land development

[Photo-bug]

In researching properties for sale I have petty much been looking at undeveloped land for sale. Primarily because I can get more of it for cheaper. I was just wondering How much work or money would be involved in clearing the land. Depending on the property first I would probably have to put in a road or at least improve it, then perhaps clear enough land for a house barn etc, lastly clear some acerage for gardening and/or pastures.

Thanks for the input

[Pink_Carnation]

Location, soil type, waterflow will all make a big difference in what it would take for a road. What kind of growth makes a difference on clearing.

[logbuilder]

If it doesn't have anything cleared, to some degree, I view that as a positive. First YOU get to decide where it should be cleared, where roads go, where the house sits. You can keep the trees you like. Wouldn't you really like a driveway that meanders thru the woods? Mine does and I love it. Second, if it is wooded, in the process of clearing, you get the wood for other uses. Given time, I would not have any problems cutting trees myself and getting them out of the woods. I would need to get someone with an excavator to get the stumps out. Then, a dozer to smooth it out. But in the end, you have just what you want, not what someone else thought was right. If the wood is not important to you, you can probably get someone else to come in and cut it and remove it in trade for the wood but they probably won't get the stumps out.

[Photo-bug]

thanks,

Logbuilder I like your thinking. I agree.

Whats the proper way to remove the stumps? I'm not afraid of hard work but just havn't had experiance on land clearing YET

[rambler]

Originally Posted by Photo-bug

Whats the proper way to remove the stumps?

Hire the excavator.

Your time & efforts are better spent on things one can actually do in a timely matter.

--->Paul

[fantasymaker]

It depends a lot on your location............which isnt in your post or header.And a lot on whats there.
So working with that in mind you may make as much as $200,000 and acre or it might cost you as much as $200,000 and acre.
Sure hope that helps.


You really need to tell us where you are at and whats on the land for anyone to give you a more acurate answer. Dont belive a word anybody tells ya with out it!

[Jim S.]

I'm really a pragmatist when it comes to land. If it is not cleared or if it is remote (needs driveway, infrastructure like a well, septic, power), then I really expect to see a sizeable chop in price. Clearing land is not cheap, and you will have to hire it done if you want it done on a reasonable schedule. A dozer can do a lot more work in a day than a guy with a farm tractor and a chain.

To illustrate, I had some fences that had trees grown up in them cleared off the land I bought. The pastures were cleared and OK, I just wanted to replace the old fences. Having a backhoe and dozer do just that work ran me about $2,500, and I had a friend with a dozer who finished the last part for me for fuel cost only. The going rate here for dozer/backhoe services is $60 an hour.

Never underestimate the cost of clearing and developing the land to suit your purpose. Yes, you get control over how it is done. But it is nearly always cheaper to buy a place that has at minimum a septic, water system, power and even outbuildings on it, than it is to construct these items from scratch. Cheaper still to buy a complete farm, than to build one.

[Photo-bug]

As far as location goes I'm looking at 100 acres or so along tenn/kentucky line. I have also been looking in eastern tenn and western north carolina. For a parcel that size I am finding a differance of several hundred thousand dollars between raw land and devevoped land. I can afford $150,000 to $200,000 for a nice piece of land but cant touch a devoped piece the same size for around $500,000 to a million. My thoughts are to spend several years developing the land and that way I am able to do things the way I like. I think something also must be said for good physical exercise and new learning experiances.

[Jim S.]

Photo-bug, cool! I live in south-central TN. Check out Giles County (next one west of me) for some pretty land at prices that are still decent. My own county has tripled in price in the past 2 years. You come this way, gimme a shout.

You look in Giles, you will find developed 200 acres in that $200,000 range. In Lincoln (my county), you might get close to that. But more likely 100 acres, or 75.

Physical exercise: I'm 49, can't do all that I once could when I started out at 35.

[fantasymaker]

What seems to be the best deal is for the normal rural utilities to be TO the land but not ON the land.
and of course check out the deal with water,hows it get in hows it get out.

[DaleK]

Mark the trees you want taken out. DON'T cut them. Get an excavator in, he can take the tree down and pop the stump out at the same time and do it in a quarter of the time it would take if the trees were cut already. Cut the stumps off after.

