Land Clearing in East Texas

Because we’re based in the region, we know East Texas ground — the sandy uplands, the creek-bottom hardwood, the second-growth pine that reclaims a pasture in a few seasons. That local knowledge means the right machine on your property the first time. Call 903.530.5225 for a free estimate.

Stump removal when clearing land in East Texas

Every clearing job comes down to the same question about stumps: pull them out by the root, grind them down, or leave them where they are. The answer depends on what the ground is for once we leave.

Pulling vs. grinding. Pulling with a dozer lifts the stump and the root ball out of the ground, and the hole gets backfilled. A stump grinder only chews the wood down below the surface; University of Illinois Extension notes a grinder can take a stump to 8 or 12 inches below ground level, and the lateral roots stay in the soil. That is fine under a lawn or a pasture. It is not fine under anything that has to stay level.

Why stumps under a slab, drive or septic field come out by the root. Wood left in the ground rots. Purdue Extension puts it plainly: there will be significant settling of the ground below the stump as it decays. On open ground that shows up as a dip you top off with dirt. Under a house pad, a driveway or a septic field it shows up as a low spot, a cracked edge or ground that no longer drains the way it was graded. That is why, on a building site, the stumps where the house, drive and septic will sit come out with the roots, and the stumps in a corner you plan to leave wooded can stay.

What happens to the stumps and the brush. Pulled stumps go into the debris piles with the rest of the brush, to be burned or hauled off. Texas lets a landowner burn trees, brush and other plant growth from land clearing on the property it came from (30 TAC §111.209), but only under the state’s conditions in §111.219: the fire starts no earlier than an hour after sunrise and is out an hour before sunset, someone attends it, the wind is roughly 6 to 23 mph, smoke can’t foul a road or a neighbor’s house, and no treated lumber, plastics or demolition debris goes on the pile. On top of that, a county burn ban stops all of it. Stump piles are slow to burn down, so a pile started late in a dry summer can sit for weeks if the county goes under a ban. When that risk is high, hauling the stumps off or forestry mulching the brush instead of piling it keeps the job moving.

Before anything gets pulled. Pulling a stump disturbs the ground well past the trunk, so buried lines get marked before the dozer goes in. Tell us where the house, drive, septic and any future garden or pond will go, and the estimate will say which stumps come out by the root and which stay. Call 903.530.5225.

Dirt work and site prep after the clearing

Clearing is usually the first half of the job. Once the trees, brush and stumps are gone, the ground still has to be shaped for whatever comes next, and that dirt work is part of what we do: excavation, site prep, hauling off debris and erosion control, the same list at the top of this page.

Building pads and level ground. On a home site, the stumps come out where the house, drive and septic field will sit, and that ground gets leveled so the builder starts on a clean, buildable pad instead of a patch of roots and holes. In open ground we level out the ruts, stump holes and old burn-pile spots so the land can be mowed, fenced or planted.

Calling 811 first. Any digging, pulling or grading goes through a Texas811 locate request at least two business days before the machines start, so buried gas, water, power and fiber lines are marked on the ground.

Stormwater rules once an acre is opened up. Bare dirt washes. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s construction stormwater program covers construction activity that disturbs 1 acre or more (or is part of a larger plan that will): that work falls under the state’s Construction General Permit, TXR150000, which calls for a stormwater pollution prevention plan, while a site under 1 acre that isn’t part of a larger plan is not regulated by that permit. Who files depends on who runs the construction, and on bigger projects that is often the builder or developer. Either way, the erosion control we put in after clearing (keeping dirt out of ditches, creeks and the neighbor’s yard) is the part of that plan that happens on the ground.

If the land you need opened up is in or near Tyler, see land clearing in Tyler, TX. For a free walk-through and estimate on clearing and dirt work, call 903.530.5225.

Service Areas We Cover

Local land clearing service in East Texas:

Not sure which location page fits you? Call 903.530.5225 and we’ll walk through your project.