It all depends of the land and specifics but that seems very high. Land with good timber on it can actually bring $$ in as income but again, it depends on so many things

There's a lot of heavey machinery that goes into clearing up a site and those machines dont run on hopes and dreams....

This is all garbage trees with shallow roots - alder and cotton. No market value, unfortunately.

Oh, they don't?

No they're all diesel engines.

Got it. No wonder why my tractor won't start.

Your location is going to drastically affect the price you pay for land clearing. What part of the state are you in? How accessible is the lot? What’s the terrain of the lot like? I agree that your bid sounds high but not knowing any details makes it impossible to know. I would suspect, as you do, that there are people that would do it for a lot less.

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Probably cuz its got no gas...i mean diesel

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All jokes aside get three bids then you'll have a better understanding. To many variables to say yea it should be this much with not much information and pictures of the land your inquiring about.

We're western - rural SnoCo. Lot is very accessible, as the area to clear is the property edge right along a road. It's all flat terrain.

Yeah, that is way too much in my opinion. Maybe if it was in Seattle where trucking is so expensive but rural Snohomish that seems really high. A quick google search of “Snohomish land clearing” brings up some possible leads, if that doesn’t lead to anything I’d reach out to sawmills, arborists and heavy equipment operators in the area to see if they have suggestions.

Elevety six.

Lmao this guy. OP was asking how much, not if someone could do it for free… you really got’m good…

For 120k you could buy a tractor (24k) and get to work yourself.

These days it can be just as expensive to buy an already built house compared to clearing the land, prepping it for building then build. We looked into the cost of clearing a land and dumping a manufactured home on it. More expensive than just buying a new already built house.

If it is your dream location then by all means do it! In decades gone by it use to be cheaper but now it's not.

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LOL, sure, go for it. But clearing 5 acres isn't like working on your back yard.

Don't forget your dump truck to get the debris to the dump. And there is an art to being an operator. Plucking tree stumps particularly.

Screw it, I'll burn it! Sure. Go for it. Burn 5 acres of debris. See how that works out for you.

And I'm not sure if OP needs the lot cleared and graded. But that's a different machine. (and skills)

By the way, the Department of Ecology will come to visit. They are going to want to make sure you are in conformance with the Storm Water Management Manual for Western Washington. (I'm sure we are all familiar with that, right?)

Speaking of which, do you have any required permits from the County?

And, you'll want to secure the property. (ditches and logs typically) Because semi-rural Snohomish County will have your average nutjob with a 4x4 bombing around because they think it's fun. All good until they get stuck or hurt. Then problems.

What? Insurance? License? Bonded? Why am I being sued? What do you mean there's an eagle nest on the next property over? Why does that matter? (oh sweet summer child...)

So, by yourself save some dollars and 5-acres should take... a couple of months? Assuming one guy doing everything full time? Assuming no break downs, no issues, and no surprises.

Or you pay an experienced crew and they are done in half the time. (or less)

120K is a lot, but that is professional land development for you.

Not saying there aren't people out there that do exactly this. That's where we see projects get started and sort of stop. And then hang out sort of half done for years.

Good times...

Sounds like shallow hydrology as well. Septic planned?

are you really clearing the entire 5 acre lot? that’s like 130,000 sf of disturbed area

Nah we have 5 acres that is mostly developed already. This is just one strip along the road that is unsightly that wasn't part of the original clearing and development. It's actually about 1/2 acre total (long and narrow).

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Lol. This insane rant would have been better aimed at someone who didn't buy 2 acres and a tractor. You have overblown every potential issue to try and claim 120k is reasonable.

Well, it's 1/2 acre on already-developed land that is just a 30ft wide strip along the road.

Main issue with doing myself is accidentally toppling a 40ft+ tree with a shallow root ball trying to rip the brush out of the way. Also just cutting down a few 60ft+ cottons is beyond my skill.

If it was truly clearing 5 acres at $120k I think that's a steal. $50k for 1/2 acre of shallow trees on flat land along a road seems a rip-off. The other $70k is for grading and planting a hedge row - which seems even worse. I was expecting bids to come in around $40k total for the entire job + cost of the hedges.

