Land Clearing Cost per Acre in Florida (2026): Palmetto, Scrub, Exotics and Lot Prices from Real Invoices
Land clearing in Florida runs $1,200 to 5,500 an acre, and the spread is the vegetation. Palmetto flatwoods, oak scrub, Brazilian pepper and dead groves each price differently, and I have invoices for all of them. This price guide is what clearing land costs here, pricing from our own books: day rates, acre rates and six real jobs with the dollars attached. Palmetto is the only crop Florida grows without asking. Call (352) 619-3597 or send the form with your parcel ID. Brandi texts you a scheduling window within the hour.
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Cost Calculator for Clearing Land: Acres, Vegetation, Density and Method
The calculator takes four inputs: acres, vegetation, density and method. Vegetation is palmetto flatwoods, oak scrub, exotics thicket or dead grove. Density is light, medium or heavy. Worked example: 2 acres of medium palmetto under slash pine, mulched. 2 acres at $2,000 each is $4,000, about two days. Add $1,000 if pepper runs the fence line, and a day if June rain has the ground wet. Run your numbers, then send the form so I can check them against the ground.
Most likely around $4,000
- Mulching, 2 acres$4,000
A half-acre lot is one skid steer day, $2,600. A quarter-acre lot is $1,800 flat.
Get my exact priceThis is an estimate, not a quote. It uses our posted Florida rates. The written price comes after a free on-site estimate.
How Much Does It Cost to Clear Land in Florida? Average Cost by the Acre
The average cost to clear land in Florida is $1,500 to 2,500 an acre mulched and $3,000 to 5,500 an acre to bare dirt with stumps out.
- Palmetto and pine flatwoods mulching: $1,500 to 2,500 an acre by density.
- Oak scrub and sandhill: $1,200 to 1,800 an acre.
- Brazilian pepper or melaleuca thickets: add $500 an acre for cut-stump treatment.
- Full clearing to dirt with stumps: $3,000 to 5,500 an acre.
- Light brush clearing cost with the bush hog: $65 to 95 an acre, $450 minimum.
The gopher tortoise survey, $400 to 900, and the wet-season day come before those numbers, not after. Call (352) 619-3597 or send the form. Brandi texts you a scheduling window within the hour.
Cost to Clear a Quarter Acre, Half an Acre, One Acre, 5 Acres or 20 Acres
A quarter-acre infill lot is $1,800 flat. Half an acre is one skid steer day, $2,600, transport included within 75 miles. Clearing one acre of palmetto is $1,500 to 2,500 mulched, usually one long day. A single acre of oak scrub is $1,200 to 1,800. Our 5 acres in Golden Gate Estates took two days, $5,200, with three tortoise burrows flagged. The 20-acre dead grove in Lake Wales took four days with the big mulcher and dozer: $21,000 plus haul. Past 5 acres the big machine is cheaper for a full acre. Send the acreage and I pick the machine.
Day Rate Pricing: $2,600 Skid Steer Mulcher or $4,000 Dedicated 300-hp Mulcher
The skid steer forestry mulcher is $2,600 a day, transport included within 75 miles of Ocala or Punta Gorda. It takes stems to about 8 inches and clears a half acre to an acre of palmetto a day. The dedicated 300-hp mulcher is $4,000 a day plus transport. It clears 2 to 4 acres a day. On the ROW we ran the big heads on wet corridors because they float on tracks. Under 3 acres the small machine wins. Over 5, the big one is cheaper by the acre. Tell me the acreage and the biggest trunk you can find.
Cost per Hour vs. by the Acre vs. by the Day
The dozer with a root rake and operator is $170 an hour. Hourly fits grubbing, pads and driveways, where the acre is not the unit. By the day fits platted lots, where setup and transport are most of the time and cost. Example: a half-acre pad grubbed and rough-leveled takes six hours, $1,020. Mulching the same half acre is a fixed cost of $2,600 for the day. Ask a land clearing contractor which unit before you sign.
