Everything from a strimmed overgrown lawn to a full-scale construction site prep — vegetation, undergrowth, trees, the lot. All waste recycled as biomass.
From lawn to landsite
Site clearance covers a huge range — from a domestic garden that has simply got away from its owner, to pre-construction clearance on large commercial sites. Whatever the scale, the principles are the same: careful planning, efficient execution, and responsible disposal.
Serving Brighton, Hove, Ringmer, Lewes, Seaford, Shoreham, Henfield, Worthing and all surrounding BN postcodes.
01 — Scale
Site Clearance can range from basic lawn strimming to the comprehensive removal of undergrowth and trees on large construction sites.
On smaller sites we often find customers have a neglected garden that has become overgrown and unmanageable, preventing them from moving forward with any landscaping project. We clear the slate, so they can begin.
02 — Process & disposal
On larger sites our services include mulching undergrowth and removing wooded areas to prepare the ground for the next use.
All debris we remove is recycled for biomass as per our Environmental Policy — nothing gets landfilled that doesn't have to be.
Signs to watch for
A shortlist of the scenarios that bring customers to this service — if any of them look familiar, it's probably time for a conversation.
Bought a house with a garden that hasn't seen a mower in a decade. Brambles, ivy, self-seeded sycamore, dead lawn, decades of leaf litter. We reset the plot back to usable ground.
Booked a landscaper or a new patio crew and need the site cleared down to bare earth before they arrive. We strip, stump-grind, and level — ready for hardcore or turf.
Planning granted, groundworks imminent, but the plot is still vegetation. We clear vegetation and trees in line with the felling plan, work within the environmental constraints, and hand over ready for civils.
Selling a paddock, a wooded plot, or land with development potential. Clean presentation matters. We clear to whatever level the EA recommends for viewings.
Garden that's gone through a storm and been left. Trees down, debris strewn, fences gone. We clear, make safe, and reset the ground.
Japanese knotweed, Himalayan balsam, bamboo running into neighbours' plots. These need specific handling — we flag what we see and advise on whether specialist treatment is the right first step before clearance.
What to expect
From the first phone call to the last leaf cleared — the order of operations on a typical Branchwalkers job.
We come out, walk the plot, and scope what's coming out, what's staying, where machinery can access, and what the finished level should look like. Free and no-obligation, like everything else.
Back to you within 48 hours. For bigger jobs we'll quote a programme with day rates and a completion target. Waste disposal included in the price — we hold the waste carrier licence, so the chain of custody is straightforward.
For larger plots or development clearance we may need a felling licence, a PEA (preliminary ecological appraisal), or a bat / dormouse / nesting-bird walkover. We advise on what's needed and arrange it where appropriate.
Strim, cut, chip, stump-grind, rake. We start with the lightest vegetation and work up through the undergrowth to the trees, with the crew sized to the site. Machinery (MEWP, mini-excavator, chipper) where it earns its keep; hand-clearance where it's tight.
All arisings removed and processed for biomass — nothing landfilled that doesn't have to be. Ground raked or levelled to the spec. Waste transfer notes handed over. Photos before and after if you want them for records.
In Sussex specifically
Two flavours of Sussex clearance dominate the workload. Domestic: older properties — Victorian terraces, post-war bungalows, mid-century cottages — where the garden has grown wild across a tenancy or between owners. Often a mix of mature self-seeded sycamore and ash, runaway leylandii, decades of ivy, and a layer of bramble over the whole thing. Commercial/plot: development sites across rural Sussex where permission's been granted for conversion or new build, and vegetation needs clearing inside the consented footprint with ecological constraints respected. Sussex in particular demands attention to dormouse populations (well-documented across the weald), bat roosts in older trees, and the March–August nesting-bird season. We'll also flag Japanese knotweed and bamboo where we find them — common enough to be a real factor on around one in fifteen clearance jobs we quote, and worth handling correctly up-front rather than spreading them across the site with a flail.
Frequently asked
Straight answers to the questions that come up most often on site visits. Not here? Pick up the phone — we're happy to get into the detail.
Wildly variable — it's about density and access. A domestic 10m × 20m garden gone to seed: often a single day with a two or three-man crew. Multi-acre plot with mature trees: a programme of several days with machinery. We'll give an honest hours/days estimate at quote.
We hold a waste carrier licence and take all arisings off-site to a licensed processor. Green waste is chipped and recycled for biomass. Nothing we remove is landfilled that doesn't have to be, and you get a waste transfer note for every load.
We identify it and flag it, but we don't treat it ourselves — specialist knotweed treatment is a licensed, multi-year programme that needs a dedicated contractor. We'll recommend one and coordinate our clearance around their treatment regime. Cutting knotweed and mixing it with general waste is how it spreads, so the sequencing matters.
Yes — we handle the tree felling as part of the clearance. If the trees are TPO'd or the site is in a Conservation Area, we deal with the council paperwork first (TPO application, CA notice, felling licence if the volume qualifies). Trees and undergrowth come out in programme sequence.
For a normal domestic garden, no. For woodland or significant tree removal you may need a felling licence (Forestry Commission threshold). If trees have TPOs or sit in a Conservation Area, consent is required — we handle that. Large-scale development sites usually have clearance pre-agreed in the planning consent.
Yes, as part of the clearance or as a return visit. We grind to below ground level so you can reseed, returf, or build over. For development sites we grind to the depth your civils spec requires.
Yes — after clearance and stump grinding we can rotavate, level, or leave the ground ready for turfing or seeding. Full landscaping (turf-lay, patio, planting) isn't our core service but we partner with local landscapers for the follow-on if wanted.
Both. Single back-garden resets are a large part of the weekly workload; so are multi-acre plot clearances for developers, estate agents, and institutional landowners. The crew and the kit scale to the job.
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Whether it's a single back garden or a multi-acre landsite, we clear, recycle, and leave the ground ready for whatever you're building next.
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