How much should this cost me?

[ericlp]

Dunno about cheap and hit/run... but that's exactly what Earth Karvers left me with...A pile of pickup sticks mixed in with the rocks and dirt waste. I think they left me that so they could get more GREEN from me. Make it look really bad... I thought about it for a few nights and almost told him to get rid of it. But in the end I just figured I'd deal with it myself. But damn that pile was almost about 10' tall and about 8' wide. No way I was getting up there with a chainsaw... Glad I waited for SOMEONE ELSE to help me. I dunno they seem like good people to work with but I wouldn't use them again or if I had to do it all over and knew the outcome I would have used someone else. They did do a good job with my septic tank. Atlas Engineering is really good as well. My lot is somewhat level and kinda happy with the work... So I kinda have mixed feelings.

[unknownjulie]

"Reflections on my estimate experience"
Guy did show up promptly. Beater car. When I said I wanted to walk out onto the lot he said, "you want me to walk out there?" and I said, "yes". And so we did. I walked him directly to the center of the lot and showed him exactly where I wanted the driveway. After all of this, I am still given an estimate of "at least 3,000 give or take plus 350 moving fee". I also said that "I'll be here during the work". HE told me basically "why do you want to do that? Dont you need to be at work?". So, I asked him for references and told him I would get back to him.
Questions I currently have. "Why did I have to drive all the way out there for an estimate if he was going to just sit in his car and look at the lot?" "Why does he think I would hand over anything close to 3k without some kind of written analysis or estimate". "What exactly would it all include?". "How many hours exactly would this take?" "why wont the guy tell me of more of an exact estimate given his years of experience?"
I am sure there are more, but at this point tired of thinking about it. Will keep everyone posted. thanks for all of the advice!

[kimo wires]

Guess business change when they get bigger. Good to Know.

One Thing I can always be sure of is that things will never go as expected.

[unknownjulie]

Oh yeah, about just buying the cinder/gravel and filling in pukas. That was my original plan before I walked around and realized what I was dealing with. I really do have to hire a D9 but I'm not doing that until I really scope it all out. Too much money to potentially waste!

[YurtGirl]

Julie, it sounds like your doing a lot of good research! I look forward to reading more in the coming months about your journey.

I want to just make a general statement here; It's natural that most homeowners and new property owners don't know to even ask about a lot of these details or what to expect; how could they? Many know the basics, rather, they try to learn the basics before hiring the work to be done. But without having local experience or the close help of someone who is experienced, you're very likely to get hit somewhere or another along the way. Clear evidence of that are these scrap piles that just get pushed and piled willy-nilly, or other common, costly issues that happen when short cuts are taken. Operators often don't get called on it by property owners so it becomes 'norm' for them. Or they often give a cut rate BECAUSE these things aren't called out in their bids, so they seem less costly, but they aren't actually.

If you have experience hiring for site prep (or construction, or drafting/permitting, or plumbing/electric, etc, etc), you know to go over all that and more at the time of bidding, write it down in a contract, and then make them stick to the bid and the written agreement for work done. If it isn't covered though, in writing, you're usually out of luck. I'll say too, there's often a lot more going on than a person realizes with that kind of work. It's not just running a machine over an area a few times. So give the good operators credit. And even consider a tip if you know they did you a good turn and added things for free (the good ones often do).

If a person is inexperienced but lucky, the scenario happens less than more at every phase. But when looking for the very cheapest route in the now with little to no experience in these phases,a person leaves themselves EXTREMELY open to these kinds of things. There's no shortage of 'nice' people out there who will charge less, take the money, take the shortcuts to make it worth their while, and not ever come back to make things right. Honestly, at that point, the issues are partly the hired person's fault AND partly the landowner's.

It's good to look at the long term and plan as best you can, weighing both value and up front cost. My typical route is to never go with the cheapest and never go with the most expensive. There's good reason things are the very cheapest to be found, not many of them good. The most expensive is often overrated. Usually what started out looking like the least expensive route ends up costing a LOT more money to get it how you wanted it in the first place, and plenty of frustration.

That's just some cautionary advice to people who are starting out. I've learned from pure experience, locally, starting with several personal building/property projects and underscored with dozens of professional projects. Too bad there isn't a school for that kind of thing... with so many people eager to learn!


Melissa Fletcher
___________________________
"Make yurts, not war" Bill Coperthwaite, 1973

[VancouverIslander]

I bought my place after the first owner had already cleared a driveway in (no ripping, just clear and fill with cinder) and built a cottage. That's another option, although I think ripping would be a much better idea. Parts of my driveway occasionally need extra fill as it settles. I had a cesspit dug for about 2300 by a guy named 'Ripper'. It's past inspection and good to go thanks to Ripper, my carpenter and draftsman (Dave Holbrook - can't say enough good about Dave!) and Atlas, who did the engineering. I'd expect, given his name, that Ripper clears as well.

[unknownjulie]

The last time I did something like this (actually, first and last time) I saw some guys working one street over and asked them to come over to my yard and give me an estimate. Then I had 3 or 4 giant dumptrucks of roadbase delivered and I just walked around all day and told the guys what to do with their machine. I fixed the drainage issues on my lot without any experience, but this jungle work is far more complicated. I need to know alot before I even begin to contemplate it.

[bluesboy]

Sounds like you want a 1/4 to 1/2 acre. This should take 1-2 days. I think d9s are about 250 per hour. So I would guess about $3000. Try johns land clearing, he did a great job on mine late last year.

[YurtGirl]

Re: Your estimate experience

Sorry to chuckle, but... Typical.

Just FYI, Contractors or Operators are going to act on either a bid OR hourly. Not both. Site prep isn't easy to guesstimate how long it will take, especially when it's overgrown. They could hit blue rock, a big hole, have to track and retrack an area multiple times... Because it's jungle, they can't see what they're dealing with until they get in there with a machine. They can tell a lot from the front of the property and surrounding areas, but there are surprises lurking on most lots. It's a gamble they take doing a bid. If they underestimate, they lose money. If they guess it well, they make money.

I'd get a bid and not worry about their hours. Maybe get an estimate of when they think they can be done in days/weeks. A ballpark. Otherwise, what happens if the max hours are reached and your site isn't done?

Melissa Fletcher
___________________________
"Make yurts, not war" Bill Coperthwaite, 1973

[unknownjulie]

Read your previous posts and originally called him. He quoted me 4500 which I just find way too much. Thanks for posting about him. If people are good, they can often charge topdollar. It's finding the diamond in the rough that is the tricky part!