What land clearing actually costs in Florida
Most pages answering this question quote a price per acre. We are going to tell you why that number is close to meaningless, what we actually charge, and what a machine day covered across 245 real Florida jobs.
Nobody can honestly quote you a price per acre
An acre of light palmetto and an acre of twenty years of pepper and vine are the same acre on a deed and completely different jobs on the ground. One is a comfortable day. The other is three.
So we do not sell acres. We sell machine days, and the day is the unit whether your lot is a quarter of an acre or a full one. That is why a small lot does not cost a quarter of what a big one costs: most of what you are buying is a machine, an operator and a day of their time.
The useful question is not what an acre costs. It is how many days your ground is going to take, and that is a question we can answer honestly from photographs.
The three machine rates
| Machine | Takes stems up to | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Skid steer mulcher | 8 inches | From $3,000 a machine day |
| Dedicated mulcher | 24 inches | From $4,000 a machine day, plus transport |
| Excavator mulcher | 30 inches, and grubbing | From $3,500 a machine day, plus transport |
The dedicated mulcher is the dearest machine we run, above the excavator. The rate follows the machine, not the size of the stem, which catches people out. Transport is the cost of getting the bigger two machines to you. It is separate from hauling material away, which is quoted per job and only when something genuinely has to leave the site.
What a machine day actually covered
Across 183 Florida jobs booked as a single eight hour day, this is how much ground got cleared. Not an estimate. What the book says.
Read the yellow bar. On more than half of our single day jobs, one machine day covered between half an acre and a full acre. That is the honest planning number. If somebody promises you three acres in a day without seeing it, ask what they are leaving behind.
Work out roughly what your lot needs
This uses the same numbers as the table above and our published day rates. It gives you a starting point, not a quote.
This is an estimate, not a price. It multiplies our published day rate by the days we think the ground needs. Access, wet ground, what you want left standing and what has to be worked around all move it. Send photographs and we will give you a real number, usually the same day.
What makes a day go further, and what eats one
Open ground with room to turn. Light palmetto and grass. Dry season. Nothing you need protected. A gate the trailer actually fits through.
Most of the cost of a small lot is getting the machine there. Adjoining lots done in one visit are one mobilisation, not several. We have done eight in one neighbourhood over two days.
Marked boundaries, marked keepers, a clear brief. The operator stops guessing and starts cutting.
Trees you want kept. A mulcher going round a tree is far slower than one going through it, and selective work is the most common thing we are asked for.
Low ground that holds water through the summer. Tracked machines cope, but they cope slowly.
Fence wire, rubbish, old structures, rock. All of it slows a mulching head and some of it damages one.
What is not in the day rate
| Transport | Getting the dedicated mulcher or the excavator to your site. The skid steer rate does not carry it. Charged on about one Florida job in ten |
| Debris hauling | Quoted per job, and only when material genuinely has to leave. Mulching leaves everything on the ground, which is usually the point |
| Permits | We are not the permit office and we do not file applications. Fees are yours and they vary by county and city |
| Surveys and staking | If a boundary or a wetland edge has to be established, that is a surveyor's job, not ours |
| Grading and levelling | We do not do it. If your site needs finished levels, that is a different contractor |
Cost questions we get asked
What does it cost to clear half an acre?
A machine day, so from $3,000. Half an acre and a full acre usually cost the same, because the day is the unit and most of what you are buying is the machine being there at all. If that feels wrong, it is the honest version: we would rather tell you now than quote you a half day price and find the job needs a full one.
What about a price per acre?
We will not quote one, and we would be careful with anyone who does it sight unseen. Across 245 Florida jobs the median machine day covered one acre, but the range ran from a fifth of an acre to several. The per acre number only exists after somebody has looked at the ground.
Is forestry mulching cheaper than traditional clearing?
Usually, and the saving is mostly in what does not happen. One machine cuts, grinds and spreads in a single pass, so there is no pile, no burn permit, no line of trucks and no tipping fees. On acreage that is a large part of the total.
Why is the dedicated mulcher dearer than the excavator?
Because the rate follows the machine rather than the size of stem it can take. The dedicated mulcher is the most expensive machine we run at $4,000 a day, above the excavator mulcher at $3,500, even though the excavator handles bigger stems and takes roots out. It surprises most people, so it is worth saying plainly.
Do you charge to come and look?
Most jobs never need it. Photographs with something in frame for scale, the acreage and a note on what you want left standing will usually get you a real number the same day.
Will the price change once you are on site?
The day rate does not. What can change is how many days the ground turns out to need, and if that looks likely we tell you at the end of day one rather than at the end of the job. You decide whether to book another.
Get a real number instead of an estimate
Send photographs, the acreage and a note on what you want left standing. Most Florida jobs can be priced from that without anyone driving out.
Call or text 813-733-6607