Forestry/woodland work, day rates?

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

7 tonne a day don't sound much????????

 

Quite; back in 2000 I was on £6 p/h providing own transport, saw, fuel etc.

 

20 tonne a day or you didn't get paid. (4" - 14" dbh self select hardwood thinnings including pulping of brash and stacking for forwarder)

Edited January 4, 2010 by TimberCutterDartmoor

[slasherscot]

a decent bloke with his own ppe and certs would start on 75-80 per day ,

 

where do u get these guys at that rate.....u can go and brash for the harvester and fell the outsiders up here for £120a day miminium

 

As for tonnage a day Andy it will really depend on tree volume and how clean the sticks are, and how flat the site is. If want 7 tonnes a day a man and the trees are only .10 u need to fell cut and stack 77 trees. takes a bit of doing n hairy stika spruce. nice clean ash averaging .25 and u will have it done by lunctime.

[atree]

How do you know how many tonnes you have cut in a day? (sorry i dont know)

[woodmad]

start low , you can always up it staright away if they are any good, but its hard to go down once a rate is set, and its frustrating if they aent upto it. If they are not prepared to start low and work up then is it the job for them?

Dangle carrots even on day rates and see where they take it themselves.

IMO:001_smile:

I agree that peice rates for newbies will create sloppy/dangerous work, show them how its done right then let them make their money..

[slasherscot]

good question......weight ticket best way........but on a daily basis for example a 3.7 log td 16cm.....u would expect 6 to 7 a tonn.....4.9m.....3 to 4.........3m pulp maybe 25 to the ton, 2m chipwood nearer 45 to the tonn.........if u count all ur lengths daily u can work out approx volume.

 

All i can say is u wont get rich fellin and stacking trees in the wood on a rate, far easier doing a conifer in some1s back garden

Edited January 4, 2010 by slasherscot

[Doug Blease]

After a while you get an eye for it. Also after your first weighbridge ticket, you roughly know how many tonnes you are cutting per tank of fuel.

[jojam]

How do you know how many tonnes you have cut in a day? (sorry i dont know)

 

We used to count up the pieces after every time we stacked.You can expect £125 a day for cutting in front of a harvester up here(8 hrs) for an experienced cutter of which there are fewer and fewer.£14per tonne for pulp LOG BARON,prices must have gone up since i stopped cuttin in '91,we were getting £10 for first thinings.

[Moley]

We used to count up the pieces after every time we stacked.You can expect £125 a day for cutting in front of a harvester up here(8 hrs) for an experienced cutter of which there are fewer and fewer.£14per tonne for pulp LOG BARON,prices must have gone up since i stopped cuttin in '91,we were getting £10 for first thinings.

 

From my time with the FC in Thetford I learnt that there is a worrying lack of people willing to go out and actually work in forestry both as hand cutters, machinery operators and carrying out remedial works. The problem to me seems to be that students coming through college can relatively easily get a job dragging brash with limited experience (but with the right work ethic) whilst it is difficult to get into forestry without experience as contractors are reluctant to take anyone on due to the greater need to hit targets with relatively small profit margins. Its a bit of a vicious circle, you cant get experience to get the job that you need for the experience. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who could be up to an acceptable standard quite quickly given the chance.

 

£125/day for brashing and felling big edge trees?! I'd happily do it for less than that, where do I sign?

[slasherscot]

too flat where u live.....need to come to the land of the stika

[Moley]

too flat where u live.....need to come to the land of the stika

 

I would really like to go up to your neck of the woods (excuse the pun) and gain some experience its just finding the work from down here isnt too easy. I know Lincolnshire is flat (well the fens are) but there are up and down bits in the wolds where I am (just not as much as elsewhere).What we lack in trees we make up in cabbages!