PIERCE
LAND
CLEARING
Cutting brush off at the ground is a haircut. Grubbing takes the roots, which is the only version mesquite respects and the only version that leaves ground you can build on, plow, or mow without surprises. We grub homesites, pastures, and whole ranches with our own iron, documented jobs to prove it, and quotes in machine days on paper.
Half the calls we get start with a property that was cleared once already and grew right back. Here is the difference that decides whether that happens to you.
A forestry mulcher shreds everything above the dirt into a mulch layer that feeds the soil, and for cedar, which dies when cut, that is usually the whole answer at the best price. But mesquite, huisache, and most hardwood brush treat a mulcher like a pruning: the root crown below grade survives, and in two growing seasons the thicket is back with interest. Mulching is the right tool exactly as often as the species says it is.
Grubbing pulls the plant out of the ground, root crown and taproot included, with a root-puller dozer, an excavator, or a root rake, then the holes get closed and the ground graded smooth. It costs more per acre than mulching because it moves dirt as well as wood, and it is the only method that actually subtracts mesquite from a property instead of postponing it. Under a future pad, road, or pond, it is not optional.
Six ways the work shows up, all of it done with our own machines and finished with the ground graded, not left looking bombed.
Every stump, root crown, and taproot out of the footprint before the dirt work starts, because organics buried under a pad rot, settle, and crack slabs. Our excavation crew builds on ground our grubbing crew cleaned, one standard, no gap.
The signature Texas fight, won below the grade line. Mesquite regrows from buds on the root crown, so we pull the crown and taproot, close the holes, and hand back pasture that stays pasture. Documented mesquite work runs from Bandera to Brownwood, and fence rows are their own trade here.
Cedar stumps, hardwood stumps, and the roots under them, pulled and stacked or hauled. The right finish after a mulching job when the stumps still argue with your shredder, or the full treatment where clean dirt matters more than mulch.
Grubbed material pushed into burn rows or stack piles, placed where they can dry and where a controlled burn or a haul-off can deal with them on your schedule. Rows oriented for wind, piles clear of the trees you kept.
Mesquite and cactus flats turned back into grazing: grubbed, raked, graded, and ready to seed. Our documented Dale and Elgin reclamation projects ran exactly this playbook, and the pastures stayed open.
The stage builders skip at their own expense: roots out before the grade goes in. We grub corridors, rights of way, and building sites ahead of dirt work, on the standard our own site prep jobs demand.
Mesquite is the reason grubbing exists as a separate line on our quotes. Cut a mesquite off at ground level and it returns multi stemmed and more vigorous than it went in, because the regrowth comes from a crown that sits below the soil line. Grinding the top with a mulcher looks finished on the day the machine leaves and is not. On mesquite ground worth reclaiming properly, the crown has to come out, which means a dozer or an excavator rather than a mulching head.
The same $3,000 per day plus transport as any dozer or excavator work, with a one day minimum. A root puller dozer generally covers multiple acres in a day on open mesquite country; an excavator is slower and far more precise, which is what you want near fence lines, water and anything you are keeping. Neither is priced by the acre, because stem size and how long the country has been let go move the day count more than acreage does.
On most Texas mesquite ground the pear is in there too, and pear does not grind so much as smear. It also propagates from pads that get scattered, so a machine that flings it is planting it. Where pear is a real part of the problem the answer is a grubbing pass rather than a mulching pass, and that is usually the same visit.
Open ground with the crowns out and the pear gone, ready to go back to grass. We do not seed outside Central Texas; where we do run the tractor, discing and seeding can follow on the same job at $1,500 per day plus transport. See pasture reclamation for what happens after.
Everyone searches the per-acre number. The honest answer is a day rate, so here it is in plain figures along with what actually moves it.
Both run at the same $3,000 day rate, so the choice is about pace against precision rather than price. The dozer generally clears multiple acres in a day, but it takes up dirt and some topsoil with the roots, so the finish is not as clean. The excavator is precise and leaves less disturbance, and it is slower. On thin topsoil you want the excavator even though it costs more days. On a big flat mesquite flat the dozer is usually the honest answer.
$3,000 per day plus transport, for either the dozer or the excavator. That is a published rate, not an opening position. One day is the minimum, on every machine we run, so a small job costs a day whether it fills one or not. Grubbing runs above mulching per acre because it moves dirt as well as wood and finishes with grading that mulching never needs. Our published price page carries the rest of the arithmetic.
There is no honest single number, and anybody quoting you one has not seen your brush. The arithmetic is the day rate divided by how much ground the machine covers, and mesquite density swings that further than any other factor we deal with. On an open flat where the dozer keeps moving, a $3,000 day covers several acres and the per-acre figure lands well below it. In an old-growth stand where the excavator is working taproots one at a time, a day might not finish an acre. Send photos and we will tell you which of those two your place looks like.
Density and stem size first: forty mesquite per acre grub fast, four hundred do not. Root systems second: old-growth mesquite taproots fight harder than young invasion. Disposal third: stack and burn on site is the economical end, hauling off is the expensive one, and mulching the tops while grubbing the crowns often splits the difference. Terrain, rock, and wet ground round out the list. All of it gets read from your photos and written into the quote before anyone walks the place.
Pictures of the brush, a rough acreage, and your county. Because density decides everything in grubbing, good photos get you a same-day ballpark that actually holds.
