Land clearing typically costs $1,200 to $2,500 per acre for light brush and small trees, $2,500 to $4,500 for thicker growth with medium trees, and $4,500 to $8,000 for heavily wooded ground (HomeGuide, national). North Texas pricing we reviewed falls in the same range. Stumps, haul-off, permits and erosion control usually sit on top.
This guide from Homestead Land Clearing explains what each band covers, how lot size changes the math, what public bids around Frisco show, and which site conditions push a price up. Every figure is a budgeting range from a named publisher or agency, not a company rate and not a quote for your property.
Land clearing cost per acre by density
Density is the first sorting question because it decides the machine, the hours per acre and how much material has to go somewhere. A pasture with scattered cedar and a creek bottom full of hackberry and elm can both be “one acre,” and they are different jobs.
| Density | What it usually looks like | Per acre (HomeGuide, national) | What it typically covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light | Shrubs, underbrush, saplings, a few small trees | $1,200 to $2,500 | Cutting or mulching the growth to the agreed finish; little or no root work |
| Moderate | Thicker underbrush with medium-sized trees | $2,500 to $4,500 | Felling and processing trees, more machine hours, more debris to handle |
| Heavy or wooded | Dense vegetation, thick underbrush, large trees | $4,500 to $8,000 | Large-diameter trees, heavy debris volume, often stumps and roots to deal with |
Other national cost guides publish lower figures at both ends, and the bands are not averaged here. HomeGuide also notes that per-acre prices fall slightly as acreage grows, and that grading, excavation, soil tests and surveys are extra. On wooded lots, the gap between $4,500 and $8,000 usually comes down to trunk size and whether stumps are ground in place or pulled out with their roots, which is the line between clearing and grubbing.
Brush-only jobs
When the work is mostly brush with few real trees, HomeGuide (national) breaks it out separately: light brush $800 to $1,800 per acre, heavy brush $1,600 to $3,000 per acre, and wooded $2,500 to $5,000 per acre. Cedar and mesquite thickets on old pasture often land in the heavy-brush row. The brush clearing page covers how that work is scoped, and pasture clearing covers the lighter mowing-type end, which is a different and cheaper job.
How lot size changes the price
Per-acre math breaks down on small parcels. HomeGuide publishes whole-project ranges by property size, across all densities:
| Property size | Typical project range (HomeGuide, national) |
|---|---|
| 1/8 acre | $600 to $2,000 |
| 1/4 acre | $800 to $3,000 |
| 1/2 acre | $1,000 to $5,000 |
| 1 acre | $1,200 to $8,000 |
| 2 acres | $1,900 to $15,000 |
| 3 acres | $2,700 to $22,000 |
| 4 acres | $3,600 to $30,000 |
| 5 acres | $4,500 to $35,000 |
Look at the eighth-acre row: $600 to $2,000 for a fraction of an acre works out far above any per-acre band. That is the minimum charge at work. Moving a machine, setting up and protecting a neighbor’s fence take about the same effort on a tiny lot as on a large one. Most lot clearing and overgrown lot clearing in Frisco neighborhoods is priced this way, as a project.
What public bids around Frisco show
Two public data sets give local evidence, and both describe large jobs.
Texas Department of Transportation bid results for brush removal in its Dallas district, which includes Collin and Denton counties, came in at about $1,200 to $2,000 per acre. Those contracts covered tens of acres of highway right-of-way: open, reachable from the road shoulder, with no house, pool or protected oak nearby.
A public bid by a Collin County municipal utility district for 75 acres of subdivision site work drew clearing-and-grubbing prices of about $500 to $3,200 per acre. Seven bidders priced the same scope across that whole range, which says a lot about how differently contractors read the same ground.
For hourly context, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension’s custom rates survey for the East Texas region, which includes Collin and Denton counties, reports dozer land-clearing rates of $120 to $250 per hour under 160 hp and $100 to $300 per hour over 160 hp. Those are farm and ranch rates from small samples, reported as ranges rather than a market average.
Why do big public contracts price lower than a half-acre lot? Volume spreads mobilization over many acres, machines run all day without repositioning, and there is rarely selective tree protection or tight access. TxDOT bids for clearing patches under about an acre come in at many times its per-acre rate for the same reason. Read the public numbers as a floor for large, open commercial land clearing, not as a target for a backyard.
