Anderson Aggregates Excels at New Kind of Landclearing

Mon June 02, 2003
Forestry Equipment Guide

The first thing that Chris Anderson describes when talking about his landclearing business, Anderson Aggregates, is its great location in Mocksville, NC, north of Charlotte and south of Winston-Salem and Greensboro. Development is booming in and around these cities, in addition to Chapel Hill, Durham and Raleigh to the east, and Rockhill, SC.

Regulations to control soil erosion are being enacted in several of these areas, and Anderson has added some important facets to his business both in response to the new rules and as additional business opportunities. Anderson’s brand of what he calls “city logging” is in fact a cutting-edge service incorporating environmental protection of building sites before, during and after the traditional land-clearing process. As communities in North Carolina and elsewhere increase regulation of developments, Anderson Aggregates leads the way in answering these challenges.

Site Preparation Becomes More Complex

Mecklenberg County was among the first in North Carolina to enact strict regulations controlling soil runoff from building sites. “Mecklenberg County has taken the stand that soil is going to stay on your site,” said Anderson. Developers pay up-front to keep runoff to a minimum, saving the city of Charlotte and the county future expenditures for dredging streams and rivers.

Such regulations are starting to be enacted across the state, all the way to Raleigh, and during the past year, Anderson Aggregates has been building ditches and settling ponds, and installing silt fence and basins. “This goes hand-in-hand with clearing land,” Anderson said. “We couldn’t start a job until the silt fence was in, so we got into that, and here we are.”

At the site of a future townhouse development on the outskirts of Charlotte, Anderson points out earthworks and silt fencing erected on the site. A 3-ft. (.9 m) tall dike at the low end of the gently sloped property runs along the site parallel to the property line. A riprap-filled drainage opening in the center of the dike allows water to flow out of the low area. Beyond that, a silt fence filters all water flowing from the site. “This is city logging,” Anderson noted. “Soil is not going to leave this site.”

A Cat 320B equipped with a root rake pulls up and stacks small trees and brush while a front-end loader pushes material into piles awaiting the arrival of Anderson Aggregates’ Morbark 1300 tub grinder in a few days. Even though most of the site will be made level with up to 7 ft. (2.1 m) of fill dirt, Anderson’s crew carefully clears the land of trees, roots and brush to prepare the ground for construction.

Anderson pointed out that high population growth in North Carolina is opening development of land that was previously passed up for building because of drainage problems or other costly preparation work. While no one is a fan of increased regulations, the new rules will save taxpayers money down the road, while maintaining the beauty for which the area is so well known. And Anderson is glad that he is able to increase his value to his customers by offering the services that they need. “Service. That’s all the business is about,” he said. “Working for good people has gotten us where we are.”

Logging Roots

Anderson’ grandfather was a logger, and so was his father, Jerry Anderson, before Jerry founded a sawmill and pulpwood yard as Anderson Chip and Pulpwood. Bans on burning were being enacted throughout the area, so the company bought a new whole-tree chipper, a Morbark 20 total chiparvestor, in 1987. Jerry Anderson was familiar with Morbark since buying a debarker in the early 1970s and Morbark conveyors for his chip mill 10 years later. Business grew along with the company’s reputation, and soon evolved exclusively to landclearing for housing subdivisions and commercial and industrial development. “We moved strictly into cutting trees for a reason other than to produce material,” said Chris Anderson. “It was to reduce material.”

Anderson Chip and Pulpwood grew along with the economy and in 1996, added stump removal and grinding. Chris Anderson became a 50-50 partner with his father in the company, Anderson Aggregates LLC, and last year, the companies were merged under the Anderson Aggregates name.

Productive Equipment

and Employees

Anderson Aggregates’ landclearing fleet includes a newer Morbark 20 total chiparvestor, a 2001 Morbark 1300 NCL tub grinder and a 1998 Morbark 1300 with cab and loader. Most felling is done with a Hydro-Ax 511E, while cut trees are pulled to the chipper by Cat 525B skidders.

A Prentice 210E knuckleboom loader sits at the center of Anderson Aggregates’ chipping operation, placing lumber-grade logs onto a hydraulic chainsaw for cutting, feeding trees into the Morbark chipper and loading cut logs onto trailers for hauling to a local sawmill.

Excavators, wheel loaders and track loaders keep the Morbark 1300s fed at stump-grinding sites and service trucks are kept at all work locations.

Both Chris and Jerry Anderson spend most days on the job at chipping sites. Chris Anderson explained, “I’ve got some good employees on the grinders and I don’t have to see them every day.”

On a warm winter day, Anderson Aggregates’ chipping crew is set up in Stone Bluff, a new subdivision in Charlotte. After a day and a half of work, most of the trees are felled and are being skidded to a pile beside the Prentice loader. At the loader’s controls, Jerry Anderson expertly feeds the Morbark 20 total chiparvestor, which fires a steady torrent of chips into a chip truck. “This isn’t Morbark’s biggest whole tree chipper, but it does a great job,” said Chris Anderson. A fuel truck and a service truck are parked nearby.

Anderson added that his chipper crew easily produces 10 loads of materials in eight hours. “We’ll do 10 loads of something every day. Maybe two loads of logs and eight loads of chips, or five chips and five logs.” He emphasized that the company’s money is made on efficient clearing and material reduction, not so much on the sale of products trucked from clearing sites.

Rainy-Day Work

Anderson Aggregates markets 90 percent of its wood chips to plants for power generation. The remainder is sold for coloring and further processing. Stump grindings that can not be left on site or hauled elsewhere are brought to Anderson Aggregates’ yard, where they are stockpiled for screening three or four times a year. When wet weather doesn’t permit chipping, Chris Anderson keeps his crews busy and cash flow coming in grinding materials at three municipal sites and at other wood grinding jobs.

The Southeastern United States has been hit by a long stretch of dry weather, but it still rains occasionally. “When we can see a big-enough rain front coming in, I’ll mobilize everything to one of our municipal sites. Let it rain, we’re still grinding,” he noted.

Anderson has been able to weather economic rainy days, as well, as a result of subcontracting out excess chipping and grinding work over the past six years.

“We were making little or nothing on subcontracted work, but we were taking care of our customers,” Chris Anderson explained. “And then there was a downturn in the economy. My subs aren’t busy, but we are busy. We wondered for a long time whether subcontracting was worth the trouble. This downturn in the economy says yes, it was worth it.”

The Best Equipment Backed by the

Best Service

Chris Anderson depends on his equipment as much as his customers depend on him.

“I don’t mind going to work if I have something to work with,” he said. The company’s equipment is mostly later models covered by extended warranties. “You can either pay for a machine or you can pay to fix it,” he observed. “A warranty says a lot about any piece of equipment. For example, the two Morbark 1300s have extended warranties. If they weren’t good products, Morbark wouldn’t guarantee them for that long.”

Anderson Aggregates is well served by a Morbark service facility in Ashland, VA. Until two years ago, parts were shipped overnight from the Morbark manufacturing facility in Winn, MI, and they are now available even more quickly. “We have driven to Ashland and gotten parts the same day, and it’s been a big help,” said Anderson.

Chris Anderson knows of no other contractors offering the full range of services provided by Anderson Aggregates. Even so, Anderson strives to keep his customers more than satisfied. “When you build these relationships, when you work with these people, they know that you’re going to do the work, and you’re going to do it fairly,” he said.