About Tangerine Tiller

My name is Dwayne Lee, and I'm the owner and operator of Tangerine Tiller LLC. I'm based out of Pickford and serve communities across the eastern Upper Peninsula. When you hire me, I'm the one who shows up, runs the machine, and gets the job done — start to finish. No crews, no subcontractors, no surprises.

I started this business because I wanted to offer the kind of work northern Michigan homeowners and landowners actually need — excavating, grading, land clearing, driveway restoration, trenching, brush hogging, and small structure demolition. The jobs that need doing out here, done right, at a fair price.

What I care about is pretty simple: showing up when I say I will, doing the job the way I'd want it done on my own property, and leaving the site better than I found it. If you've spent any time trying to hire a contractor in the UP, you already know that finding someone who answers their phone, calls you back, and actually shows up on the day they promised can feel like a full-time job in itself. I can't speak for anyone else, but I treat communication like it's part of the work — because it is. You'll hear from me, I'll give you straight answers, and if something changes I'll let you know before you're left wondering.

Whether you need a washed-out driveway regraded, a field cleared and ready to use, or a trench dug for drainage or utilities — I've got the equipment and the experience to get it done.

Where the Name Comes From

People ask me this all the time. Back in 2023, I bought a Kubota LX3310 Cab tractor — mostly so I could till my garden and plow snow at my place in Trout Lake. The tractor was orange, so naturally it picked up the nickname "the Tangerine Tiller." It stuck.

Before long, friends and neighbors started asking if I could help out on their properties too — tilling gardens, brush hogging, moving dirt and gravel, plowing driveways. Word got around, and the side work kept growing. By 2025, the requests had gotten bigger: people needed real excavation work done, and a tractor has its limits. So I bought a Kubota KX040-5 compact excavator, got my Michigan Residential Builders License, picked up an equipment trailer and the other tools of the trade, and officially launched Tangerine Tiller LLC as a full excavating business.

What started as a way to keep my own driveway clear turned into something I'm genuinely proud of. The name was already there — it just needed a business to go with it.

Here are some of the services I offer

• Excavation
• Grading & finish grading
• Land clearing
• Brush hogging
• Driveway restoration & grading
• Driveway culverts
• Ditch cleanouts
• Trenching (drainage, utilities, irrigation)
• Septic perc-test holes
• Small structure demolition
• Debris removal
• Dirt & gravel delivery
• Tree & stump removal

Service Area

Pickford, Rudyard, Trout Lake, Sault Ste. Marie, St. Ignace, Cedarville, Newberry, Paradise, Petoskey, Cheboygan, Indian River, and the surrounding areas of the eastern Upper Peninsula.