Articles

Chesterfield Observer 2014

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Lot Scapes ready for new environmental laws

Nearly a decade ago, Candy Eubank started Lot Scapes to help farm owners like her clear unwanted trees and brush in an environmentally friendly way. At that time she had no idea how desirable the technology she was using would become for nearly every type of development project in Central Virginia.
Eubank explains that Virginia has grown a lot in recent years and that the result of this growth has been the introduction of far more restrictive rules and laws regarding stormwater management and dam safety for both retention ponds and private ponds and lakes that may pose a hazard downstream if a failure of the dam occurred. These rules state that no leafy vegetation can be allowed to grow in a retention pond or on the dam or area around it.
"Our process works perfectly for this," explains Eubank. "Our machines grind everything in place and do not go below the ground level. Minimal land disturbance and the ability to access slopes and marshy terrain that are part of these structures also make Lot Scapes appealing for this work.
"We knew this was coming," Eubank says.
"We attend and sponsor seminars where civil engineers meet with government officials to learn and discuss the new rules and laws that are being introduced. We have been preparing for this quietly for some time now."
In 2013, Lot Scapes trademarked a process called an "Environmental Erosion Control Mulch Berm," which is a biomass replacement for silt fencing. "We were the first in the country to utilize this process," Eubank says. "We did a 180-acre tract at the new Dominion Raceway complex in Spotsylvania County. The environmental engineers from Spotsylvania inspected and approved this as a replacement for conventional silt fence." The raceway developers report having saved a substantial amount of money - yet another benefit of this process. "We are still growing the more traditional part of our business as well," Eubank explains. "We still work in backyards in subdivisions every week. These customers are equally as important as this new direction and they are the foundation of our business.

Chesterfield Observer 2013

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Lot Scapes wins national service award from Caterpillar

You can only imagine how surprised Lot Scapes owner Candy Eubank was to answer a telephone call from Mike Rowe, host of "Dirty Jobs" on the Discovery Channel. "I was totally shocked," recalled Eubank. Rowe was calling on behalf of Caterpillar to congratulate Lot Scapes on winning a national grand prize in Caterpillar's customer appreciation awards program.
'We would not be where we are today if it were not for the Caterpillar equipment in our fleet," Eubank said. 'We were ecstatic to have been the national grand prize winner out of all of the millions of Caterpillar customers."
Lot Scapes continues to grow at a blazing pace, adding another custom-built Cat machine to its fleet this year as well as a whole-tree chipper. "The big chipper was a new direction for us," Eubank said. "There are some jobs that we just cannot get a machine to the material, so we haul it out and run it through the chipper."
This is yet another new direction for the specialized contractor that focuses primarily on utilizing high horsepower and extreme high pressure hydraulic power to shred trees and brush on custom-built skid steer and rubber tire loaders as well as excavators.
'We have grown a lot," said Eubank, "but we really have not forgotten our roots. We still give the same attention to every detail, whether we are working on a quarter acre in a backyard or on a 7,000-acre military base."
After seven years in business, Lot Scapes now serves customers throughout Virginia as well as North Carolina and Maryland from several staging locations. "Our work has become so diverse," Eubank explained. "As more people become familiar with our technology and capabilities, the applications for what we do continue to expand. We have done some really creative and challenging jobs in recent years."
A key element in Lot Scapes' popularity is the environmentally friendly nature of its work.
"Because we don't dig into the ground to grind and mulch, we don't require silt fencing permits in most cases," Eubank stated.
"It is very important to us that we achieve our customers' goals with as little disturbance as possible to our natural resources and wildlife. In many situations, the work that we do is to create habitat for a variety of animals and waterfowl for both government agencies and private land owners."
Lot Scapes is a Virginia SWAM certified Class A contractor and a Virginia Certified Land Disturber with TWIC Security clearance. Both principals also have Mineral Miner certification. 'We are thankful for our success and look forward to tackling whatever comes our way," Eubank said. "The technology advances in our field every day and we will continue to invest in it and expand as long as the opportunities and challenges keep oncoming."

