Rent and do it yourself. Face it guys love to break things, it will be a blast.
Ping for your thoughts!
Other than the fun of operating a dozer those trees look pretty small.
Hey I think I see Bigfoot in that last picture.
Second, how is your time? If you have time then DIY makes sense.
Third, I always buy the equipment used. I have several pieces that have more than paid for themselves because they were around to be used. Many little jobs go way faster because I have a backhoe around. Even made a crane attachment for it. A bit awkward but comes in real handy.
Fourth, you should be able to buy a used dozer for way less than $20,000 right now. I ONLY go Cat with tracked vehicles. You can still buy parts for ANY Cat tracked vehicle ever made. You may want a loader with a four in one bucket for your work rather than a straight blade.
Do it yourself but be prepared to face the scenario of getting stuck, blowing a hydraulic line and the cost of fuel, better to get an older bigger blade than a new too small of a machine that just won’t cut it.
Lots of good ole boys keep an old D8 around, they last forever the older ones. I live in Alaska and I have 8 acres and I tried using a smaller dozer, just won’t work, you need muscle, D8 or bigger.
One other thing. What ever you do ALWAYS get a piece of equip with a ROPS.
Just a thought.
Your numbers and your experience suggest renting - assuming that you can spend more than 8 days per month doing the clearing. After a month you can always go to Plan B!
However, your contractor number looks high given your rental number. You can rent the tractor and hire an experinced guy - given the economy - for less than $10K per month.
Buy the dozer and clear more land. You’re going to need a big space for your equipment shed/man cave.
Options — get with a timber company. Get a quote on them buying the useful timber/ pulpwood. Negotiate with them on how they leave the site graded when they are done.
You may find in this economy that the right local guys are willing to trade the value of the lumber/ pulpwood for a butt-load of grading.
AND!!! think ahead about where you intend to punch your well head. There may be sensible rules in place to not let you drill your well XX feet from your planned septic field or within XXX feet of a stream and so on. It’s a plan ahead moment.
Everybody wins.
The extension service may even then replant hardwoods or fruit trees for you.
As you are likely aware, Kentucky has a bug problem and doesn’t like lumber/ firewood moved around. Another thorn to avoid by asking first. The timber/pulpwood guys can help you avoid all this.
Aside from that ... don’t forget to check into any land-disturbance permit requirements. In GA and NC you can get badly whacked after the fact if you haven’t secured permission to re-route any stream paths or lack a plan to control runoff. The permits and permission are easy to get, but expensive to ignore.
As far as the pond goes, are you roughly conversant on the soil permeability? In other words you might excavate a pond only to have the water rapidly seep out after rains.
FYI, your property looks a LOT like ours in NC, only flatter ;-)
Enjoy your land.
LASTLY. Personally, I’d get me a dozer and have some fun. I’d rent an operator when I encountered any real head scratcher issues. But look into land disturbance, runoff, well head and septic requirements AHEAD of time.
Let’s hope those photos weren’t taken in the past week!
Cleared ours with an 8n tractor and a “A” frame .Pulled up roots and all.
“C” seems an obvious choice.
I would think what you described could be done in a month or two.
Stop kidding yourself with the choices, you have already ruled out A because it’s no fun at all just to sign checks.
The dozer guy and the grader guy are always the best operators on a crew. Learning to run a bulldozer wont happen in a few hours. Since u say u have operated a skidder before, could you get the road good enough to suit u with just a skidder?
You’re not just moving dirt and knocking down trees.
You’re managing drainage and creating a waterfowl habitat.
(because the feds say anything bigger than a mud puddle is such)
That alone is worth hiring a contractor.
The time saved will free you to do other things, and that too is worth the difference.
Just a few thoughtsd.......... Dozers are great for hogging and moving dirt short distances. They can’t pick up dirt like a loader, scraper, etc.
Use the dozer to rough out the length of road and dig your pond. Have your gravel delivered in bottom dumps so they can spread the material instead of dumping in piles.
You may find that maybe you could use the dozer for the rough work, then either a grader or a loader with box scraper for final grading.
I’d rent instead of buying used. If the rental equip breaks down, they bring you a replacement. If your used equip breaks, you fix it.
I agree with ‘mad_as_he$$’. Deere is good, but Cat is best. Find someone who is an expert in “yellow” equipment to evaluate condition of machine before you buy! He’ll be able to evaluate true condition of undercarriage, hydraulics, etc. A good friend from one of Virginia’s biggest JD dealers told me “never by yellow used” unless an expert evaluates it. Operate it before buying, check all functions/systems/controls.
Also, get a loader with a 4-in-1 bucket as suggested. Makes machine many times more versatile.
Sell machine when you are finished. Buy right, and it may cost you nothing but fuel. But I bet once you use it, you’ll never want to part with it. 46 acres almost demands a loader.
Me? Operated almost every machine but a crane, and whenever I’m on any machine, I forget what time it is. When I’m on my tractor & my wife gets a call at the house for me, she always says, “Richard’s out undergoing tractor therapy....” :-)
arlis
You are describing in Option ‘B’ a similarity to what I did. Similar as the project I had was smaller, and I bought an old beat to death Ford 532, and graded the RQSR over time as I had it. The self satisfaction of learning the machine, the quality of the results, etc. make it the option I would choose again under the circumstances I had then. The results daily as I worked made it fun. Nothing like seeing something come together at your own hand. It’s great.
Personally would do all possible to do it myself. Too much fun to be lost hiring it out.
Now I’m retired, so I could get the job done a lot faster. I’d probably rent today as I could do it much cheaper, and with “Obama, and the tax and Spenders” currently playing on our stage, saving money is important. You still would have the satisfaction, and the fun, but at a lesser cost.
You would have to be retired as I am, or have the time to devote NOW to git’n er done. IF you couldn’t devote the time, the rental would eat up the savings over time. Even sending it back, and bringing it back later the transportation charges would add up I should think.
Following this thread with interest.
Wish I could be of help, but I’m in the same boat as you as far as experience with heavy equipment.
You and your wife are living our dream. Beautiful piece of property.
What I would do is consider your plans over the next 5, 10 or 20 years. Personally, if I were in your situation, I would think a tractor would make more sense long term, and I’d rent or contract the heavy work and keep the money to buy a more appropriate piece of equipment for the long term, but our plans are more along the lines of orchards, small farming, etc and owning a dozer really wouldn’t make sense after the major clearing and excavation was done.
Also depends on your situation with money vs time. You can do a lot with a small tractor and a backhoe or blade if you’re not in a hurry for less, but if you want it done quickly, then you need heavier equipment that will be more expensive.
I would also think the soil has a lot to do with it - density, drainage, and rock content are going to play a part in both what equipment will make sense, and what equipment you can actually get onto the property given the season you want to accomplish the work.
I think I’d try to do it in stages. Getting the access road in and topping it (if you plan to) with gravel or whatever would go a long way into making the rest of the job easier.
Clearing the acreage would be another stage.
Digging the pond would be another.
Any foundation work would then be another.
Might make sense to make your decision differently depending on what stage. You don’t necessarily have to rent/buy/contract the whole thing with a single machine.
Just my thoughts. Best of luck to you.