Land Clearing Service
Why Choose Beaver County Tree Service for your Clearing Project?
15 years’ Land & Brush Clearing Experience
Heavy Equipment To Get The Job Done
Thoughtful Debris Disposal
Competitive Pricing
Fully Insured
Contents
Your Tree Clearing Contractor
Land clearing is a commercial and environmental necessity in Western Pennsylvania. Beaver County Tree Service is here to help with their highly rated land clearing service.
The smart folk at Penn State University recently found that 58% (nearly 17 million acres) of Pennsylvania is forested (Source: https://extension.psu.edu/forest-management-and-timber-harvesting-in-pennsylvania )
Incredibly, forest inventory analysis conducted by USDA Forest Service shows that the growth in the volume of standing timber in Pennsylvania is five times greater than it was sixty years ago. Total wooded area is about the same; it’s just that the maturity of trees growing has increased considerably and so the volume of grown trees has expanded. With less than 1% of Pennsylvania’s forests being harvested each year, land clearing services will continue to be needed for a variety of reasons, 11 of which are listed below.
11 Reasons Why you Need Professional Clearing of Land
- Contractors need to begin their building project with a freshly cleared and leveled land area
- Pasture needs to be created from forest
- Extend the area size of lawn or agricultural plots
- Create a fire break around buildings you wish to protect
- Clearing land to attract deer for hunting purposes
- Power line clearance
- Harvest commercially-valuable lumber
- You may be unsure of lot clearing permitting laws or waste disposal ordnance in your township
- Land area to be cleared is too large to do it yourself
- Lot needs to be cleared and properly graded in preparation for sale
- You need expert heavy equipment operators to complete your tree clearing project
Why Choose Beaver County Tree Service
We have 5 key advantages in completing tree clearing work in West Pennsylvania:
- Experience: We have helped customers with every property clearing reason listed above. Senior crew have a combined clearing experience of 15 years between us. Our priority is always to complete your project safely and on time.
- Heavy Equipment: We have built up our inventory of heavy equipment needed for most land clearance projects. For larger jobs, we have access to even heavier-duty machinery as and when required together with the operators trained in their safe usage.
- Waste Disposal: We handle the environmentally sensitive disposal of waste materials with care following clearing and grading work. We choose recycling of cleared debris wherever possible.
- Competitive Pricing: Our teams of woodsmen thrive with jobs of all sizes whether 1 acre or 100 acres. Their training makes any clearing work run smoothly. This gives us a strong competitive edge which helps keeps our costs modest and our charges to customers very reasonable.
- Insured: We have General Liability Insurance and Workers Compensation Coverage to protect you, your property and our workers against any mishap which may occur. We do not rely solely on our excellent safety record as accidents can happen when least expected. Never be hesitant in asking any contractor working on your property for their insurance certificates – including ourselves.
Our Land Clearing Service – How it Works
The work comprises some or all of these stages and not necessarily in the order depicted below.
Site Inspection & Quotation
Upon invitation, Beaver County Tree Service will come out and visit your property. This is free of charge for all clients and helps us to assess the size and duration of the necessary work. You benefit from a site inspection with an accurate quotation for your land/lot clearing project.
Land Survey
Optional – A land survey is not a necessity in most cases but does help prevent the accidental damage to land belonging to your neighbor. A formal survey means you’ll have a legally relevant document to certify the precise boundaries of your parcel of land. Be aware that some permits may require a land survey.
Geo-technical testing
Optional in most cases – This depends on the purpose behind the clearance. For example, if there’s a significant post-clearance risk of erosion or a need to construct buildings, there might be a need to assess sub-surface conditions through geotechnical testing.
Permits
Lot Clearing Permits – In our experience, it’s always best to assume that you’ll need a permit prior to any development, clearing or forestry activity on your property. Permitting code varies from county to county and from township to township.
Whilst we are more than happy to share the experience of our clients with permitting cases in Beaver County, we are not legal experts and local laws change. Simply call your municipality and check local ordinances before work starts. A clearing permit costs approximately $200.
Timber Harvesting Permits – Current Pennsylvania state law says that all timber harvests must have a site plan to head-off problem areas before any harvest begins.
Clearing Your Land
There are many ways we can clear your land. Each has its advantages and unique challenges. The choice is determined by your land type and size:
– motorized mulchers (pictured)
– bulldozers
– excavators
– chainsaws
– grapple saw forestry machines
– burning vegetation
We apply these methods solus or in combination according to the size, scale and topography of the clearing work required.
For example, the use of an engine-powered mulcher is an excellent alternative to grubbing and burning. Machine mulching cuts vegetation such as small trees and brush leaving a layer of processed vegetation at the surface. Mulching this way benefits the land by putting the organic matter back on the soil. This layer of mulch then provides a natural barrier that helps prevent regrowth of weeds and invasive species of trees and plants. It also reduces the cost of debris removal.
