On this page
- Land Clearing Services in Ponte Vedra
- Lot Clearing for New Homes in Ponte Vedra, Ponte Vedra Beach and Nocatee
- Brush Clearing and Forestry Mulching Near Ponte Vedra
- How Much Does Land Clearing Cost in Ponte Vedra?
- Permits, Gopher Tortoises and Wetlands Before You Clear in Ponte Vedra
- Serving Ponte Vedra ZIP Codes 32082 and 32081 and Nearby Nocatee, Palm Valley, Jacksonville Beach and Vilano Beach
- Ponte Vedra Land Clearing FAQs
Land Clearing Services in Ponte Vedra
Whitfield Clearing & Grading provides land clearing in five forms across the Ponte Vedra area: selective clearing under the oaks, forestry mulching on the scrub and flatwoods, lot clearing to a pad, stump grinding after a tree removal, and site preparation with grading. Brush clearing on a lot that has gone to vine is the sixth. Residential and commercial properties, one clearing service for all the site work, one price list. Concrete, wells, septic, utility excavation and house demolition belong to other trades. I know the people.
Lot Clearing for New Homes in Ponte Vedra, Ponte Vedra Beach and Nocatee
Ponte Vedra and the beach CDP report no permits of their own, so the St. Johns County unincorporated figure is the proxy: 3,471 single-family permits in 2025 by the Census Building Permits Survey. Here they are mostly teardowns on Roscoe Boulevard and the lagoon lots, plus the custom lots next door in Nocatee.
Residential land clearing under oak hammock is a different job from a pine lot. Stake the envelope. Tag every oak over 8 inches DBH and every specimen live oak. Clear the understory by hand near the trunks and by machine past the drip lines. Grub only under the pad. Then the pad: rough grade, 12 inches of compacted fill above crown of road, three roller passes, quoted per pad. I have been told I inspect a pad like it owes me money. On a lot off Roscoe last winter the pad passed proof-roll before the builder's engineer arrived.
Brush Clearing and Forestry Mulching Near Ponte Vedra
Forestry mulching is a land clearing method that uses specialized equipment to grind trees, brush and vegetation into mulch, and near Ponte Vedra it is the tool for the flatwoods toward the Intracoastal and the ridge scrub. Palmetto, gallberry, wax myrtle, grape vine and Brazilian pepper are mulched in place as a 3 to 4 inch layer. A rotary cutter leaves the palmetto root mat; the mulcher takes it below grade. Brazilian pepper gets a cut-stump treatment within minutes or it is back.
In areas with dense palmetto the crew runs about an acre a day. Coastal scrub on the ridge is faster and cheaper. June to September adds a day on wet flatwoods where the hardpan holds water. Overgrown land on a teardown lot is mostly vine and volunteer camphor; a lot left to overgrow for a decade clears in a day. Brush removal stops at the landscape beds: we remove brush, not the owner's plantings.
How Much Does Land Clearing Cost in Ponte Vedra?
Live oak hammock kept selective runs $2,000 to 3,200 an acre, and that is the number here. The rest of the land clearing costs: a half-acre lot $2,700 for one day of skid steer mulching, transport included; a quarter-acre infill lot $1,900 flat; coastal scrub $1,100 to 1,700 an acre; palmetto flatwoods $1,400 to 2,300; full clearing to dirt with stumps $2,800 to 5,000. Large acreage clearing with the 300-hp mulcher is $4,100 a day plus transport. The number depends on the size of the lot and the oak count.
Stated before the price, not after: one wet-season day from June to September on flatwoods, and a gopher tortoise survey at $400 to 900 by a licensed agent on the sandy ridge lots.
The comparable job: a half-acre lot in the Nocatee area, palmetto under pine, 3 live oaks kept under the county tree ordinance, one day, $2,700. Your lot is priced the same way, in writing, with no surprises on the invoice. Pick a walk-through slot on the calendar or call (904) 406-7990. I confirm by text the same evening.
Permits, Gopher Tortoises and Wetlands Before You Clear in Ponte Vedra
Four rules decide what comes off a Ponte Vedra lot.
| St. Johns County Land Development Code, Article IV | Trees 8 inches DBH and up and specimen live oaks protected; mitigation if removed; clearing permit before a building permit |
| SJRWMD Environmental Resource Permit | Triggered by fill or a drainage change, not by clearing; Chapter 62-340 delineation on anything wet toward the Intracoastal |
| FWC gopher tortoise | Survey within 90 days; no work within 25 feet of a burrow; relocation permit before clearing on the ridge and scrub |
| FWC bald eagle | 660-foot nest buffer; the Guana River nests are the dense ones |
Sunshine 811 marks the gas pipeline and power before a stump comes out. A Florida Forest Service burn authorization is required for any pile and is not a realistic way to clear a platted lot, so the material is mulched or hauled at $650 to 1,200 per 10-yard load. Matthew put surge over A1A in 2016, so I keep pads above the mapped line and out of the ERP footprint.
Serving Ponte Vedra ZIP Codes 32082 and 32081 and Nearby Nocatee, Palm Valley, Jacksonville Beach and Vilano Beach
ZIP 32082 is the beach side and Palm Valley; 32081 is Nocatee. The same crews and prices run north to the county side of Jacksonville Beach and south down A1A to Vilano Beach and the St. Augustine area. We are a company serving property owners in Ponte Vedra, FL and the surrounding area with land clearing services across Northeast Florida, services throughout the Jacksonville metro, from one yard in Middleburg. Land clearing Ponte Vedra owners ask about is mostly oaks, and the answer is usually keep them.
Ponte Vedra Land Clearing FAQs
Can you clear a lot here without losing the live oaks?
Yes, and the county expects it. Specimen live oaks stay under the county code; the crew clears understory by hand inside the drip line and by machine outside it. Land clearing projects under oak run slower, $2,000 to 3,200 an acre, and the oaks are worth it.
Can you remove large trees and grind the stumps?
Yes, with the permit. Tree removal over 8 inches DBH needs the county tree permit, and laurel oaks with base rot are the ones that usually qualify. We grind the stump at $4.25 per inch of diameter, $160 minimum, or by the day on lots with 10 or more. Sunshine 811 marks lines first.
Do you provide commercial clearing in Ponte Vedra?
Yes. Commercial land clearing services cover outparcels on A1A, commercial sites at Mickler Road and any commercial development that needs site clearing and land improvement before civil work. Commercial properties in Ponte Vedra, FL carry the 6-inch DBH threshold, so commercial clearing starts with the tree survey and a site visit.
What does the land clearing process look like here?
Walk the property, tag, clear, pad, grade check. A professional land clearing service in Ponte Vedra starts with the oak tags and the tortoise check, then clears inside the staked envelope depending on site conditions. Every project ends with the pad proof-rolled and the frequently asked questions answered on the lot.
Why hire a land clearing company instead of a tree service?
Because a tree service leaves the stumps, the understory and the grade. A land clearing company doing professional clearing takes the lot to a buildable pad: property clearing, stump grinding, compaction, site prep. To clear land and make your property ready for a slab, the way to clear it is once, to grade, on a written price.
