse than you think it will be

What’s the deal with Heli? You’ll never move thousands of trees worth of logs (and brush) with a Heli. No one will pay you that money

Excavators are your best friend but honestly, logging outfits are way better equipped
 
Someone I knew who had done asplundh contracts said to always add 15% to a bid after you think you’ve got it figured. Not sure if that’s helpful.

Otherwise, you’ve done something right to be standing on that property, so kudos on the opportunity. I hope you are able to figure it out.
 
Tyler Durden said:
It would be risky with the amount of fuel on the ground after the hurricane. Trust me, I thought about it...

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Think about it again. Fire escape risk and debris lying around do not correlate in this region. You cannot light the forest on fire after a rain and with no wind.
 
colb said:
Think about it again. Fire escape risk and debris lying around do not correlate in this region. You cannot light the forest on fire after a rain and with no wind.
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admittedly I am probably gun shy of burn piles after spending so much time on the west coast.

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Try
Tyler Durden said:
admittedly I am probably gun shy of burn piles after spending so much time on the west coast.

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I grew up on the border of national forest in southern California. It was south facing, 4500 ft., so really national chaparral, lol. I've been in Florida since 2005. I have participated in three managed burns. In all cases, the planning led to fires being lit and directed under controlled circumstances.

I have seen county land clearing of large acreage with massive burn piles smoldering unwatched for days and weeks. I'm not sure if it is legal, but it happens here.
 
Tyler Durden said:
I am down in the Florida Panhandle, do I g relief work for Hurricane Michael. I met a local contractor today that brought me to a 17 acre property outside of town to look at. I would say 80% to 90% of the trees on the property are blown over or snapped in half. There are 16 hardwood trees on a steep sandy slope behind the house that must come out, canal at the bottom of the slope, but no marine contractor access.

The client wants the property cleaned up, and all of the material delt with. Thousands of trees. All hardwood, I didn't see a pine on site.

The only way I can think of getting the trees out of the back it a helicopter.

I think I am going to need a full size skidder in site, as well as a tub or horizontal grinder.

I guess my question is this.

Hey all you big guys!!! How do you approach jobs that are going to be in the 6 figures? How do you price that much labor and equiptment? How do you estimate time till completion on a project of that kind of scale? I can possibly keep 10 guys busy for a month. But how do I not loose my ass in the mean time?

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@Lumberjack; AKA Carl Rutherford, is a man on the go, who might have some good answers for you regarding your original post. Maybe you could send him a PM if he fails to see this post soon enough for your taste. I think he might include other contact info under his posts on the Tree House forum. He both sells and uses big, expensive equipment, and talks fairly often about land clearing jobs where he makes a bunch of money in a fairly short period of time. He is a young but very savvy businessman.

Tim
 
Sounds more like a land clearing job. IMO, that's totally different from what most of us do. Most feller-bunchers are designed to operate on very steep terrain, since millions of acres of valuable timber are located there out west. Heres a vid of a Tigercat feller-buncher working in B.C. on a pretty steep hill. The cab floats/levels independent of the angle of the undercarriage. There are also vids on Youtube of this type of rig removing spreading deciduous trees. (As long as the landowner is cool with serious turf damage and there are no wires in the way). I tried to cue the vid up to about 3:50. If not, skip to there.

 
Bucknut said:
Sounds more like a land clearing job. IMO, that's totally different from what most of us do. Most feller-bunchers are designed to operate on very steep terrain, since millions of acres of valuable timber are located there out west. Heres a vid of a Tigercat feller-buncher working in B.C. on a pretty steep hill. The cab floats/levels independent of the angle of the undercarriage. There are also vids on Youtube of this type of rig removing spreading deciduous trees. (As long as the landowner is cool with serious turf damage and there are no wires in the way). I tried to cue the vid up to about 3:50. If not, skip to there.

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That shit is messed up~! F- people.. But I agree, this is not a arborist style job. Not saying it couldn't be done, but why? Sub it out to a logging crew, or see if you can get a logging crew in for advice. Start with calling the tub grinders, see if they can point you in any leads.
 
Hey Tyler, check out a “Yoder” and a tong tosser for your steep section. I don’t know if your Loggers use them back there or not but around here they can get some seriously steep stuff with out bringing in a full on yarder.
 
chiselbit said:
Hey Tyler, check out a “Yoder” and a tong tosser for your steep section. I don’t know if your Loggers use them back there or not but around here they can get some seriously steep stuff with out bringing in a full on yarder.
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Not likely in Florida or others areas of the southeast... Timber management in that part of the world happens on the flat ground. But maybe?
 
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