How Much to Charge for Slashing: Firebreak Pricing Calculator (Australia)

Price slashing per acre or hectare and firebreak clearing per lineal metre from your own rates, with first-cut and maintenance modes, travel, GST and a job minimum.

Job type

Mode

Slashing (acreage) Firebreak clearing

Slashing

Area unit

Acres Hectares

Area to slash

The area you will cut.

Cut type

First cut (overgrown) Maintenance cut

Cutter width

Width of the slasher deck in metres.

Ground speed

Working speed while cutting.

Field efficiency

Overlap, turns and stops as a share of the theoretical rate.

Growth multiplier

First cut (overgrown) defaults to 1.4; maintenance defaults to 1.0. Editable.

Charge rate per hour

What you bill per machine-hour: tractor, slasher and operator.

Travel and mobilisation

Round-trip travel

Travel charge per hour

Mobilisation fee

A flat call-out or float fee, if you charge one.

Job minimum

A floor the ex-GST price never falls below.

GST and annual roll-up

Charge GST

Tick if you are GST-registered. The rate defaults to 10% (ATO, retrieved 2026-10-24).

GST rate

The Australian GST rate is 10% on most goods and services (ATO).

Cuts or clears per year

Slashing: how many times a year. The first is priced at the first-cut multiplier; the rest at maintenance.

Quote ex GST

—

Enter your rates to build the quote.

Slashing: —
Travel: —
Quote ex GST: —

Export

How this is calculated

Slashing mode (production model). The quote is built from machine-hours, the same way the US brush hog pricing calculator works, but entered in metric:

theoretical ha/h = cutter width (m) x speed (km/h) x 1000 / 10000
effective ha/h  = theoretical x efficiency / growthFactor
cut hours       = area (ha) / effective ha/h
work            = cut hours x charge rate per hour
travel          = travel hours x charge per hour
subtotal        = work + travel + mobilisation
quote           = max(subtotal, jobMinimum)
GST             = quote x gstRate
annual          = firstCut + (cutsPerYear - 1) x maintenanceCut

The per-acre or per-hectare figure is an output of this model, not an input: it falls out of the machine time, the charge rate and the area. A first cut through waist-high grass takes longer (higher growth multiplier) than a maintenance run, so the two naturally price differently. The annual roll-up prices the first cut at the first-cut multiplier and the remaining cuts at the maintenance multiplier.

Firebreak mode. The same structure, but the work line is lineal metres of boundary multiplied by your rate per metre. The tool also calculates the total area cleared (length times width) and reports it in hectares.

GST at 10%. The Australian Taxation Office states: "Goods and services tax (GST) is a broad-based tax of 10% on most goods, services and other items sold or consumed in Australia" (ATO, "How GST Works", retrieved 2026-10-24). The rate defaults to 10% when GST is ticked.

Shire firebreak notices. Many local governments in Western Australia publish annual firebreak notices with required widths, installation dates and penalties. The Shire of Harvey, for example, requires "firebreaks not less than 3 m wide with a 4 m high Vertical Axis" on rural land, work done "on or before 30 November and to be maintained until 15 May", with inspections from 1 December and a fine "not exceeding $5000" for non-compliance (Shire of Harvey, Firebreaks page, retrieved 2026-10-24). Detailed requirements vary by land type and shire; check your own local government notice before quoting.

No price presets. Every currency field starts empty. Slashing rates per acre in Australia circulate on local groups and directories, but none resolves to a trade body or published survey, so the tool ships none of them.

Everything runs in your browser. No account, no email gate, nothing stored or sent.

What this prices, and how it differs from the US tool

Australians call bush hogging “slashing”: a tractor or ride-on with a slasher attachment knocking down paddock grass, fence lines, fire trails and vacant blocks. The job is the same rough cut the brush hog pricing calculator prices in the US, but the units, the tax, the terminology and one entire job type are different. This calculator ports the same production model: cutter width times ground speed gives a theoretical cutting rate in hectares per hour, derated by field efficiency and a growth multiplier, then billed at a charge rate per machine-hour.

