Land Clearing in St. Augustine, Florida
Forestry mulching, underbrushing and lot clearing across St. Augustine and St. Johns County. One machine cuts, grinds and spreads in a single pass, so nothing is piled, burned or hauled off your place.
- Priced from photographs, usually same day
- An acre here took two machine days
- From $3,000 a machine day
What we clear in St. Augustine
Eight things we are actually asked for on St. Johns 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.
Saw palmetto, wax myrtle and briar taken out from under the live oaks you are keeping, which on coastal hammock is most of the job.
A lot that has closed in, whether it is inside town or out on the county roads, back to ground you can walk.
You mark the live oaks that stay and we cut round them. On this coast the wind sculpted oaks are the whole reason a parcel looks the way it does.
Where the roots have to come out rather than the top growth being ground off. Our 30 inch excavator mulcher.
Building envelope, drive and pad taken down to workable ground before your builder arrives.
A drive line in from the road, or a ride cut through a block so you can see the back of your own ground.
A line you can run wire along or walk, cut without disturbing what is either side of it.
Who calls us in St. Johns County
Dense live oak and palmetto within reach of the salt. It is slower going than the same acreage inland and worth knowing that before you plan around it.
Clearing the envelope, the drive and the pad before the builder mobilises, so the site is ready rather than a delay.
Parcels that run down towards the marsh, where the growth changes and so do the rules about touching it.
An overgrown lot inside city limits generates letters. A machine day usually settles it, though here it may be two.
Flatwoods and planted pine ground, which behaves nothing like the hammock on the coast side.
A parcel nobody can walk is a parcel nobody buys. A day with a mulcher changes what a buyer is looking at.
How the work runs
Four steps, and the first two happen before anything leaves our yard.
Pictures with something in frame for scale, the lot size, and a note on which trees stay. If any of the ground runs towards marsh, show us that first.
Usually the same day. It is a day count against a published rate, not a guess dressed up as a quote, and on this ground we would rather quote two days honestly than one optimistically.
The mulching head cuts, grinds and spreads as it goes. No separate clear, pile and haul stage, which is where most of the cost and all of the mess normally sits.
Not bare sand and not a field of cut stems. On sandy coastal ground that layer is what stops the surface blowing and washing.
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. The number worth knowing here is that an acre took us two machine days, which is slower than an acre almost anywhere else on our books, and the reason is the ground rather than anything else.
Stems to 8 inches. Transport included. The machine for a lot or a small parcel
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 St. Augustine
One finished job, an acre, two machine days, Nov 2023. The day count is the part worth reading.
| Nov 2023 | One acre, 2 machine days, machine not recorded on the scope |
| Feb 2024, elsewhere in the county | One acre, 1 machine day, on flatwoods ground west of town |
| The county total | Two jobs, 3 machine days, both an acre |
Two acres between them, and one took twice as long as the other. Same county, same size, same year. Coastal hammock grows dense and low and a machine works in short bites; flatwoods further inland lets it run. If somebody quotes your St. Johns acre without asking which side of the county it is on, they are guessing. Neither scope records the machine, so we will not tell you which went.
The ground on a St. Johns County parcel
| What grows here | Live oak, cabbage palm and saw palmetto on the coastal hammock, much of it wind stunted and dense, slash pine flatwoods west of town, and marsh grass and cedar where the ground runs down to the water |
| What that means for a machine | Coastal hammock is the slow ground. Low dense growth under a canopy you are keeping means short passes and constant turning. The flatwoods inland let a machine run and cover far more per day |
| Water | Flat and close to sea level on the coast side, with tidal marsh at the edges. What the tide does matters at the margins of a parcel and is worth photographing |
| Access | Town streets in the old part, county roads and sand tracks west and south. Turning room for a low loader is worth checking before anything is booked |
For one acre of coastal hammock here. The same acre on flatwoods a few miles west took one. Dense low growth costs time, and time is what you are buying.
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 a St. Johns County parcel
St. Johns County and the City of St. Augustine each have a say depending on where your parcel sits, and ground near marsh brings coastal protections into it that are separate from the tree rules.
What is protected depends on the species and the size of the trunk, and whether the parcel is a single family homesite or land being developed. Mature live oaks attract real attention here, and inside the historic parts of the city the rules are more detailed again.
Tell us what you want gone and what you want kept when you send photographs. If any part of the parcel runs down towards marsh or water, mention it first, because that is the question that decides whether the job is straightforward or not.
We are a clearing contractor, not the permit office, and we do not file applications. Confirm your own parcel and your own trees with St. Johns County, the City of St. Augustine or the relevant coastal authority before you commit.
St. Augustine questions
How much does it cost to clear a lot in St. Augustine?
From $3,000 a machine day. Our acre here took two days, which is slower than most acres on our books. Send photographs and we will give you a real day count rather than an optimistic one.
Why did an acre take two days?
Because coastal hammock is dense, low and wind stunted, and the machine works in short bites round trees you are keeping. An acre of flatwoods a few miles west of town took one day in the same period.
Can you clear near the marsh?
Up to whatever the line actually allows, and that is worth settling in writing first. Ground near marsh is protected separately from the tree rules and it is not something to assume about.
Will you take the live oaks out?
Only if you tell us to and the rules allow it, which here they often do not. Most people want the opposite: everything under the canopy gone and the oaks untouched. That is normal work for us.
What happens to everything you cut?
It stays on the ground as mulch, spread as the machine goes. Nothing piled, nothing burned. On sandy coastal ground that layer holds the surface where it is.
Do I need a permit?
Quite possibly, and more likely here than in most of the state. It depends on the species and size of what is standing, whether you are inside the city, and how close the work is to marsh. Confirm with the right office 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.
Get a price on your St. Augustine lot
Send a few photographs, the lot size and a note on which trees stay. Tell us which side of the county you are on, because coastal hammock and flatwoods are two different jobs at the same acreage.
Call or text 813-733-6607