Richmond Magazine 2012

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Since founding her company, Lot Scapes, five years ago, Candy Eubank has seen a lot of backyards that look like a tornado blew through them. It's what Eubank's come to expect, but "when I leave, it will look like a park."
LOT SCAPES IS NOT a traditional landscape company, rather they specialize in taming yards that have moved so far beyond landscaping that they're verging on feral. It also touts its work as environmentally friendly, taking yard waste that is typically hauled away to the clump and converting it to natural mulch that he lps replenish the soil beneath.
"We're usually called in when yards are just plain overgrown," she says. "We do storm damage cleanup or unattended yards. We go places where you can 't even get [in] a bush hog. "In fact, bush hogs are little more than guinea pigs when matched up with the machinery Eubank relies on to tame the wild backyards of Richmond.
"We go in with what's called a forestry mulcher it 's also known as a mechanical grinder," she says, noting that beca use the process reduces debris and trees alike to chipped mulch, it 's less likely than traditional tree removal and hauling services to cause even more damage to a house or yard. At $250 to $350 an hour (depending on what machinery is needed), Eubank says her service is within reach of "just about anybody."
"Just about most of our customers are private homeowners," she says . "We've done big commercial jobs, and we'll work on yards as small as a quarter acre . We can do just about anything."
Eubank cheerfully acknowledges that she 's possibly the only woman in the business, but notes dryly that there aren 't too many men out there, either.
"Being a woman in the business, I spend a little more on attention to detail. I listen to what homeowners want and I try to give them exactly what they' re looking for.
"If they want to save the dogwood or the maple or the holly, we can do that," Eubank says, but a lot of companies just go in chopping up everything. "You can 't just go back in somebody's backyard and treat it like it 's just some piece of cutover. We make people happy and we make yards happy, too."

Lot Scapes 2010

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Lot Scapes in growth mode

Lot Scapes' fleet of equipment can handle virtually any undesirable trees and brush.
Candy Eubank started Lot Scapes in 2007 with one piece of large equipment. Today, she has seven pieces of equipment as well as nine trucks. Her business has grown so much that Eubank's husband, Mark, who had a 25-plus year career in boat manufacturing, now works for his wife full time.
"Candy's business has bucked the trends," explained Mr. Eubank, "but not without lots of blood, sweat and tears. The maintenance is huge. We have also added 2,700 square feet to our repair shop."
Mrs. Eubank started the business with an emphasis on providing a green approach to land clearing. Lot Scapes specializes in a unique process for clearing land that utilizes an advanced technology carbide toothed shredder to quickly and efficiently convert undesirable trees, brush and stumps into an appealing mulch material that provides excellent ground cover and erosion control.
"We found this technology and saw the opportunity to provide the same service to others," she explained, noting that the idea for the company surfaced when she needed a practical way to clean up her own farms. When Mrs. Eubank first opened the company, she had to turn down large tree harvesting projects because the scope of the projects was more than one person could handle. After Mr.Eubank came onboard, the couple decided to move the company to the next level and purchased two log skidders and two log trucks. The new equipment allows Mrs. Eubank to offer a turnkey solution that includes taking down trees, grinding stumps and clearing the land.
"Since Jan. 1, we have had numerous jobs that have been the largest jobs in the history of the company because we can now do timber harvesting and mechanical grinding," Mr.Eubank said.
Lot Scapes machines utilize an advanced technology carbide toothed shredder coupled with an Earth friendly rubber-tracked carrier and an extreme high-pressure hydraulic system. The most advanced machine, a 300 hp monster nicknamed "Frankenstein," is designed to handle larger trees and stumps. It has been so efficient that the Eubanks have purchased a second "Frankenstein" for the business, which enables the company to work faster clearing large tracts of land or to be in two places on the same day.
"All of our equipment is custom built," Mrs. Eubank said.
Lot Scapes works on jobs from one-quarter of an acre to 500 acres with one single focus in mind: "We don't plant bushes or cut grass," Mr.Eubank said. "All we do is eat trees. We focus on our niche."
Mrs. Eubank gets a lot of comments on the company's web address, www.WeEatTrees.com. "People would ask what we do with that machine, and the answer was always the same: We eat trees," she said. "So, it just seemed to be a no-brainer to make it our tagline."
Mrs. Eubank is still the driving force behind the business; she secures the jobs, handles estimates and works the machinery. "I really love running this equipment," she said.
Her dedication and passion shows in customer satisfaction as well the growth in our customer base. "Most of our customers today are referrals," stated Mr. Eubank. "We are also seeing a lot more government and municipal work because of our reputation for doing first-class work."
Lot Scapes serves their customers from several farm locations throughout Virginia.

