Commercial brush mowing and vegetation management for solar farms, industrial facilities, landfills, railroads, state and federal facilities. 5 acre minimum, $20K minimum project. Fecon mulchers, batwings, excavator heads.
Backwell runs commercial brush mowing and large-acreage vegetation management across Central New York. This is not lawn care and it is not residential brush work. Our minimum project is 5 acres and $20,000, and our equipment is sized for institutional properties: solar farm perimeters, utility substations, landfills, quarries, railroads, state and federal facilities, industrial site buffers, and large agricultural operations.
If you need a half-acre cleared behind a house, we are the wrong call. If you have 40 acres of eight-year growth choking a solar array, a 12-mile access road that has not been brushed since 2019, or a DEC conservation parcel with invasive honeysuckle taking over the understory, we are exactly the right call.
Solar farms and renewable energy sites. Perimeter fencing, interior row maintenance between panel arrays, access road shoulders, and stormwater easements. Most utility-scale solar operators in New York require annual or semi-annual vegetation management to keep sightlines clear, prevent shading losses, and satisfy NYSERDA operational requirements. See our solar farm site prep page for greenfield work.
Industrial facilities and manufacturing sites. Buffer zones between plants and neighboring properties, fence lines, rail spurs, pipeline easements, and overgrown back lots. Many of the older industrial parcels around Syracuse, Utica, Rome, and Binghamton have acres of unmanaged vegetation that create security problems, fire risk, and code violations.
Utility substations and transmission corridors. Clearance around substation fencing, access tracks to remote equipment, and right-of-way work under subcontract to National Grid and NYSEG vegetation management programs.
Landfills, quarries, and aggregate operations. Perimeter berms, closed cell caps, haul road shoulders, and buffer zones between operations and residential neighbors. Landfill cap vegetation is particularly specialized because you cannot disturb the cap soil but you have to keep woody growth off it.
Railroads and transportation. Track shoulder work, signal sightline maintenance, and rail yard perimeters.
State and federal facilities. DEC conservation lands, State Parks properties, county highway roadside management contracts, airports, and federal facilities. Specific compliance requirements for invasive species handling and habitat considerations.
Large agricultural operations and forestry. Hedgerow maintenance, fence line clearing, woodlot access roads, timber harvest cleanup, prescribed fire break creation for farms running 200+ acres.
Conservation lands and large private estates. Nature preserves, hunting clubs, watershed protection parcels, private holdings over 50 acres.
Running a skid-steer forestry mulcher on a flat 80-acre hayfield gone to brush is slow and expensive when a tractor with a 15-foot batwing would finish the same work in a third of the time. Running a batwing into six-inch saplings is how you destroy a $40,000 implement. We match equipment to the job.
Fecon forestry mulching heads on CAT 299 and 259 compact track loaders. Our primary tool for heavy brush, saplings up to 8 inches, and selective clearing. The Fecon head grinds standing material into mulch in place, leaving no haul-off and no burn pile. Best for uneven terrain, wetland margins, and work where you need to leave the root system intact.
Tractor-mounted brush hogs, 6 to 15 foot cutting widths. For open acreage with light to moderate brush, hayfield reclamation, and cyclical maintenance cycles. A 15-foot batwing behind a 150 HP tractor will cover 6-8 acres per hour in open conditions.
Excavator-mounted mulching heads. For steep terrain, ditch banks, stream buffers, and slopes where tracked carriers cannot work safely. Reach excavators give us 30+ feet of working radius without putting a machine on unstable ground.
ASV and Takeuchi high-flow track loaders. Secondary carriers for mulching heads when we need to run multiple crews or match a specific ground pressure requirement for sensitive sites.
Initial clearing on overgrown land. Parcels that have gone 5, 10, or 20 years without management. Heavy brush, volunteer trees, invasive thickets. This is the most expensive category because it is a one-time reset from wildland conditions back to managed vegetation. Once the initial clearing is done, cyclical maintenance costs drop significantly.
