On this page
- Land Clearing Services Available in Clay County
- Lot Clearing and Acreage Clearing for New Homes in Middleburg and Orange Park
- Forestry Mulching and Brush Clearing on the CR 218 Lots
- How Much Does Land Clearing Cost in Clay County?
- The Ground Property Owners Clear From Black Creek to Trail Ridge
- Tree Permits, Wetlands and Protected Species Before You Clear in Clay
- Storm Debris Cleanup by the Load
- Areas We Serve in Clay County
- Land Clearing Questions from Clay Property Owners
Land Clearing Services Available in Clay County
Every lot gets the same work services. The land clearing service removes palmetto, pine, stumps and storm wood; heritage oaks stay:
- Land clearing to bare dirt, stumps out: $2,800 to 5,000 an acre.
- Forestry mulching services, palmetto and pine ground in place: $2,700 a day.
- Stump grinding: $4.25 an inch, $160 minimum, 10 or more stumps by the day.
- Lot clearing for small residential lots: a quarter acre runs $1,900 flat.
- Brush clearing and underbrushing along a fence or under oaks.
- Tree clearing and tree removal under the county permit.
- Site prep and dirt work: pad rough-graded and compacted, quoted per pad.
Not on the list: concrete, wells, septic, house demolition. I know people who do those.
Lot Clearing and Acreage Clearing for New Homes in Middleburg and Orange Park
Clay County's builders pulled 1,240 single-family permits in 2025, 1,108 of them unincorporated (Census Building Permits Survey), down 33 percent. The lots are at Lake Asbury, Saratoga Springs, Oakleaf and Eagle Landing, on the CR 218 acreage, and along the First Coast Expressway corridor. Residential land clearing on 3 acres off CR 218 took our crew two days with the skid steer: palmetto and slash pine, $5,400, two gopher tortoise burrows flagged at 25 feet. Property development on commercial land along US 17 gets the same sheet as residential jobs; commercial land clearing and site clearing run by the acre. Pads are rough grade and 12 inches of compacted fill above crown of road, quoted per pad. Site preparation ends with three roller passes and a string line check.
Forestry Mulching and Brush Clearing on the CR 218 Lots
Forestry mulching clears a Clay pine lot without a burn pile. The head grinds trees and brush to 8 inches into a mulch layer 2 to 4 inches deep; platted lots in Oakleaf and Fleming Island are effectively no-burn under Florida Forest Service rules anyway. Palmetto root mats shred under the drum. A rotary cutter gives them a haircut. Clearing brush under the Black Creek hammock oaks is selective clearing: laurel oak and undergrowth out, live oak in. Removing vegetation this way keeps the topsoil on the lot. Left alone, palmetto and gallberry will overgrow a cleared lot in two wet seasons.
How Much Does Land Clearing Cost in Clay County?
Palmetto and pine flatwoods on the Middleburg and Lake Asbury lots mulch at $1,400 to 2,300 an acre by density. Sandhill and scrub on Trail Ridge at Keystone Heights runs $1,100 to 1,700: a 6-acre scrub tract there took two days, $7,200. Live oak hammock near Kingsley Lake, Doctors Lake or Black Creek, oaks kept, runs $2,000 to 3,200. Full clearing to dirt with stumps is $2,800 to 5,000. The wet-season day on flatwoods, June to September, and the tortoise survey, $400 to 900, go in the written price first. No surprises on the invoice.
- Skid steer mulcher $2,700 a day, transport included across Clay County; 300-hp mulcher $4,100 plus transport.
- Dozer or root rake grubbing at $165 an hour with operator; haul-off $650 to 1,200 a 10-yard load.
The on-site estimate is free and it is the walk-through. Book a slot on the calendar or call (904) 406-7990. I text the same evening.
