PIERCE
LAND
CLEARING
On a civil, commercial or industrial job the clearing contractor is the first machine on site and the one everybody else is waiting on. This is how we scope, sequence and hand off the clearing phase so the dirt contractor starts on schedule, with the documented jobs and the numbers.
Cleared to the limits of disturbance on the plan, vegetation removed or mulched in place per spec, the building and pavement footprints grubbed to bare soil with roots out, the perimeter and buffer areas left as the plan shows them, erosion controls respected, and a site the grading contractor can put a dozer on the morning after we leave. Anything less is a job half done, and the half that is not done shows up as a change order from the next trade.
Residential clearing is a conversation with an owner about which trees stay. Construction clearing is a spec. The civil set tells us the limits, the tree survey tells us the protected trees and the mitigation lines, the SWPPP tells us where the silt fence and the construction entrance go, and the geotech tells us whether the pad is a grub and scrape or a full strip. Our job is to read all of that and price the clearing phase as machine days against it, then deliver exactly the site the plan describes. The construction site preparation page covers the full service; this guide is the how.
Limits of disturbance staked or flagged from the survey. Protected trees fenced at the critical root zone per the tree survey and the city ordinance if the site is inside one. Nothing crosses the fence, including the mulcher.
Silt fence, inlet protection and the rock construction entrance go in before the ground is opened, because the SWPPP inspector will look for them on day one and because a Texas thunderstorm on a freshly stripped site with no fence is a fine. We work to the erosion control sequence on the plan, and if the fence is another contractor’s scope we wait for it.
Dedicated forestry mulchers take the vegetation down inside the limits. On most Texas sites the buffers, detention areas and anything that stays pervious get mulched in place, which leaves a stabilized surface and no debris to haul. Where the spec calls for removal rather than mulching, or the site is inside a city with a debris ordinance, we clear, pile and coordinate haul off or grinding.
Building pads, pavement sections and utility corridors get grubbed with the excavator and dozer: stumps and root balls out, organics stripped, the mulch scraped off so the grading contractor is building on native soil. The geotech report decides the strip depth. A mulched pad with roots under it is a settlement claim waiting to happen, which is why the footprint is never mulched and called done. Our grubbing page covers the machine side.
Cleared and grubbed areas walked with the super against the plan. Stockpiles where the plan puts them. Mulch left on the areas that stay pervious. The dozer contractor takes it from there, or we do the rough grade if it is in our scope: cut and fill, pad to grade, haul roads and construction entrance, covered on the excavation and dirt work page.
Every job below has its own write up with acreage, machines, day count and, where the contract allows, the price. This is the part most clearing subs cannot show you.
| Project | Type | Acres | Days | Published cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brownsville commercial | Commercial tract, full clearing | 38 | 6 | $22,000 to $25,000 |
| San Antonio grubbing | Grubbing and clearing | 12 | 3 | $18,000 to $21,000 |
| Bastrop full clearing | Full clearing, invasive tree removal | 40 | 17 | $60,000 to $65,000 |
| Elgin LCRA | Utility, live right of way | 127 | 37 | $125,000 to $130,000 |
| Rusk right of way | Right of way clearing | 8 | 4 | $17,000 to $19,000 |
| Clifton solar | Solar farm, windrow and pile mulching | 177 | 32 | Contract |
| Brownwood solar | Commercial solar farm clearing | 800 | 154 | Contract |
| Rosebud solar | Utility scale solar clearing | 1,200 | 242 | Contract |
Rates are published and the same for everyone: $3,000 per machine day for skid steer mulchers with transport included, $4,000 per day plus transport for the dedicated high horsepower mulchers, with grubbing, excavation and dozer work as separate lines because they are different machines. A construction quote from us is a machine day schedule against the plan, not an allowance we revisit later. Day counts by tract size are in how long does land clearing take.
Unclear limits. If the LOD is not staked, the machine either stops short and leaves work for a second mobilization or goes long and creates a mitigation problem. Stake it, or send us the survey and we will.
Tree survey surprises. Inside Austin, San Antonio, Dallas and Fort Worth city limits and most of their suburbs, protected trees above a set diameter carry mitigation. A site cleared before the tree survey is reconciled is a site with a fine attached. We do not pull permits or do the survey; we clear to it.
Debris scope left vague. Mulched in place, piled for a grinder, or hauled? Each is a different day count and the third is a different trade. Say which in the scope.
Wet ground. A Blackland site after two inches of rain is not a site anybody should be running a machine on. We push a day rather than rut a pad, and the day rate does not change. Build float into the clearing phase in the wet months.
Utilities. 811 before grubbing, every time. Mulching at the surface is fine; a root rake through a fiber line is not.
Industrial and warehouse pads, municipal projects and large subdivision tracts follow the same sequence at bigger scale, with the pad strip driven by the geotech and the schedule driven by machine count. The commercial land clearing page, the solar farm land clearing page and the right of way clearing page cover those sectors, and the machines are on the equipment guide.
Clearing vegetation to the limits of disturbance, grubbing building and pavement footprints to bare soil with roots out, respecting protected trees and erosion controls, and handing over a site the grading contractor can start on. Rough grading, pads and haul roads can be added as a separate scope.
Grubbed. Mulching leaves roots under the pad, which settle. Footprints get stumps and root balls removed and organics stripped to the geotech’s depth. Buffers and pervious areas can be mulched in place.
By the machine day against the plan. Published rates are $3,000 per day for skid steer mulchers with transport included and $4,000 per day plus transport for dedicated mulchers, with grubbing and dozer work as separate lines.
A 38 acre commercial tract in Brownsville ran six days with one dedicated mulcher. On larger sites we add machines to hit the date; an 800 acre solar site ran 154 days with multiple machines.
No. We clear to the tree survey and the city’s mitigation lines, and we fence protected trees, but the survey and any permits are the owner’s or the engineer’s scope.
Whatever the scope says: mulched in place on pervious areas, piled for grinding, or cleared for haul off. Each is a different day count, so it needs to be in the scope before pricing.
Civil set, tree survey and an aerial is enough for a machine day schedule against the clearing phase. Own crews, own iron, scheduled to the day.