Logging and Site Work

Bambi, Ribbon and I walked the development area with loggers this weekend to get their take on our project and to get estimates. Both loggers impressed upon us the amount of waste that will be generated by cutting 200-300 trees. We had thought we'd have the waste chipped, but one logger estimated we'd have a pile about the size of the kitchen to contend with. Chipped wood anyone? Bambi and I both started thinking that we may want to scale back our clearing plans to minimize the waste issue. We both also got the feeling that clearing costs might be higher than we anticipated. We'll know next week at some point when the loggers get back to us and we can make some informed decisions then.

At a minimum we need to clear the mound site and the kitchen and bathhouse sites. The area above the mound and the yard above the kitchen could be cleared later, we figured, a few trees at a time as work weekends allow.

We also received an estimate of about $45,000 from our excavator for doing everything we'd told him we'd like. Our wishes seem to exceed our budget. So, I will be talking with him next week to figure out what we can drop to help bring the excavation back in line with our means. It never hurts to ask, but it hurts if one becomes attached to wishes!