ISA-CERTIFIED ARBORISTS • SERVING GREATER SEATTLE
Lot & Land Clearing
Full-service lot clearing, brush removal & site prep to get your property build-ready across the Seattle-Tacoma metro.
✓ Licensed, Insured & Bonded ✓ ISA-Certified ✓ 24/7 Emergency
- Est. 2010Serving the Puget Sound
- ISA CertifiedArborists on staff
- Licensed, Insured & BondedWA #SOUNDPL826DZ
- 4.7 out of 5517 reviews across 3 sites
- 24/7Emergency response
Trusted Land Clearing in Seattle & Lot Clearing Services Since 2010!
Our lot & land clearing service in Seattle is trusted by many developers and property owners throughout the Seattle-Tacoma metro area. If your lot needs land clearing, you need to be able to count on a company to provide consistency and quality land clearing service. Large trees can present a serious obstacle when it comes to effective land clearing in the greater Seattle and Tacoma areas. That is why hiring an expert tree service company for your lot cleaning is essential. We take a pride in our ability to deliver trusted results!
Lot Clearing Services in King, Pierce & Snohomish Counties
Lot clearing and tree removal from storms is common in the Seattle-Tacoma area. We can have our crews respond to emergencies in Seattle with our 24-hour service. We will check the trees and inspect any broken limbs to determine the appropriate action. For general lot clearing, we will provide you with an estimate and inspection before our lot clearing services begin.
The Permit Trap That Costs People a Build
If you clear a treed lot under a state forest-practices permit without filing the right paperwork first, the county can put a six-year moratorium on developing that land. No building permit applications for six years. This catches people who clear a lot intending to build on it.
The rule comes from the state Forest Practices Act and is applied by each county. Inside city limits there is a second layer on top of this: most Puget Sound cities regulate individual trees as well, and the thresholds differ a lot by city. It exists to stop landowners logging a parcel as “forestry” and then immediately converting it to housing. The escape hatch is a Conversion Option Harvest Plan (COHP) — filed before the harvest, it releases the parcel from the moratorium. Filed after, it does nothing.
This is the single most important thing to get right, and it is why the sequence matters more than the cutting does.
What You Can Clear Without a Permit
The thresholds differ by county, so check the one you are in:
- Pierce County — a Class I forest practice needs no permit: 5,000 board feet or less in any rolling 12 months, personal use only (firewood, fence posts), no impact to listed species, and outside shorelines, streams, wetlands and slopes over 40%. Miss one condition and you are in Class II or higher. There is also a Single-Family Dwelling Exception for one home on up to two acres.
- Kitsap County — assume you need a permit. The exemption requires every condition: no critical areas or Wildlife Habitat Conservation Areas, not platted buffer trees, within one and a half tree lengths of a residence, under 5,000 board feet, a licensed and bonded crew removing wood as non-merchantable pieces, stumps left, no grading. Two acres or more converting to another use needs a DNR permit and a county COHP, or the six-year moratorium lands automatically.
- Skagit County — merchantable timber starts at six inches diameter. Under two acres is Class 1, as is any harvest under 5,000 board feet. Over 5,000 board feet needs a DNR permit and the income gets reported to the Department of Revenue.
- King County — permits are required inside critical areas and their buffers, in tracts and open space, and in Native Growth Protection Easements. See our King County page for the hazard-tree route.
- Island County — four classes, with Class IV-G the most commonly issued; it needs county approval of the underlying development first. Clearcuts on the islands are capped at 40 acres.
Critical Areas Come First
Before anything comes down, find out what is on the parcel. A Critical Areas Review tells you where the constraints are, and they are often bigger than people expect — wetland and stream buffers in Skagit can run past 300 feet, slopes over 30% are restricted, and in a designated floodway you cannot grade at all without a No-Rise Study.
Clearing into a buffer you did not know about is how a straightforward job turns into a restoration order.
What We Actually Do
- Walk the parcel with youBefore quoting, we establish what you are trying to end up with — a building envelope, a driveway, a pasture, a view — because that decides how much has to go and which permit path you are on.
- Sort out the paperwork sequenceWe tell you which class of forest practice your job falls under and whether you need a COHP filed before the first tree comes down. If you are close to a threshold, we will say so.
- Selective clearing, not scrapingMost lots do not need everything removed. Keeping the right mature trees raises the value of the finished property and holds the soil on a slope. We mark what stays.
- Brush, blackberry and mature timberHimalayan blackberry, alder thickets and second-growth conifer all need different equipment. We bring what the site actually needs rather than one machine for everything.
- Stumps and gradeStumps ground out or pulled depending on what is going on top — see stump grinding for the difference and why it matters if you are building.
- Haul, chip or leaveMerchantable logs can be decked for sale, the rest chipped on site or hauled. Chip left on site is free mulch and saves you a haul charge.
Access Is Usually the Real Cost
Two identical acres can quote very differently. What moves the number is whether a chipper and a truck can get to the work, how far material has to be dragged, whether there is a slope, and how close the neighbouring structures and power are. On a tight or steep parcel it is worth having someone look at it before you budget.