Site Clearing, Grubbing, and Topsoil Stripping Quantities

Site clearing is the first BOQ section and the easiest to under-price. It is more than mowing — it includes roots, stumps, buried debris, and handling a valuable topsoil layer.

Clearing and grubbing

• Clearing — remove surface vegetation, brush, and small growth. Measured by area (hectares or m²) of the disturbance footprint plus a working margin.
• Grubbing — remove roots, stumps, and buried organic matter to a specified depth (typ. 300–450 mm). Also by area.

Trees

Larger trees are enumerated, usually banded by trunk girth or diameter (e.g. 150–300 mm, 300–600 mm, >600 mm), each band with its own rate for felling, stump removal, and disposal. Note any protected trees to be retained and fenced.

Topsoil stripping

• Strip only where earthworks or construction will disturb the ground.
• Stockpile separately, max ~2 m high, away from traffic and drainage, seeded if stored long term.
• Re-spread over landscaped areas at the end — this is a credit against importing garden soil, and a re-handling cost.

Disposal

Vegetation and grubbed material: chip and reuse as mulch, or haul to a licensed facility. Buried rubble and contaminated material found during grubbing is a provisional item — flag it rather than absorbing the risk.