Cost by Method: Forestry Mulching, Dozer Clearing or Excavator and Haul-Off
Three clearing methods, three price structures. Forestry mulching cost per acre is $1,500 to 2,500 and nothing leaves your lot. Dozer clearing runs $170 an hour plus haul-off at $700 to 1,300 per 10-yard load. Excavator and haul-off is traditional clearing: trees and brush piled, loaded, trucked. Excavation cost to bare dirt lands at $3,000 to 5,500 an acre with stumps out. Selective clearing is a mulcher job. Burning is rarely allowed on a platted lot; any pile needs a Florida Forest Service burn authorization, and most urban areas are no-burn. Pick the method of clearing by what comes next: a lawn wants mulch, a slab wants dirt.
How Vegetation Changes the Cost to Clear an Acre of Land in Florida
Density is the first cost factor. Light palmetto under open pine mulches at $1,500 an acre. A waist-high mat you cannot walk through is $2,500, because the rhizomes fight the head. Oak scrub on sugar sand is $1,200 to 1,800 per acre to clear; the trees are small and the sand is dry. Pepper and melaleuca add $500 an acre on top of whatever grows under them. A heavily wooded lot with brush and small trees under big pine is the most expensive acre we clear. Wooded land with open grass between the trunks is the cheapest. Send two photos, the thickest spot and the thinnest.
Why Brazilian Pepper and Melaleuca Add $500 an Acre to Land Clearing
Pepper and melaleuca are Category I invasives, and both resprout from any stump left alive. The $500 pays for cut-stump treatment: herbicide on the cambium within minutes of the cut, before the sap seals. Miss the window and the thicket is back by the next wet season. Collier's Vegetation Removal Permit requires exotic removal on most permitted lots, so the surcharge is not optional there. Our 2.5 acres of pepper in Port Charlotte took two days, $6,700 including the pepper surcharge. Count the red berries on your fence line before you compare bids.
Land Clearing Prices by Region: Transport from Ocala or Punta Gorda
The acre rates are the same statewide: $1,500 to 2,500 per acre depending on density. Ocala covers Central Florida, Pasco and Alachua inside 75 miles, transport included; land clearing services in Orlando sit at the edge of that circle. Punta Gorda covers Lee, Charlotte, Sarasota, Manatee and Collier. Palm Coast and the Northeast ride 90 miles from Ocala, so transport is billed, as it is for Hillsborough, Leon and the Panhandle. The Southeast gets the Punta Gorda crew across SR 70 or SR 80, onto hardpan that needs fill after. Say the county and I tell you which yard and what the trailer costs.
Lot Clearing Cost for a New Home: $1,800 Quarter Acre, $2,600 Half Acre
Lot clearing on a residential lot is a fixed cost: $1,800 for a quarter-acre infill, $2,600 for a half acre. Fill is not included; a low flatwoods lot needs it after we clear, priced by the truckload once the elevation certificate is in hand. We do not pour concrete, drill wells, set septic or demolish houses. I know people who do. Lee County wants a Vegetation Removal permit per lot. On our jobs in Lehigh Acres the permit takes longer than the clearing job. Pull the permit, then send the form.
Six Real Florida Land Clearing Projects and the Invoices Behind the Price Guide
Every number on this page comes from one of these six jobs.
- Golden Gate Estates, Collier: 5 acres of palmetto and slash pine, two skid steer days, $5,200, three gopher tortoise burrows flagged and kept out.
- Palm Coast, Flagler: 1.25-acre lot, scrub oak and palmetto, one day, $2,600.
- Lake Wales, Polk: 20 acres of dead citrus, trees pushed, roots raked, four days with the big mulcher and dozer, $21,000 plus haul.
- Port Charlotte, Charlotte: 2.5 acres of Brazilian pepper thicket, two days, $6,700 including the pepper surcharge.
- Crawfordville, Wakulla: 10 acres of cutover pine, understory mulched for a homesite and pasture, two days with the big mulcher, $9,500 plus transport.
- Punta Gorda: Ian debris on one acre, 9 loads hauled, $8,100.
Ask for the same written total project cost on yours.
Why June to September Adds a Day to the Cost on Muck and Wet Flatwoods
One extra day, stated up front, on muck or wet flatwoods between June and September. Flatwoods soil is spodosol: a hardpan 18 to 30 inches down that holds summer rain an inch under the surface. The mulcher floats on tracks and keeps working; a dozer sinks to the belly pan and waits for mats. I walked a lot in Deltona last July and the swale was full to the culvert. We cleared it in October at the quoted price. Book November to May.
