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Pricing mulching work by the hectare

Fuel reduction, roadside and vegetation management tenders are priced per hectare, so a productivity figure you have not measured is a margin you have not got. Enter your own numbers and the rate falls out.

Productivity

Measure it on your own site. Brochure figures are best-case, in light material, on flat ground.

Hourly costs

Mulching burns more than general excavation. Do not use your dig rate.

Job costs

Tender rate per hectare

$1,133

Your cost per hectare

$944

Break-even, direct only

$700

Hours on site34.3 hr
Direct cost, whole job$8,400
Plus mobilisation$9,600
Plus overhead$11,328
Quoted total$13,594
Margin, dollars$2,266
If your real productivity is not 0.35 ha/hr
ProductivityHours on siteYour cost / haTender rate / haMargin held
0.17 ha/hr68.6 hr$1,770$1,133-56%
0.26 ha/hr45.7 hr$1,219$1,133-8%
0.35 ha/hrYOURS34.3 hr$944$1,13317%
0.44 ha/hr27.4 hr$779$1,13331%

Read the productivity claim honestly

Halve the hectares-per-hour figure and watch the tender rate move. That sensitivity is the whole argument for measuring your own output on your own material before you price a job, rather than pricing from a brochure figure and discovering the difference on site.

Where hectare pricing goes wrong

  1. 01

    Brochure hectares

    Published productivity is a best case: light material, flat ground, an experienced operator and no interruptions. Measure your own output on your own material before you commit to a rate, because the difference between 0.5 and 0.25 hectares an hour doubles your cost base.

  2. 02

    Dig-rate fuel

    Mulching is continuous load on a machine designed for intermittent load. Fuel burn, cooling demand and service intervals all move. Costing a mulching hour at your excavation hourly rate understates it every time.

  3. 03

    Teeth treated as a spare

    In abrasive or stony ground, teeth are a monthly budget line, not an occasional order. Put a real hourly figure in above — including the downtime to change them — rather than absorbing it in overhead.

  4. 04

    Mobilisation spread thin

    Float on, float off and set-up are fixed per job, so they hit small jobs hardest. A twelve hectare job carries mobilisation comfortably; a two hectare job does not, and pricing both at the same per-hectare rate loses money on one of them.

Forestry mulcher guide →Shear or mulcher? →
OMEF TE series forestry mulcher on an excavator, showing the fixed-tooth rotor, front pusher bar and hydraulic hose routing
OMEF TE series — fixed-tooth rotor and front pusher bar

Talk to a specialist

Rotor choice is the decision, not the model number. Tell us the material you are clearing and we will tell you which rotor suits it.

Request a quote →

How the calculation works

Direct cost first, then the job costs that sit on top of it, then margin. Every figure is yours.

Direct hourly cost is the sum of carrier, operator, fuel, teeth and attachment capital. Multiply by the hours the job takes at your productivity and you have the direct cost for the whole job. Mobilisation is added as a fixed amount because it does not scale with area, then overhead as a percentage, then margin.

The tender rate per hectare is the total divided by job size. The break-even figure below it strips out mobilisation, overhead and margin entirely, so it tells you the absolute floor at which the machine and operator are paid for and nothing else is.

The sensitivity table is the most useful part of the page. It holds your quoted rate fixed and varies productivity, which is what actually happens on site: you quote at one figure and the material turns out to be heavier than the walkover suggested. If your margin goes negative at 0.75× productivity, the rate is too thin regardless of how the headline number looks.

Getting honest inputs

Before you quote from this

  • Hectares per hour measured on comparable material
  • Site walkover confirming material type and density
  • Terrain and slope, which change productivity sharply
  • Fuel burn under continuous mulching load, not dig load
  • Teeth cost per hour from your own records
  • Mobilisation quoted for this specific site
  • Whether mulch depth is specified in the contract
  • Whether the rate is per treated hectare or per titled hectare

Frequently asked questions

01

How much does forestry mulching cost per hectare in Australia?

The honest answer is that it depends on inputs only you have: your hectares per hour on the material in front of you, your machine and operator rates, your teeth spend and your mobilisation. Rates quoted in the market vary by a factor of several because the work does. Enter your own figures above and you get a rate you can defend in a tender, rather than an average you cannot.
02

What hectares per hour should I assume?

Whatever you have measured. Published productivity is a best case: light material, flat ground, an experienced operator and no interruptions. The sensitivity table above shows what halving the figure does to your margin, and that gap is why measuring one package beats estimating ten.
03

Why is mulching fuel higher than excavation fuel?

Because mulching is continuous load on a machine designed for intermittent load. The rotor is drawing power constantly rather than in bursts, cooling demand rises, and service intervals tighten. Costing a mulching hour at your excavation hourly rate understates it every time.
04

How should I handle mobilisation on small jobs?

Explicitly, and never inside a per-hectare rate. Float on, float off and set-up are fixed per job, so they hit small jobs hardest. A twelve hectare job carries mobilisation comfortably; a two hectare job does not, and pricing both at the same per-hectare rate loses money on one of them.
05

What teeth cost should I put in?

An hourly figure from your own records if you have them, or a supplier's written quote divided by realistic tooth life in your ground if you do not. In abrasive or stony conditions this is a monthly budget line, not an occasional order, and leaving it in overhead hides the number that decides whether the work is profitable.
06

Does this work for clearing that is not mulching?

The structure works for any area-priced vegetation work, including shear-based clearing, as long as you enter the right productivity and wear figures. It does not translate to stem-priced or stump-priced work — use the cost per stump calculator for grinding.
07

Should margin sit inside or outside the rate?

Inside, and stated separately in your own model so you can see it. The calculator separates cost, overhead and margin deliberately: it lets you see what happens to your margin when productivity disappoints, which is the scenario that actually occurs on site.
Frequently asked questions

Where to go next

What attachments costThe five cost lines behind the hourly figure you just entered.
Hire, buy or subcontractWhether owning a mulcher makes sense at your annual hectares.
Forestry mulcher guideRotor choice, carrier load and the limitations worth knowing.