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Land Clearing & Forestry Mulching in Novi, Michigan
Forestry mulching, brush hogging and lot clearing in Novi, Wixom, Lyon Township, about 25 minutes from our base in Royal Oak.
Novi is a city of 66,243 people (2020 census) in the northwest corner of Oakland County, about twenty-five miles from downtown Detroit and a twenty-five minute drive from our shop in Royal Oak. It started as Novi Township in 1832, cut from Farmington Township, and became a city in 1969. Of its thirty-one square miles, a little more than one is water, and most of that is Walled Lake, which lies mainly inside Novi and is the largest lake in the city. Shawood Lake sits southwest of it, and several of the smaller lakes in town were created by gravel pit mining or as stormwater retention areas, a reminder of how much of Novi has been dug, graded and built over in a few decades.
Walled Lake is also where the Middle Branch of the River Rouge begins: the Walled Lake branch rises in the marshy ground south of the lake and heads toward Northville and Plymouth. Most of Novi drains to the Rouge, while the north and west edges of the city drain toward the Huron River. Three freeways come together here, I-96, I-696 and I-275, along with M-5, and the Novi Road and I-96 interchange anchors a retail cluster that grew around Twelve Oaks Mall after it opened in 1977. Northwest of Novi, the city of Wixom, 17,193 residents, grew up around a railroad junction and the Wixom Assembly Plant, which ran from 1957 to 2007. West of Novi, Lyon Township covers 32 square miles and includes the crossroads community of New Hudson, where Grand River Avenue, Pontiac Trail and South Milford Road meet.
Work in this corridor ranges from retention pond banks and office-park edges to wooded lots near Walled Lake and fence lines on bigger parcels farther west. All of it is cut with one high-flow tracked skid steer, a Bobcat T86 on rubber tracks carrying a FECON forestry mulcher or a brush hog attachment, and the cuttings stay in place as a chip layer. The phone at (810) 776-8524 is staffed daily from 8 AM to 8 PM, and an address with a few photos through the quote form brings back a single written project price, travel included.
Where the crew works around Novi: the City of Novi, the City of Wixom and Lyon Township, along Twelve Mile Road, Grand River Avenue, Novi Road, Haggerty Road, Meadowbrook Road and the I-96 corridor, around the south end of Walled Lake, and at the New Hudson crossroads.
Common Jobs in Novi, Wixom, Lyon Township
- Subdivision outlots and retention pond banks along the Twelve Mile Road corridor, cleared to a mulch layer and priced as one job for the association.
- Wooded backyards near Walled Lake and the Rouge headwaters, honeysuckle and box elder ground out from under the shade trees.
- Fencerows and field edges on the working farm parcels in Lyon Township, ground back to the line so the field stays workable.
- New-build lot clearing on the remaining wooded and former farm parcels between Novi, Wixom and Walled Lake, with keeper trees flagged and the drive line opened.
- Commercial and office-park edges along Grand River Avenue and Twelve Mile Road, cleared and left clean for leasing or building.
Work in Novi, Wixom and Lyon Township
Six kinds of ground, and what is done with each.
Retention ponds and subdivision outlots
Several of Novi's smaller lakes started as stormwater retention areas, and the same kind of basin sits behind many subdivisions and office buildings along Twelve Mile Road. Their banks and the outlots beside them grow buckthorn and Callery pear whenever the mowing stops short. The forestry mulcher cuts the bank down to a chip layer a landscaper can maintain, and an association or a property manager receives one written price for the whole property. The HOA retention pond page and commercial land clearing cover the details. The same approach suits the lakes in town that began as gravel pits, where the edges fill in as quickly as any pond bank.
Wooded lots near Walled Lake
The ground south of Walled Lake is marshy, and the wooded lots around the lake fill in under the canopy with honeysuckle and box elder. Lakeshore Park runs between the lake and Twelve Mile Road, and Pavilion Shore Park occupies the south end where the Walled Lake Casino and Amusement Park once stood. On private lots the understory is opened under the shade trees and, where a bank meets the water, cut from the top down. See lakefront and creek bank clearing.
Commercial and office-park edges
The Novi Road and I-96 interchange anchors a large retail cluster, car dealerships line Haggerty Road and Grand River Avenue, and office and industrial parks fill the blocks between. Unbuilt outlots and untended margins on those properties are cleared to the lot lines and left clean for leasing, a survey crew or a builder, on a schedule that follows the site's business hours. Site preparation explains what comes after the clearing.
Fence lines and field edges toward Lyon Township
Lyon Township covers 32 square miles west of Novi, with the city of South Lyon on its west side and the New Hudson crossroads inside it. Fence lines on the larger parcels thicken with box elder and wild grape a little more each season. We cut them back to the line and mow open ground with the brush hog attachment on the same machine. See fence line clearing and pasture reclamation. New Hudson began in the 1830s as a changing point on the stage coach line, and the township around it had 23,271 residents at the 2020 census.
Home sites on the remaining wooded parcels
Most of the farmland and open space that Novi had in the middle of the twentieth century has since been built on, so the parcels still wooded stand out. We open the house footprint, the drive line and the work area to the stakes, keep the trees you tape, and leave a chip surface the excavator grades through. Our page on land clearing for new construction and the guide to clearing a lot for a new house cover the order of work.
Storm cleanup and downed growth
After wind or ice brings limbs and young trees down into a thicket, the tangle can be ground where it lies instead of being hauled out piece by piece. Storm cleanup explains how that goes, and brush removal covers the ordinary version of the same job.
From First Photo to Finished Ground in Novi
What happens on each visit.
Photos from the house
Pictures of the thicket taken from the house or the road, plus the address, show us the density and the ground beneath it. A lake lot, a wet corner or a large acreage gets a walk-through first, with the keeper trees taped as we go.
