PIERCE
LAND
CLEARING
Hays County runs from Hill Country limestone at Dripping Springs and Wimberley down to blackland east of Interstate 35, with San Marcos, Kyle and Buda on the line between. We have documented jobs on both kinds of ground, and our rates are published: forestry mulching from $3,000 a day with transport included.
US 290, Ranch Road 12, and the Blanco River, Cypress Creek and Onion Creek valleys. Thin soil over limestone, Ashe juniper on the slopes, and live oak and Spanish oak worth keeping. The typical job is selective cedar removal on a ranch or a homesite, with grades steep enough to rule the biggest machines out of parts of a tract. Our 34 acre Dripping Springs job is this ground: cedar off, every oak left.
The escarpment runs through all three towns. Lots on the west side of each sit on rock and cedar, lots on the east side sit on clay, and the county is growing fast enough that much of the clearing here is for a house pad, a driveway or a subdivision phase.
Blackland prairie and creek bottom. Mesquite and brush on deep clay, flat enough for any machine, and soft enough after rain that timing matters more than horsepower.
The default across most of the county. One machine grinds standing brush where it stands, nothing is hauled off and nothing is burned. See forestry mulching.
Cedar out from between the live oaks, the canopy opened, the oaks left standing. See cedar tree removal and our guide to cedar clearing in the Hill Country.
One acre to twenty, cleared for a build with what is worth keeping still standing, then graded to a pad with access and drainage. See site prep.
Where roots have to come out ahead of a slab or a road bed, and where limestone has to be dealt with instead of hauled. See grubbing, excavation and rock milling.
We price in machine days, and the rates are the same here as anywhere we work. A skid steer mulcher is $3,000 per day with transport included. A high horsepower dedicated mulcher is $4,000 per day plus transport. Dozer or excavator work starts at $3,000 per day plus transport. One day minimum on every machine. You get a day count and a written total before anything is scheduled.
Three documented Hays County jobs show the range. Two acres of pasture clearing near San Marcos, grubbed and mulched in one day, came to $7,000 to $8,000. An eight acre homesite prep at San Marcos, with the pad and driveway cleared, grubbed and graded and cedar thinned across the rest, took four days and came to $15,000 to $18,000. Thirty four acres of cedar at Dripping Springs took fourteen days and came to $50,000 to $55,000. Our cost to clear land page lists every priced job we have published.
Three jobs inside the county, each with acreage, machines, days on site and what it cost.
Hays County is one of the counties covered by the state’s Edwards Aquifer rules, and the recharge zone runs through the middle of it. Under those rules, clearing vegetation without disturbing the soil is not a regulated activity, and neither is agricultural work or a single home on a lot larger than five acres. Clearing, excavation or anything else that alters the ground as part of construction is regulated, and it needs a plan approved by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality before work starts. In plain terms: mulching cedar in place is one thing, and grubbing and cutting a pad for a build on the recharge zone is another. TCEQ makes that call, not us. We do not pull permits, and we tell you at the quote when a job looks like it needs one. The contributing zone to the west has construction rules of its own.
Mature cedar and oak woodland in western Hays County can be golden-cheeked warbler habitat. Hays County has run a federally approved Regional Habitat Conservation Plan since 2013, and the county’s Natural Resources Coordinator is the place to ask whether a tract is affected. The nesting season used across the region runs March 1 to August 31. Regrowth cedar on old pasture is usually a different case from old cedar under an oak canopy, but that call belongs to the agencies, not to us.
San Marcos, Kyle, Buda, Dripping Springs and Wimberley each have development and tree rules inside their limits. Check with the city before clearing for a build. Rural land outside city limits is generally free of tree ordinances.
Texas A&M Forest Service advises against pruning or wounding oaks from February through June, when oak wilt spreads fastest, and says to paint every fresh oak wound right away in any month. On selective jobs we work around the oaks you are keeping and seal any oak cut immediately.
Super nice guy and priced right. Fantastic communication and no surprises except for how great it looked when completed.
Jeff Bordelon, Google review
Great company. Call them for all your land clearing needs.
Cory Wilson, Google review
They did an excellent job and were highly effective and the price was an incredible value. I am so thankful for them and will use them for all of my forestry needs.
Red, Google review
Priced in machine days, the same rates statewide. A skid steer mulcher is $3,000 per day with transport included, a high horsepower mulcher is $4,000 per day plus transport, and dozer or excavator work starts at $3,000 per day plus transport. One day minimum on every machine. Documented Hays County jobs ran $7,000 to $8,000 for two acres in one day, $15,000 to $18,000 for an eight acre homesite prep in four days, and $50,000 to $55,000 for thirty four acres of cedar in fourteen days.
On rural land outside a city limit, generally no county permit, and agricultural work is exempt from most regulation in Texas. The state Edwards Aquifer rules regulate clearing and excavation tied to construction on the recharge zone, and San Marcos, Kyle, Buda, Dripping Springs and Wimberley have rules of their own inside their limits. We do not pull permits, and we tell you at the quote when a job looks like it needs one.
Yes. Under the state rules, clearing vegetation without disturbing the soil is not a regulated activity, and forestry mulching leaves the roots and the soil in place. Grubbing, excavation and pad work for a build on the recharge zone are regulated and need a plan approved by TCEQ first. TCEQ decides which side of that line a project is on.
Yes. Most of that work is selective: cedar out, oaks kept, and a pad and driveway opened where the build goes. Our documented San Marcos homesite job cleared, grubbed and graded the pad and driveway on eight acres and thinned cedar across the rest in four days.
Texas A&M Forest Service advises against pruning or wounding oaks from February through June, because oak wilt spreads fastest then, and says to paint every oak wound right away at any time of year. Cedar can be cleared from around oaks in any month, provided the oaks themselves are not cut or scraped.
Not from the stumps. Ashe juniper does not resprout once the stem is off below the lowest green limb. What comes back is seedlings from seed already in the soil, which is a mowing problem in year three rather than a clearing problem, and far cheaper to stay on top of than to let close again.
Send the address, the acreage and what is growing on it. You get back a day count, the machine we would bring and a written number, usually the same day. Call 512-400-2693.