My advice: leave the trees there. Alder and cottonwood are good native trees cleaning the air and water. If you want conifers, underplant with shade tolerant trees like western red cedar and western hemlock.

You'll also find that not only are those trees acting as a pollutant barrier, they are working as a sound barrier and wind break from the weather and road. Removing those trees is a bad idea.

That's great but nature is wiping them out all on its own. Have had 20+ fall from wind or snow and a cotton just snapped 1/3 up its trunk and wiped out 7 other trees on the way down. The alders are choked out by blackberries.

The road is just a dead end to a neighbor. There's no pollution or noise where we live - this isn't a city. Houses are 1/2 mile apart at least.

The strip was left in as a privacy barrier but now it's a safety risk and impossible to maintain. I'm all for preserving nature, but this ain't one of those ecologically necessary things. I've got 1000s of other really old cedars and hemlock otherwise surrounding me.

We’ve had 50 acres actively managed and it’s mostly break even with high quality trees to make it worth while to the loggers. This was peak lumber pricing in the summer, they’ve since fallen off a cliff.

Clearing would require a ton more work but make sure to get multiple bids. 120k / acre seems high unless it’s a ravine or something hard to work with.

It depends on so many factors… location, wetlands, permitting, forest designation or not, if the wood is valuable, etc.

Oh and the grade is a huge factor as well, steep or flat.

One thing that nobody has mentioned so far is that a major part of the cost is hauling the debris away. You could have them cut down the trees and run them through a wood chipper and leave it in piles. Cottonwood chips smell amazing!

This is the answer! It goes pretty fast with the right equipment. Pay a few friends in beer and pizza and you can do an acre a weekend. Clear underbrush first then fell excessive/damaged trees site clean up isn’t bad if you find a place to take organic material for compost, or chip it yourself for landscaping. I did a similar project and it’s pretty rewarding when it’s done and then you sell excess equipment and your cost is the difference + time.

It’s not that hard of a skill to pick up if you learn on the smaller stuff first…just make sure you have good chain saws and sharp chains…rent a brush cutter first and clear underbrush so you can see what your doing. You got this, and you’ll have new skills when you are done.

That’s an insane price for that amount of work. Shouldn’t be more than 30k plus permits.

Cotton wood is used for paper and has value enough to offset the cost of taking them down.

I had about an acre done, it cost $13k to be cleared and graded. First quote I got was the same price just to cut down the trees and leave the stumps, so I felt like I got a good deal since it was nice and smooth in the end. I suspect you just need to get a few more quotes.

What kind of contractor did the work? That sounds much more aligned to what I would expect this to cost.

We have an acre of alder/cottonwood that we cleared with a smallish excavator. Just used the bucket to push the trees down and then snap them. We got the septic install guy to clear some of the trees, and we borrowed a neighbors excavator to clear the remainder ourselves. Total cost was a few thousand. I bet you could hire someone with an excavator to do it for under $20k. (I'm in Whatcom County).

Getting permits to grade is very expensive as well.

It was actually a landscaper guy that was branching out a little. He had the excavator, skid-steer, a chainsaw, and a three person crew.

Even if your trees are valuable (like cedar) the cost to have them hauled away eats up a LOT of that profit

Yeah, I think I'm going to just get a tree crew for chipping and hauling, but do the bulk of the clearing myself. One of those 50 cu yd dumpsters is $1k to have dropped off and picked up! I filled 3 of them last year... not cheap at all.

Be extra careful taking down those cottonwoods. They are weak ass trees and do really unpredictable things when taking em down. Alders aren’t much better but tend to be smaller.

I’d consider thinking of the wood chips as mulch for that area. You can just spread it around and it’ll decompose in a couple years and return a lot nutrients to the ground. It’s considered best practice in tree care. Just food for thought. You won’t have to pay for hauling away which is a big cost, but you’ll have the added work of spreading out the chips. It’s either your time or your money haha

My mom had 2 acres cleared and smoothed out(not leveled) and it cost 25k