Land Clearing and Forestry Mulching in Tampa Bay, Florida: Pasco and Hillsborough Flatwoods, Sandhill and Old Grove Clearing
Tampa Bay is palmetto flatwoods in Wesley Chapel, sandhill with sinkholes around Dade City, and old strawberry fields gone to Brazilian pepper in Plant City. Our crews come down I-75 from the Ocala yard. Pasco sits inside the 75-mile circle, Dade City at about 60; Hillsborough carries transport, Plant City at about 90. A half-acre flatwoods lot is one day with the skid steer, $2,600. Call (352) 619-3597 or send the form. Brandi texts you a scheduling window within the hour.
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Forestry Mulching Palmetto Flatwoods, Sandhill and Old Fields in Tampa Bay
Mesic flatwoods with saw palmetto under slash pine is most of Pasco, and it runs $1,500 to 2,500 per acre by density. The palmetto root mat is why a bush hog alone fails here: it cuts the fronds and leaves the crowns, and the forestry mulcher grinds the crowns into four inches of mulch that holds the sand through a June storm, so it doubles as erosion control. Sandhill and oak scrub on the Brooksville Ridge edge run $1,200 to 1,800. Hammocks get thinned, with the mature trees flagged. Cypress heads are wetland and stay.
The old fields are their own ground. Fifteen years of overgrowth on a strawberry field in Plant City or Valrico means Brazilian pepper and camphor, and both resprout, so the crew treats each cut within minutes. That is the $500 an acre surcharge. Dry undergrowth under dead citrus is fire fuel by March. Sinkholes are the only thing in Pasco that clears a lot faster than we do.
Land Clearing Services, Site Prep and Land Grading We Run Down I-75
We offer forestry mulching first. Five more land clearing services come on the same trailer.
- Forestry mulching and land clearing on flatwoods lots and acreage, the underbrush and the brush and trees ground in place.
- Lot clearing for a new home, with fill after it on the low lots.
- Brush clearing and brush removal on field edges, fence lines and any overgrown lot.
- Stump grinding and tree removal for dead citrus and Milton blowdown: $4.50 per inch, $150 minimum per stump.
- Site preparation services and site prep services once the field is clear: land grading, fill under the pad, excavation work with an excavator, $170 an hour. Debris removal services, 10-yard loads.
No concrete, wells, septic or house demolition; I know people who do. Insured crews, residential and commercial, on every job site.
Lot Clearing for New Construction from Wesley Chapel to Riverview
A half-acre lot is one day, $2,600. A quarter-acre infill lot in Lutz or Riverview is $1,800 flat. Pasco pulled 6,191 single-family permits in 2025 by the Census Building Permits Survey, up 13 percent and fourth in Florida. Hillsborough pulled 4,295. Wesley Chapel issues no permits of its own, so the county's unincorporated count is the proxy, and most of it is SR 54 flatwoods.
Fill follows the mulcher on the low lots, because flatwoods ground holds water after a July afternoon. We mulch, flag the low corner, and the dozer spreads fill where the slab goes. Send the parcel ID and the site plan and you get your property cleared on a written price.
Farmland Conversion in Plant City: Clearing Land That Used to Grow Strawberries
Most of our Hillsborough work is a field that stopped farming. Strawberry and citrus ground in Plant City and Valrico sells to a builder, and the pepper has had fifteen years to fill it. The 20-acre dead grove we cleared in Lake Wales is the ruler: four days with the big mulcher and the dozer, trees pushed and roots raked, $21,000 plus haul. A Plant City field runs on that sheet.
Pasco is the other half. Palmetto flatwoods in Wesley Chapel and Land O' Lakes go by the day, and the sandhill around Dade City sits on karst, so I walk the low spots for a sinkhole before the 300-hp machine rolls on. Milton in 2024 put oaks and pines down across both counties. Pinellas is built out and not on this site.
How Much Does Land Clearing Cost in Tampa Bay, Florida?
Palmetto sets the price in Pasco, pepper and stumps set it in Hillsborough.
- Skid steer forestry mulcher, stems to 8 inches: $2,600 a day, transport included inside 75 miles of Ocala. All of Pasco qualifies; Plant City is about 90 miles, so Hillsborough carries transport.
- 300-hp mulcher for old groves and 10 acres and up: $4,000 a day plus transport.
- Palmetto and pine flatwoods: $1,500 to 2,500 per acre. Sandhill and oak scrub: $1,200 to 1,800.
