Vegetation and surface debris removal
Clearing and grubbing.
Getting raw land ready for its next phase. Trees, brush and stumps come out, roots come up, and the ground is left clean enough for the grader to start.
Trees and brush
Stumps and root balls
Existing structures
Utilities and overheads
Erosion control
Haul-off
Clearing is where the schedule is won or lost.
Clearing looks like the simple part of a job and it is the part most likely to hold up everything behind it. Underground utilities in the wrong place, overhead lines across the only access, a wet season that turns the haul road to soup: any of them will cost you weeks if nobody looked before the first machine arrived.
We walk the site first, mark what has to stay, work out where the spoil and the timber are going, and get erosion control in before we open the ground up. On a small lot that is a day's work with a skid steer and a grapple. On large acreage it is a fleet and a plan.
Wet ground changes everything. After a heavy stretch we would rather push a start date by a week than tear up a site and hand you back a rutted mess to fix.
Included in the scope
Trees and brush
Felled, limbed and either hauled off or mulched on site, whichever the job suits.
Stumps and root balls
Grubbed out rather than cut flush, so nothing rots and settles under your pad later.
Existing structures
Sheds, slabs, old fence lines and abandoned septic cleared with the rest.
Utilities and overheads
Located and worked around, with the utility marked before anything is opened up.
Erosion control
Silt fence and stabilised entrances set before the ground is disturbed, not after.
Haul-off
Timber, stumps and debris loaded and taken away, or stockpiled where you want them.
Clearing and grubbing, on real jobs.
Every photograph below is a KGW site. Click any of them to see it full size.
Questions
What people ask before they call.
Do you mulch on site or haul the timber off?
Either. Mulching in place is cheaper and keeps organic matter on the property, which suits an acreage owner. Haul-off is the right answer where a pad is going in, because you do not want mulch buried under fill.
Do I need a permit to clear my land?
It depends on the jurisdiction, the acreage and whether there is a floodplain or a wetland involved. We will tell you what we know from working the same ground for decades, but the permit is yours to pull and you should confirm with your county or city.
How long does clearing take?
A residential lot is usually a day or two. Large acreage runs from several days to several weeks depending on how heavy the timber is and how far the haul is.
Tell us about the site.
Two ways in, depending on how far along you are. Either one reaches the office in Crosby, not a call centre.