Machine days on paper: grubbing, stacking or disposal, and finish grading as separate honest lines, priced from brush country we have already worked. Compare it against our published price page; that is what it is there for.
Once you approve the estimate we walk the property together and count what the ground is really carrying: stems per acre, root age, rock, and what you want kept. The oaks worth saving get flagged before any iron moves.
Root-puller dozer for the flats, excavator with a root rake where it is thick or wet, grapple for the stacking. The machine mix follows the density count, not habit.
Crowns and taproots out, holes closed, material stacked in rows or piles placed for drying and burning, and the ground graded smooth behind the work. You watch it all happen.
We walk the finished ground together against the quote: roots gone, piles where agreed, grade clean, keepers standing. Fixed before we load if anything misses.
Full project pages with photos, machines, and timelines behind every card.
The reason half of Texas fights the same tree every five years: mesquite carries dormant buds on its root crown, inches below grade, and cutting the top just wakes them up. A mulched mesquite flat looks great for a season and comes back thicker. Grubbing removes the crown and the taproot below it, which is why grubbed ground stays open and cut ground does not. It is biology, not salesmanship.
Grubbed material has to go somewhere, and the somewhere sets real money. Stacked burn rows, dried and burned on site when your county allows it, are the working-ranch answer. Hauling off is the clean-slate answer at the premium price. The hybrid, mulching the tops while grubbing the crowns, shrinks the pile before it is ever stacked. We price all three on the walk and let the property pick.
Every root left under a future slab, road, or dam is organic material that will rot, leave a void, and settle the work above it. It is why our own dirt crews will not build on ground that has not been grubbed to standard, and why the cheapest grubbing bid, the one that cuts stumps flush and calls it done, is the most expensive one on a construction site.
The picture people fear is the moonscape, and it is a sign of lazy work, not grubbing. Keepers get flagged before the iron starts, oaks and elms stay on their root zones, holes get closed the same day, and the finish grade leaves ground that greens with the first rain. Our before and after pair above is the standard: the mesquite gone, the pasture back, the oaks exactly where they were.
A root-puller working carelessly buries good topsoil under subsoil spoil. Working right, the crown pops with minimal dirt, the holes close with the same material, and the topsoil stays where a century of grass put it. That is the difference between a pasture that seeds the next season and one that sulks for three, and it costs nothing but operator skill, which we happen to sell.
We run mulchers every week and love them where they win: cedar dies when cut, so cedar country rarely needs grubbing unless dirt work follows. The honest walk sometimes ends with us recommending the cheaper machine, and our published prices make the comparison plain. Ask the crew that owns both which one your brush needs, and you get the real answer.
I had about 5 acres that had gotten out of hand with mesquite and cactus. They spent 2 days on the property with a root puller dozer, even in a storm on the second day! I am absolutely pleased with the work.
Rebecca Weggen, Google review
I'm so glad I found Taylor and Bobby to help me clear our land. We were tired paying to rent wood chippers, tractors, shredders, chain saws, etc, and still not being done with the project. Then came Taylor and Bobby. Not only did they do a better job than we could, they did it fast, efficiently, and saved us TIME and MONEY. They did a BEAUTIFUL job and now our land gives us bragging rights. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.
Chuck Town, Google review
Very polite and did an amazing job get my fence line cleared up… will be having them back out to clear up my back 40
Jason Peachey, Google review
The counties that keep asking for this work. Every link goes to our local page for that town.
The honest answer is a day rate rather than an acre price: $3,000 per day plus transport, dozer or excavator, with a one day minimum on either. What that works out to per acre depends almost entirely on density and disposal. Light invasion grubs quickly and a day can cover several acres. Old-growth thicket with heavy taproots is a different day count entirely, and stack-and-burn versus haul-off moves it again. Photos texted to 512-400-2693 get you a same-day ballpark before anyone drives out.
Because it was cut or mulched, not grubbed. Mesquite regrows from buds on the root crown below grade, so anything that leaves the crown leaves the tree. Grubbing removes the crown and taproot, and the ground stays open. It is the difference between mowing a weed and pulling it.
Selective is the normal job: mesquite and invasive brush out, oaks, elms, and the trees you point at kept on undisturbed root zones. We flag keepers on the walk before the iron starts, and the finished ground reads as improved, not cleared.
Your choice, priced plainly: stacked into burn rows or piles placed for drying and legal burning on your schedule, hauled off entirely, or the tops mulched down while the crowns get grubbed, which shrinks the piles dramatically. Most working ranches choose the stack rows, and piles that never burned have their own page.
Always, inside any footprint. Roots left under pads, roads, or dam lines rot and settle, and the structure above pays for it later. Our own excavation and pond crews build only on grubbed-to-standard ground, and doing both with one crew removes the gap where that standard usually dies.
Yes, and it is the best version of the job: grub, then grade, pad, road, or pond with the same crew in the same mobilization. One plan, one invoice, and the ground goes from thicket to build-ready without a handoff. See our excavation and dirt work page for that side of the operation.
Brush country is our documented range: Brady, Brownwood, and the Cross Timbers counties keep us busy, and multi-day scopes carry the transport line easily. The quote prices the drive honestly, and the machines have already proven the map.
Wondering what iron shows up for a grubbing job? The land clearing equipment guide covers when a dozer beats a mulcher, what the excavator handles, and what each machine costs to hire.
Photos of the brush and a rough acreage get a same-day ballpark. A density walk gets a written number in machine days, disposal included, that holds.
