It’s a bold claim, but we stand by it. Site prep services hinge on a company’s ability to work with the land to create the landscape the owner needs. It requires flexibility, reliability, and endurance. You are going to run into issues—this is construction. Let’s not lie to ourselves.
With that in mind, we try to meet each challenge as they comes and leave our clients with the best possible experience.
No matter how long this land has had to become overgrown, we will handle it. We pride ourselves on both a job well done and done right the first time. Our clients have come to expect that from us. You can, too.
Site clearing or site preparation, as the name suggests, is the process of removing waste to make way for a building or demolition of old structures. The types of waste this work handles can include hazards, obstacles, and organic debris. It’s the very first step in any construction process.
Ultimately, the goal of site preparation is to make the site as conducive to construction efforts as possible. It allows the site to become a safe place where people work.
Why remove organic materials? They will decompose over time and potentially create issues with stability, so it’s smarter to remove them preemptively.
You could see site prep as a concentrated effort to give the site a fresh start, free of debris, abandoned buildings, old equipment, etc. This effort is also mixed in with recycling efforts because this is where recyclable materials would be collected.
In most cases, this work is done using heavy machinery, which can include any of the following.
At a minimum, this work consists of removing vegetation and ensuring the base has a good compaction rate. It will also include drainage that ensures the land isn’t sitting in water and that rainfall isn’t oppressive in the future.
The more populated the area, the more restrictions are in place, which means that there will be more tasks to complete.
We always recommend aligning your plans with the local permitting process before ANY other step to reduce the risk of wasted time, money, and effort. We take this approach no matter what type of project you are facing, including
Imagine painting over a surface that’s dirty and wet. The paint won’t stick. If anything, you’ll just make a colorful mess. The same idea applies to construction. Is anyone really capable of constructing a new building without clearing out the overgrown foliage and equipment? No. And if they were, that building would not be very fun to work in.
So, what site prep and clearing provides is a fresh start. The land might be contaminated with hazardous materials left behind decades ago. That has to go. The land's surface must also be prepared to support a new build. That has to be done. You also have to be able to access the land, which is nearly impossible when you don’t clear and prepare it.
Furthermore, construction is hard on the land. By properly preparing the site, you can reduce negative impacts on the surrounding environment and ecosystems.
The exact type of tasks and actions done in site preparation completely depends on the property, but generally speaking, it’s a comprehensive process. Every type of project has different requirements because of the unique objectives, so you’ll often find this service is customized to accommodate that.
That being said, there is a pattern this process follows.
Each of these steps will be shorter or longer, depending on the circumstances of your project. Below we explain each step in detail.
Before the clearing begins, you have to be sure everyone understands what exactly they are clearing. This is officially done with a completed site investigation survey, where surveyors assess the land, its conditions and complete the documentation needed to continue.
They’ll evaluate and prepare the following.
The survey is also useful for choosing the safest plot for the build. Surveys are typically split into three parts.
You could consider this stage to be the “execution” part of this process. Now, your site prep contractor will go ahead and clear the site. The team will likely wear protective gear since you never know what you might find.
As a rule, site prep teams will start with the undergrowth on the first pass, leaving larger vegetation behind. They’ll use hand tools and move on foot to help create a larger space where the machinery can enter. That is also helpful in making the whole tree removal process safer and easier.
After tree removal, the team will handle tall stumps and large stones with designated machinery. Any animal burrows will need to be cleared out and filled with clay to prevent the sinking of future structures. Typically, you’ll see site prep contractors remove everything within 30 feet of the building site to be safe.
Surface soil tends to be chocked full of organic material, which creates an unstable foundation for a building. That’s why site prep always involves loosening, removing, and hauling soil off the plot.
There are three types of soils.
Once the debris has been removed from the building site, it’s often collected, loaded, and prepared for transport to whatever facility is deemed best. But within that extraction process, there will be a decision regarding how much can be reused or recycled into your project or another one.
Waste materials are categorized as biological, chemical, or physical.
There will come a point where site prep, site clearing, and all related tasks are completed. So, to best support the rest of the build, your team will likely review any additional findings on the property and offer ideas or changes based on those findings.
Site prep and site clearing are all about getting the land ready and making it accessible so that the project can be completed. But that is only possible when the conditions allow it. In the southeast, that is rarely an issue. In the rest of the country, that is often an issue.
When it comes to any service, more notice is better, so you might consider booking site prep a few months ahead of time to ensure your scheduling needs are met.
Also, consider what exactly you’d like to be done. If recycling materials is important to you, be sure to check with your site prep contractors to see if they can meet that need.
Site preparation is the process of removing any unwanted materials from the site of a build. That can include organic debris (trees, shrubs, and other vegetation), inorganic debris, hazardous materials, and waste. Its cost and time frame depend on the size and nature of your project. And it’s usually completed with a mixture of hand tools and heavy machinery.
If the project is substantial enough, we will use heavy equipment to complete work, such as
Materials can be any item relating to the above tasks.
No, but they are related. Site prep services can include grading, but grading is not always an indication that site prep work is happening.
Site prep is a preparational stage of construction that precedes everything else—literally, everything.
The timeframe of any site prep project will completely depend on the size of the property, the hazards present, and the manpower available.
Every project under the umbrella of construction will always require permitting. We take this approach to not waste your time or money on a project just to discover that it can’t be done.
As much as we would like to tell you the cost of site preparation services, we have to give you the standard answer of “It depends.” Like with any project, it varies greatly depending on the time it takes and the amount of materials needed. We can always submit a bid or give you a daily rate estimate based on the details of your project.