Gopher Tortoise Survey and Permit Costs Before Clearing Land in Florida
A gopher tortoise survey by a licensed agent runs $400 to 900 and must be within 90 days of clearing. Find a burrow and FWC wants a relocation permit before any machine runs. County permits come next: Lee's Vegetation Removal permit, Collier's VRP, Charlotte's vegetation permit, Brevard's Land Clearing permit over an acre. In Golden Gate Estates the survey found three burrows, we flagged a 25-foot line around each, and mulched the rest. Order the survey before you order the mulcher.
Hurricane Debris Clearing Cost by the Load: $700 to 1,300 per 10-Yard Load
Storm debris is priced by the load, $700 to 1,300 per 10-yard load, because nobody can price a blowdown by the acre. After Ian we hauled 9 loads off one acre in Punta Gorda, $8,100, and that acre had four big pines on it before the storm. FEMA pays for debris on the public right-of-way; your lot is yours to pay for. Trunks under 12 inches can be mulched and the wood stays as a bed. Count the trunks down and send the number with the form.
What Factors Affect Land Clearing Cost: Access, Haul-Off, Stumps, Fill and Transport
Five things push the total above the acre rate.
- Access: a 36-inch gate or a ditch with no culvert means a smaller machine and a longer day.
- Haul-off: $700 to 1,300 per load when the mulch cannot stay.
- Stump removal: $4.50 an inch, $150 minimum per stump, or by the day past ten stumps.
- Fill: a low lot needs it after we clear, and the water has to go somewhere legal.
- Transport beyond 75 miles of Ocala or Punta Gorda, billed by the trip.
Anyone considering land clearing should price those five first. A land clearing company that quotes the acre and nothing else is quoting half the land clearing tasks. Professional land clearing puts all five on the estimate.
Are Land Clearing Costs Tax Deductible? Greenbelt Classification and Lot Value
Sometimes, and I am an operator, not a CPA. On agricultural land under FS 193.461 greenbelt classification, the cost of land clearing for a working grove, pasture or timber stand is usually a business expense. On a homesite the land clearing investment is added to your basis and shows up when you sell. A land owner who clears a buildable pad usually gets it back at closing. Every landowner's return differs, so ask your CPA and keep the invoice.
Get an Exact Land Clearing Price in Writing
One phone call or one form. Call (352) 619-3597 or send the form with your parcel ID, acreage and two photos. Brandi texts you a scheduling window within the hour, and a free on-site estimate follows inside 75 miles of a yard. A land clearing service that will not write the number down is not one. I've cleared this ground since 2012 and never priced a land clearing project from a chart.
Land clearing across Florida
Six regions, two yards. Pick yours for local rates, permits and the towns we work.
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Frequently Asked Questions About the Cost to Clear Land in Florida
What is a normal price to clear 1 acre of land in Florida?
$1,500 to 2,500 for an acre of palmetto flatwoods mulched in place, $1,200 to 1,800 for oak scrub, and $3,000 to 5,500 to bare dirt with stumps out. Pepper or melaleuca adds $500. The acre next to yours may differ by density alone.
How long does it take to clear 5 acres of land?
Two days with the skid steer mulcher on palmetto flatwoods, as on our 5 acres in Golden Gate Estates. The 300-hp machine clears 5 acres in a day and a half. Dense pepper, big pine or standing water adds a day, and permits add two to six weeks before any machine arrives.
What is the cheapest way to clear land in Florida?
Bush hogging at $65 to 95 an acre, if the growth is grass and stems under 2 inches. Once palmetto or pine takes hold, mulching at $1,500 to 2,500 an acre is the cheapest method that holds. Clearing brush yourself with a rented machine works on light growth and fails on a root mat.
Do I need a permit to clear my own land in Florida?
Usually yes on a platted lot. Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Palm Coast, Brevard and Palm Beach County all want a clearing permit, most tied to a building permit. Acreage under greenbelt classification is often exempt. The gopher tortoise rule applies everywhere, permit or not.
How do I get an exact quote to clear my lot?
Call (352) 619-3597 or send the form with your parcel ID and acreage. Brandi texts you a scheduling window within an hour, and the on-site estimate is free within 75 miles of Ocala or Punta Gorda. You get acres, method, days and dollars on one sheet before any trailer moves.
Get Your Free Estimate
Send the form or call. Brandi texts you a scheduling window within the hour.