2019 Land Clearing Costs | Avg. Cost Per Acre – homeguide.com

Land Clearing Cost

The average cost to clear land to build a house is between $1,150 and $3,680. Land clearing cost per acre ranges from $1,500 to $3,000 on lightly wooded lots and between $3,790 to $6,710 for a heavily wooded area. Depending on why you need the land cleared, what needs to be removed, and the acreage of the land, you could see prices as low as $500 for a quarter-acre and as high as $7,000 for a full acre lot.

The price to clear land will vary depending on the size of the lot, the purpose of the land preparation, and the density of trees, brush, rocks, and stumps that need to cleared. While you could do the work yourself, this price guide looks at getting the land clearing done professionally.

The costs to clear land will vary based on how heavily the acreage is wooded with brush, trees, stumps, and rocks. Lot clearing costs around $950 on a quarter-acre for light clearing on flat ground without rocks. To clear a full acre of flat, light brush, without grading or rock removal costs about $3,790. For a heavily forested lot the prices to clear the trees can be $7,000 or more.

Most companies will give you a quote on the final cost to clear your land based on a quarter acre- or full acre price.

The average cost to prepare land for building or house on a quarter-acre lot is between $950 and $1,680 depending on the level of brush, trees, and how much grading will be required. Here are average lot clearing prices:

The price to clear light to medium underbrush is between $3,790 and $4,360 per acre, which is around 350 to 420 cubic yards of debris to be removed. For a heavily forested area with lots of trees and stumps, expect to pay between $4,820 and $6,710.

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Typically, land clearing is charged by the acre or quarter-acre, but in some cases, the average price ranges between $1 to $2 per square foot for complete land clearing and site preparation.

Clearing land to build a house costs between $1,150 and $3,680 on average. A smaller lot that only needs one contractor and a bobcat with a shredder attached, you can expect to pay between $1,200 and $1,500, depending on the density of the brush, grass, and rock.

Clearing brush is less expensive than trees and costs between $1,254 and $1,755 per acre on average. In some cases where the brush is very light and thin, clearing the overgrowth could cost as little as $200 per acre.

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Clearing a single tree will cost between $200 and $400 on average. Tree removal costs around $70 to $200 if the tree has fallen down already. Tree clearing per acre ranges from $1,500 to $3,000 on lightly wooded lots and between $3,790 to $6,710 for a heavily forested acreage.

The total cost of tree stump grinding will depend on the number of stumps, the tree stumps diameters, access to the stump(s), the depth of the grinding, the root system, and mulch removal. On average, you can expect to spend $160 for first stump and $40 per additional stump to be removed.

Clearing rocks from land typically costs $5.53$9.15 per linear foot depending on the hardness of the soil and rock. Rock drilling requires the use of a pneumatic truck-mounted wagon drill which requires a $2,500 minimum job charge.

Land excavation is essential when building a structure that requires a foundation, such as a garage or home. Also, it is used to turn a wooded plot into farmland or a garden. The average price of excavation is between $1,600 and $4,400.

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Typically land grading costs $100 per cubic yard, that can go up to $200 or more depending on the terrain and level of erosion control. When you are working with land that is not entirely flat, and it needs to be leveled for use or for construction, it will need to be graded. In this phase of preparing the land, it will either be scraped and removed from the location or scraped from a higher elevation on the land, and the dirt then used to fill a lower elevation to level it out.

Nationally, land grading costs between $6,000 to $10,000 per acre. Work done in clay, shale, or soft rock will cost 10% to 25% more. To strip, stockpile on site, and then replace topsoil is an additional $9.48 per cubic yard.

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This is a much cheaper option for removing individual trees and bits of brush. When clearing land that isnt going to be built on immediately, and assuming the land is as flat as you want it and doesnt need to be graded, you could have contractors come to mulch everything.

In this scenario, equipment called a forestry mulcher, masticator, or brush cutter would be brought in to shred everything and leave a carpet of mulch spread out across the ground. There are different tools required for the job which can be attached to tractors, excavators, or even bobcats, and the most common is a rotary drum with steel teeth which shreds the vegetation.

Depending on how your contractor prices the work, it can either be hourly for which you could be looking at $150 to $250 per hour, or they may charge a flat rate of $400 per acre.

The heaviest duty equipment available can take care of around 15 acres per day, but for smaller applications, it is not feasible to transport that size of equipment to a residential plotthe equipment will need to be smaller, and depending on how thick the brush is, it may take half to one day to clear an acre.

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Land clearing companies sometimes pay thousands to rent the right equipment for your job plus the delivery and pickup costs of between $150 to $250, insurance at 9% of the rental rate, fuel, and qualified operators. On average, it takes around 3 to 4 hours to clear an acre of land. If you were to hire professional labor, costs would be around $130 to $250 per hour per operator.

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Whether you need to clear land for farming or construction, there is a high likelihood that you will need to remove cactus plants from it, which is no easy job.

If the density of plants per acre makes the manual extraction or herbicide treatment cost prohibitive, you can go with either broadcast herbicide at $250+ per acre or prescribed burn at $1 to $10 per acre or a combination of both, as long as the size of your land and the location of the cacti will allow for it.

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To find the best professional team to clear your land, check out the experts listed here on HomeGuide to get the work done. Create a shortlist of 35 contractors and get bids to find the right provider to come and clear your land. Use the following as a checklist to create your shortlist:

Typically, unless you are providing a solution for one or more of the components of the work yourself, the proposals you get should cover the following:

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2019 Land Clearing Costs | Avg. Cost Per Acre - homeguide.com