The equipment guide
You are not buying a machine, so its specification is not the useful information. What matters is what each class can reach, what it can cut, and what condition it leaves the ground in afterwards.
Published by the Land Clearing Authority editorial team · Last revised 2026-07-29 · Editorial policy · Corrections
Who this is for
- Landowners being told which machine will be used and unsure what that implies
- Anyone comparing contractors who own different equipment
- People whose site has an access, slope, or soil constraint
The short answer
Three properties do almost all the explaining. Physical size decides whether a machine can be on your site at all. Power and attachment design decide the diameter it can handle economically. Ground pressure decides how much damage it does to soil.
Everything else in a specification sheet is detail you do not need. A contractor naming a machine has given you an answer to a different question than the one you are asking.
Attachments matter as much as carriers. Two identical carriers with different heads behave differently, produce different residue, and tolerate different material.
The right machine is the largest one that fits your access and that your soil will carry. Where those conflict with capability, the site wins — a smaller machine and more hours beats a bigger machine and a damaged property.
What changes the answer
- Narrowest and lowest point on the route to the work
- Soil type and moisture at the time of work
- Largest stem diameter and the spread of sizes
- Slope, and how much of the site has it
- Whether material must be moved as well as cut
- What the ground has to do afterwards
Machine classes, described by consequence
Read the last two columns. Those are the ones that tell you something about your property rather than about the machine.
| Class | Typical role | Access implication | Soil implication |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compact track loader | Mulching, light clearing, tight sites | Fits narrow openings | Low to moderate pressure |
| Standard skid or track loader | Mulching, brush, material handling | Needs a working gateway | Moderate |
| Purpose-built mulching carrier | Sustained mulching, larger stems | Needs real access | Often low, by design |
| Excavator | Stumps, roots, material handling, reach | Needs room to swing | Concentrated at the tracks |
| Dozer | Pushing, rough grading, heavy clearing | Needs open ground | High disturbance |
| Compact excavator | Stumps and reach on tight sites | Fits residential access | Lower than full size |
| Tractor with rotary cutter | Maintenance mowing, light regrowth | Field access | Low, when dry |
| Stump grinder | One stump at a time, below grade | Varies widely by unit | Local only |
Attachments: what changes when the head changes
The carrier supplies power and mobility; the attachment decides what actually happens to the material. Contractors describe both, and the second half is the part landowners skip.
A drum-style mulching head presents tools along a horizontal cylinder, engaging material across its width. It tends to produce finer, more evenly distributed residue and handles dense low growth smoothly because there is always tooling in contact.
A disc-style head spins tools on a plane and tends to be more decisive on individual larger stems, cutting through them more aggressively while leaving coarser material behind. On mixed growth with scattered large stems it can be faster; on uniform brush it leaves a rougher finish.
Neither is better. The useful question is which one the contractor chose for the growth on your property and why — because that answer reveals whether they matched a tool to a job or simply own one machine.
Below-grade equipment, compared on what it removes
Three approaches, three depths, and they are frequently confused in quotes.
A stump grinder works into the plate itself, removing material to some depth below the surface. Most of the lateral root system remains, no hole is created, and the soil profile is barely opened. It is selective and priced per stump.
An excavator with a bucket or thumb breaks the plate free and lifts it out, along with much of the root mass. That leaves a substantial hole requiring backfill and settlement time, and it mixes the soil profile.
A root rake on a loader or dozer combs through disturbed ground collecting root material and debris. It is a finishing operation after extraction rather than an extraction method, and it is what produces a genuinely clean subgrade.
Ground pressure, and why it is the number to ask for
Of everything a contractor could tell you about their equipment, this is the one that predicts what your property will be like afterwards.
Ground pressure is machine weight spread over the area actually in contact with the ground. A heavy machine on wide tracks can exert less pressure than a lighter one on narrow tyres, which is why weight alone tells you very little.
Moisture is the multiplier. Wet soil has water in the pore spaces acting as a lubricant, so particles slide past each other and rearrange under load — that is compaction, and it is why the same machine leaves a mark in one month and a rut in another.
Where the ground will be grazed, cultivated, or planted, this matters for years. Where it is becoming a building pad that will be excavated and engineered anyway, it matters much less.
What to ask, and what to ignore
Four questions translate any specification into your site. Everything else is detail.
- How wide is the machine, and how tall with the attachment raised?
- What is its ground pressure, and what does that mean for my soil in the month you would work?
- What is the largest stem it takes economically, and what happens above that?
- Given my access and soil, is this the machine you would choose or the one you have available?
What drives the cost
| Driver | Effect |
|---|---|
| Access limit | Caps machine class absolutely. A smaller machine on the same growth means more hours. |
| Attachment match | The wrong head for the growth reduces production and worsens the finish. |
| Ground pressure requirement | Low-pressure equipment may cost more per hour and far less in repair. |
| Number of machines | Mixed stem sizes may need two, which is two mobilisations and often still cheaper. |
| Transport | Larger equipment costs more to move to and from the site. |
| Tooling wear | Rock, grit, and buried wire destroy teeth, and replacement is a genuine cost. |
Common mistakes
- Choosing on power without checking width or ground pressure
- Assuming a bigger machine finishes faster on a constrained site
- Treating a mulching head as capable of below-grade work
- Ignoring which attachment is coming, and asking only about the carrier
- Accepting one machine for a site with a wide spread of stem sizes
Questions to ask a contractor
- What carrier and attachment are coming, and why those for my growth?
- What is the machine width, height with attachment raised, and ground pressure?
- What is the largest stem it takes economically?
- What will the soil surface be like where you have driven?
What to do next
- Measure the narrowest and lowest points on your access route
- Measure the largest trunk diameter on the property
- Give both to every bidder and ask which machine they would bring
- Run the site access checker to see which constraints apply
Questions people actually ask
Does this guide recommend particular brands?
No. This platform rates no equipment and endorses no manufacturer. Brand tells you very little about whether a machine suits your site; width, ground pressure, and diameter capability tell you almost everything.
Is a dozer bad for my land?
It is a high-disturbance tool, which is sometimes exactly what a job needs and sometimes the wrong choice. On ground that will be graded and engineered anyway, disturbance matters little. On ground that will be grazed or planted, it matters a lot.
Can one machine do the whole job?
Often, on uniform sites. On mixed sites — light growth with scattered large stems, or open ground plus a restricted back section — two machine sizes in sequence is frequently cheaper than forcing one through everything.
Should I hire equipment and do it myself?
That is a decision about training, insurance, and risk rather than about cost, and this platform gives no operating guidance. Clearing equipment causes serious injuries, and the reasons contractors carry specific insurance are the same reasons to think carefully.
Work out the scope before you ask for prices
Answer the five questions every quote depends on — what is growing, where the material goes, how deep removal has to reach, whether equipment can get in, and what the land is for afterwards. Then send one properly described project to the right kind of contractor.
Nothing on this site is a recommendation of a specific company. The guidance describes categories of work and the questions worth asking. If you decide to request quotes, the introduction is free to you, contractors may pay to receive it, and you are under no obligation to hire anyone.