Land Clearing in St. Petersburg, Florida
Forestry mulching, underbrushing and lot clearing across St. Petersburg and Pinellas County. One machine cuts, grinds and spreads in a single pass, so nothing is piled, burned or trucked out past your neighbours.
- Priced from photographs, usually same day
- Three acres here took five machine days
- From $3,000 a machine day
What we clear in St. Petersburg
Eight things we are actually asked for on this 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.
The lots left empty in a city this old are the difficult ones. That is most of what we are asked for here.
The invasive that takes any unattended lot here. It regrows from what is left in the ground, so how much comes out matters as much as how much comes off.
You mark the live oaks that stay and we cut round them.
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 route in on a lot where the growth has closed over whatever path there used to be.
A clean line along a rear or side boundary, cut without disturbing what is either side, which here is usually somebody else is garden.
Who calls us in Pinellas County
In a city this built out the empty lots are empty for a reason. Awkward shape, tight access, decades of growth, or all three.
An overgrown lot generates letters quickly in a city this dense. A machine day is often the answer, though here it may be several.
Clearing the envelope, the drive and the pad before the builder mobilises, so the site is ready rather than a delay.
Brazilian pepper does not stop at your line, which is usually how the conversation with the neighbours starts.
An acre or two at the back that stopped being usable years ago, on a parcel where there is nowhere to put what comes off it.
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 one shot from the street. On this ground we would rather see too much than too little.
Usually the same day. On a parcel like the one we did here we would rather quote five days honestly than one optimistically and come back for more.
The mulching head cuts, grinds and spreads as it goes. On a tight urban lot that matters twice over: nothing to store and no trucks in and out.
Not bare sand and not a field of cut stems. On a lot waiting on a build that layer keeps the surface stable and the dust down.
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. This county holds both ends of our whole record: three acres that took five machine days, and thirty four acres a few miles away that took one. Nothing about the acreage predicts either.
Stems to 8 inches. Transport included. The machine that fits down a city drive
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. Petersburg
One finished job, three acres, five machine days, May 2025. It is the slowest acre rate anywhere on our books.
| May 2025 | Three acres, 5 machine days, machine not recorded on the scope |
| Mar 2024, elsewhere in the county | Thirty four acres, 1 machine day, on open ground |
| The county total | Five jobs, 10 machine days, from an acre up to thirty four |
Read those first two rows next to each other, because they are the most important pair on this whole site. Three acres took five days. Thirty four acres, twelve miles away and in the same county, took one. That is roughly fifty times the ground covered per day, decided entirely by what was standing and how much room there was to work. Anybody who quotes you a price per acre in Pinellas County has not looked at your parcel.
The ground on a Pinellas County lot
| What grows here | Live oak and sand live oak over most of it, cabbage palm through the low ground, and Brazilian pepper filling any lot that has been left alone, which in a city this old can mean forty years |
| What that means for a machine | Time, not acreage. Forty years of unmanaged growth on a tight lot is slow work in short passes. Open ground on the same soil is some of the fastest going in the state |
| Water | Sandy and free draining on the higher ground, wetter towards the bay edges. Standing water is rarely the scheduling risk here that it is inland |
| Access | Made streets, narrow drives, close neighbours and overhead wires. Where the machine gets in and where the low loader sits decide more here than anything growing does |
Cleared in one machine day elsewhere in this county. Three acres here took five. Same county, same soil, fifty times the ground per day. Acreage tells you nothing.
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 Pinellas County lot
The City of St. Petersburg has its own tree rules and they are more detailed than the county ones. Assume they apply and check rather than the other way round.
What is protected depends on the species and the size of the trunk, and whether the lot is a single family homesite or land being developed. In a county this built up the rules are detailed and enforcement is routine, so this is not a good place to guess.
Tell us what you want gone and what you want kept when you send photographs. If there is a mature oak on the lot or overhanging it from next door, settle its status before anyone books a machine.
We are a clearing contractor, not the permit office, and we do not file applications. Confirm your own parcel and your own trees with the City of St. Petersburg or Pinellas County before you commit.
St. Petersburg questions
How much does it cost to clear a lot in St. Petersburg?
From $3,000 a machine day. Our job here was three acres and took five days, which is at the slow end of anything we have done. Send photographs and we will give you a real day count rather than an optimistic one.
Why did three acres take five days?
Because of what was on it and how much room there was to work. Decades of unmanaged growth on a lot with tight access is worked in short passes. The machine spends more time turning than cutting, and that is time you are paying for.
Can you really do thirty four acres in a day?
We did, elsewhere in this county, on open ground. It is the same machine and the same soil. The difference is entirely what was standing and how much room there was, which is exactly why we ask for photographs before quoting.
Can you work on a lot with houses either side?
Yes, and it is most of what we do here. Everything is ground in place, so there is no pile to store, no burn and no line of trucks past the neighbours.
What happens to everything you cut?
It stays on the ground as mulch, spread as the machine goes. Nothing piled, nothing burned, nothing hauled. On a lot with nowhere to store anything, that is the point.
Do I need a permit?
Assume yes and check. The city rules here are more detailed than the county ones and it depends on the species and size of what is standing. Confirm with them 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 St. Petersburg
Get a price on your St. Petersburg lot
Send a few photographs, the lot size and one shot from the street. Show us how long it has stood untouched, because on this ground time is what you end up paying for.
Call or text 813-733-6607