Timberline Magazine 2009

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Green Meets Beautiful at Lot Scapes Where SUPERTRAK, Inc. Plays Leading Role

Herald Progress 2009

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Candy Eubank is a big hit at her son's career days at John M. Gandy Elementary School in Ashland. Maybe that's because she pulls up to the school with a large piece of forestry equipment on a trailer. Each year, the piece of equipment is larger than the previous year.
"The kids actually got to see a small business grow," said Eubank, the owner/operator of Lotscapes a business that clears lots, dams and trails of trees and shrubs in an environmentally friendly way. Eubank also gets a lot of wide-eyed surprise from adults who don't expect to see a young, attractive woman behind the controls of a rubber-tracked, skid-steer forestry mulcher.
"I get a lot of, 'I'm sorry, I'm not expecting you. You do the work?'
"Yah, I do the work," Eubank tells them.
"When I'm on a job, all the neighbors come out and watch. It's like, 'Oh, that's a woman?'
"I love running this equipment. I really enjoy it and love taking a piece of property and turning it into something like a park." Lotscapes evolved from the farm on which Eubank lives with her husband and son.
"We have this farm and I run a backhoe and tractor anyway. We had a lot of work to do and our neighbors had a lot of work to do," Eubank said.
So they bought a relatively small forestry mulcher and Eubank put it through its paces.
"We saw it working. It saves you a lot of time in the woods," she noted.
"It turns trees and shrubs into mulch. As you go up in horsepower, the larger a tree you can mulch." Eubank uses her advanced-technology carbide toothed shredder to quickly and efficiently convert undesirable trees, brush and stumps into an appealing mulch material that provides excellent ground cover and erosion control. Tree stumps are taken down to grade so there are no stumps to dig up and no backfilling needed. There is no need to haul off trees and brush to the local landfill or to burn it at the work site.
"I do a lot for private homeowners, plantation cutting and trails and some dam maintenance. More and more, contractors want road mulching.
"Being a woman, I'm maybe a little more sensitive. I've danced around bushes and holly trees this big." In two years, Lotscapes has grown to the point that Eubank now has two full-time helpers and a part-time equipment operator.
Her husband, Mark, who is a sales rep for a boat manufacturer, also helps as a parttime operator and is "my nighttime equipment maintenance man," Eubank said.
The company has four large pieces of specialized equipment and an 18-wheeler to haul them.
"When we first started, it was just me. I [still] do 90 percent of the operating as well as being the payroll clerk. We are too small to be big and too big to be small." Most of Lotscapes' business comes from a 75-mile radius, although the company has some statewide contracts. Eubank wants to keep the jobs close to home.
"I am a mom and I leave at 7:30 [a.m.] and do a full day's work," she said.
Eubank said her husband fully supports her in her work.
"He loves that I enjoy it so much and have been a success at it.
"And, my son likes to crawl all over the machines and check them out. It's like his own jungle gym," she said.

Chesterfield Observer 2009

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Lot Scapes provides a green approach to land clearing

"Frankenstein" in action mulching a storm-damaged pine tree Candy Eubank with a Caterpillar-powered custom shredder called "Supertrak"
It's a little unexpected when Chesterfield residents see a machine working in their area that eats trees and brush, converting undesirable wooden debris into an environmentally friendly mulch material. It's even more surprising when they see an attractive woman emerge from the operator's compartment. It is just another day at the office for Lot Scapes owner Candy Eubank. She started the Lot Scapes business in 2007 after exploring the most practical way to clean up her own farm.
"We found this technology and saw the opportunity to provide the same service to others that we needed for ourselves," said Eubank. "The machine came in on Wednesday, and I put it to work on Thursday. I've been working ever since." Lot Scapes just added its sixth piece of equipment, a 300 horsepower monster nicknamed "Frankenstein" because of its green paint job. "I still do most of the operating," explained Eubank, "and the bookkeeping and the estimates and so-on."
"I really love running this equipment," she continued. "I enjoy taking a piece of property and turning it into something like a park." The machines utilize an advanced technology carbide toothed shredder coupled with an Earth friendly rubber-tracked carrier and an extreme high-pressure hydraulic system.
"We now have all custom built equipment," said Eubank. "We started with factory-built equipment, but it just wouldn't hold up in the woods, so we started having the machines custom made, or we made them ourselves." "We get a lot of comments about our www.WeEatTrees.com Web address," said Eubank.
"People would ask us what we do with that machine, and the answer was always the same: We eat trees. So, it just seemed to be a no-brainer to make it our tagline." Lot Scapes works on jobs from one-quarter of an acre to 500 acres in every imaginable situation, from cutting horse and ATV trails, to dam maintenance, plantation cuts and cleaning up storm damage.
"We are still cleaning up from Hurricane Isabel," commented Eubank.
"We do a lot of work in Chesterfield" Eubank added.
"We work all over the state, but probably more in Chesterfield than anywhere else." Lot Scapes has contracts with numerous government and municipal agencies, but does most of its work for private landowners and contractors. Lot Scapes can be reached at (804) 687 7932 or on the Web at www.WeEatTrees.com.
Lot Scapes' custom-built excavator mounted shredder for clearing driveways, ravines and hillsides