- Brazilian pepper or camphor thickets: add $500 per acre. Full clearing to dirt with stumps out: $3,000 to 5,500 per acre.
- Dozer and root rake $170 an hour. Haul-off $700 to 1,300 per 10-yard load.
June through September adds one day on wet flatwoods, and the gopher tortoise survey, $400 to 900, comes before the price on every sandhill lot in Pasco. Tree size and the small trees under the pine set the day count. If you need land clearing on an old field, count the stumps first. Call (352) 619-3597 with the acreage and what grows on it. The free estimate is in person anywhere in Pasco.
Wetland, Permit and Tortoise Rules Before You Clear Your Land
SWFWMD issues the Environmental Resource Permit for all of Pasco and Hillsborough. Mulching a dry lot does not trigger it. Filling a wetland or moving drainage does, and a cypress head on a flatwoods lot is wetland until a delineation says otherwise. The USACE Jacksonville District handles federal wetlands from its Tampa office.
County codes come next. Hillsborough County Natural Resources issues the Land Alteration and Tree Removal permit, with protected trees at 5 inches DBH and grand trees at 34, and a Land Excavation permit for fill; Plant City and Tampa run their own codes. Pasco County requires a Site Development and Land Clearing permit before clearing over 1 acre, with tree protection, and greenbelt classification is the exemption on working farms. FWC gopher tortoise rules apply on every sandhill lot in Pasco: no land clearing work within 25 feet of a burrow without a permit. Bald eagle nests carry 660 feet. A Florida property owner holds those permits, so I read the code before I quote.
Storm Damage, Brush Clearing and Debris Removal After Milton and Helene
Milton in 2024 put live oaks and slash pine down across Hillsborough and Pasco, and Helene pushed surge debris up the tidal creeks. Storm damage goes by the load, $700 to 1,300 per 10-yard load, and FEMA pays for the public right-of-way, not for your lot. A standing dead pine is a chainsaw and a grind. A tangle of oak is a load count; after Ian we hauled 9 loads off one acre in Punta Gorda.
Counties and Towns Where We Clear Land Around Tampa
Two counties, two pages, and the city pages under them. Pasco (Wesley Chapel, Land O' Lakes, Zephyrhills, Dade City) and Hillsborough (Plant City, Riverview, Lutz). Each page carries the county permit, the per acre price, the transport line from Ocala and the land-clearing services its lots need.
Where we clear land in Tampa Bay
City pages
Tampa Bay Land Clearing Questions and the Free Estimate
How much does land clearing in Florida's Tampa Bay counties cost per acre?
Flatwoods run $1,500 to 2,500 an acre, sandhill $1,200 to 1,800, pepper or camphor adds $500, and clearing to dirt with stumps out is $3,000 to 5,500. A half-acre lot goes by the day at $2,600, transport included anywhere in Pasco.
When is the best season to clear a lot in Pasco or Hillsborough?
November to May. Flatwoods along SR 54 stand in water from June into September, and wet-season work adds a day. Old fields on the Plant City side drain faster, so they are the summer jobs in the Florida wet season.
Do I need a permit to clear my own land in Hillsborough or Pasco?
Yes in most cases. Hillsborough County requires a Land Alteration and Tree Removal permit once a protected tree over 5 inches comes down, and Pasco County requires a Site Development and Land Clearing permit over 1 acre. A gopher tortoise survey comes first on every sandhill lot.
Can I burn the piles on my lot?
Not in urban Hillsborough, and rarely on a platted lot in Pasco. Acreage east of US 301 can burn under a Forest Service authorization from the Withlacoochee district, pulled by phone or online that morning. Everywhere else it is mulch or haul, and mulch is cheaper.
Is mulching or clearing land to dirt the right call on an old strawberry field?
Mulching for the pepper and camphor, then the dozer for the stumps. Mulchers grind the thicket in place in a day; clearing land to dirt pulls the citrus stumps and roots for the pad. Most Plant City fields need both.
How fast can a land clearing company reach Wesley Chapel or Plant City?
Brandi texts a scheduling window within an hour of your form, and a crew from Ocala is usually on your lot inside a week in Pasco and two weeks in Hillsborough during the dry season. Call (352) 619-3597 with the parcel ID. The company is locally owned and operated, a full-service land clearing contractor for commercial and residential lots, and Florida land in agricultural use gets the same free estimate for land management.
Ready to Clear Your Lot?
Send the form or call. Brandi texts you a scheduling window within the hour.