This calculator covers two modes:

Slashing uses the production model from the brush hog parent. Enter the cutter width in metres, the ground speed in km/h, a field efficiency percentage and a charge rate per hour. The tool computes the cutting time and the quote from it. The first-cut multiplier (default 1.4) accounts for overgrown ground taking longer; the maintenance multiplier (default 1.0) is for kept properties. The per-acre or per-hectare figure at the bottom is a readout, not a rate card. When cuts per year is more than one, the annual figure prices the first cut at the first-cut multiplier and the remaining cuts at the maintenance multiplier.

Firebreak clearing prices per lineal metre of boundary at a set width. Many shires in Western Australia publish an annual firebreak notice that specifies the minimum clearing width, the date by which the firebreak must be in place and the penalty for non-compliance. The Shire of Harvey, for example, requires “firebreaks not less than 3 m wide with a 4 m high Vertical Axis” on rural land, within 10 metres of all boundaries, work done “on or before 30 November and to be maintained until 15 May”, with rangers beginning inspections on 1 December each year and a fine “not exceeding $5000” for non-compliance (Shire of Harvey, Firebreaks page, retrieved 2026-10-24). The Shire also publishes a list of firebreak contractors. Detailed requirements vary by land type and by shire; check your own local government notice for the specifications that apply to your jobs. The related legislation is the Bush Fires Act 1954 and the Bushfire Regulations 1954.

GST is a separate line

The Australian Taxation Office states: “Goods and services tax (GST) is a broad-based tax of 10% on most goods, services and other items sold or consumed in Australia” (ATO, “How GST Works”, retrieved 2026-10-24). If you are GST-registered, tick the box and the tool adds 10% as a separate line. If you are not registered, leave it unticked and the quote stays ex-GST.

Every money field starts empty on purpose

Slashing rates per acre in Australia circulate on local Facebook groups and one or two directory pages, but none resolves to a trade body, a regulator or a published survey. Under this site’s cite-or-omit rule that means the tool ships none of them. The growth multiplier is a scoping convention in an editable box: it says a first cut takes longer than a maintenance run, not that a first cut costs a fixed premium.

If you are pricing maintained residential lawns rather than acreage slashing, the lawn mowing pricing calculator is the right tool. For tree work that goes beyond the slasher, the tree removal cost estimator covers that scope. The lawn mowing season calendar for Australia maps the mowing season by region, and the public liability insurance guide for Australia covers the insurance you need before you quote.

Everything runs in your browser: no account, no email gate, nothing stored or sent. Estimate only, not a binding quote.

Frequently asked questions

How much should I charge for slashing per acre in Australia?

The per-acre figure is an output of the production model, not an input. Enter your cutter width, ground speed, field efficiency and charge rate per hour, and the tool computes the cutting time and the per-acre readout from the result. A first cut through waist-high grass takes longer (higher growth multiplier) and therefore costs more than a maintenance run on a kept property. Two operators can quote the same paddock honestly and differently, because the machine, the speed and the growth are different.

How is firebreak clearing priced?

Per lineal metre of boundary at a set clearing width. The work charge is the boundary length multiplied by your rate per metre. The tool also calculates the total area cleared (length times width) and reports it in hectares, so you can cross-check against a per-hectare figure if that is how you normally quote acreage work.

What are the shire firebreak requirements?

They vary by local government. Many shires in Western Australia publish an annual firebreak notice with required widths, installation dates and penalties. The Shire of Harvey, for example, requires firebreaks "not less than 3 m wide with a 4 m high Vertical Axis" on rural land, work done "on or before 30 November and to be maintained until 15 May", with inspections from 1 December and a fine "not exceeding $5000" (Shire of Harvey, Firebreaks page, retrieved 2026-10-24). Check your own shire notice before quoting, because the requirements differ between councils and land types.

Does GST apply to slashing?

If you are GST-registered, yes. The Australian Taxation Office states that GST is "a broad-based tax of 10% on most goods, services and other items sold or consumed in Australia" (ATO, retrieved 2026-10-24). Tick the GST box and the tool adds the 10% as a separate line. If you are not registered, leave it unticked.

Sources

How GST Works. Australian Taxation Office. Retrieved Oct 24, 2026.
Firebreaks. Shire of Harvey. Retrieved Oct 24, 2026.

How we choose and check our formulas