How to Choose a Land Clearing Company in Metro Detroit: Nine Questions to Ask Before You Hire

The Nine Questions

1. What machine will be on my property, and what does it leave behind?

A forestry mulcher grinds brush and saplings into a chip layer in place. A dozer pushes everything into piles. A tree crew cuts and drags. The answer tells you whether you get a finished surface or a pile and a second job. Ours: a high-flow tracked skid steer with a FECON mulching head, plus a brush hog for open ground. What is left is chips, not piles.

2. Is the price for the project or for the day?

A day rate is a bet on how fast the work goes, and you lose the bet if it rains or the brush is thicker than it looked from the road. A project price is a number for the finished job. Ours: one project price after a walk-through or from photos, with travel, density and terrain built in. The number you get before we start is the number you pay.

3. What happens to the debris?

Piles have to be burned or hauled, and both cost money and time after the clearing crew leaves. Ask who does that and what it adds. Ours: nothing to burn or haul. The brush is ground where it stood and the chip layer breaks down into the soil.

4. Can I see proof of insurance?

Any contractor putting a machine on your land should be able to send a certificate of insurance the same day you ask. If it takes a week, that tells you something. Ours: yes, on request, before the machine is unloaded.

5. Who actually runs the machine?

On a small outfit the person who quoted the job runs it. On a large one it may be whoever is available that morning. Ask, because the operator decides which trees live. Ours: owner-operated. The person who walks the property with you is the person in the seat.

6. How do you handle wet ground and slopes?

The answer should mention timing, not just equipment: frozen ground for muck and marsh edges, dry late summer for clay, and a plan for working banks from stable ground. A contractor who says none of that is going to rut your lawn. Ours: wet ground is scheduled for frozen months or the dry end of summer; slopes are walked and planned on site. See our winter clearing guide and hillside guide.

7. How do you mark the trees that stay?

Tape, on a walk-through, before the machine starts. If the contractor says he will figure it out as he goes, he will figure it out with the mulcher running. Ours: we walk it with you and tape the keepers. Flag anything buried too: septic lids, wire, well heads.

8. How long will it take, and when can you start?

Most residential jobs are a day. A contractor who quotes a week for two acres of brush is either using the wrong machine or padding a day rate. Ask when they can start; fall books up with hunting work. Ours: most residential jobs are done in a day, larger parcels in two or three, and we tell you the date when we quote.

9. Will you put the scope in writing?

A written scope says what is cleared, what stays, what the finished surface is and what it costs. It is the only way to compare two quotes, and the only thing that settles a disagreement later. Ours: every quote lists the areas, the keepers, the finish and the price.

What to Have Ready When You Call

• The address, so the property can be pulled up on satellite.
• Three or four phone photos: the access, the worst of the brush, and the trees you want to keep.
• What you want the ground to look like when it is done: lawn, trail, plot, building site, pasture.
• Any deadline: a builder's dig date, the opener, a listing date.

Common Questions

Is the cheapest quote usually the best one?

Only if it is for the same job. A day rate looks cheaper than a project price until the second day, and a quote that leaves the piles for you is not the same job as one that leaves a chip layer. Compare the finished result, not the number.

Do I need to get three quotes?

Two good ones are plenty if both answer the nine questions the same way. What matters is that each quote describes the same scope in writing, so you are comparing like with like.

How far ahead should I book?

A week or two for most residential jobs in spring and summer. Late summer and fall book up with hunting-land work, so if you want trails and lanes open before the season, call in July.

What should the finished job look like?

For forestry mulching: a chip layer two to four inches deep where the brush stood, keeper trees untouched, no piles, no ruts through the part of the property you kept, and a clean line where the clearing stops. If a contractor cannot describe the finish, ask for photos of one.