Steep-ground estimate

How the math works

The tool divides acreage by a production rate in acres per machine-day, multiplies by three ground factors, rounds up to whole days, and multiplies those days by a day-rate band for the machine class the job needs. Every rate below is a sample. The operator sets the real rates at launch.

Production rate by vegetation

• Light brush and saplings under 4 in: 2 to 4 acres per machine-day
• Mixed saplings and small hardwood, 4 to 8 in: 0.75 to 1.5 acres per machine-day
• Dense hardwood over 8 in: 0.25 to 0.5 acres per machine-day
• Storm debris: downed and leaning timber: 0.5 to 1 acres per machine-day

Ground factors

Each factor multiplies the day count. The three multiply together.

• Slope: Under 15 percent x1.00, 15 to 30 percent x1.25, Over 30 percent x1.60.
• Access: truck and trailer reach the work x1.00, short walk-in, under a quarter mile x1.10, long, narrow, or gated access x1.30.
• Rock at or near grade: no x1.00, not sure x1.10, yes x1.25.

Whole days and the minimum

The fast end of the production band gives the low day count, the slow end gives the high. Each rounds up to a whole machine-day. The floor is 1 machine-day, because nobody hauls a tracked machine to a lot for half a day.

Machine class

Light brush and mixed saplings on any slope go to the tracked forestry mulcher. Dense hardwood over 8 inches and storm debris go to the chainsaw crew with grapple and chipper. Slope changes the day count and not the class. The mulcher tracks it and the crew walks it.

• Tracked forestry mulcher: $1,600 to $2,400 per machine-day, machine, operator and fuel
• Chainsaw felling crew with grapple and chipper: $1,800 to $2,800 per machine-day, machine, operator and fuel

What the number leaves out

Haul off and dump fees, stump grinding below grade, permit and plan fees, tree value, and every grading line: the pad cut, rock excavation, seeding and straw, and the erosion plan an engineer draws when disturbance passes 1 acre. The clearing lines go on our written quote after the walk. The grading lines go on the grading contractor's quote.

Rules

The rule list reads the same inputs. A rule lands under "Crosses" when the inputs pass its threshold. It lands under "Check on the walk" when a missing answer such as elevation or city limits leaves it open. Every rule links to the ordinance or agency page it came from. Thresholds change. The list gets re-verified twice a year, and the date on the source page wins over anything here.

Which rules a mulch-in-place job usually skips

The list treats your acreage as disturbed ground, which is the worst case. The erosion rules count soil that moves. A tracked mulcher runs on the surface and leaves the root mat and the chips in place, so on most lots a mulch-in-place job does not trip the state 1-acre plan, the Asheville 10,000 square foot permit, the Henderson half-acre permit, or the 21-day cover clock. The trout buffer and the burn permit still apply.

A clear-to-soil job for a pad, a drive, or a field is land disturbance and those rules bite at their acreage thresholds. We do not cut to soil. A grading contractor does, and the 21-day cover clock is theirs from the day they cut. Say on the call which job you want and the rule list reads the right way.