What is Clearing and Grubbing?

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Land Clearing and Site Preparation

What is Clearing and Grubbing?

Before getting into the clearing and grubbing process, let’s define these two words. Clearing is the removal and disposal of any unwanted surface material such as trees, brush, boulders, bushes, downed trees, grass and weeds, and any building structure within the established limits. Grubbing is the removal and disposal of any vegetation that remains in the ground such as stumps, logs, roots, and other debris.

To perform the clearing and grubbing task certain large, heavy machinery with attachments are necessary for felling trees and uprooting brush, stumps, roots, and other organic materials. Some of that equipment are dozers, excavators, and skid steers. Some attachments are buckets, grubbers, rakes, grapples, chippers, shredders, grinders, etc.

Before starting any land clearing activity, certain steps need to be considered. The list is short but very important to perform an optimal job.

01 Installation of storm water control

Where will storm water runoff flow? Channels, ditches, swales, culvert pipes, and ponds are methods of controlling storm water runoff. If the flow of water is not controlled before starting to clear the land, there will be flood and erosion problems. To prevent these problems, water control installation needs to be considered before disturbing any soil.

02 Mark and fence off protected trees and areas

If there are any trees that will remain in place, they need to be marked and protected from being damaged while felling the ones that will be cleared. The clearing area should be established to prevent cutting more trees than the necessary and to prevent the operators from going into protected areas.

03 Disposal of debris

How will the debris be disposed of and how much will it cost? Clearing and grubbing includes the disposal of debris. There are several methods of disposing of the waste.

On site burning. This method is the most economical.

Chipping or grinding. The organic material will be left on the ground and will serve as an erosion barrier, or it can be buried on the site.

Hauled. It can be hauled away to an approved landfill, but it is a costly option.

After these steps have been considered, the operators are ready to bring in their large machinery to start clearing and grubbing the land in preparation for the intended construction project. Once the land has been cleared and grubbed, the holes from the stumps that were removed need to be filled in. The site is ready for excavation, grading, and leveling for a house pad, driveway, parking lot, or a commercial building.