Forestry Mulching
A forestry mulching head on our skid loader grinds brush and small trees where they stand. The mulch stays on the ground and covers the soil.
Learn More
Olathe keeps growing, and every new house starts on cleared, workable ground. The Census Bureau counted 141,290 people here in 2020 and estimates 150,025 for 2025. Johnson County had 613 farms in the USDA's 2022 farm census, most of them under 50 acres. On that acreage, pasture and fence rows left alone fill in with brush and volunteer cedars.
Nickell's Land Management is a land clearing company in Parker, Kansas, about 40 miles south of Olathe. Olathe is part of our service area, and we clear land here with a skid loader and an excavator. Brush clearing opens overgrown ground so it can be pasture or yard again. Call or text (620) 252-9314, and we will look at the job and put the quote in writing.
Tell us what the land needs and where it is. We look at the job and put the quote in writing.
Census Bureau permit data show 527 new single-family homes authorized in Olathe in 2025. That was up from 321 in 2024. Each of those homes needed a building site made ready before construction began.
The Census Bureau puts the median year built for Olathe homes at 1994. Nearly 4 in 10 were built in 2000 or later. About 72 percent are detached single-family houses.
On a new building site, lot clearing comes first. The excavator takes the trees out and pulls the stumps, roots and all. Then site preparation levels the pad area and cuts in the access for your builder.
Olathe's city code requires a land disturbance permit before grading or other land disturbance starts. The code counts clearing as land disturbance too. These permits come from the City Engineer.
Small jobs can be exempt if they disturb less than an acre. They also cannot be part of a larger plan that disturbs an acre or more. Fill has to stay under 3 feet high and under 50 cubic yards. The job cannot create a slope steeper than 3 feet across for every 1 foot up, or block a drainageway.
Permit or not, the code expects erosion and sediment controls sized to the job. It holds both the landowner and whoever does the work responsible. Before any digging, Kansas law requires a Kansas 811 notice at least two full working days ahead. The city answers which permit your job needs, and we point you there before work starts.
By the county's watershed maps, most of Olathe drains north to the Kansas River through Cedar Creek and Mill Creek. Much of the rest drains to Indian Creek and Tomahawk Creek, in the Blue River basin. City greenways follow Indian Creek and Mill Creek through town. Before clearing near a creek, check FEMA's flood map and ask the city about its stream corridor rules.
NRCS soil maps show Woodson and Grundy silt loams across parts of Olathe, and rate both somewhat poorly drained. In normal years, Woodson soils can stay wet 6 to 24 inches down from November to June. On some sloping ground, Sogn soils sit on limestone 4 to 20 inches below the surface. Wet ground and shallow rock change how the excavator digs, so we look for both when we see the job.
Where a bank or a grade change needs holding, we build retaining walls. Under Olathe's residential code, a wall up to 4 feet tall needs no permit. That height runs from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall. Taller walls need one, and so do shorter walls that hold up an extra load, called a surcharge.
Land in farms across Johnson County fell 39 percent between the 2017 and 2022 farm censuses, to 53,247 acres. Those farms still hold 13,840 acres of pasture and 6,525 acres of woodland.
Olathe's land disturbance code lists agricultural uses as an exception to its permit. The city's development code bans barbed wire in residential and commercial districts, with an exception for the AG district. Fence line clearing takes trees and cedars out of an old fence row so a new fence can go up.
Forestry mulching suits pasture and woodland edges where the roots can stay in the ground. The mulching head on the skid loader grinds brush and small trees where they stand. The mulch stays on the ground as cover.
Communities and areas we serve around Olathe: K-7 corridor, Santa Fe Street, Lake Olathe, Cedar Lake, Black Bob Park, Lone Elm Park, Heritage Park, Ernie Miller Park, Cedar Niles Park, Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop and Farm, Indian Creek Greenway, Mill Creek Streamway.
Olathe ZIP codes served: 66061, 66062.
Olathe is part of our service area. We look at the job first, then put the quote in writing.
(620) 252-9314 A forestry mulching head on our skid loader grinds brush and small trees where they stand. The mulch stays on the ground and covers the soil.
Learn More
We open up pasture and yards that brush and young trees have taken over. A forestry mulching head grinds the brush, and the excavator pulls bigger stems by the roots.
Learn More
We clear building lots and parcels around Parker, Kansas, with an excavator and a skid loader. The stumps get pulled, roots and all.
Learn More
We level and rough grade cleared ground for a new home or a shop. Then we cut in the access so the builder can start.
Learn More
We clear volunteer cedars and hedge out of fence rows and tree lines with an excavator and a skid loader. The line opens back up so a new fence can go in or a field edge can come back.
Learn More
We build new farm and home ponds with an excavator and a skid loader. We dig the basin and build the dam, then shape the banks and the spillway.
Learn More
We dig the silt and muck out of old farm and home ponds with an excavator. Then we clear and reshape the overgrown banks and the dam.
Learn More
We build retaining walls where a bank or a grade change needs holding. The base under the wall and the drainage behind it are part of the job.
Learn MoreA few of the questions we hear most around Olathe. If yours is not here, call or text and ask.
Send the form with the town and a few words about the land. You can also call or text (620) 252-9314.
Tell us what the land needs and where it is. We look at the job and put the quote in writing.