Lot clearing for builders and land owners

Land work is a scheduling problem. The pad cannot be cut until the trees are out, the trees cannot come out until someone decides which ones stay, and the stumps have to be gone before the excavator shows up. An arborist and a track loader from the same company shorten that chain.

At a glance

• 2014 Bobcat T870 track loader with brush mower and masticating head
• Crane and 75-foot Altec boom truck for large trees
• Chipper, chip truck and dump trucks for hauling
• Backhoe and skid steer services
• A certified arborist decides which trees are worth keeping

What should happen before the machines arrive?

Before the machines arrive, mark the corners, walk the parcel with the arborist, check permits, call 811 for utility locates and agree what happens to the material. The steps below go through each one.

1. Mark the property corners and the building envelope. We clear to the lines you give us.
2. Walk the parcel with the arborist and decide which trees stay. A mature tree that survives construction adds to the finished lot, and one with its roots cut often does not survive.
3. Check the rules for your jurisdiction (below) and get any permit in hand.
4. Have underground utilities located by calling 811 before stumps are ground or soil is moved.
5. Agree on what happens to the material: hauled away, chipped, masticated in place, or logs left for you.

Mow, masticate or clear by hand?

It depends on the ground: mow sagebrush and weeds on even ground, masticate dense brush and small trees, log timber worth hauling, and use lot clearing with stump grinding for a building pad. The table below shows what each method leaves behind.

More detail in mastication vs brush mowing vs hand clearing.

Which rules catch builders out?

In the Lake Tahoe Basin, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency requires a permit to remove live trees over 14 inches in diameter at breast height, and over 6 inches on lakeshore lots between the house and the lake. In the City of Reno, development sites fall under the tree protection ordinance in Chapter 18.12, Article V of the municipal code, which covers tree preservation on sites being developed. The agency decides, and the answer belongs in your schedule before clearing is booked.

Outside those two, we have not found a permit for removing trees on private land in Sparks or Carson City, but grading and building permits carry their own conditions. Start with lot clearing before building in Lyon and Douglas counties and tree rules by jurisdiction.

Why clear more than the building pad?

Because the house will need defensible space the day it is finished. In Lyon and Douglas counties about 38% of all buildings stand in the USDA Forest Service's direct-exposure zone, and in Storey County about 56%. Clearing and thinning out to 100 feet while the equipment is already on site means one mobilization instead of two. The zones are described in what is defensible space.