On this page
- Land Clearing Services in Nocatee
- Lot Clearing for New Homes in Nocatee and Ponte Vedra
- Brush Clearing and Forestry Mulching Near Nocatee
- How Much Does Land Clearing Cost in Nocatee?
- Permits, Gopher Tortoises and Wetlands Before You Clear in Nocatee
- Serving Nocatee ZIP Code 32081 and Nearby Ponte Vedra, Palm Valley, Durbin Crossing and Jacksonville Beach
- Land Clearing FAQs for Nocatee
Land Clearing Services in Nocatee
Whitfield Clearing & Grading provides land clearing and site work for residential and commercial properties.
- Land clearing to dirt, stumps out: $2,800 to 5,000 an acre.
- Forestry mulching, skid steer: $2,700 a day, stems to 8 inches.
- Lot clearing: half acre in one day, $2,700. Quarter-acre infill, $1,900 flat.
- Brush clearing and brush removal on overgrown land.
- Stump grinding: $4.25 per inch of diameter, $160 minimum per stump.
- Site preparation: root rake grubbing at $165 an hour, rough grading, pad quoted per pad.
Concrete, wells, septic, utility excavation and house demolition are not on the list. I know people who do them.
Lot Clearing for New Homes in Nocatee and Ponte Vedra
Nocatee is a census-designated place with no permit count of its own, so the St. Johns County unincorporated figure is the proxy: 3,471 single-family permits in 2025 by the Census Building Permits Survey, down 28 percent. Most are builder lots. The custom lots along the parkway and toward Ponte Vedra need a land clearing company before a slab contractor.
Residential land clearing here runs in one order. Stake the envelope and setbacks. Flag the protected live oaks. Mulch the palmetto and pine inside the envelope. Grub stumps under the pad only. Then the pad: rough grade and 12 inches of compacted fill above crown of road, three passes with the roller, quoted per pad. Twelve years as a Seabee taught me to stake it, string it, check the grade before the first bucket moves.
On our jobs site prep ends with a proof-roll of the pad.
Brush Clearing and Forestry Mulching Near Nocatee
Forestry mulching is a land clearing method that uses specialized equipment to grind trees, brush and vegetation into mulch in one pass. Palmetto, gallberry, wax myrtle and grape vine are mulched in place as a 3 to 4 inch layer that holds the sand through the first summer rains. A rotary cutter alone fails on palmetto. It cuts the fans and leaves the root mat, and the fans are back in a season. The mulcher head runs below grade and chews the mat.
Selective clearing is the normal order near Nocatee. The county wants specimen live oaks kept, so the crew works around the trunks. In areas with dense palmetto under slash pine we budget more hours per acre, and from June to September one extra day on wet flatwoods.
Mulching is the one way to clear a platted lot without a burn pile. If you let a lot overgrow for a few years, ask for this first, and we remove brush right up to the landscape beds.
How Much Does Land Clearing Cost in Nocatee?
A half-acre lot is one day of skid steer mulching, $2,700, transport included. On acreage the price depends on the size of the parcel and the ground, so here are the land clearing costs.
| Skid steer forestry mulcher | $2,700 a day, transport included |
| Dedicated 300-hp mulcher, large acreage clearing | $4,100 a day plus transport |
| Palmetto and pine flatwoods | $1,400 to 2,300 an acre by density |
| Live oak hammock, selective, oaks kept | $2,000 to 3,200 an acre |
| Full clearing to dirt with stumps | $2,800 to 5,000 an acre |
| Gopher tortoise survey, licensed agent | $400 to 900, before the price is final |
Two items go in the written price first: the wet-season day from June to September, and the tortoise survey on sandy ground. Sugar sand takes a grade the way a cat takes an order, so the pad price includes compaction.
The job I point to: a 0.5-acre lot in the Nocatee area, palmetto under pine, 3 live oaks kept under the county tree ordinance. One day. $2,700. No surprises on the invoice. Pick a walk-through slot on the calendar or call (904) 406-7990 and the written number is in your texts that night.
Permits, Gopher Tortoises and Wetlands Before You Clear in Nocatee
Three agencies touch a lot here before the mulcher does. The St. Johns County Land Development Code, Article IV, protects trees 8 inches DBH and up and every specimen live oak. Clearing before a building permit needs the county clearing permit. The Nocatee CDD architectural review sits on top, and the DRI preserve lines along Durbin Creek and the Twentymile branch are fixed.
SJRWMD runs the Environmental Resource Permit. Clearing alone is not a trigger. Filling a wetland or changing drainage is. Hardwood swamp on Durbin Creek stays out of the footprint or waits on the permit, and anything wet gets a Chapter 62-340 delineation first.
FWC gopher tortoise rules apply to every sandy lot in the Jacksonville metro: a survey within 90 days, no work within 25 feet of a burrow, a relocation permit before the machine starts. Sunshine 811 marks gas pipeline and power before any stump comes out. Bring the site plan and I will walk the property with the flags in hand.
Serving Nocatee ZIP Code 32081 and Nearby Ponte Vedra, Palm Valley, Durbin Crossing and Jacksonville Beach
ZIP 32081 covers Nocatee, FL and the surrounding area east of US 1. One clearing service, one price list, from Ponte Vedra, Palm Valley and Durbin Crossing to the county side of Jacksonville Beach, and down US 1 into the St. Augustine area. We are a company serving property owners with land clearing services across Northeast Florida, with services throughout the county from the Middleburg yard. Search land clearing Nocatee and you get builder pages. This one has prices.
Land Clearing FAQs for Nocatee
What does the land clearing process look like on a lot here?
Walk-through, tree flags, machine, pad. A professional land clearing service in Nocatee starts with the county tree survey and a tortoise check, then we clear land inside the staked envelope, mulch or grub depending on site conditions. On every project the last step is a grade check.
Do I need a permit to burn cleared brush?
Yes, and on a platted lot here you will not get one. Any land-clearing pile needs a Florida Forest Service open burning authorization, and the CDD rules add their own limit. Mulching leaves the material on the ground; haul-off runs $650 to 1,200 per 10-yard load for anything that has to go.
Can you remove large trees and grind the stumps?
Yes. Tree removal over 8 inches DBH needs the county tree permit first, and specimen live oaks usually stay. After the cut we grind stumps at $4.25 per inch of diameter, $160 minimum, or price lots with 10 or more stumps by the day. Sunshine 811 marks utilities before the first grind.
Do you do commercial clearing work?
Yes. Commercial land clearing services cover outparcels on the parkway, commercial sites along US 1 and any commercial development that needs site clearing before civil work. Commercial properties in Nocatee carry the 6-inch DBH threshold and a CDD review, so commercial clearing and land improvement start with the tree survey.
Why hire a professional clearing company instead of renting a machine?
Because the mistakes cost more than the day rate. A buried tortoise burrow is an FWC violation, a cut specimen oak is mitigation money, a pad without compaction settles. Property clearing done once, to grade, is how you make your property buildable. Land clearing projects here are mostly knowing where not to dig.
