Contractor Capability Index

The first original dataset. The instrument and its methodology are published; no observations have been collected yet, and none are invented to fill the gap.

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

What this measures

A record of which clearing-related capabilities individual contractors advertise or evidence publicly, by market, so that landowners can see what proportion of a local market genuinely offers below-grade work, grading, or tree service rather than assuming one contractor covers everything.

The proportion of contractors serving a given market who publicly evidence each clearing-related capability.

Why it is worth measuring

The advice this platform gives most often is “that is a different trade, ask someone else”. That advice is only useful if the other trade exists near you. In some markets it does not, and a landowner following the guidance discovers that after making six phone calls.

This index is the measurement that would show where that is true. It is also the measurement that would let a landowner see, before calling anyone, what proportion of their local market actually evidences below-grade work or grading rather than assuming a single contractor covers everything.

How an observation is made

Identify contractors publicly presenting themselves as serving the market.
For each, record only capabilities the contractor states about itself in public material.
Record the evidence location and the date it was read.
Assign a confidence level reflecting how directly the statement evidences the capability.
Record stated service radius only where the contractor publishes one.

What counts as a valid observation

The contractor publicly presents itself as serving the named market
The capability is stated by the contractor about its own services
The evidence location and read date are both recorded

What is deliberately excluded

Capabilities inferred from business name or directory category
Third-party claims about a contractor
Reviews, ratings, and reputation signals of any kind
Any information obtained other than from public sources

Provenance

Collection provenance
Collected by	Land Clearing Authority editorial team
Collection method	Manual review of publicly available information: a contractor’s own published service descriptions, equipment listings, and stated service areas. Each capability is recorded against the specific public statement that evidences it.
Evidence basis	Public statements made by the contractor about their own services. Nothing is inferred from a business name, a category listing, or a directory classification.
Opened	2026-07-29
Last reviewed	2026-07-29
Update cadence	Reviewed at least annually per market; a record is revisited whenever its evidence URL changes or becomes unavailable.
Minimum sample before publication	40 observations
Unit of observation	One record per contractor per market.

Limitations

These are not caveats added at the end. They are the reasons a result from this dataset would have to be read carefully even once it exists.

A capability a contractor advertises is not a capability this platform has verified. Nothing here establishes that a contractor can, will, or is licensed to perform the work.
Public statements are a partial picture. Contractors who do not maintain public material are undercounted, and small operators are systematically more likely to fall into that group.
The index measures what is claimed publicly, not quality, availability, price, or fitness for any particular project.
Market boundaries are this platform’s construct, and contractors do not organise their service areas around them.
Records go out of date as contractors change equipment and services. The read date on each record is what tells you how much weight it deserves.