Forestry Mulching and Land Clearing in Alachua, FL: Lot, Brush and Palmetto Clearing
Alachua sits where US 441 meets I-75, with sandhill on the high ground, live oak hammock toward the Santa Fe River and planted pine on the old farms. Lots run from a half acre in town to twenty acres out toward the county line. Our crews come up from the Ocala yard, 55 miles on I-75, so transport and the estimate are free. I've cleared this kind of ground since 2012. Call (352) 619-3597 or send the form. Brandi texts you a scheduling window within an hour.
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Forestry Mulching and Brush Clearing Near Alachua
Two to four inches of mulch is the finished product, and that is what keeps the sprouts down. Forestry mulching is a land clearing method that uses specialized equipment to grind trees, scrub and vegetation into mulch in place, no pile, no loads. The skid steer takes laurel oak, water oak and planted pine to 8 inches; bigger pine goes to the 300-hp machine at $4,000 a day. Live oak hammock shade is the only air conditioning north Florida ever built, so selective clearing that keeps the big oaks is the usual request here. Areas with dense grapevine and smilax in the hammock get a second pass a month later. Overgrown land on the sandhill side runs faster and drier. Professional clearing means flagging the keepers with me on the site visit.
Land Clearing Services in Alachua, FL
Pellegrino Land Works provides land clearing as a professional land clearing service for residential and commercial properties, and the services in Alachua split two ways.
For residential land clearing:
- Lot clearing and site prep for a pad, mulched or cleared to dirt.
- Stump grinding at $4.50 an inch of diameter, $150 minimum per stump.
- Tree removal of dead pine and leaning oak, with cleanup and haul-off by the 10-yard load.
- Brush removal and bush hogging on old pasture, $65 to 95 an acre, $450 minimum.
For commercial clearing:
- Commercial land clearing services for commercial properties in Alachua along US 441, full site clearing to dirt.
- Grubbing with a root rake and dozer, $170 an hour with operator.
- Landscape clearing and property clearing on commercial sites before the site work crew arrives.
We do not pour concrete, drill wells, set septic or demolish houses. I know people who do. Every project gets one written price.
Lot Clearing for New Homes in Alachua and High Springs
The Census Building Permits Survey shows no city-level count for Alachua in 2025, so the county's unincorporated figure, 272 single-family permits, is the proxy, with the county at 689 overall. A half-acre lot here is one day of skid steer, $2,600. A quarter-acre infill lot off Main Street is $1,800 flat. A two-acre tract toward High Springs with the pad to dirt and the rest mulched in place is two days. Sandhill lots drain before you leave. Hammock lots near the river hold water in a wet June, and on those the order matters: clearing, then fill, then grading so the slab sits above the swale. On our jobs in the Alachua area I walk the low corner first and price the fill as its own line. Send the lot size and the builder's start date.
How Much Does Land Clearing Cost in Alachua?
Land clearing costs between $1,200 and $5,500 an acre here, and where you land depends on the size of the stems and whether the stumps come out. Oak scrub and sandhill mulch at $1,200 to 1,800 an acre. Full clearing to dirt with stumps is $3,000 to 5,500. By the day: skid steer mulcher $2,600 with transport included inside 75 miles of Ocala, which covers Alachua; dedicated 300-hp mulcher $4,000 plus transport for large acreage clearing. Haul-off is $700 to 1,300 per 10-yard load. Worked example: five acres of planted pine and oak with a one-acre pad to dirt comes to about two days on the big machine plus a dozer day, roughly $12,000 before haul. A gopher tortoise survey at $400 to 900 comes first on sandhill, and a wet-season job on the hammock side carries one extra day in the quote. The cheapest way to clear is still mulching. Call (352) 619-3597 and I will price it depending on site conditions after I walk the property.
Permits, Gopher Tortoises and Drainage Before You Clear Land in Alachua
Alachua County Tree Protection in the Land Development Code is the first stop: heritage trees need a permit to come down, and the city's own code is lighter than Gainesville's. The FWC gopher tortoise rule is the second: a licensed agent surveys within 90 days, we flag each burrow, and no machine works within 25 feet of one without a relocation permit. Sandhill from here to High Springs is burrow country. Third is water. The Santa Fe basin is SRWMD, and the district ignores clearing. Filling a wetland or rerouting drainage triggers the ERP, so the land clearing process stops at the wet line until the fill plan is set. Burn piles need a Florida Forest Service burn authorization, usually a yes on acreage and a no in town. Send me the parcel ID and I will tell you which rules apply.
Land Clearing Services Across North Central Florida: High Springs, LaCrosse, Newberry
We are a land clearing company serving Alachua, FL and the surrounding area from the Ocala yard, and the whole Gainesville area sits inside the free 75-mile line. That takes in High Springs, LaCrosse, Newberry and Waldo. North and west of the Santa Fe, Lake City and Live Oak carry a transport line, and our services throughout North Florida run to the Big Bend and the Pensacola metro the same way, transport quoted up front. Pipeline and power-line easements come to us too; that was my work on the ROW for ten years. The county page carries the county notes and the North Florida page the region. Send the form with your town.
Land clearing near Alachua
Nearby city pages
Request a Free On-Site Estimate in Alachua
The land clearing service in Alachua works like this. Send the form or call (352) 619-3597 with the acreage and a parcel number. Brandi texts you a scheduling window within the hour. I walk the lines, flag the oaks that stay and the burrows we skip, and write one price. Our insured crews show up on the day we set and make your property ready for the builder. Acreage left to overgrow, a pad, a pasture edge: one form.
Land Clearing FAQs for Alachua Property Owners
Can you work wet ground near the Santa Fe River?
Yes, with limits. A mulcher floats on wet flatwoods where a dozer sinks, because the weight spreads over tracks and the mulch layer carries the machine. Standing water is a stop. June to September we quote one extra day on hammock and bottomland, and we leave the site with the swale open so the water goes where it went before.
Do you handle commercial development sites in Alachua?
Yes. The land clearing Alachua developers order along US 441 is full site clearing to dirt, $3,000 to 5,500 an acre, then excavation and pads by another contractor. We remove brush, grind the stumps, haul the loads and hand off a lot the site work crew can stake the same day.
Can I burn the brush on acreage outside town?
Usually, yes. A Florida Forest Service burn authorization is a daily call, and acreage with setbacks gets it most dry-season days. Inside the city limits plan on no. Most land clearing projects still end up mulched, because a pile has to be watched for a week.
How soon can a crew be on a lot near Alachua?
Inside a week in the dry season, November to May, and about two in summer. Brandi texts a window within an hour of your form, and the on-site estimate is free this close to Ocala. Call (352) 619-3597 if a builder is waiting. The frequently asked questions about land improvement and site preparation are answered above.
Get Your Free Estimate
Send the form or call. Brandi texts you a scheduling window within the hour.