Compact track loader clearing brush along a split-rail fence on a hillside house lot

02 · Site Clearing

Site clearing around the trees, fences and buildings you keep

Site clearing gets one project area ready and leaves the rest of the property alone. The work is as much about what stays as what goes.

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Site clearing or land clearing?

Here’s how we explain the difference: “land clearing typically involves preparing raw land including stumps and roots, while site clearing focuses on getting a specific project area ready.” A wooded tract headed for pasture is land clearing. A lived-on lot that needs room for a pool, an addition, a detached garage or a new driveway is site clearing.

The second job is usually the harder one to do well. There’s a house close by, a fence on the line, a septic field somewhere under the grass and an oak you’d like to keep. The machines have to work around all of it.

We mark what stays before anything is cut

On a site job our part includes “protecting the surrounding property and existing structures” while the project area gets opened up. That starts before a saw runs: a walk around the footprint with you, flagging the trees that stay, finding the fence line, the septic tank and field lines, the irrigation heads, and a path a truck can take without crossing them.

A tree you keep needs more than its trunk left alone. Most of its roots sit in the top foot or two of soil and spread past the edge of the canopy, so a machine parked under it or a pile of fill on its roots can kill it a year or two later. Where a keeper is close to the work, the ground under its canopy gets fenced off and traffic and stockpiles stay out.

On a development plan, the big trees get counted

Metro Nashville’s tree ordinance, BL2018-1416, took effect in September 2019. Among other things it requires heritage trees, those measuring 24 inches or more, to be surveyed on final site plans. If your project goes through site plan review, the trees you clear and the trees you keep are part of the paperwork before they’re part of the job.

On sites covered by the state construction stormwater permit, TDEC asks for the same restraint from another direction. Clearing and grubbing are held to what grading and equipment actually need, existing vegetation is kept where practicable, and the areas that stay undisturbed are marked on the ground.

What usually comes out

Stumps inside a building footprint come out with their roots. Stumps in a yard area that will only be seeded can be ground instead, which means less digging near the trees you kept.

Overgrown brush, briars and vines
Unwanted trees inside the footprint
Saplings and volunteer growth along fence lines
Old debris piles and junk that collected on the spot

What this covers

Overgrown brush
Unwanted trees
Existing structures protected

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Answers

Questions about site clearing

What is site clearing?

Site clearing is getting one defined project area ready, such as the spot for a house, addition, garage, pool or driveway, by removing the brush, trees and debris inside it. The rest of the property stays as it is. That sets it apart from land clearing, which takes a whole tract of raw land down to bare soil.

What is the difference between clearing and grubbing?

Clearing removes what is above the ground: trees, brush and debris. Grubbing goes below it, digging out the stumps, roots and buried material that clearing leaves behind. A building site normally needs both, since roots left under a slab or footing decay and settle. A yard that will only be seeded can sometimes skip the grubbing.

How much does site clearing cost?

Site clearing is priced on the size of the area and how much has to be protected around it. Working beside a house, a fence or trees you are keeping takes slower machine work and more handwork than open ground does. Access, the size of the trees, and whether debris is hauled away all move the number as well.

Can you clear around trees I want to keep without killing them?

Usually, as long as the roots are protected. Trees near construction are most often lost to damage under the canopy: soil packed down by machines, roots cut by a trench, or fill piled over them. Fencing off the ground beneath the canopy and keeping traffic out gives a kept tree its best chance, though no tree beside a project is risk-free.

Do I need to clear my whole lot to build on it?

No. Most builds need the footprint, room around it for equipment and the foundation crew, and a path for trucks. Everything outside that can stay wooded. A tighter clearing costs less, keeps more shade and screening, and leaves less bare soil to wash away while the house goes up.

What happens to old fencing and debris piles on the site?

They come out with the brush. Wire fencing, old posts, scrap lumber and the piles that collect at the back of a lot are pulled and kept apart from the wood, because metal and trash go somewhere different from brush. If you know of anything buried on the spot, tell us before the work starts.

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