Factors that move a quote
The drivers below are what separate the low end of a band from the high end. Each one is a field decision, not a surcharge on a menu.
| Driver | What changes on site | Effect on price |
|---|---|---|
| Vegetation density | More stems per acre means more machine hours and more material | Moves you between the light, moderate and heavy bands |
| Tree diameter | Large trunks need felling and processing, not just mulching | Pushes toward the top of the band |
| Stumps and roots | Grinding in place versus extracting with the root ball | Grubbing adds hours, hauling and backfill decisions |
| Wet ground and Houston Black clay | Frisco and most of the Collin side sit on high shrink-swell clays that turn sticky when wet; work may pause or need lighter machines | Delays and rutting repair add cost, see clearing wet clay ground |
| Access | Gate width, slopes, fences and neighbors decide machine size | Smaller machines take longer per acre |
| Rock | Shallow chalk (USDA NRCS soil survey lists Eddy soils on shallow chalk) wears teeth and limits grubbing | Slower work, more equipment wear |
| Hidden debris | Old wire, fencing, concrete and dumped trash inside brush | Hand work and separate disposal; a walk-through reduces but cannot remove this risk |
| Utilities | Texas811 notice before mechanized digging of 16 inches or more; Frisco locates City lines separately for permitted work | Locates, hand clearing near lines, see clearing near utilities |
| Selective-tree protection | Fencing at drip lines, root pruning ahead of disturbance, working around keepers | Slower than clear-cut; see selective clearing |
| Mulch stays or hauls | Mulching in place avoids trucks and tipping fees; haul-off adds both | Haul-off is usually the bigger number |
| Burning rules | Collin and Denton are in the DFW ozone nonattainment area; TCEQ allows land-clearing burns only when no practical alternative exists | Burning is a narrow option, not a default disposal plan |
| Erosion control | Silt fence, seeding and stormwater paperwork on larger disturbances | Separate line items |
| Mobilization | Trailering large machines to and from the site | Fixed cost, heaviest on small jobs; no published local figure |
Rain timing matters here. NOAA’s 1991 to 2020 normals at DFW Airport show 37.01 inches a year, with peaks in May (4.78 inches) and October (4.37 inches) and the driest weeks in July and August. Clay sites cleared in a wet spring week cost more to finish than the same site in late summer.
Disposal costs
Disposal is where a cheap per-acre number turns expensive. If mulch stays on the property, there is no tipping fee. If material leaves, the published local rates apply.
North Texas Municipal Water District lists $80 per ton at its transfer stations and $52 per ton at the 121 Regional Disposal Facility in Melissa, each with a one-ton minimum. Construction debris goes only to the 121 landfill, not the transfer stations. Brush and limbs taken to the regional yard-waste facility on Custer Road in Plano, which Frisco shares, cost commercial haulers $22 per cubic yard with a $66 minimum.
Inside Frisco city limits, the City of Frisco publishes its construction roll-off charges: $357.95 per haul plus disposal by the ton, $108.87 for delivery, $4.47 per day and a $1,000 deposit. Only the City’s contracted hauler may place construction roll-offs inside the city. Frisco also requires cut trees to be chipped on site or hauled within 72 hours. The debris removal page walks through each disposal route.
Permit and rule costs
Rules often cost more in time than in fees, but some carry real dollars. Tree replacement can be the largest line on a wooded commercial tract.
| Rule | Where | What it costs or requires |
|---|---|---|
| Tree Removal Permit | Frisco | Required to remove any tree regardless of size or species, except on single-family or two-family lots within a plat of record; tree survey review is listed at $0 in the City’s development fee schedule; a 6% technology fee applies to permits processed in the City’s system |
| Tree replacement | Frisco | Under 6 in. 0%; 6 to 12 in. 100%; 12.1 to 20 in. 150%; over 20 in. 300% of removed inches; dollar value per inch set by the City each year, not published |
| Floodplain vegetation | Frisco | Grading permit or City letter needed; fines $300 per caliper inch per tree and $300 per 100 sq ft of vegetation, up to $2,000 per offense, and the contractor is liable as well as the owner |
| Tree mitigation limits | Texas Local Government Code 212.905 | No mitigation fee for a tree under 10 in. at an owner’s existing one- or two-family residence; cities must offer a planting credit |
| Tree replacement | Celina | Oaks, pecan and floodplain trees 5:1; elms, ash, pines, hickory, black walnut 3:1; others 1:1 |
| Burn permit | Celina | $100 per burn, parcels of 2 acres and up |
| Burn permit | Little Elm | $25 per year, burning only on a Denton County burn day |
| Burn permit | Prosper | $150 refundable deposit per burn listed on the Town’s application; permit expires after 15 days |
| Burn permit | Aubrey | Residential free after a site inspection; commercial $2,000, valid seven days |
| Stormwater NOI | TCEQ, 5+ acres disturbed | $225 electronic, $325 paper; 1 to under 5 acres follows the small-site rules |
County burn bans in unincorporated areas are temporary Commissioners Court orders that come and go with drought, so check before planning a burn. The Frisco tree removal permit guide, the burning guide and the stormwater permit guide cover each rule in depth.
