big planting bid??

[AintNoFun]

just curious to hear others input before we submit this bid to a municipality.. they want a 4' x4' sawcut in concrete sidewalks. excavate material, plant a 2.5 " cal. tree and then backfill with topsoil, mulch and stake. just wondering what kind of time estimates you guys think the average cut, plant, etc. will take? oh and they are budgeting anywhere from 300 to 700 trees to be planted. thanks

[promower]

What kind of trees? Sounds like a huge job, saw cutting aintnofun. Ive never even attempted a bid of that size but I would be interested in hearing what others would have to say

[Dreams To Designs]

Many variables. How thick is the concrete, is it reinforced with wire mesh or rebar? Will you have access for a mini excavator, water supply for the saw for the cuts, public traffic, area for staging, disposal fee for concrete and whatever you remove from the excavation, likely compacted road base, what, if any is the soil composition you will be planting in, what about after care, watering? Will you be surrounding the planted trees with grates that will prevent pedestrian traffic from walking over the planting or worse trip over the new trees or mulch? What about underground utilities? What type of saw will you use, hand demo saw or a wheeled version?

Realistically, to cut, excavate, plant, backfill, mulch and stake should take 3-4 hours per tree, with the time decreasing the more you do. That's not encountering any issues like utilities or heavily reinforced concrete, that may require a different saw to cut through the rebar.

Kirk

[AintNoFun]

the concrete looks like it could vary from 2 inches to 5 inches in some areas. these are different streets in a large city so some concrete looks like you could poke through it with a pencil while others looked like it was laid 15 mins before i got there. access for a min ex would be tight on some while i might have more room on others, i would def have room with my dingo though. the soil is my biggest fear, who knows whats under there. this job is in north jersey so heck, we might even find hoffa. no care is listed after but if it gets hot or into a drought i'd probably send my hydroseeder up to give them a drink. i have 2 stihl demo saws but thats not to say i wouldn't rent one of those road saws... thanks for your input, i appreciate it



Many variables. How thick is the concrete, is it reinforced with wire mesh or rebar? Will you have access for a mini excavator, water supply for the saw for the cuts, public traffic, area for staging, disposal fee for concrete and whatever you remove from the excavation, likely compacted road base, what, if any is the soil composition you will be planting in, what about after care, watering? Will you be surrounding the planted trees with grates that will prevent pedestrian traffic from walking over the planting or worse trip over the new trees or mulch? What about underground utilities? What type of saw will you use, hand demo saw or a wheeled version?

Realistically, to cut, excavate, plant, backfill, mulch and stake should take 3-4 hours per tree, with the time decreasing the more you do. That's not encountering any issues like utilities or heavily reinforced concrete, that may require a different saw to cut through the rebar.

Kirk

[NNJLandman]

Just make sure they understand that you cannont be held responsible for when the trees get large and roots start ruining the sidewalk.

[jameson]

Just make sure they understand that you cannont be held responsible for when the trees get large and roots start ruining the sidewalk.

This no doubt, has already been taken into consideration. We have done a number of plantings in Seattle and any tree that is going to be planted near/on public streets/sidewalks must be on the pre-approved (size, disease resistance, invasive roots, etc..) list drawn up by the city aborists. In fact the trees must be inspected before planting.

I am sure this is standard practice in most municipalities.

[kris]

You need to consider every task and then some ... just setting up barricades for traffic control is very time consuming ... how about utility markings...I have spent probably hundreds of hours just showing the "call before you dig "guys where the trees are going..staking them out etc..who ever wins this bid is usually the one who makes the biggest mistake...be really careful.

Try to figure out how long it will take you to do one ... setting up barricades, cutting concrete, digging it out ... there will be gravel etc, loading it on a truck ... a mini is not the piece of equipment for this job .... going to get the trees...cost per tree.. add in warranty cost..any city tree planting I have done usually requires two year maintenance and guarantee. ... watering, staking, mulching , clean up etc.

Good luck with it ... lowest I have ever bid is around 1.5 - 2 man-hours per tree... a row of 200 in grass right off the road ... used our tree spade to dig the holes. ...best day was 100 planted in a day by about 8 guys and a few trucks.

[gammon landscaping]

even if you sawed the concrete you will still have to break it up to get it up that means a hammer of some kind. i would think that you would set up a section and saw them all first and then hammer up the concrete into a managable size. then you will have to load it out on to trucks. so i would think you could saw 40-60 a day with 2 men crew. i would think though i would have one mini with a hammer and one with a bucket to clean out and load to a truck. working together to make things go better. i would think that a 100 trees in a close area could be excavated in a few days, with a few small dump trucks. i would be estamating in the range of 75-100 dollars per hole just to take out concrete and get them ready. add the tree, top soil, staking, and the pia tax for working for the city. i would be thinking 300+ cost of the tree per each. sounds to me like a rough job that you would need to price like you didn't want it, there will be alot of crap to deal with that will eat away at profits

[AintNoFun]

thanks for all the input guys... gotta submit the bid next friday, well see what happens...