Land Clearing
One acre of moderate growth — thicker brush and medium trees — runs $2,500–$4,275 around Marion Oaks. Light brush starts at $1,200–$2,375 an acre and dense woods run $4,500–$7,600. The price covers felling and mulching or pushing out the growth, with stumps cut flush; grubbing stumps out and hauling debris off price as their own lines.
Forestry Mulching
One acre mulched selective — growth cleared, marked trees kept — runs $1,200–$1,900. Brush-only work runs $1,000–$1,700 an acre and a complete mulch of everything on the acre runs $1,500–$2,375. Nothing leaves the land: the cut growth stays as a mulch mat that holds the soil and slows regrowth.
Lot Clearing
A half-acre lot with moderate growth, taken to build-ready, runs $1,600–$2,600. The band carries more than plain clearing: stumps grubbed out in the build area and the debris hauled off, so a builder can stake the lot when we leave. A standard quarter-acre Marion Oaks lot usually lands on the job minimum, $1,200–$1,800.
Stump Grinding
Stumps grind at $3–$6 per inch of diameter across the widest point at ground level. One 24-inch stump figures under the job minimum, so it prices at the floor: $150–$250. A run of stumps on one visit adds up fast — fourteen stumps averaging about 22 inches figure $924–$1,848 at the same rate.
Grading & Building Pads
A 40 by 60 ft pad — 2,400 sq ft — cut, filled, and packed runs $2,040–$3,240. Grading the soil that's already there runs $0.55–$1.05 per sq ft; cut-and-fill work with imported fill runs $0.85–$1.35. Marion County limestone sits close to the surface on many lots, and pad work that hits rock is named at the visit, not buried in the band.
What Moves the Price
- Density. What is growing on the acre is the price. Each density step up roughly doubles the work — palmetto root mats are the local trap, and a light-looking lot in thick palmetto prices like moderate growth.
- Haul-off. Mulching in place is the low-cost finish. Hauling debris off instead adds about a third to a clearing job — trucks, loads, and dump time.
- Ground. Wet, steep, or rocky ground slows every machine on the job. Marion and Lake county lots hold water, and soft ground can rule out haul trucks entirely — which is why mulching wins on wet land.
- Stumps. A mulcher cuts growth flush; it does not take stumps below grade. Grinding is its own per-inch line, and grubbing stumps out of a build area belongs to lot work.
- Job size. Small lots price off a job minimum, not the per-acre math — no crew mobilizes a mulcher, a truck, and a trailer for a few hundred dollars. The minimums are printed in every band here.
Where these numbers come from. Published national cost guides — Angi's 2026 land-clearing and forestry-mulching project data and HomeGuide's per-acre density tiers — trimmed to Central Florida labor levels (Ocala and Orlando metro wages run below the national mean; the machines and fuel do not). They are planning ranges, not a quote.
What these prices do not carry. County land-clearing and land-disturbance permits, gopher tortoise surveys on sandy upland, and wetland-buffer work are pass-through or owner-side items and sit outside every band. Removing a mature oak is a tree-removal price set at the visit, never a per-acre line. Fill dirt beyond a pad band's allowance prices at market. Every final price is confirmed at the free in-person visit, in writing, before work starts.
