Bush Hog Rates & Fees

[coastallandscapesolutions]

What do you all charge for Bush Hog work? We are bidding on two jobs tomorrow for the county, one is 545 acres and the other is 75. The cut will be six times per year with the exception on one area on the 545 acres, 116 every two weeks. It is all flat and grass about 18-24 inches tall. No trees.

[DND Outdoor]

thats some serious cutting.......Last I checked around here guys were charging $65 or $75 and hour for that kind of tractor work

[jaybird]

it will go between 6 to 12 dollars per acre

[Kent Lawn Care]

it will go between 6 to 12 dollars per acre


I dont really think i could make money for that price, i average an acre an hour, $65.00 per hour, 2 hour min.

at least 6-12 would be my cost of the machine and worker there.

[brentsawyer]

An acre per hour, do what, maybe with a 36" WB. I thought this was about bushhogging and 500+ acres. At that rate, when you finish the last acre, you'll be wayyyyy behind on starting over again.

[coastallandscapesolutions]

Just to let everyone know we did not get the bid ...... yet. We bid it at $49.50 an hour with plans to use a bat-wing 15' cut bush hog. However the person who did win it came in at $18 per hour using a 60" bush hog on a John Deere 755 tractor.

We were second lowest. I figure that once he starts cutting it he will back out of it and the contract (3 year) will revert to us by default. There is no way he can cut that much with that small of a unit nor be cost effective even if he bought a new tractor. Based on the equipment he is using he would have to work 52 hours per week every week of the year to mow it all. I give it two weeks as he has to start on Tuesday to cut it.

[brentsawyer]

Who's the moron who accepted it. I mean come on, that is by far the dumbest decision I've ever heard of. I'm kind of having a hard time believing that anyone in charge of that much land would let a decision like that go through. He wouldn't be able to keep up even 7 days a week sun up to sun down,.

[Kent Lawn Care]

An acre per hour, do what, maybe with a 36" WB. I thought this was about bushhogging and 500+ acres. At that rate, when you finish the last acre, you'll be wayyyyy behind on starting over again.


we are talking about brush hoggin, correct? not cutting a lawn? when someone calls me for brushhogging, im looking at weeds and brush, most of the time 6 foot tall, i dont think you caould get an acre done in an hour with a 36" walker let alone have anything left of it in the end if you do attempt it.

[coastallandscapesolutions]

There were six of us bidding on this. The other five of us were within penny's of each other. They guy who won the contract runs a dog kennel of all things. Wait until he has to get the insurance and workmens comp with the levels the county requires. Like I said, I give it two weeks.

I figure that he can do the most 19 acres per 8 hours of run time. That means it will take 28.6 days to complete on 545 acres. That doesn't count the 85 acres to mow every two weeks per the specs on the bid. He can't afford to mow it.

I can not believe the county actually is giving him a chance. Oh well, life goes on. I expect a call late this coming week.

[coastallandscapesolutions]

The 545 acres is grass and scrub brush. 18" to 24" tall. They let me take our tractor out there before the bid and run some speed test. I can run 6 mph cutting 15' with the bat wing no problem.

[activelandscaping]

Just to let everyone know we did not get the bid ...... yet. We bid it at $49.50 an hour with plans to use a bat-wing 15' cut bush hog. However the person who did win it came in at $18 per hour using a 60" bush hog on a John Deere 755 tractor.

He can pretty much kiss that tractor goodbye. The 755 just isn't designed for that type of abuse. I have a 750, IMHO a much tougher unit than the Hydrostatic 755. I had nothing but problem's with the 755 @ the GC. We found that when you put a heavy load on the PTO it causes the gear shaft to flex and the gear shaves some metal off the housing. The shavings then travel to to Hydrostatic drive motors, causing them to freeze. They'll get tired of pulling their machine apart before long.

Regards,
Active