Land Clearing in Florida: Forestry Mulching, Lot Clearing and Brush Clearing Statewide
Ten years on FPL corridors taught me how this ground behaves. It is sugar sand or it is soup, and the palmetto does not care which. Pellegrino Land Works runs forestry mulching and land clearing out of Ocala and Punta Gorda, with insured crews on every job. Skid steer mulcher, $2,600 a day, transport included within 75 miles of either yard. A half-acre lot is cleared in a day. Call (352) 619-3597 or send the form. Brandi texts you a scheduling window within the hour.
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What Land Clearing Includes in Florida
Five things on our invoices: mulching, grubbing, stumps, haul-off and fill. The forestry mulcher takes palmetto, gallberry, wax myrtle and small trees down to a chip layer. Grubbing is the dozer and root rake pulling the root mat for a pad. Haul-off runs $700 to 1,300 a load, 10-yard loads. Fill comes after on any low flatwoods lot, because that is where the water ends up. We do not pour concrete, drill wells, set septic or demolish houses. I know people who do. A land clearing company here does the land management job first: find the wet spots, find the burrows, then start the machine.
Residential Land Clearing for New Home Construction
A quarter-acre infill lot runs $1,800 flat. A half-acre is one skid steer day at $2,600. That covers most platted lots in Palm Coast, Deltona and Cape Coral: slash pine over palmetto, a stump from an old lot clearing. We mulch the brush and small trees, grind or rake the stumps, and leave a pad footprint you can stake. Low lots hold water from June to September, so budget fill. Last spring on a lot in DeLand the swale was full by mid June; the owner had a dry pad because we cut it in March. Property owner, builder or buyer, send the survey with the form.
Rural and Acreage Clearing: Pasture, Fence Lines, Trails and Pond Perimeters
One to 10 acre tracts are where forestry mulching and land clearing pay off together. No burn window on most parcels, so dozer-and-burn is out. The chip stays down, slows palmetto regrowth, and no pile waits on a Florida Forest Service burn authorization. Pasture reclaim: wax myrtle and Brazilian pepper come off bahiagrass at $1,500 to 2,500 an acre. Fence lines and trails: by the day. Pond perimeters: we stay off the wet edge until the SJRWMD or SWFWMD line is clear. Case: 10 acres of cutover pine in Crawfordville, understory mulched for a homesite and pasture, 2 days, $9,500 plus transport. Agricultural use under greenbelt classification keeps the county permit simple.
Commercial Land Clearing and Site Clearing
Same work, different pace. A commercial and residential clearing contractor on our scale handles pads for strip retail, self-storage, RV parks and small subdivisions. The dedicated 300-hp mulcher runs $4,000 a day plus transport and eats 3 to 5 acres of flatwoods a day. Dozer and root rake, $170 an hour. Erosion control first: silt fence and a stabilized entrance before the first tree drops, because the inspector checks the job site after a rain. We hand off to your excavation work and site preparation services with a staked footprint. Full-service land clearing also means we pull the Vegetation Removal Permit with you.
Methods: Mulching, Dozer and Root Rake, Excavator and Haul-Off
Four methods cover every parcel I have seen. Mulching: a skid steer or tracked forestry mulcher grinds brush and trees to 8 inches into chips, and nothing leaves the lot. Dozer and root rake: trees pushed, roots raked, stumps gone; the choice when a pad is coming. Excavator and haul-off: 10-yard trucks for dead groves and storm debris. Selective: a hand crew with a chainsaw and cut-stump herbicide around live oaks and tortoise aprons. On the ROW we ran mulchers because they float on wet flatwoods where a dozer sinks to the belly pan. Tree size decides the machine: under 8 inches the skid steer, over that the 300-hp head or the excavator.
Clearing Palmetto, Pine Flatwoods, Oak Scrub and Brazilian Pepper
Palmetto density is the first price driver in Florida land clearing work. Saw palmetto under slash pine runs $1,500 to 2,500 an acre: a thin stand is one pass, a chest-high mat is two. Palmetto is the one thing in Florida that never needs watering. Oak scrub and sandhill on sugar sand run $1,200 to 1,800, because scrub oak cuts fast and the ground carries weight. Brazilian pepper and melaleuca add $500 an acre. Both resprout from the stump unless the cut gets herbicide within minutes. An overgrown lot down south is usually pepper over a dead citrus row; underbrush and undergrowth under 40-year pine mulch at an acre a day. Fire fuel matters too: a mulched lot drops the ladder fuel to ankle height before the March to May fire season.
Wet Season, Dry Season and Low Lots
November to May is the clearing season. June to September adds one day on muck or wet flatwoods, written into the quote before the trailer leaves. The reason is the spodosol, the flatwoods soil: a hardpan 18 to 30 inches down holds water through the rains. A mulcher floats on that. A dozer does not. If your parcel holds water in July it will hold water under the slab, so fill is part of the plan. That fill is what raises the ERP question at the water management district, not the cutting. I walked a Valrico lot in late June where the back third was shin deep. We cleared it in November and the builder hauled 30 loads of fill.
Land Clearing Cost per Acre: Day Rates, Mulching and Full Clear
Priced three ways: by the day, per acre, or by the load. Every number below is on our quote sheet.
- Skid steer mulcher: $2,600 a day, transport included within 75 miles of Ocala or Punta Gorda.
- Dedicated 300-hp mulcher: $4,000 a day plus transport.
