Woodland Thinning & Brashing

[N1ck]

I've been asked for a price to thin this plantation of Norway spruce and oak. Originally it was going to be done on day rate, but the estate have now asked for a job price. The compartment is 1.88 hectares, as you can see it is currently un-thinned. They have asked for us to cut racks every 5th row, thin the matrix favouring hardwoods then trees with best form, cut everything to 8ft and stack ready for extraction, break down lop and top, brash up NS to 6ft and prune oaks to the same height, and remove and extract tree tubes to ride side.

 

Now the tricky bit, I am really struggling to decide how long this is going to take for a team of 2. FC standard costs give a figure of £600 / ha for thinning and £300 / ha for brashing. Even if you add a bit for removal of tubes etc. this seems really low. There is a lot of work there and I don't want to be left making a loss but this is the first time I've worked for this estate and they are dangling the carrot of further work so I want to put in a good price.

 

Has anyone got any idea how long it should take to get through a hectare of this?

 

Cheers

[ahallam]

it does as it will always take longer than you think well from experience anyway

[Lyncombe-climber]

FC also stays £500 a day for 2 man team and chipper so...

[Dean O]

I have no experience of this sort of work on a commercial basis so my input is limited but could you not roughly mark out say quarter acre to help you visualise then multiply up from there?

say 5 acres for the 1.88 hectare plot?

 

I'd guess half acre a day to the specs you've said 2 guys and saws 300 squids per day = £3000.

sound like a lot to me would be interested to see how those in the know would price it.

[john k]

Can you just be honest with them and say you don't know? How about seeing if they would let you do a couple of days on a day rate to see how much you get done? Or even put in a couple of days free if that would help avoid getting into trouble by massively under quoting?

 

It sounds like it's going to be a learning experience however you work it, so maybe don't expect to earn lots off it. On the other hand you don't want to set a precedent with the estate of being the guys who do things cheaply otherwise you'll never earn any money from them!

[slack ma girdle]

I've been asked for a price to thin this plantation of Norway spruce and oak. Originally it was going to be done on day rate, but the estate have now asked for a job price. The compartment is 1.88 hectares, as you can see it is currently un-thinned. They have asked for us to cut racks every 5th row, thin the matrix favouring hardwoods then trees with best form, cut everything to 8ft and stack ready for extraction, break down lop and top, brash up NS to 6ft and prune oaks to the same height, and remove and extract tree tubes to ride side.

 

Now the tricky bit, I am really struggling to decide how long this is going to take for a team of 2. FC standard costs give a figure of £600 / ha for thinning and £300 / ha for brashing. Even if you add a bit for removal of tubes etc. this seems really low. There is a lot of work there and I don't want to be left making a loss but this is the first time I've worked for this estate and they are dangling the carrot of further work so I want to put in a good price.

 

Has anyone got any idea how long it should take to get through a hectare of this?

 

Cheers

 

You will be pushing it to get all that done for £600 per hectare. For thinning/ respacing i allow 2-3 days per hectare with three cutters cutting. This will mostly be spear cutting and milling down the brash to the ground.

How are the 8' lenghts going to be extracted ? As the remaining brash will be a major hinderance.

[N1ck]

The cut material is to be extracted by tractor and trailer crane for use in the estates woodchip boiler. To be honest I only expect the larger diameter spruce to collected, the rest will be cut to waste.

 

My understanding is that the estate would rather have the certainty of a fixed price. However, I know they have a number of other contractors that they use.

 

With the brashing, pruning and tube removal as well, I was thinking about 12 man days per hectare, or about 24 man days in total. Does this sound too much?

[doobin]

Even if it sounds more than the book price, there's no point loosing money, and worse, setting a low precedent for any further works, as previously mentioned.

 

I'd do a day for free to get your eye in before putting a price on the job. Remember that as the subsequent days tick by you will be getting progressively more fed up with the job, and slower, so factor that in!

[slack ma girdle]

With the brashing, pruning and tube removal as well, I was thinking about 12 man days per hectare, or about 24 man days in total. Does this sound too much?

 

I reckon that this is probably about right.

This kind of work is sole distroying, so don't go under pricing. If some ejit wants to flog themselves for bugger all, then let them.

Hold your nerve and be helpful.