Wooded lots, fencerows and build sites | Ann Arbor, MI

Brush Clearing in Ann Arbor, MI

Brush clearing Ann Arbor property owners can plan around: buckthorn, honeysuckle, saplings and years of overgrowth cut back, hauled out and left ready for a house, a fence or a lawn. Free quotes, and calls returned the same day.

Request A Free Quote 888-408-0320

Boom mower cutting back brush along a roadside

Clearing ticket

The drive in: Ann Arbor-Saline Road, north out of our Saline yard
Usual growth: Buckthorn, honeysuckle, box elder and wild grape
Usual ground: Wooded lots that slope toward the Huron
Watch for: Oaks, which should not be cut mid-April to mid-July

Ann Arbor Brush Clearing From a Crew Working Washtenaw Ground Since 1998

Most of the overgrowth around Ann Arbor isn't native. It's buckthorn and bush honeysuckle, and once it fills in under the oaks you can't see twenty feet into your own lot. The city's natural area crews fight it in the parks. On private ground, it's on you.

KBK Landscaping Inc. has worked out of Saline since 1998, and brush clearing Ann Arbor jobs are a short run up Ann Arbor-Saline Road for us. We clear wooded lots, fencerows, back acreage and build sites for homeowners, businesses and municipal properties, part of the same field mowing, lot and brush clearing work we do across the county. One walk, one quote, and a crew that shows up with the right machine.

Overgrown brush crowding the edge of a gravel road

Wooded lots

Buckthorn and Honeysuckle Thickets on Ann Arbor's Wooded Lots

Walk into a neglected lot on the north side, off Dixboro or Pontiac Trail, and the understory is a wall. Buckthorn leafs out early and holds its leaves late, so it shades out everything under it. Deer browse the native shrubs and walk right past it. Give it ten years and the woods have one layer: thick, thorny and green.

Our brush and overgrowth clearing on wooded ground is selective. We cut the invasive understory, keep the oaks, hickories and anything you've flagged, and open the floor back up so you can walk it. Our brush removal services on a lot like this include hauling, so you aren't left with a mountain of stems by the garage.

Loaders and an excavator on a freshly graded job site

Build sites

Brush Clearing for Construction on Ann Arbor Infill and Edge Parcels

A surveyor can't set stakes in a thicket, and an excavator operator shouldn't be guessing what's under the brush. Brush clearing for construction comes first on most new homes and additions we see around Ann Arbor, especially on the township edges where a single lot can be half woods.

Ann Arbor has rules on landmark trees for sites going through plan review, so we flag those with you before anything gets cut. Then the brush comes out, the debris goes on our trucks, and the ground is ready for grading. When the build wraps up, we can come back for landscaping on the finished Ann Arbor lot.

Brush cleared back from a line of utility poles

Lines and ditches

Fence Lines, Ditches and Utility Edges on Ann Arbor's Outer Roads

Out where Ann Arbor turns into township, along Geddes, Platt or Ellsworth, the problems run long and skinny. A fencerow that grew into a hedge of box elder. A ditch bank full of sumac. A driveway you can't see out of because the brush leans into the road.

Heavy brush clearing along those lines is tractor work. A boom mower reaches down a ditch slope and over a fence without putting a wheel where it does not belong. If the rest of the property just needs a cut, our field mowing crews in Ann Arbor can take the open ground on the same visit.

Timing

Scheduling Ann Arbor Clearing Around Frozen Ground and Oak Season

Late fall through winter is the easy window. Leaves are down, you can see what you're keeping, and frozen ground carries a machine without rutting the yard on the way in. Spring works on dry, high ground and goes slow near the river.

Oaks get special handling. Michigan guidance is to leave oaks unwounded from mid-April to mid-July because of oak wilt, and Ann Arbor has a lot of oak. On an oak-heavy lot we work around them that season or book the job outside that window. Bare soil should not sit open through a rainy spring either, so cleared ground often gets straw seeding or hydroseed right after.