[RedneckPete]

Your land development will easily cost you several hundred thousand.

The only benefit is, you can spread these expenses out over the years, instead of all up front.

Pete

[Terri]

If the timber is large enough, it is possible that you could sell it instead of having it removed.

f your timber is SMALL enough, you could have a dozer and a driver in for a day.

If the timber is in-between I cannot think of any economical ways to get rid of it!

[BTO]

Originally Posted by Terri

If the timber is large enough, it is possible that you could sell it instead of having it removed.

f your timber is SMALL enough, you could have a dozer and a driver in for a day.

If the timber is in-between I cannot think of any economical ways to get rid of it!

I had ten acres I wanted to clear in the early eighties. I had people coming in cutting firewood. That was a mess and not worth the little bit of income it generated. A company was in the area chipping 80 acres next to me so I offered to let them have mine free. They came in and chipped everything. After they were through I hired an excavator and a small dozer to remove the stumps. It cost me $1200 a day back then but was well worth it. In a weeks time my land was cleared and stumped, all I had to do was harrow for the rest of the summer to get the roots.

[Photo-bug]

JIm,

Sounds good I will definately check that area out. I'm planning a trip up that way within the next couple months maye I can buy you lunch sometime. We are really working hard to purchase land this year. I'm 38 so hopefully I have a few good years of hard work left in me.

[the mama]

Get some goats.

[fantasymaker]

I like the way a trackhoe clears land It will pop stumps out quick and fairly clean, the only reason to leave the trucks attacked to the stumps is when your dozer is to small to work the stumps without the leverage....get a bigger Dozer!
BIGGER DOZERS SAVE MONEY! you will find you can get a LOT more Dozer for a little more money and in the end save alot.
heres how it works if the dozer is big enough it will simply drive straight thru the woods poping out the stumps and rolling them over .
if its a bit smaller it needsthe leverage of the truck to work on then its a case of push the tree down back up and push it over .
If its even smaller than that it will takea few strokes in the dirt to cut the roots then proceed like above.
In the end paying more for the bigger dozer is well worth it.
A good size trackhoe on the other hand will not only pop a stump out in one shot it will pile them in burn rows or stacks at the same time.
In my area its a tossup between a D-9 or bigger and a trachoe.

[wyld thang]

If you look carefully you may find an old logging road or farm road cut through the trees(dont know much about TN, just the trees are smaller) You may find a clearing good for a house. Just look for areas on the prop that are situatued nice and wouldn't take so much bulldozer work. Also look for springs and streams. Figure out which way the winter wind comes in, see what areas get blasted or not. Look for southern exposures(for the garden).

Can you run a dozer yourself? you can rent a dozer for half the price of getting someone else do it(at least). You can ask around for neighbors that might do dozer work too, they appreciate the work, you make a friend, you save on delivery fees. You can help out setting the choker cables(putting cables around trees), just know it "is" dangerous and you need to pay attention.

A little old man neighbor of ours "had fun"/occupied himself in his old age by taking out stumps by hand (2-3' fir and oak). It took him about a day for a stump, cutting away at the roots with an ax, digging down into it, using a junk chainsaw for the big ones. Then he'd pile slash around it and burn it. Now he has no stumps to dig, and poor guy is in a nursing home. He hates it there though, and busted it up one day.

Make sure you do your driveway right the first time(culverts, roadbed layers, grading), you'll save lots of time and aggravation later.

It might help to look at places for sale to see what kind of land layout/terrain you like, how buildings are situated, how much land is cleared, etc. Ask lots of questions.

Oh yeah, buy a quality big chainsaw and learn how to use it, and drop trees. You can clear a lot of small stuff yourself, "if yer halfway-handy"

Um, get a 1-ton 4wd, you can haul wood, pull logs with it, and it will take the gravel road and 4 wheeling you (hopefully) will have to do

[wyld thang]

ps, yes bigger dozers do save money, lots less work to get the job done. Course they do make bigger donuts in the yard

[wyld thang]

I forgot to add ask around for how deep the wells are, that will give you an estimate of how deep(they charge by the foot plus materials) when you call the drilling guy. Or you may luck out and have a nice spring