Woodland site clearance

986s

Hi,
Looking at purchasing a 10 year old house on a 0.80 acre site in Mayo. House is lovely but the previous owners have left the majority of the site as dense woodland apart from a curving drive way to the front and a patio area at the back. Both front and back gardens are covered in dense trees ( not too mature but overgrown)with a lot of large stone boulders. There is quite a steep drop at the back (10-15 feet) but the site levels off then. Access to clear both the back and front won’t be an issue. I’m looking to leave a certain amount of tree cover but has anyone ideas on a cost to clear an area of this size. I’m not looking for perfect lawns front and back but some grass area would be great. Any help much appreciated.

Lumen

"Not too mature" means what exactly? Diameter? Height?

If there's climbing and/or proper felling involved, you need a tree surgeon. If not, a landscaper.

As a very rough ballpark for tree surgeons in my experience (east coast), 100 euro per tree for mature healthy trees of normal size felled and cut into short sections (but not split into logs for the fire). Extra for disposal. Extra for stump grinding. Extra for unhealthy or very tall trees, or where they're caught up in each other.

If there are a lot of big surface roots and you want an even lawn, you may want to consider getting a digger on site to take them out. That's more again, obvs, but a job for a landscaper rather than a tree surgeon. But it's preferable to leave smaller and deeper roots in place for drainage.

986s

Many thanks for the reply. Not too mature- means easily taken down with a chainsaw. The trees are approx 10-15 years old and have taken over the site. I would definitely need someone with a digger to remove the tree stumps and large boulders. My problem is I don’t know is this a €10k job or €50k job for a 0.80 acre site? Love the house and can reasonably put a price for other jobs that need doing in the house but have no experience with clearing a wooded site and associated site works- kerbing etc.
Again any thoughts much appreciated.

Lumen

986s wrote: »

Many thanks for the reply. Not too mature- means easily taken down with a chainsaw. The trees are approx 10-15 years old and have taken over the site. I would definitely need someone with a digger to remove the tree stumps and large boulders. My problem is I don’t know is this a €10k job or €50k job for a 0.80 acre site? Love the house and can reasonably put a price for other jobs that need doing in the house but have no experience with clearing a wooded site and associated site works- kerbing etc.
Again any thoughts much appreciated.

I got a serious tidy up and re-seeding done for about 4k, 0.8 acre site but I only needed to do about 10% of it.

But I'm not saying you need to spend 40k! I'm in one of the most expensive areas of the country, and if I was doing it again I would have been faster to get in the digger, one man with a digger can get an enormous amount done in a day.

I'd suggest you call a local landscaper and get him to drop by (with permission from EA or without, you can often tell quite a bit from the road).

rn

The local farmers will likely know the local man with a digger. He'll knock, clear and scrape all vegetation into one big pile at the most remote part of the site. This can be burned on a suitable day. However be weary of the location of house and adjecent buildings. You don't want smoke and sparks landing on neighbours vegetation or buildings. Your local diggerman will be able to break and coppice hedges around the site very quickly. It'll look crap for 1st year or 2. But once full leaf cover returns, you'll have a lovely nice natural Irish hedge. This will be the cheapest and fastest way to clear the site to level top soil.

Also ask farmers if there's some one who will take the timber as payment. Some 15+ year old trees, like Ash or hardwoods would make nice lumber. That might rid the site of a good bit of volume of timber, but will be slower.

Lastly, really think about the locations the trees that have already grown. It takes a lifetime to grow nice trees. Yours have a head start, which I think could add serious potential to your site.

enricoh

Ask a local farmer, he'll know someone with a large digger

986s

Managed to meet with someone who does this kind of site clearance for a living and happened to live nearby. Received a rough quote of €15 k to include 10 loads of topsoil. Considering the amount of dense woodland to clear combined with very many large boulders, didn’t think that was too bad. It might be useful for someone in the future.

tabby aspreme

Did you get any breakdown on the price, sounds expensive.