Cyclical maintenance contracts. Annual, biannual, or multi-year recurring service. Most of our commercial clients move to scheduled maintenance after the first clearing. A 60-acre solar perimeter that costs $45,000 to clear initially might cost $8,000 per year to maintain on a two-cut cycle.
Invasive species management. Targeted work on Japanese knotweed, phragmites, autumn olive, buckthorn, honeysuckle, black locust, tree of heaven, and multiflora rose. Mechanical knockdown alone does not kill most invasives. We coordinate with certified applicators for follow-up herbicide treatment.
Fire break creation. Defensible space around structures, equipment yards, and operational areas.
Access road maintenance. Shoulder mowing, overhead clearance, ditch line vegetation, surface maintenance on private haul roads, logging roads, utility access tracks, farm lanes. Paired with our excavation services when the road itself needs grading.
Perimeter and buffer zone clearing. Fence lines, property boundaries, setback areas, visual buffers. Often driven by code compliance, insurance requirements, or security considerations.
| Work Type | Unit | Cost Range |
|---|---|---|
| Light brush, open field reclamation | per acre | $800 – $1,800 |
| Heavy brush, dense understory | per acre | $2,000 – $3,500 |
| Saplings and volunteers up to 4" | per acre | $3,000 – $5,500 |
| Mixed growth with saplings to 8" | per acre | $5,000 – $9,000 |
| Steep terrain, excavator mulcher | per acre | $6,500 – $12,000 |
| Cyclical maintenance, established contract | per acre per cut | $350 – $900 |
| Solar perimeter cyclical contract | per acre per year | $600 – $1,400 |
| Crew with mulcher | hourly | $275 – $425 |
| Tractor with batwing | hourly | $195 – $295 |
| Excavator with mulcher head | hourly | $385 – $550 |
| Mobilization, local (under 50 miles) | flat | $850 – $2,200 |
| Mobilization, regional (50-150 miles) | flat | $2,500 – $6,500 |
| Typical project range | total | $20,000 – $300,000 |
Final pricing depends on access, haul distance, vegetation density, soil conditions, stump handling, disposal requirements, and environmental constraints. We walk every site before quoting anything over a few acres.
Onondaga, Oswego, Madison, Cayuga, Cortland, Oneida, Herkimer, Tompkins, Chenango, and Broome counties as our core service area. Regional work across Upstate New York and into the Southern Tier for larger contracts. Related work on our land clearing page for projects involving stump removal and grading.
5 acres and $20,000, whichever is greater. Below that threshold, mobilization costs eat the job and we are not competitive against smaller outfits. Our equipment, insurance, and crew structure are built for larger work.
Solar farms and substations typically run annual or semi-annual cycles. Industrial buffers and landfill caps are usually annual. Conservation lands and large estates run on 2-5 year cycles depending on habitat goals. Access roads need brushing every 1-3 years to maintain clearance.
Yes, mechanically. For parcels where knockdown alone will not solve the problem (knotweed, phragmites, tree of heaven, honeysuckle, and similar persistent species), we coordinate with licensed herbicide applicators for integrated treatment. We do not apply herbicides ourselves.
Yes. Excavator-mounted mulchers reach areas tracked carriers cannot, and we have low-ground-pressure track loaders for saturated sites. We respect wetland buffer regulations and will not operate inside regulated areas without appropriate permits.
Yes. We carry the insurance, bonding capacity, and prevailing wage compliance needed for DEC, State Parks, county highway department, and federal facility work. Familiar with competitive bid processes. See our reviews page.
Call (315) 400-2654. For commercial acreage work, send us the parcel address and a rough idea of the scope and we will schedule a walk-through. Most projects get a firm quote within a week of the site visit.
Backwell is part of a Central New York family of service companies. When a commercial site needs ongoing property management after construction, our sister company RenPro Property Management handles leasing, rent collection, and maintenance across 100+ properties in Syracuse, Oswego, Auburn, and Utica. Learn more about our network of companies.