Home / Land Clearing Cost
Pricing guideMost contractors make you call for a number. Here are the actual ranges we work from, what moves a quote up or down, and how to estimate your own property before you talk to anybody.
Density is the number that matters. Acreage tells us how long we are there; density tells us how hard each acre is.
| Density | Stem size | What you see standing on it | Cost per acre |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light | Under 2" | Grass with scattered brush, you can walk it easily | $1,400 – $1,700 |
| Moderate | 2" – 4" | Continuous understory, you can still see through it | $1,800 |
| Heavy | 4" – 8" | Wall of yaupon, privet or cedar, no sight line | $2,200 – $2,700 |
| Severe | 8"+ | Twenty years untouched, tight canopy, steep or rocky | $2,800 – $3,400 |
Mobilization is a fixed cost. Spreading it over more acres is why bigger tracts price better per acre.
| Tract size | Typical total | Effective per acre | Time on site |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1 acre | $1,800 minimum | min. job charge | Half to full day |
| 1 acre | $1,800 | $1,800 | 1 day |
| 2 – 5 acres | $3,500 – $8,700 | $1,750 | 2 – 4 days |
| 6 – 10 acres | $9,900 – $16,600 | $1,650 | 4 – 8 days |
| 11 – 25 acres | $17,200 – $39,200 | $1,565 | 1 – 3 weeks |
| 25+ acres | Quoted per project | $1,475 and down | Phased |
Ranges assume reasonable access for a truck and trailer and no unusual obstacles. Verify against a written quote on your property.
Stems over six inches. Canopy tight enough that the machine cannot turn. Slope and loose rock. Saturated ground. Fences, wells, septic lids and buried lines to work around. Long haul distance. A request for a fine finish pass rather than a working clear.
Open ground the machine can move across. A gate a trailer fits through. Flexibility on timing so we can pair your job with another in the same county. Accepting a coarser mulch finish. Clearing in phases across two seasons.
Watch for this: a bid quoted purely per acre with no site visit and no density question is a bid that will get revised once the machine is on the ground. Get the density assumption in writing.
Clearing wooded land where you keep the trees is usually cheaper per acre than people expect, because only the understory comes out. Clearing brush-invaded pasture back to open grass can cost more, because everything standing has to go and resprouting species like mesquite need a follow-up.
Reclaiming pasture is the job where a maintenance plan matters more than the first pass. Budget for a lighter touch-up in year two or three and you keep the ground instead of paying full price twice.
For a single acre, expect roughly $1,200 on light ground up to $4,500 or more on a severe thicket. One-acre jobs carry proportionally more mobilization cost, since hauling the machine out costs the same whether we clear one acre or ten.
Our minimum job is $1,800, so anything under an acre prices at that minimum. Hauling the machine out and back costs the same whether we clear half an acre or two, which is why very small jobs do not price proportionally.
Across Central and East Texas the middle of the market sits around $1,800 to $2,400 an acre for moderate understory. Statewide averages published online run wider than that because they mix in Hill Country cedar and Valley mesquite.
Yes. Mobilization is a fixed cost spread across the job, and the machine works more efficiently once it is in a rhythm. Ten acres almost always prices better per acre than one.
Stem diameter over about six inches, tight canopy that limits maneuvering, slope, rock, wet ground, fence and structure obstacles, long travel, and a request for a second finish pass.
No. Estimates are free. For properties we can see clearly on satellite we can often give a range over the phone before driving out.
Send the location and rough acreage and we will give you a price range, then confirm it on site. No deposit to get a quote.
Prefer to talk it through?
Call (936) 249-2761.
If we are on a machine we will call you back the same day.
No obligation · No deposit to get a quote · We travel to the property