Why Ann Arbor Owners Hand Overgrown Ground to a Saline Crew

Kris Krause started KBK working for friends, family and small businesses while still in high school and grew it into a company of about 25 people with its own equipment. That matters on a brush job. A brush clearing company that rents its machines prices the rental into your quote. We own ours, and for most brush clearing Ann Arbor work we can get them there without a long wait.

We also run a garden center and hold a nursery grower license, so we know which plants are worth saving and which ones come back harder if you only mow them. Plenty of people find us searching brush clearing near me and expect a lawn service. Ask any brush clearing contractor what they own before you hire them. Once the ground is open, we can build the patio or retaining wall that was the reason for clearing it, and businesses on our Ann Arbor commercial lawn care route can add back-lot clearing to the same schedule.

Same DayCalls and quote requests answered the day they come in.
Free QuotePriced after a walk of the lot, not a guess over the phone.
Owned FleetTractors, boom and flail mowers, skid steers, loaders and dump trucks.
One CompanyClearing, grading, seeding and landscaping without hiring a second outfit.

Clearing Brush Around Ann Arbor and the Townships That Ring It

Ann Arbor sits in the middle of our service area, with Saline straight south down Ann Arbor-Saline Road and the rest of Washtenaw County a short haul in any direction.

Ann Arbor Wooded lots, infill sites and north side ravines
Ann Arbor Township North along the Huron and Pontiac Trail
Scio Township West out Jackson Road and Liberty
Pittsfield Township South, on the way to our Saline yard
Ypsilanti East on Washtenaw Avenue
Dexter Up the river past Delhi

The same crews head east for brush clearing in Ypsilanti, west for Scio Township brush clearing, and up the Huron for overgrown lots in Dexter.

Ann Arbor Brush Clearing Questions, Answered Straight

Price, timing, trees and cleanup. If yours is not here, call and ask.

How much does brush clearing in Ann Arbor cost?

It depends on how thick the growth is, the size of the stems, slope, access and how much debris has to leave the site. A quarter acre of honeysuckle behind a house and five acres of mixed brush on a township parcel are different jobs. We walk the property and give you a free quote for brush clearing Ann Arbor lots of any size, with hauling spelled out.

Will you leave the trees I want to keep?

Yes. We walk the lot with you and tie flagging tape on anything that stays: oaks, a good maple, a row of spruce. Anything flagged gets worked around, not over.

Can you clear buckthorn without hurting my oaks?

Yes. Buckthorn and honeysuckle come out of the understory and the oaks stay. We avoid wounding oaks between mid-April and mid-July because of oak wilt, which shows up around Ann Arbor, so oak-heavy lots get scheduled around that window.

Does buckthorn come back after it is cleared?

Cut buckthorn resprouts from the stump, and seed in the soil keeps sprouting for a few years. Overgrown brush removal is the first step and keeping it out is the second. We tell you on the walk what follow-up your lot needs so it does not fill back in.

What happens to the brush after it is cut?

Brush cleanup is part of the job. It gets loaded and hauled off on our trucks, or piled where you want it if you would rather keep it on site. Either way it is written into the quote before work starts.

Do you clear lots for new construction?

Yes. We clear build sites ahead of surveyors and excavators, and if the lot is going through plan review we flag protected trees with you first. Grading and site prep can follow from the same crew.

Do you bring real equipment, or a mower and a chainsaw?

Real equipment. Tractors with boom and flail mowers, skid steers, loaders and dump trucks, all owned by KBK. If you found us searching brush removal near me, that fleet is the difference between a lost weekend and a cleared lot.

How soon can you get to my Ann Arbor property?

We return calls and quote requests the same day. Ann Arbor is a short trip up Ann Arbor-Saline Road from our yard, so most brush clearing Ann Arbor jobs get a firm date when we quote. Call 888-408-0320.

Book a Free Walk-Through of Your Ann Arbor Lot

Tell us where the property is and what has grown up on it. We walk the ground with you, flag what stays and give you one number for the brush clearing services you need. No surprises on the invoice.

Request A Free Quote 888-408-0320

Office hours 8 to 5 weekdays and 8 to 2 Saturdays, out of 9685 West Michigan Avenue in Saline.