Land Clearing in Hawthorne, Florida
Forestry mulching, large acreage clearing and site preparation across Hawthorne and Alachua County. One machine cuts, grinds and spreads in a single pass, so nothing is piled, burned or hauled off your land.
- Priced from photographs, usually same day
- 130 acres cleared here across two tracts in 2025
- From $3,000 a machine day
What we clear in Hawthorne
Eight things we are actually asked for on Alachua County ground. If your job is not on this list, say so and we will tell you straight whether it is ours.
One machine cuts standing growth and grinds it back into the ground as chip in the same pass. No pile, no burn, no trucks. This is what scales to a large tract.
Tens of acres rather than one. We have run two tracts here at 64 and 66 acres, which is the largest work on our books.
Palmetto, gallberry and briar taken out from under planted pine you are keeping.
Cutover and replant ground tidied back to something a planter or a mower can cross.
You mark what stays and we cut round it. On prairie edge ground the hardwood clumps are usually worth keeping.
Where the roots have to come out rather than the top growth being ground off. Our 30 inch excavator mulcher.
Rides through a block, food plot lanes, and a cut line between your buildings and the timber.
Building envelope, drive and pad taken down to workable ground before your builder arrives.
Who calls us in Alachua County
This is the page for you. Two tracts at 64 and 66 acres in June 2025, run back to back. Very few mulching outfits will quote that honestly by the day.
Ground between rotations, or a block bought with the understory already closed in.
Grazing ground reverting to scrub across acreage large enough that burning is not a practical answer.
Rides, lanes and opened up ground across a big block, without disturbing the soil.
Clearing the envelope, the drive and the pad before the builder mobilises, so the site is ready rather than a delay.
A tract nobody can walk is a tract nobody values properly. On large ground the difference a mulcher makes is dramatic.
How the work runs
Four steps, and on large acreage the second one is where the money is decided.
Pictures with something in frame for scale, the tract size, and a note on what you want left standing. On a big block send several, because the growth is rarely uniform across it.
Usually the same day. On a large tract we will tell you which machine we would bring and why, because that is the choice that moves the day count most. Sixty four acres took eighteen days on the skid steer. Sixty six took fifteen on the dedicated mulcher.
The mulching head cuts, grinds and spreads as it goes. On acreage this is the whole argument: there is no pile, no burn and no haul stage to pay for separately.
Not bare ground and not a field of cut stems. Across a big tract that layer is what stops the surface moving before anything regrows.
Photographs from our jobs
Photographs from jobs we have run. Nothing here is stock photography and nothing here is generated.
What it costs
We sell machine days, not acres, and we publish the rates. On large ground that is unusually honest arithmetic: two tracts here were almost the same size, and the day counts came out at eighteen and fifteen. Same county, same month, and the difference was which machine went on them.
Stems to 8 inches. Transport included. The machine recorded on 64 acres here in eighteen days
Stems to 30 inches, and grubbing. Plus transport
Stems to 24 inches. Plus transport. The dearest machine we run
What moves the day count
The rate follows the machine rather than the size of the stem, which catches people out: the dedicated mulcher costs more than the excavator even though the excavator takes bigger timber and pulls roots. Transport is the cost of getting the bigger two machines to you and is separate from hauling material away, which is quoted per job.
What we have actually done in Hawthorne
Four finished jobs and thirty eight machine days, from January 2024 to June 2025. This is the largest acreage record we have anywhere in Florida.
| Jan 2024 | Five acres, 4 machine days |
| Mar 2024 | One acre, 1 machine day |
| Jun 2025 | Sixty four acres, 18 machine days, with the skid steer mulcher |
| Jun 2025 | Sixty six acres, 15 machine days, with the dedicated mulcher |
Those two June 2025 tracts are the most useful thing on this page. Almost identical acreage, and the day counts landed close together: eighteen against fifteen. The 64 acre tract ran on the skid steer and took eighteen days. The 66 acre tract went on the dedicated mulcher, which is the heavier machine, and finished in fifteen. If anyone quotes your large tract per acre without seeing it, that is the number they are guessing at. Across Alachua County we have finished eight jobs and forty four machine days.