The Ground Property Owners Clear From Black Creek to Trail Ridge
Three kinds of ground, and I have cleared all of them. Flatwoods sand, hardpan 12 to 30 inches down, covers the lots off CR 218, CR 220 and Blanding Boulevard; it holds water June to September. The soil survey calls it a spodosol. Sandhill and sand pine scrub on Trail Ridge at Keystone Heights and Camp Blanding is deep sugar sand, no hardpan, tortoise burrows every hundred feet. Live oak and laurel oak hammock lines Black Creek and Doctors Lake; cypress and bayhead on the creek bottoms stay out of the footprint. Pine and hardwood both mulch; palm boots do not. A mulcher floats on wet flatwoods where a dozer sinks. Twelve years as a Seabee, and flatwoods sand still argues with my string line. Walk the property with me and I read the site conditions on foot.
Tree Permits, Wetlands and Protected Species Before You Clear in Clay
The Clay County Land Development Code requires a land clearing permit for anything over 1 acre or ahead of a building permit, and protects trees 8 inches DBH and up plus heritage live oaks. The two cities run their own tree codes, and the Lake Asbury Master Plan adds review. The SJRWMD Environmental Resource Permit is triggered by fill and drainage changes, not by clearing: a pond or a filled wet corner needs the ERP before excavation. FWC gopher tortoise rules run the whole of Trail Ridge: survey within 90 days, no work within 25 feet of a burrow. Bald eagle nests on Black Creek, Doctors Lake and Kingsley Lake carry a 660-foot buffer. On our jobs in Clay the burrow flags and oak tags go in on the walk-through.
Storm Debris Cleanup by the Load
Irma in 2017 put Black Creek at 28 feet on the CR 218 gauge, a record, and dropped oaks and pines across the county. Debby in 2024 ran the creek high again. Storm cleanup on a private lot is the owner's bill; FEMA takes public roadside debris, not what is inside your fence line. Haul-off runs $650 to 1,200 per 10-yard load; 2 acres of heavy storm wood is about 11 loads. Laurel oak is the tree that fails, not live oak; it rots from the heart and lets go. Storm put trees and branches down? Text me a picture and I will send a load count the same evening.
Areas We Serve in Clay County
Serving Clay County from the yard in Middleburg, FL and the surrounding areas: Green Cove Springs, Orange Park, Fleming Island, Keystone Heights, Lake Asbury, Oakleaf and Penney Farms. Transport is included throughout Clay County and across Duval, St. Johns, Nassau and Baker, the five Northeast Florida counties in Florida on one sheet. Camp Blanding sits on Kingsley Lake; NAS Jacksonville is 10 miles north of Orange Park. Agricultural land in west Clay and the master-planned communities at Oakleaf get the same service area price.
Land Clearing Questions from Clay Property Owners
How much does an acre of land clearing cost in Clay?
Flatwoods mulching is $1,400 to 2,300 an acre; full clearing to dirt with stumps is $2,800 to 5,000. Three acres of palmetto and slash pine off CR 218 was $5,400 in two days. Trail Ridge scrub is $1,100 to 1,700 an acre because the sugar sand carries lighter brush.
What do professional land clearing services in Clay include?
Mulching or grubbing the vegetation, pulling stumps where the plan calls for dirt, and rough grading the pad. Land clearing services in Clay also cover the county clearing permit, the tortoise survey and the haul-off. Pond excavation, drainage swales and final grading are separate lines the homeowner sees.
Do I need a permit to burn cleared brush in Middleburg?
Yes, a Florida Forest Service burn authorization, and on a platted lot you will not get one in practice. On larger acreage it is sometimes possible, but mulching is faster: the material stays as ground cover and the lot is clear the same day.
Can you clear a heavily wooded tract or bigger land clearing projects?
Yes, the equipment to handle it sits in the Middleburg yard. The skid steer takes 8-inch stems; the 300-hp mulcher takes a woodland tract of pine and hardwood to 12 inches. Six acres of Keystone Heights scrub was two days, $7,200. Two days transform a pine lot into a staked pad. Equipment and expertise both came out of my Seabee years.
How do I get an estimate for clearing land in Clay County?
Pick a walk-through slot on the online calendar or call (904) 406-7990. I confirm by text the same evening and hand you a written price after the walk. The land clearing service estimate is free, residential and commercial alike. Reclaim overgrown land, clear a site for commercial development, or remove unwanted vegetation along a line: our experience and equipment finish it safely and efficiently, and the swale leaves without erosion.