However, a mulcher alone won’t work if the landowner wants to grade and build on the land. This is because mulchers will not remove tree stumps and roots. Tree roots need to be completely removed if you plan to build on the cleared land. Therefore, grubbing each stump and set of roots with an excavator backhoe is demanded on any land that is to be built upon.
Erosion Control & Hydro-Seeding
A consequence of clearing land that is lying on a hill or slope is that it increases the risk of soil erosion. In this case, we offer a hydro-seeding solution. This is a way to curtail the risk of an erosion event.
Hydro-seeding accelerates the growth of grass on sloped, cleared land by applying grass seed mixed with fertilizer, water, and organic matter over the prescribed area of land. As it grows and roots penetrate the sub-surface, the grass serves to stabilize the ground, which left bare might otherwise wash away in heavy rain.
How Fast Can My Land Be Cleared?
This is difficult to predict without our free site inspection. Varied terrains can be found in West Pennsylvania. For example, flat fields with little vegetation can be cleared quickly with the right equipment at a rate of three to four acres a day or more assuming good accessibility to the site.
Conversely, less than acre of steeply sloped, heavily-forested land might be cleared in a day.
Other variables that affect job duration include:
- number of workers and teams allocated to the work by the tree clearing company
- type and quantity of equipment they own and have access to
- extent of tree cutting e.g. number and size of trees and stumps to be removed
- whether the cleared land needs to be leveled and/or graded (say, in preparation for construction)
Cost of Clearing Land
There are so many variables that any numbers, even averages, would be highly misleading. However, we have a fair pricing policy based on our desire to build our reputation further.
Our promise is to provide all customers in Beaver County and nearby areas with highly competitive quotations for their clearance project.
The best way to discover our affordable land clearance rates is to call and arrange for a free site review. Just call or message us to reach using the buttons below:
Factors Which Affect Land Clearance Cost
In our experience, there are 6 key aspects of your land clearance project which will influence our cost quotation:
- Land Survey – For some projects, we may recommend that you arrange a land survey before we start to drive dump trucks, bulldozers, and excavator back hoes on your property. This is because a survey will pinpoint the precise property boundary lines, locate easements and identify structures that need to be excluded from removal. This, in turn, serves to avoid potential disputes with neighbors due to the clearing work. Some of what you spend on a survey will be recovered by improved accessibility to the site, avoiding disputes and avoiding costly damage to fences, neighboring property etc.
- Elevation Changes – If your land is hilly, you will pay more. It is difficult for dozers and backhoes to access and operate on steeply sloping land. It will take more time. Smaller machines cost less but will take longer to clear a hilly area. On the other hand, if your land is mostly flat, you will pay much less for clearing and grading for the same type of vegetation cover because larger clearing machines can work much more efficiently.
- Type of Debris – Your clearing bill will also be affected by:
- Density and size of trees, brush, rocks, and stumps to be cleared; if only light brush needs clearing then costs tumble as the work is light and fast; removing trees is the costliest aspect. Clearing heavily forested land can cost up to 5 times more than the same area which is only lightly wooded. Costs are also affected by:
- the type and volume of debris to be removed following clearing
- debris clearing method used
- Density and size of trees, brush, rocks, and stumps to be cleared; if only light brush needs clearing then costs tumble as the work is light and fast; removing trees is the costliest aspect. Clearing heavily forested land can cost up to 5 times more than the same area which is only lightly wooded. Costs are also affected by:
- Size of Property – The cost will vary according to the acreage of land you need cleared.
- Type of Equipment that Can be Used – Heavy duty machinery for large sites can clear many acres a day. But this type of equipment often can’t be used for smaller residential lots due to restricted access. Smaller, more maneuverable machinery that can access smaller plots will take comparatively longer for a given area of land.
- Anti-erosion Measures – As already mentioned, steeply sloping land may need erosion preventative measures such as hydro-seeding. This will increase costs depending on the area of land affected.
Other Related Services
As one of Beaver County‘s foremost tree clearing companies, Beaver County Tree Service also offers the following tree services:
– Tree Clearing
– Tree Removal
– Tree Trimming
– Tree Pruning
– Stump Removal (Grinding)
– Emergency Tree Service
If you can see a link in blue, click on it and you’ll be taken to our separate service page for further information.
Partnering with Landscapers, Foresters, and Contractors
As well as working with landowners directly, we also want to partner with other companies to make your development or forestry project a success. We’re used to clearing land of all terrain types whether forested or brush or a combination of the two. We work in Western Pennsylvania and are familiar with all land types and the local topography of Beaver County.