A single written number
The price covers the whole property in one figure, with the drive from Royal Oak and the move of the machine counted in. Hourly billing never enters into it, and the number is on paper before the trailer is loaded. Replies to forms and texts arrive within one business day.
Routes and passes
Passes are planned so the machine stays on firm ground: along the top of a bank, across a dry outlot, or over frozen soil where the ground is marshy. The way in is settled from a photo of the gate, the side yard or the lot entrance.
Chips and a clean edge
What was brush becomes a chip layer a few inches deep, with the roots left in the soil. The landscaper can mow or seed the bank, the surveyor can walk the line, and nothing sits in a pile waiting for a truck.
Novi Through the Year
Timing for lake lots, ponds and open ground.
Winter
The marshy ground south of Walled Lake, where the Rouge branch begins, is a winter job: frozen soil carries the tracks, and bare branches make every lot line visible.
Spring
Pond banks and outlots go first, ahead of the growing season, so the landscaper starts on finished ground. Wet corners wait until the frost has left and the soil has firmed.
Summer
Wooded lots, lake-side understory and Lyon Township fence lines run straight through the warm months, and the dry weeks of late summer reach low ground that stays soft in spring.
Fall
Leaf-off shows the true shape of the thickets, and a lot or outlot cleared in October is ready for seed, sod or a spring build.
The Map Around Novi
Novi's open space is a patchwork. Lakeshore Park sits between Walled Lake and Twelve Mile Road, west of Novi Road, and remains one of the larger municipal parks in southeast Michigan. Tollgate Farm, a 160-acre farmstead and educational center, is on the northwest corner of Twelve Mile and Meadowbrook roads, and Ella Mae Power Park sits behind the Civic Center. On the west side of the city, parcels donated and acquired from 2004 onward preserve 253 acres of environmentally sensitive ground in the Huron River watershed, and a further 54 acres in the southeast of the city were bought in 2009 inside the Rouge watershed. Wixom, Walled Lake and Lyon Township surround the rest. The city of Walled Lake, population 7,246, sits north of Novi and east of Wixom, and takes its name from what looked to its first American settler, Walter Hewitt, like a stone wall on the lake's western bank in 1825.
From the shop in Royal Oak the drive to Novi is about twenty-five minutes, and Wixom, Walled Lake and Lyon Township are on the same stretch. Farmington Hills to the east, Waterford and Commerce and Milford to the north and northwest, and Plymouth and Northville to the south share the trip. A job that straddles a city or township line is still priced as one project. Because everything arrives on one trailer, Novi and Wixom are often handled on the same day, and an association with several ponds receives a single schedule.
Questions from Novi Owners
How is a lake or creek-side lot handled?
The bank is walked first, then cut from the top down, with the machine on stable ground and the chip layer left on the slope to hold the soil. Shade trees over the water are flagged and stay. Send a photo from the yard looking toward the water so the approach can be settled before the price.
When is the right time for marshy ground near the Rouge headwaters?
Frozen ground in winter or the dry stretch of late summer, when the tracks ride on firm soil. Upland lots and outlots can be cleared in any season.
Does one price cover Wixom and Lyon Township as well?
Yes. Novi, Wixom, Walled Lake and Lyon Township are reached on the same trip from Royal Oak, and each project is quoted as a single written price with the travel inside it. A parcel on a township line is still one job.
How long does a Novi lot or pond bank take?
A typical residential lot takes a day or two. Heavy brush with saplings works out to roughly an acre a day, and thick growth or larger acreage takes longer. The schedule arrives with the written price.
Can the work happen next to a busy road?
Yes. The machine stays inside the area being cleared, there is no haul truck, and the visit is scheduled around the property's hours. A photo of the road frontage shows where the machine will set up.
What happens to the cuttings?
They stay as a chip layer a few inches deep. Under trees the chips settle into the leaf litter over a couple of seasons, on a bank they hold the soil, and on an outlot a landscaper can seed or mulch over them. The mulch guide covers each case.
Do sprouts return after clearing?
Some. Buckthorn, honeysuckle and Callery pear send up sprouts from the root crown in the first summer, and one mowing or a spot follow-up that season settles most of them. The guide to the worst invasive plants in Michigan lists what to watch for.
What should go in the request for a price?
The street address, three or four photos from different angles, the location of the gate or entrance, and a note on anything hidden in the growth, such as a drain pipe, an old fence or an irrigation line.
Nearby Areas We Also Serve
See everything we do in Oakland County or browse all service areas.
Services in Oakland County
- Land Clearing in Oakland County
- Land Clearing in Southeast Michigan
- Forestry Mulching in Oakland County
- Lot Clearing in Oakland County
- Lot Clearing
- Brush Hogging in Oakland County
- Brush Hogging
- Brush Clearing & Brush Removal
- Fence Line Clearing
- Lakefront & Creek Bank Clearing
- Land Clearing for New Construction
- Pasture Reclamation
- Commercial Land Clearing
- Site Preparation
- HOA Retention Pond Clearing
Guides for landowners
- Buckthorn removal in Michigan
- Bush honeysuckle removal in Michigan
- Clearing a lot for a new house
- The worst invasive plants in Michigan
- What happens to the mulch afterward
- Forestry mulching vs brush hogging
- Hillside and creek-bank clearing
- Food plot clearing in Michigan
- Forestry mulching pricing guide
- Hunting trail clearing in Michigan
Sources and Further Reading
Official and public pages for the places named above.
City of Novi: City of Novi home page
City of Novi: Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services
Overgrown Ground in Novi?
Send the address and a few photos through the quote form, or call. You will get one project price for the whole job, travel included.