Mini-Ex? Land clearing question

A fully competent guy with a dozer could do everything in one day.

If you're talking about a small track hoe, that's something totally different. At least for me. I grew up running tractors, lifts and other equipment, the first time I ran a track hoe I was lost as last year's Easter eggs.

Of course, it may have just been me.

You'll spend the first day trying to learn the controls and be efficient. Then the next 2 days you'll make progress. It's not just as easy as ripping them out the ground, you'll have to pile them to burn later and rough grade and backfill all the holes so you don't end up with a sink hole or swamp. Shouldn't be too difficult, just don't expect it to be as simple as it looks. Get it done before the summer heat hits!

Ive done that once.

I learned real real quick after that one time.

quote:

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a good dozer operator

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find us one, baw. Will need to have proof of at least $1MM GL and WC.

I’d DIY the F out of it, OP.

I would highly encourage you to hire a competent bulldozer operator. He shouldn’t take more than a few hours.

You could technically do it with a mini, but it will take forever to haul each tree to a burn pile. You may also end up with splintered trees and holes all over the place you’ll have to go back and clean up.

With the bulldozer he’ll be able to push down the tree and expose the roots. He can then push the blade into the roots, “lift” the trees out the ground, and basically clear a swath almost immediately without turning the trees into toothpicks.

You can then rent a mini later if you want to rearrange your burn pile, run underground electrical, water, septic lines, etc.

I rented a mini ex last year to repair roads and dig roads through creeks. I was able to get the hang of it, but it wasn’t worth the effort. Also had the hydraulic hose to the arm bust. Hire someone and let them get it done right and quickly.

Land clearing contractor here so maybe I can help.

First off, if you want to do it yourself then go for it! That's basically how I got started with my business. But you need to rent the right equipment or your better off paying someone to do it the right way for you while you watch and scroll TD.

I don't know what kind of dirt you have but even small pines can be difficult to get out if they are in hard clay. And sandy pines tend to have longer taproots as they grow long searching for water.

What size mini ex are you renting? If it was me I would rent the biggest one you can afford so you don't have to fight this thing all weekend. Minimum 14 metric tons. I do all my clearing with a Volvo 160 and it would fly through this job in no time.

Here's exactly what I would do. If you have the extra real estate go ahead and clear an area a good bit bigger than your barn area needs. Using the bucket finger rake the area about 6-8" deep so the root mat is removed and you are down to bare dirt. Dig a pit about 8' deep near the back where no septic lines or foundations will be and throw all the trees inside. Burn the pile of trees in the pit, then cover with the dirty root mat and let it consume over night.

Now all you have to do is fill the pit in with dirt and use the remaining clay to build your lot back up or as a pad for your pole barn and save a few bucks on trucking it all in. We do this all the time and it works well.

This isn't hard at all but there probably are a few costs you may not have considered like:

Equipment delivery/pickup
Insurance (probably mandatory but get it since you will be burning)
Fuel transportation to the jobsite for the tractor
The time it will take you to learn the equipment and get the job completed on time and not tear anything up.

Honestly, I wouldn't try to do this with a mini ex unless you had it for a week. It would take me a day and a half to complete with my experience and equipment and that accounts for letting the pile smolder overnight and grading all the dirt out with my dozer.

The right contractor with the right equipment will have less than 8 hours actual work time in this project but don't let his years of experience and big equipment fool you because a project like this with small equipment and limited time can turn into a money pit really fast.

I hope I've been some help.