On this page
- Land Clearing Services Available in St. Johns County
- Lot Clearing and Acreage Clearing for New Homes in St. Augustine and Ponte Vedra
- Forestry Mulching and Brush Clearing Under the Oaks
- How Much Does Land Clearing Cost in St. Johns County?
- The Ground Property Owners Clear From Julington Creek to the Matanzas River
- Tree Permits, Wetlands and Protected Species Before You Clear Near St. Augustine
- Storm Debris Cleanup by the Load
- Areas We Serve in St. Johns County
- Land Clearing Questions from St. Johns Property Owners
Land Clearing Services Available in St. Johns County
One sheet of work services covers Ponte Vedra to Hastings. The land clearing service removes brush, stumps and junk trees; protected oaks stay:
- Land clearing to bare dirt with stumps: $2,800 to 5,000 an acre.
- Forestry mulching services for palmetto and underbrush: $2,700 a day.
- Stump grinding at $4.25 an inch, $160 minimum per stump.
- Lot clearing on small residential lots: a quarter acre is $1,900 flat.
- Brush clearing, underbrushing and selective clearing around specimen oaks.
- Tree clearing with the tree removal permit handled before the saw starts.
- Site prep, dirt work and house pads, quoted per pad.
We do not pour concrete, drill wells, set septic or demolish houses. I know people who do.
Lot Clearing and Acreage Clearing for New Homes in St. Augustine and Ponte Vedra
St. Johns County's builders pulled 3,554 single-family permits in 2025, 3,471 of them unincorporated (Census Building Permits Survey), down 28 percent. The lots are in SilverLeaf, RiverTown, Shearwater and World Golf Village, plus farm-to-lot conversions on SR 207. Residential land clearing on a half acre is one day, $2,700: a Nocatee-area lot last year came in at exactly that, with 3 live oaks kept under the county ordinance. Property development on commercial land along CR 210 gets the same per-acre sheet as residential jobs; commercial land clearing and site clearing by the acre. Pads are rough grade plus 12 inches of compacted fill above crown of road, quoted per pad. Site preparation here means a swale that drains without erosion, because flatwoods sand holds water June to September.
Forestry Mulching and Brush Clearing Under the Oaks
Forestry mulching does most of the clearing brush here. The head grinds trees and brush to 8 inches into a 2 to 4 inch mulch layer that stays on the lot. No burn pile: platted lots along CR 210 are effectively no-burn under Florida Forest Service rules. Palmetto root mats come apart under the drum, which a rotary cutter cannot do. Around protected live oaks we switch to removing vegetation by hand and small machine inside the drip line. Gallberry and undergrowth go; the oak and its roots stay. The mulch layer holds moisture, so the sand stays put.
How Much Does Land Clearing Cost in St. Johns County?
Palmetto and pine flatwoods under SilverLeaf and RiverTown mulch at $1,400 to 2,300 an acre by density. Coastal scrub on the Guana ridge and the CR 210 sandhill runs $1,100 to 1,700. Live oak hammock near Guana Lake or the Matanzas River, oaks kept, runs $2,000 to 3,200 an acre. Full clearing to dirt with stumps is $2,800 to 5,000. Before any price is signed I write in the wet-season day on flatwoods and the gopher tortoise survey, $400 to 900, on any sandy lot. Measure twice.
- Skid steer mulcher $2,700 a day, transport included across St. Johns County; 300-hp mulcher $4,100 plus transport.
- Root rake or dozer grubbing $165 an hour; haul-off $650 to 1,200 per 10-yard load.
Get an estimate on-site, free, at the walk-through. Pick a slot on the calendar or call (904) 406-7990. The confirmation text comes the same evening.
The Ground Property Owners Clear From Julington Creek to the Matanzas River
Three kinds of ground run the price here. Wet and mesic flatwoods sit under the master-planned communities west of I-95: slash pine over palmetto on flatwoods sand, hardpan 12 to 30 inches down, standing water in the wet months. The soil survey calls that a spodosol. Coastal scrub and live oak hammock cover the Guana ridge along A1A, sugar sand and tortoise burrows. Hardwood swamp lines Julington Creek, Durbin Creek and Twelve Mile Swamp, and stays out of the footprint. Pine and hardwood mulch the same; palm boots do not. A mulcher floats where a dozer sinks. The St. Johns is the one river I know that heads north and never asks directions. Walk the property with me and I will read the site conditions in ten minutes.
Tree Permits, Wetlands and Protected Species Before You Clear Near St. Augustine
The St. Johns County Land Development Code, Article IV, protects trees 8 inches DBH and up and specimen live oaks, with mitigation inches on anything removed. Clearing before a building permit needs the county clearing permit. In SilverLeaf, RiverTown and Shearwater the CDD review sits on top. The SJRWMD Environmental Resource Permit is triggered by fill and drainage changes, not clearing: dig a pond or fill a wet corner and the ERP comes before excavation. FWC gopher tortoise rules apply on the coastal ridge and CR 210 scrub: survey within 90 days, no work within 25 feet of a burrow. Bald eagle nests on Guana and Julington Creek carry a 660-foot buffer. On our jobs here the oak tags go on before the trailer gate drops.
Storm Debris Cleanup by the Load
Irma in 2017 put the river into Julington Creek and Fruit Cove. We cleared 2 acres of Irma debris at Julington Creek: 11 loads hauled, $9,350, oaks and pines stacked where the water left them. Matthew in 2016 surged downtown St. Augustine and took the Vilano dunes. Cleanup on a private lot is the owner's bill; FEMA handles public roadside debris, nothing past your fence line. Haul-off runs $650 to 1,200 a load. Laurel oak is the tree that fails, not live oak. Downed wood leaves by the load or gets mulched in place. Trees and branches on the ground? Text me a picture and I will send a load count.
Areas We Serve in St. Johns County
Serving St. Johns County from the Middleburg yard: St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra, World Golf Village, Julington Creek, Fruit Cove, Hastings and Elkton, FL and the surrounding areas. Transport is included throughout St. Johns County and across Duval, Clay, Nassau and Baker, five counties in Florida on one sheet. NS Mayport sits 15 miles north of Ponte Vedra; I ran equipment there. Agricultural land on SR 207 and the service area inside the gates get the same prices.
Land Clearing Questions from St. Johns Property Owners
How much does land clearing cost per acre near St. Augustine?
Flatwoods mulching is $1,400 to 2,300 an acre; full clearing to dirt with stumps is $2,800 to 5,000. A half-acre lot is one day at $2,700. Hammock with protected oaks runs $2,000 to 3,200 because the work is slower around every trunk.
What do professional land clearing services in St. Johns include?
Mulching or grubbing vegetation, pulling stumps where the plan calls for dirt, and rough grading. Land clearing services in St. Johns also cover the county clearing permit, the oak tags 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 St. Augustine?
Yes, a Florida Forest Service burn authorization, and inside a platted subdivision you will not get one in practice. Mulching avoids the pile: the material stays as ground cover and the lot is clear the same day. For a dirt clear, haul-off goes by the load.
Can you handle heavily wooded parcels and larger 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. Three acres of thick flatwoods is two days, about $5,400. Two days transform palmetto into a staked pad. Equipment and expertise both came out of my Seabee years.
How do I get an estimate for clearing land near St. Augustine?
Pick a walk-through slot on the online calendar or call (904) 406-7990. I confirm by text the same evening and bring a written price after the walk. Residential and commercial, the land clearing service estimate is free. Reclaim overgrown land, clear a site for commercial development, or remove unwanted vegetation: our experience and equipment get it done safely and efficiently, and palmetto will not overgrow a mulched lot for years.
