Location: Fayetteville, Ark.
Owner/Operator: Kevin Sbanotto
History: 5Q Land Services started nearly two years ago when Kevin Sbanotto and his father-in-law, Chad Harbison, began to clear brush, dead trees, and other undesirable vegetation on Chad’s farm.
“We started with a skid steer with a little dirt work and decided people needed more land clearing, forestry mulching, and things like that,” Kevin explained. “We bought equipment, and word started spreading. People liked the services we are providing, and today we are busy as ever.”
Services: 5Q Land Services does not clear large stands of hardwoods or bulldoze.
“What we do is eco-friendly land clearing,” Kevin said. “We do selective land clearing with a forestry mulcher, and what that does is leave the good and takes away the bad. This clears up land so you can regain pasture, get rid of thorns and thistles and take back the pasture that has been lost without spending years trying to clear it with livestock or chemicals. I come in, clean it up, and the owners have usable pastures again, with the hardwoods left for shade.”
5Q Land Services can clear heavy brush and trees up to 8-inches in diameter. What is cleared from the property is ground into a beneficial mulch.
Kevin said using his smaller equipment allows 5Q Land Services to get to places larger tractors and equipment might not be able to reach.
“It just saves a lot of time,” he said. “We can get in there and clear out fence rows, get the vines out that kill trees and saplings that take over. It’s not dozer work; it’s selective land clearing. We aren’t going in and pushing out stumps and creating wide-open pastures; it’s more of a clean-up.”
In addition to pastures, 5Q also offered services to residential and commercial customers and path clearing for trails.
“We haven’t had a job that was too big for us,” Kevin said.
Future Plans: Kevin said he is not ruling out possible expansion down the road, but he likes where the company is now.
“I can be selective with the jobs I take,” he explained. “At the end of the day, I want a happy customer, not more jobs. Being a small business, I like getting to know my customers and making connections with them so I can be more effective in what I do.”
