If you've called around for land clearing quotes in Jacksonville, you've probably noticed something frustrating: the numbers are all over the place. One company quotes $1,500 per acre. Another wants $7,000. A third won't give you a number without a site visit.

Why such a huge range? Because land clearing pricing depends on real factors that vary from job to job. Here's a transparent breakdown of what land clearing actually costs in Northeast Florida and what drives the price up or down.

The Honest Range: $2,500–$6,000 Per Acre

For typical wooded land in the Jacksonville area, land clearing generally runs $2,500 to $6,000 per acre. That's a wide range, and yes, the actual number for your property could fall outside of it on either side. Here's why.

Factor 1: Brush Density and Tree Size

The single biggest pricing factor. Open pasture with a few scattered trees clears in a day at one rate. Dense old-growth woods with mature pines and live oaks, plus a thick palmetto understory, takes a week and costs three to four times as much per acre. A property in eastern Clay County (more open pasture) typically clears faster than a property in the dense pine flatlands of south St. Johns County.

Factor 2: Tree Diameter

Our forestry mulcher handles standing material up to about 8 inches in diameter. Larger trees need to be cut down separately with chainsaws before mulching. A lot full of 4-inch saplings clears way faster than a lot with mature 14-inch pines that all need felling first.

Factor 3: What Happens to the Material

Three options, with three different price points:

Mulched in place — Cheapest. The forestry mulcher grinds everything into mulch on the ground. No haul-off, no piles, no burn permits. Ideal for trails, pasture, and erosion-protective ground cover.
Burn piles — Middle ground. Material is piled and burned (where permits allow). Requires permits and weather windows. Less common in urban Jacksonville areas; more common in rural Clay and Nassau counties.
Hauled off — Most expensive. Grapple trucks load and remove the material entirely. Necessary for build sites where you need clean ground.

Factor 4: Stumping

If your project is going to be built on — a house, a pool, a foundation — the stumps need to come out, not just get ground. Stumping is a separate phase that adds cost. For a pasture or trail project, stumps can stay in place (just ground below grade) for no additional charge.

Factor 5: Grading After

Standard clearing leaves rough ground with tracks and uneven surface. If you need the site build-ready — properly graded, drainage cut, pad-ready for a builder — that's additional dirt work on top of the clearing. We coordinate both, but they're priced separately.

Factor 6: Access and Distance

A property with a wide, paved access road clears faster than one with a long dirt driveway, gates, or tight turnarounds for our trucks. A multi-acre site in rural Hilliard with no good access can take a full day of mobilization before any actual clearing happens. Properties closer to our base in Jacksonville have lower mobilization time.

Factor 7: Permits

Some Northeast Florida municipalities require land clearing permits — especially for parcels over 1 acre or with protected hardwoods. Duval, Clay, St. Johns, and Nassau counties all have different rules. We can help identify what's needed and pull permits where appropriate. Permits add modest cost but skipping them can result in fines.

What a Real Quote Looks Like

A real land clearing quote from Brother's Tree & Land Clearing isn't a number-per-acre off a phone call. It's a written estimate after we walk your property, look at the brush, identify any trees to preserve, understand what's happening to the material, and account for access. The price you see is the price you pay.

Get a Free Land Clearing Quote

Whether you're prepping a single residential lot in Nocatee for a custom home build, reclaiming five overgrown acres in Middleburg, or coordinating multi-acre site prep for a development in Yulee — Brother's handles it all. Licensed, insured, and ready to walk your property.

Call 904-718-6306 or send a message through our contact page to schedule a free, on-site land-clearing estimate.

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