Hi All:
I am looking at building my own house. I am a licensed general contractor, but mostly work as a sub for a renovation guy.
I have access to a backhoe. The trees on the lot are all small (6″ in diameter). I will need to clear 15-20,000 Sq Ft. If I had the available time, is clearing something like that possible for someone who hasn’t done it before? What do you do with the stumps once they are up?
Thanks!
Mark
Replies
>> What do you do with the stumps once they are up?
Grind them up and use the chips to cover up the mud. Do the same with the trunks, limbs, leaves, etc., too, unless you need them for firewood.
It's possible to do yourself... but why?
I don't know where you are, but I have found it is much more cost effective to hire a clearing company than to do it myself. The cost of tool rental (chippers, stump grinder, etc) is very high... and definitely cost prohibitive on the buy side.
Story...
Had a very large tree on my lot. Got wide ranging quotes to remove it (difficult position and wires all around). I thought "self... why not just get someone to drop it?"
Well, that's what I did. Paid 300 for the guys to drop it and leave everything right where it fell. I found out the VERY hard way that dropping the tree was the easy part. I was two days cleaning up the brush and cutting the wood. Two days that I could have billed, as I had plenty of work. PLUS, I paid almost $400 in equipment rental.
Total cost - $700 plus two days of my time Low bid - $900
I think I lost on that deal.