Lang Land Clearing: Commercial and industrial jobsite clean-up with the SFH/HP in Michigan
Lang Land Clearing is a tree removal service out of Beaverton, MI that offers land clearing services to the state of Michigan and beyond. They specialize in commercial and industrial jobs, maintaining a large fleet outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment.
At its heart, Lang Land Clearing is a family business. Founded in 1972 by Bill Lang Sr., Bill Lang Jr. joined the company in 1987. Bill’s younger son, Dan, joined in 1992, working primarily with Lang Tool Company. In 2015, Bill’s grandson joined as well, making Lang Land Clearing a three-generation operation.
In the mid-90s, Bill Jr. assumed the management of the land clearing company, allowing Bill Sr. to concentrate on running Lang Tool Company, which specializes in the design and sale of stump grinders, soil mixers, and dredge treatment equipment. I spoke to Bill Sr. and Bill Jr. to learn more about the business.
I began by asking Bill Sr. how he first got started in the land clearing business.
“Well, I worked for my dad and this company from Wisconsin that built man-made lakes in various places around the Midwest. It started buying up property north of Gladwin…
They'd hired somebody to start doing some clearing, and they were keeping everything really low-key because they were still buying property. Well, the company wasn't getting things done fast enough so they got ahold of my dad about sending a bulldozer up there to clear. The only clearing we'd ever done was where you shove up those windrows, dirt and all, on farmland, and then you're supposed to let it rot and level them back out. And of course, that wouldn't work here. They were having to burn everything up, and we didn't even have a brush rig. My dad went and bought a used one somewhere and sent me up there.
It was getting down late in the fall towards the time you were going to have to quit working, and the company told my dad if he would buy two crawler loaders with rakes on them, he could have the job of clearing the whole thing. My dad didn't want to do it because he said there would be nothing to do after that was done, but I told him I thought farmers would like that. They complain that they can't tile and all this when you push up those windrows.
So he told me if I was so smart, I should go buy them and do it. I told him I didn't have any money, and he said he'd cosign for a loan for me for one.
I went up to talk to the Isaacson guy, and he said, ‘Well, if you can stay ahead, that'll work.’ So I got the machine, and I stayed ahead.
When I got that done, it took me two years before I really knew what I was doing, and then I started clearing farmland. Everything just went along after that. Now mostly we clear for big subdivisions, commercial developments, highways, airports.”
Bill Jr. provided some additional information.
“We progressed into chipping and grinding rather than burning. In the beginning, you burned everything, but the closer you get to populated areas, you can't burn.”
In June 2023, Lang Land Clearing purchased an SFH/HP 250 to assist with jobsite clean-up. Bill Sr. described his first impressions of the attachment.
“We went down and saw where they'd done some work with it. In fact, they brought one up and cleaned up one of our jobs, and that's what sold me on it. I could see that it was a lot more efficient than raking with a dozer and grinding up the rakings with the stump grinder.”
Lang Land Clearing purchased the SFH/HP through Midwest Mulching Equipment and have been using it regularly since. I asked Bill Jr. about his experience with the machine.
“We've got it on the back of a John Deere tractor. We use it for mulching up both small stumps and woody debris to clean up our job sites. We're really happy with it. It does a really nice job for what we want to do. We'll take our stump grinders out ahead of it and grind the stumps in the ground … then what we've been doing with the FAE head is basically clean up. Once we take that through the soil, it busts everything up, and customers seem pretty happy with it too.”
He described what one of their regular jobs looks like.
“I'm mainly clearing for new subdivision housing. Industrial - new industrial complexes. We clear roads. We're clearing for a lot of different types of projects right now. [We have about] eight people [on a job]. About eight to ten, I would say. With the FAE head and the John Deere tractor, [we] probably clear… about 3 1/2 acres in 10 hours.”
With the many types and sizes of projects that Lang Land Clearing takes on, challenges are sure to arise. Bill Jr. explained a few of them.
“Wet ground conditions are a big challenge, and heavy rock is a challenge too. Not getting the machine stuck. And then trying to get through the rock. That's the biggest challenge.”
Government restrictions can also be a problem.
“The [regulation surrounding the] northern long-eared bat is a federal regulation, and sometimes they can hold the jobsite up. Yeah, if there are bats on the job [it slows things down].”
Despite these challenges and interruptions, Lang Land Clearing is staying busy.
“We've been on so many [projects lately]. We did a job in Northville, MI and it really came out well. The machine did a great job. The product was good. The dirt guys, the dirt moving people that hired us, were really happy with it. They have a new Northville lumber site. [The area] was about 45 acres. Because some of [the material] was light, we could really go through it quickly. I believe we went through that [job] in about 10 days.”
When asked what it takes to be a competitor in the industry, Bill Jr. said:
“To be a competitor, you have to have the right equipment and maintain your equipment. If you don't have the right equipment, and you don't maintain your equipment, you're not going to get anything done. You’ll just lose money. And I guess employees. You’ve got to have good employees.”
Bill Jr. wrapped up with a couple of final comments.
“David Heath [FAE Eastern Midwest Territory Manager] has been really good, really helpful anytime we have questions. And Leon [of Midwest Mulching Equipment] is good too. If you have any issues or anything, you can call, and they'll get you in the right direction.
The head itself - we're really impressed with how well built it is. You know, we build our own equipment. My dad's got patents on machines… so when we see machinery that's built well, we know it. So, we've been really happy with it.”
With their own custom equipment and the SFH/HP at their disposal, Lang Land Clearing is sure to be providing high quality land clearing work for generations to come.
