On this page
- Land Clearing Services Available in Duval County
- Lot Clearing and Acreage Clearing for New Homes Across Jacksonville
- Forestry Mulching and Brush Clearing on Duval Flatwoods
- How Much Does Land Clearing Cost in Duval County?
- The Ground Property Owners Clear Here: Flatwoods, Trail Ridge, Hammock
- Jacksonville Tree Permits, Wetlands and Protected Species Before You Clear
- Storm Debris Cleanup by the Load
- Areas We Serve in Duval County
- Land Clearing Questions from Duval Property Owners
Land Clearing Services Available in Duval County
Seven work services, one written price. The land clearing service removes what blocks your build:
- Land clearing to dirt with stumps, $2,800 to 5,000 an acre.
- Forestry mulching services: palmetto ground in place, $2,700 a day.
- Stump grinding: $4.25 per inch of diameter, $160 minimum.
- Lot clearing for small residential lots: quarter acre, $1,900 flat.
- Brush clearing and underbrushing under oaks you keep.
- Tree clearing and tree removal with the Chapter 656 permit pulled for you.
- Site prep and dirt work: house pad, quoted per pad.
No concrete, wells, septic or house demolition. I know people who do.
Lot Clearing and Acreage Clearing for New Homes Across Jacksonville
The City of Jacksonville issued 3,611 of Duval County's 3,732 single-family permits in 2025, down 27 percent (Census Building Permits Survey). The lots sit at Oceanway and Pecan Park, at Cecil and Argyle, and along SR 9B at Bartram Park and eTown. Residential land clearing on a half-acre lot is one day, $2,700. Property development on commercial land runs by the acre; commercial land clearing or site clearing gets the same sheet as residential jobs. The pad is rough grade and 12 inches of compacted fill above crown of road, quoted per pad. Three roller passes, then a string line grade check. Site preparation ends when the proof roll stops pumping and the swale carries water without erosion.
Forestry Mulching and Brush Clearing on Duval Flatwoods
Forestry mulching is how we clear palmetto here. The skid steer head grinds trees and brush to 8 inches into a mulch layer 2 to 4 inches deep. No burn pile: platted city lots are effectively no-burn under Florida Forest Service rules. Saw palmetto has a root mat a rotary cutter will not touch. The mulcher shreds crown and mat together, so resprout is thin. Clearing brush under live oaks is selective clearing: oaks stay, gallberry and undergrowth go. Removing vegetation this way keeps the topsoil. Palmetto will overgrow a cleared lot in three summers.
How Much Does Land Clearing Cost in Duval County?
Palmetto and pine flatwoods mulching runs $1,400 to 2,300 per acre by density. Trail Ridge sandhill runs $1,100 to 1,700. Live oak hammock near the St. Johns River, oaks kept, runs $2,000 to 3,200. Two lines go in the written price before the trailer leaves Middleburg: the wet-season extra day on flatwoods, June to September, and the gopher tortoise survey, $400 to 900, when your lot is sandy. No surprises on the invoice.
- Skid steer mulcher: $2,700 a day, transport included across Duval County. Dedicated 300-hp mulcher: $4,100 plus transport.
- Root rake or dozer grubbing: $165 an hour with operator. Haul-off: $650 to 1,200 per 10-yard load.
The free on-site estimate is the walk-through. Get an estimate on the calendar or call (904) 406-7990. I text you the same evening.
The Ground Property Owners Clear Here: Flatwoods, Trail Ridge, Hammock
Four kinds of ground; the price follows the ground. Flatwoods sand with a hardpan 12 to 30 inches down covers the Westside and Northside along the I-295 corridor and holds water June to September. The soil survey calls it a spodosol. Trail Ridge sugar sand at Whitehouse drains fast and carries gopher tortoises. Live oak hammock lines the St. Johns, the Ortega and the Trout River. Cypress domes stay out of the footprint. Pine and hardwood both mulch fine; palm boots do not. A mulcher floats on wet flatwoods where a dozer sinks. Flatwoods sand drinks a June rain in an hour and remembers it for a month. Walk the property with me and I will read the site conditions.
Jacksonville Tree Permits, Wetlands and Protected Species Before You Clear
A protected tree needs a Chapter 656 Part 12 permit before it comes down: 6 inches DBH and up on commercial sites, 11.5 inches on residential, with mitigation inches or a payment to the Tree Protection Trust Fund. I pull it, fee at cost. The Beaches cities run their own codes. The SJRWMD Environmental Resource Permit is triggered by fill and drainage changes, not clearing. Dig a pond or fill a wet corner, and that is an ERP question before excavation. Gopher tortoises live on every sandy lot: FWC requires a survey within 90 days and no work within 25 feet of a burrow. Bald eagle nests on the St. Johns carry a 660-foot buffer. On our jobs in Duval the tortoise flags go in before the machine comes off the trailer.
Storm Debris Cleanup by the Load
Irma in 2017 put the St. Johns into San Marco, Riverside and Ortega, and laid laurel oaks and slash pine across Westside and Northside lots. Storm cleanup on a private lot is the owner's bill. FEMA picks up public roadside debris, not what is inside your fence line. We cleared 2 acres of Irma debris at Julington Creek, across the creek from Mandarin: 11 loads hauled, $9,350. That is my nearest comparable for a Duval lot. Laurel oak is the storm risk here, not live oak; it rots from the heart and snaps. The wood goes out by the load or gets mulched. Trees and branches down? Text me a picture for a load count.
Areas We Serve in Duval County
Serving Duval County means the whole consolidated city plus Baldwin, FL and the surrounding areas: Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, Mandarin, Oceanway and the Westside. Transport is included throughout Duval County, and across St. Johns, Clay, Nassau and Baker, the five counties in Florida where I quote one sheet. NAS Jacksonville is where I learned to grade a pad. Agricultural land and the master-planned communities along SR 9B get the same service area price.
Land Clearing Questions from Duval Property Owners
How much does land clearing cost per acre here?
Between $1,400 and 2,300 per acre for palmetto flatwoods mulching, and $2,800 to 5,000 per acre for full clearing to dirt with stumps. A half-acre lot is one day, $2,700. Sandhill runs $1,100 to 1,700 because sugar sand carries lighter brush. Wet season adds a day.
What do professional land clearing services in Duval include?
Mulching or grubbing the vegetation, removing stumps when the plan calls for dirt, and rough grading the pad. Land clearing services in Duval also cover tree permit, tortoise survey and haul-off. Pond excavation, drainage swales and final grading are separate lines, so the homeowner sees each number.
Do I need a permit to burn cleared brush in Jacksonville?
Yes. Any land clearing pile needs a Florida Forest Service burn authorization, and on a platted city lot you will not get one in practice. That is why we mulch: the material stays as ground cover and nothing leaves the lot. Haul-off is the other option.
Can you handle heavily wooded lots and larger land clearing projects?
Yes, we have the equipment to handle it. The skid steer takes stems to 8 inches; the 300-hp mulcher takes a woodland lot of pine and hardwood to 12 inches. Three acres of thick flatwoods is two days, about $5,400, like a lot we cleared off CR 218. Two days transform palmetto into a staked pad. Equipment and expertise came out of the Navy.
How do I get an estimate for clearing land in Duval County?
Pick a walk-through slot on the online calendar or call (904) 406-7990. I confirm by text the same evening, walk your lot, and send a written price. Residential and commercial, the land clearing service estimate is free across Northeast Florida. Reclaim overgrown land, clear a site for commercial development, or remove unwanted vegetation: our experience and equipment finish it safely and efficiently.
