Guide · East Tennessee
The 6-step sequence a Knoxville-area owner should follow before hiring a crew.
You bought a wooded lot in the Knoxville area or you've owned one that's grown up over years. Here's the owner's playbook — the 6 steps to run through before you hire a crew.
Pull the surveyed plat if you have one. If you don't, get a survey before clearing anything close to the boundaries — misidentified property lines are a recurring source of expensive disputes.
Streams, wet-weather conveyances, sinkholes, karst features, and stream buffers. TDEC treats a wider range of watercourses as regulated than most owners realize. If in doubt, ask the crew supervisor to flag it during the walk-through.
What do you want the lot to look like when the crew leaves? Pasture, lawn, mulched-and-managed forest, bare pad for a build, driveway-with-yard? The end-state drives the method choice.
Walk the property and flag (with surveyor's ribbon) any trees you want kept. Specimen hardwoods, mature shade trees near the future house, trees along the property line for privacy. Easier to preserve up front than to replant later.
If a house build follows, the clearing needs to sequence with the general contractor's schedule. Silt fence and stabilization need to stay in place through construction, not just through clearing. Talk to the GC before scheduling the crew.
Get 2 or 3 walk-through quotes. Ignore any quote given over the phone. Read the scope carefully — does it include stump handling? Debris disposal method? Erosion control installation and inspection? Written scope with cost breakdown is the standard.
Free written quote after a walk-through. Coordinator returns your request the same business day.
Licensed independent land clearing crews across Knoxville, East Tennessee, and Maryville, Oak Ridge, Farragut, Powell.