The ground on an Alachua County tract
| What grows here | Planted pine over gallberry and palmetto across much of the county, live oak and hickory hammock on the better ground, and prairie edge running down towards the lakes and marshes east of town. Sweetgum and briar fill anything left after a thin |
| What that means for a machine | On a large tract the variation within the block matters more than the block average. Light understory moves fast. Closed in hardwood scrub does not, and that is what separates a fifteen day tract from an eighteen day one |
| Water | Prairie and marsh edge ground holds water well into the spring, and on a big tract there is usually some of both. Wet ground does not stop a tracked machine but it slows it, and across fifty acres that adds up |
| Access | Rural roads and farm tracks. On large acreage the question is whether a low loader can get the bigger machines in, so a photograph of the entrance and the turn off the road is worth sending early |
The largest single tract we have cleared anywhere in Florida, at Hawthorne in June 2025. It took fifteen machine days on the dedicated mulcher. A neighbouring 64 acre tract took eighteen on the skid steer.
What customers say
FloridaLandClearing.com was beyond helpful in getting our property cleared. They were spot on with their quote, their crews arrived on time, and the machines they used were impressive to watch.
Jenny AndersonWe had a difficult project a few other companies attempted and left. Florida Land Clearing was able to get the job done and a day earlier than quoted.
Joseph KellyThese guys are pros. Watching these machines just devour acres of underbrush in a day was one of the coolest things I have seen. I cannot believe how this transformed my property.
Adam WilsonBefore you book: trees on an Alachua County tract
Alachua County has a reputation for taking tree and land clearing rules seriously, and on large acreage the questions are different from those on a house lot.
Silvicultural work under an approved forestry practice is generally handled differently from clearing for development, and on a large tract the county may take an interest in wetland edges, buffers and what the ground is being converted to rather than only in individual trees. Work near prairie, marsh or a creek may also involve the water management district.
This is the county where we most strongly suggest sorting the paperwork before booking machine time, simply because the day counts on large acreage are big enough that a stoppage is expensive. Tell us what you know when you send photographs.
We are a clearing contractor, not the permit office, and we do not file applications. Confirm your own parcel and your own trees with Alachua County or the water management district before you commit.
Hawthorne questions
How much does it cost to clear a large tract in Hawthorne?
From $3,000 a machine day, and on large acreage the day count is everything. Sixty four acres here took eighteen machine days. Sixty six acres took fifteen, on the heavier machine. We will not quote a large tract without seeing photographs of the whole block, because which machine it needs is worth days.
Do you really clear sixty acre tracts?
Yes. Two of them in June 2025, back to back, at 64 and 66 acres. That is the largest work on our books and it is the reason this page exists.
Why does a tract this size still take weeks?
Because sixty odd acres is a lot of ground and a mulching head only covers so much of it in a day. Light understory over planted pine moves faster than closed in hardwood scrub, and the machine matters too: the dedicated mulcher covered the 66 acre tract in fifteen days while the skid steer took eighteen on a slightly smaller one. Acreage on its own tells you very little at this scale.
Which machine would you bring to a big tract?
Whichever the growth needs, and we will tell you which before you book. The skid steer covers open ground fast with transport included. The dedicated mulcher costs more per day and takes heavier timber. That choice is the single biggest lever on your total.
What happens to everything you cut?
It stays on the ground as mulch, spread as the machine goes. On sixty acres that matters enormously, because the alternative is a burn programme or hundreds of truck loads.
Do I need a permit?
On large acreage in this county, quite possibly, and it is worth settling before machine time is booked. Confirm with Alachua County and, near water, the district, rather than taking a contractor word for it, ours included.
Are you licensed and insured?
Insured, and we send the certificate before the machine moves. Florida does not issue a contractor licence for forestry mulching, so nobody holds one. Insurance is the document worth asking every contractor to produce.
Around Hawthorne
Get a price on your Hawthorne lot
Send photographs of the whole block, the tract size and a note on what you want left standing. On large acreage we would rather spend an hour on the quote than get the machine choice wrong.
Call or text 813-733-6607