- Palmetto and pine flatwoods: $1,500 to 2,500 per acre by density.
- Oak scrub and sandhill: $1,200 to 1,800 per acre.
- Brazilian pepper or melaleuca thickets: add $500 per acre for cut-stump treatment.
- Full clear to dirt with stumps: $3,000 to 5,500 per acre.
- Quarter-acre infill lot $1,800 flat. Half-acre lot, one day, $2,600.
- Stumps: $4.50 per inch of diameter, $150 minimum; 10 or more by the day.
- Dozer and root rake: $170 an hour with operator. Land grading after, same rate.
- Haul-off and debris removal services: $700 to 1,300 per 10-yard load.
A gopher tortoise survey by a licensed agent, $400 to 900, comes before any price on an upland lot. Wet season adds a day. Free estimate within 75 miles of a yard. Call (352) 619-3597 or send the form. Brandi texts you a scheduling window within the hour.
Wetlands, Protected Trees and Permits Before You Clear Your Land
Cutting itself is not an ERP trigger at any water management district. Filling a wetland or changing drainage is, under FDEP Ch. 62-330, delegated to NWFWMD, SRWMD, SJRWMD, SWFWMD and SFWMD. Anything wet gets a Ch. 62-340 delineation first; federal wetland fill goes to the USACE Jacksonville District. County permits before clearing land without a building permit: Lee County Vegetation Removal, Collier VRP, Brevard over an acre, Hillsborough Land Alteration, Pasco over an acre, Palm Beach County, Leon EMP. Gopher tortoise: survey within 90 days, no work within 25 feet of a burrow, FWC relocation permit first. Bald eagle nests get a 660-foot buffer. Scrub-jay zones in Palm Coast, Port Charlotte, North Port and Palm Bay need FWS review. We flag burrows and buffers before the machine unloads.
Hurricane Debris and Storm Damage by the Load
Storm damage is priced by the load: $700 to 1,300 per 10-yard load, hauled, not burned. After Ian we spent six months on debris in Charlotte and Lee, and one acre in Punta Gorda took 9 loads at $8,100. FEMA pays for debris on the public right-of-way. Your lot is yours. Milton and Helene in 2024 snapped slash pine across the Gulf side; Michael did the same in Bay County in 2018. Snapped pine is tree removal and debris removal in one pass: the mulcher takes tops, the excavator loads trunks, stumps get ground later. Mature trees down across a drive move first.
Where We Clear Land in Florida: Six Regions, Two Yards
Two yards, two 75-mile circles. Ocala covers Central Florida: Marion, Alachua, Volusia, Seminole, Polk, Lake, Sumter, Citrus, Hernando, Orange and Osceola, plus Tampa Bay through Plant City and Valrico. Punta Gorda covers the southwest: Charlotte, Lee, Collier, Sarasota, Manatee, DeSoto and Hendry, and the Treasure Coast by SR 70 and SR 80. Palm Coast to Jacksonville and Gainesville to Pensacola carry transport beyond 75 miles, billed on the quote. Locally owned and operated since 2012, fully licensed and insured, and we offer forestry mulching, brush removal and land-clearing services on the same trailer. Residential and commercial, site prep included, overgrowth to pad, your property cleared before the June rains. Need land clearing on a Florida property outside these lines? Ask anyway. Call (352) 619-3597 or send the form with the county and acreage. Brandi texts you a scheduling window within the hour.
Land clearing across Florida
Six regions, two yards. Pick yours for local rates, permits and the towns we work.
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Land Clearing Services: Questions We Get
How much does it cost to clear land in Florida?
Most lots run $1,200 to 2,500 per acre mulched and $3,000 to 5,500 per acre cleared to dirt with stumps. A half-acre platted lot is one skid steer day at $2,600. Brazilian pepper adds $500 an acre.
Can I clear my own land?
Yes, on most upland parcels, but the FWC gopher tortoise rule and county vegetation permits still apply to you. A homeowner who buries a burrow faces the same penalty we would. Rental mulchers handle stems to about 4 inches, and the palmetto root mat stops a rented bush hog cold.
What is the cheapest way to clear land here?
Forestry mulching is the cheapest finished result on brush and small trees, because nothing gets hauled and no burn authorization is needed. Figure $1,500 to 2,500 an acre on palmetto. Burning is cheaper where the Florida Forest Service allows it, which is rarely inside a platted subdivision.
Do I need a permit for land clearing in Florida?
Usually yes, unless you hold a building permit or the parcel carries greenbelt classification. Lee, Collier, Brevard, Hillsborough, Pasco, Palm Beach and Palm Coast all require a vegetation or clearing permit first. Wetland fill adds an ERP from the water management district.
Full clearing or forestry mulching for my lot?
Mulching if the lot stays green or you want a pad footprint and a chip layer. Full clear to dirt if a slab, driveway or septic field is coming and the stumps must go. Many lots get both: mulch the whole parcel, grub the pad. Prep services for the builder come on the same sheet.
What happens to the stumps?
Stumps get ground at $4.50 per inch of diameter, $150 minimum, or raked out with the dozer when the pad needs them gone. Lots with 10 or more stumps are priced by the day. Pepper and melaleuca stumps get cut-stump treatment the same hour. Call (352) 619-3597 for a free estimate.
Ready to Clear Your Lot?
Send the form or call. Brandi texts you a scheduling window within the hour.