Skid Steer with Operator

Debris handling first. A grapple picks up a pile of brush in one bite and feeds it to the chipper, which is faster than four people dragging limbs and far safer, because nobody is walking backwards toward a chipper infeed with their arms full. On a big removal the machine sets the pace of the whole day.

Then the heavy items. Rounds that two people cannot lift go straight onto a truck with forks or a grapple. Trunk sections get dragged clear of the drop zone so cutting can carry on. Stump grindings — which are heavier and far more voluminous than anyone expects — get moved out in minutes rather than barrowed.

And the finish. A grapple rake or a bucket levels the ruts, backfills the stump hole, spreads topsoil and tidies the ground before the crew leaves. The state you leave a garden in is what the client remembers, and it is the part most often rushed because everyone is tired and the light is going.

A wheeled skid steer steers by dragging one side against the other. Every turn scrubs the surface, which on gravel is nothing and on a maintained lawn is a repair bill. They are cheaper to run, quicker on hard standing and perfectly sensible on a site that is already a building site.

A compact track loader spreads the same weight over a much larger contact area, so ground pressure drops sharply. It works on wet ground that would bog a wheeled machine, climbs banks, and turns on grass with much less damage — though not none, and no operator should promise none.

Ask what the provider is bringing, and say what your ground is. Turf protection mats, plywood tracking and simply working from the hard standing all reduce damage further, and an operator who volunteers those options before you ask is usually the one to hire.

Grapple bucket and grapple rake for brush and debris; pallet forks for logs and materials; a general-purpose bucket for chip, soil and backfill. Those four cover the overwhelming majority of tree work, and an operator who arrives with all of them can adapt as the day changes.

Beyond that: a mulching head for scrub and light clearing, a stump grinder attachment where a dedicated machine cannot reach, an auger for planting and post work, and a tree spade for moving established stock. Each is a real capital cost, which is why machines carrying them price higher.

Say what you need the machine to do rather than which attachment you want. Operators know their own kit, and describing the work — 'move sixty rounds up a slope onto a truck' — gets a better-matched answer than naming a tool.

Day rates and half-day rates with the operator included are the normal structure. What moves the number is the machine class, whether it is tracked, which attachments come with it, and how far it has to travel. Specialist attachments and larger machines carry a premium that is usually worth paying if they halve the day.

Mobilisation is generally a separate line. Loading, floating and unloading is real time and real fuel whether the machine then works for two hours or ten, and a provider who quotes a bare hourly rate with no mobilisation is either absorbing it or about to add it.

All of it is agreed directly between you and the provider. Treelign holds no payments, no escrow and takes no commission — settle the rate, the hours, the fuel and the damage position before the machine is loaded.

Post the job with the site location, the narrowest access point in feet, the ground conditions, the attachments the work needs and how many days you expect. Operators whose service radius covers you are alerted immediately and can apply.

Each service on a job carries its own crew size, so a machine can be hired alongside climbers, a chipper and hauling on the same job, filled by different providers, each service closing as it fills while the rest stay open.

If access is genuinely tight, post mini skid steer as a second service rather than hoping a full-sized machine fits — the two are different machines for different gates, and posting both lets whichever suits the site apply.