Stump grinding as an add-on
HomeGuide (national) lists stump grinding at $120 to $400 for the first stump and $30 to $60 for each additional one, or $2 to $6 per inch of diameter. Grinding cuts the stump below grade and leaves the roots in the ground. That is fine for a lawn or pasture, and not enough where a foundation, driveway or utility trench will go. Full extraction has no reliable published range and is priced by site. The stump grinding and removal page and the grinding vs removal guide explain the choice.
Forestry mulching per acre and per hour
HomeGuide (national) puts forestry mulching at $500 to $1,000 or more per acre and $125 to $300 per hour with operator. North Texas quotes commonly run higher than the national figure, especially for mature cedar and mixed hardwood. Mulching leaves a shredded layer on the ground and leaves root systems in place, which is why it often costs less than dozer clearing plus haul-off, and why it is not a substitute for grubbing. The forestry mulching page and the mulching vs land clearing comparison go further.
Example budgets (illustrative)
These examples are illustrative. Each one is built only from the published ranges above, and the only math is adding the stated components. Anything that depends on a quantity, such as cubic yards of brush or feet of silt fence, is listed as a rate rather than guessed. None of this is a quote.
Quarter-acre overgrown lot, mulch left on site
- Clearing, 1/4 acre (HomeGuide, national size table): $800 to $3,000
- First stump ground (HomeGuide, national): $120 to $400
- Sum of the listed components: $920 to $3,400
Not included: a Frisco tree permit if the lot is not a platted single-family or two-family lot, and any haul-off.
One moderately wooded acre, debris hauled
- Moderate clearing, one acre (HomeGuide, national): $2,500 to $4,500
- First stump ground (HomeGuide, national): $120 to $400
- Sum of the listed components: $2,620 to $4,900
- Plus, at the stated rates: each additional stump $30 to $60; brush tipping on Custer Road $22 per cubic yard ($66 minimum); tree replacement under the city’s table if protected trees come out
Five acres of brush cleared ahead of development
- Clearing, 5 acres (HomeGuide, national size table): $4,500 to $35,000
- TCEQ Notice of Intent, electronic: $225
- Sum of the listed components: $4,725 to $35,225
- Plus, at the stated rates: silt fence about $3.50 to $5 per linear foot installed and about $1 per foot to remove on TxDOT projects in the Dallas district (short runs on one lot can cost more per foot); hydroseeding $0.12 to $0.35 per square foot (HomeGuide, national), with large TxDOT projects in North Texas about $0.05 to $0.30; mobilization priced by site
That last range runs more than seven times from bottom to top, which is the honest answer for unseen acreage. The erosion control guide explains what the stabilization lines buy.
Cost-share programs and tax effects
There is no rebate for clearing a house lot. Two public programs touch working land:
| Program | Who it is for | What it offers |
|---|---|---|
| NRCS EQIP, Brush Management | Agricultural producers on eligible agricultural land | Cost share for brush management that meets the NRCS practice standard; applications are ranked competitively against a ranking date each fiscal year, so check with USDA NRCS |
| Forest Stewardship Program | Forest landowners | A free forest stewardship plan from Texas A&M Forest Service; the plan guides the work but does not pay for clearing |
Land under agricultural valuation is a separate issue. Clearing for building can count as a change of use and trigger a rollback tax for the prior three years under Texas Tax Code 23.55; the ag valuation and clearing guide explains the mechanism, and your appraisal district has the final word. Timber rarely offsets the bill here: no evidence places Collin or Denton County in the Texas A&M Forest Service timber harvest region, so merchantable value is uncommon (see can timber pay for land clearing).
Getting a number for your property
A published range gets you to a budget. A real price needs someone to look at the ground. The process starts with walking the property for boundaries, trees to keep, slopes, wet spots, fences and anything buried or overhead. Next comes checking the rules for that address: tree permit, burn options, creek or floodplain limits and utility locates. Then the scope is written, covering method, finish level, stumps, debris plan and erosion control, in writing, before a price. Our guide to what a land clearing quote should include lists the lines to look for.
For a first look, try the land clearing cost estimator, then contact Homestead Land Clearing to set up a property walk.