What if the machine can’t reach part of the site?

Almost every parcel has a corner the machine cannot get to — behind a structure, across a wet gully, up a bank, beyond a gate that will not widen. It is a normal condition, not a failure, and there are five things you can do about it.

Published by the Land Clearing Authority editorial team · Last revised 2026-07-29 · Editorial policy · Corrections

Who this is for

Owners whose site has an isolated area, a steep bank, or a wet crossing
Anyone told part of the work cannot be done as scoped
People deciding whether to build access or leave ground alone

The short answer

Build access to it, which means clearing a route first and accepting the cost and the disturbance that route involves.

Use a smaller machine for that part, accepting lower output and possibly a second mobilisation.

Do it by hand, which is viable on a small area and becomes expensive quickly.

Work it from outside — reach in from the accessible side with a longer boom or from an adjoining position, where geometry allows.

Or leave it, which is frequently the right answer and almost never the one that gets considered first.

What changes the answer

How large the unreachable area is
Why it is unreachable — width, slope, water, or a structure in the way
Whether clearing it matters to your objective at all
Whether building a route causes damage you do not want
Whether an adjoining owner could provide access

The five options, costed by what you give up

Each has a real cost and none of them is free. The mistake is choosing between the first two without considering the fifth.

Options for ground a machine cannot reach
Option	What it costs	When it makes sense
Build a route in	Clearing the route, plus lasting disturbance	The area is large or will need repeat access
Smaller machine	Lower output, possibly a second mobilisation	A modest area beyond a fixed width constraint
Hand work	Labour hours, and a practical area limit	A small area near something that must not be damaged
Reach in from outside	Nothing extra, where geometry allows it	Narrow strips and edges within reach
Leave it	Nothing, if it does not serve the objective	More often than owners assume

Why leaving it deserves first consideration

The instinct is to solve the access problem. The better first question is whether the ground needs clearing at all.

Go back to what the land has to be capable of afterwards. An unreachable gully, a strip behind a barn, a bank at the back of a parcel — if none of them is part of the objective, the access problem evaporates.

There are also positive reasons to leave ground standing. Unworked areas hold cover, screen boundaries, stabilise slopes, and cost nothing to maintain. On recreational land they are frequently the most valuable ground on the parcel.

Building a route, and what it commits you to

A route in is itself a clearing project with its own width, drainage, and consequences.

It has to be wide enough for the machine plus working clearance, which is more than the machine’s width. On sloping or wet ground it may need surfacing or drainage to be usable more than once. And it stays there — a route cut through cover is a permanent change to the parcel, visible and usable by anything that walks.

Where repeat access will be needed — annual maintenance, future phases, a structure going in — the route is an investment. Where the area will be cleared once and never revisited, cutting a permanent route to reach it is often disproportionate.

The neighbour option

Frequently overlooked and sometimes the cheapest answer: access from adjoining land.

Where a neighbour’s field, lane, or hardstanding gives the machine a straightforward approach to your isolated corner, asking is worth the conversation. It usually needs an agreement about damage, timing, and restoration, and it can turn an expensive problem into a simple one.

It also cuts both ways. Where your land is the easy approach to a neighbour’s difficult corner, offering that access is a reasonable trade.

The area you cannot reach on foot either

A related case worth separating: ground the machine cannot reach because you have never been able to reach it yourself, and therefore cannot describe.

On overgrown acreage this is common, and it changes what a quote can honestly say. A contractor pricing ground nobody has inspected is pricing an assumption, and the resulting figure carries a risk premium or an allowance.

The productive first step is often a narrow exploratory cut — one machine pass in, enough to see what is there — priced as its own small piece of work. It converts an unknown parcel into a describable one, and everything quoted afterwards is quoted against facts.

What to establish before the crew arrives

Unreachable ground discovered on the morning becomes an improvised decision, usually the expensive one.

Walk the site with each bidder and ask them to identify what they cannot reach with the machine they intend to bring. Then decide, in advance and in writing, which of the five options applies to each area.

That converts a site surprise into a priced scope, and it stops the outcome being decided by whoever is holding the controls at four in the afternoon.

What drives the cost

Cost drivers on this kind of project
Driver	Effect
Route length and width required	Access clearing is clearing, priced like any other
Machine size available	Smaller equipment reaches more and produces less per hour
Hand-work area	Labour cost rises steeply with area
Additional mobilisations	Bringing a second, smaller machine is a separate visit
Ground protection on a wet crossing	Matting or bridging to reach isolated ground

Common mistakes

Solving the access problem before asking whether the ground matters
Cutting a permanent route to reach an area that will be cleared once
Discovering unreachable ground on the day rather than at the site walk
Underestimating the working clearance a machine needs beyond its own width
Never asking an adjoining owner about access

Questions to ask a contractor

Which parts of this site can you not reach with the machine you plan to bring?
What would a route into that area involve, and how wide?
Would a smaller machine reach it, and what does that do to the time?
Can you work that strip from the accessible side instead?
If we simply leave that area, does anything else in the scope change?

What to do next

Walk the site with each bidder and mark the unreachable areas
Test each one against your written objective before solving the access
Ask an adjoining owner about approach where their land is the easy route
Choose and price one of the five options for each area before work starts

Questions people actually ask

Is it cheaper to build a route or use a smaller machine?

It depends on the area beyond the constraint and on whether you will need access again. A permanent route pays for itself with repeat use; for a one-off clearing of a small area, a smaller machine is usually less disruptive.

How wide does an access route need to be?

Wider than the machine, by a working margin that varies with the equipment, the terrain, and what has to pass. Ask the contractor for the figure for their machine rather than working from a general number.

Can a machine work on a steep bank?

That depends on the slope, the ground, and the machine, and it is a safety judgement for the contractor rather than a specification for the owner. What helps is telling them where the steep ground is before they quote.

Will leaving an area unclear cause problems later?

Only if the objective needed it clear. Left ground continues to grow and continues to seed into adjoining areas, so it becomes a boundary to manage rather than a neutral space — which is a maintenance consideration, not a reason to clear it.