Price to clear fell 3ha of 100 year old broadleaf woodland

[Etractor]

Hello all,

 

I am a self employed hedge layer in the south east and In the last couple of years I have provided a hedge coppicing service using my 3 ton digger and TMK 200 tree shear. 
 

With the coppicing being very popular I have been approached by a land owner (who I assume thinks I do forestry work) to manage and clear fell his “coppice”. This consists of a flat and medium density 20ha woodland of mainly hornbeam, ash, silver birch and oak all around 100 years old. He wants to manage 3ha this year and more in the years to come and this job has been signed off by the forestry commission. 
 

I have worked in forestry before on clear fell sites and have plenty of experience with a chainsaw and felling, but this will be my first forestry job of my own ( I have let the owner know this)
 

my question is… what would be a typical way to charge and how much?

 

hourly, daily, per acre ££
 

He has said he can deal with the selling of the wood or I can and to factor that into the cost. 
 

I have also got an 8 ton digger with shear and grab. 
 

the plan is to clear fell the site and leave some nice looking trees here and there. Remove the brash and burn and extract the wood to a decent roadside access. 
 

Any thoughts are appreciated. 
 

Thanks 

Edited January 31 by Etractor

[Mark Bolam]

Distance to roadside and ground conditions will be massive factors.

 

Many experienced forestry lads on here will be able to help.

Hourly or daily rate won’t run, he hasn’t a clue what you can do.

[monkeybusiness]

Do it on a tonnage rate, extracted and stacked at roadside. Work out how many tonnes you think you could comfortably do in a day from the hardest/furthest part of the job, work out your day rate and do some maths to see what you need to charge. You’ll have good days and bad days, but it’s the fairest way for both parties. 

[slack ma girdle]

A 8 tonne digger with grab will handle all the timber, and be able to sort it. How will you get it to trackside for lorry uplift?

What it is the quality of the timber like? Saw logs will get you the biggest return, but until they are felled you wont know the quality.

Extraction distance is the killer, Monkeybusiness's point about working from the furthest point is a good one.

Do you have access to reliable cutters that can work to your spec.

Do you have financial reserves to last a couple  of months before the money starts to come in.

[Etractor]

9 hours ago, monkeybusiness said:

Do it on a tonnage rate, extracted and stacked at roadside. Work out how many tonnes you think you could comfortably do in a day from the hardest/furthest part of the job, work out your day rate and do some maths to see what you need to charge. You’ll have good days and bad days, but it’s the fairest way for both parties. 

Thanks for your replies, is there any information that gives your guidelines for typical tonnage rates depending on certain situations? A bit like the national agricultural contracting charges 

[Etractor]

8 hours ago, slack ma girdle said:

A 8 tonne digger with grab will handle all the timber, and be able to sort it. How will you get it to trackside for lorry uplift?

What it is the quality of the timber like? Saw logs will get you the biggest return, but until they are felled you wont know the quality.

Extraction distance is the killer, Monkeybusiness's point about working from the furthest point is a good one.

Do you have access to reliable cutters that can work to your spec.

Do you have financial reserves to last a couple  of months before the money starts to come in.

Thank you for your reply. I’m not sure what my options are for extraction as I do not have a timber trailer, I have a friend with one that I’m thinking about subcontracting in but I think he’s busy enough. Anyone know of other options? Can I hire a crane trailer from somewhere? 

[Brushcutter]

What is access for a lorry like? How far away from the trees is the landing? Is the landing big enough for all the timber or does it have to go in stages. Is the tree/landing close enough to make chopping the brash for biofuel economical?

 

If you had a small landing then the forwarding needs to be constant as does the uplift. Anything over 250m makes skidding and winching painfully slow and uneconomic. If you don't own a forwarder then there are few companies that rent alpine tractors with a trailer. A productive unit with a good driver, but if your going a long way the small payload can be frustrating.

 

The longest extraction I've done is about 3 miles with a 10 tonne botex trailer. I did it in two hits woodland floor to that woodland rideside then out to the lorry access. Worked out much quicker.

 

What the timber grade like? All firewood or does in need grading out into sawlogs etc. more money in sawlogs but more products mean more space on the landing.

 

Remember to take into the tidy up that you don't think about. Scraping landings reinstating rides, sweeping roads etc.if required. The digger can cope with most of that but it does mean it needs to stay until the end.

 

Fairest way is to pay by the tonne. Luckily the tree sheer will put the cost of felling right down. Then the forwarding is a distance/weight thing.

 

[the village idiot]

Sorry to complicate matters, but do you know if the owner has thought about deer? 

 

Depending on the local populations they may be very disappointed with coppice regeneration without any protection and/or stalking pressure.

 

It may well be that the brash will be best used to protect the freshly cut stumps rather than burning it all. Also very good if the owner has biodiversity benefits in mind.

 

The Ash is unlikely to respond well to the coppicing so wise to factor this in. Is there much in the way of understory (scrubby species like Hazel or Hawthorn or self sewn Oak and Hornbeam?)

[Etractor]

Thank you all for your helpful replies, I have yet to see the woodland but the owner says that he will fence the woodland  after completion to protect against deer. Once I see the woodland I will know about the understory
 

your replies have been very useful to give me confidence when viewing the woodland with the owner to know what to look for.

 

Do you have a name for the companies that hire the alpine tractors and trailer? 
 

what are the typical lengths that’s best to cut the timber for saw logs/firewood? And does anyone know of a chart that helps predict the tonnage using the average circumference and species of tree.

[david lawrence]

Take a look at the village idiots posts about his woodland management work.  Very interesting and potentially relevant