Insured crews · Yards in Johnson City, Lindale & Weatherford Callback before the end of the business day · Free on-site estimate →
Excavator with a grapple piling cleared trees and brush, tree clearing in Texas
  1. Home
  2. Tree Clearing
Statewide service

Tree Clearing and Removal Services in Texas: Forestry Mulching and Land Clearing Services, Cedar Out, Oaks Kept

Tree clearing at clearing scale, not one tree in a backyard. Our crews take cedar, mesquite and pine understory off 1 to 100 acres at 3 to 8 acres per day, oaks kept. I run a Texas land clearing company out of Johnson City, with crews in Lindale and Weatherford, and I have cleared trees full time since 2015. If you need one hackberry dropped beside a house, call a tree service. If you need land, call us. Call (832) 987-3495 or send the form. Teo calls you back before the end of the business day with a crew date.

Estimate in Texas

Dispatcher Teo takes every form and call at the Johnson City office. Callback before the end of the business day.

Free on-site estimate within 60 miles of a yard.

On this page

Forestry Mulching, Felling, Grubbing and Stump Grinding: Four Ways to Clear Your Land

Four methods, and stem size picks the first one. A forestry mulcher grinds trees and brush into mulch where they stand, to 8 inches on the skid steer and 12 to 14 inches with the 300-hp head. Felling with saws comes first on anything bigger, and the trunk goes through the head in sections. Grubbing with the dozer at $160 an hour pulls root balls where a pad or a drive needs bare dirt. Stump removal by grinding runs $4 an inch. A bulldozer alone is the old way to clear land, and it leaves a foot less topsoil. Efficient clearing means the mulcher does 90 percent and the dozer does the pad.

Land Clearing and Tree Removal in One Job, Lot Clearing to Acreage

Clearing and tree removal on the same ticket means one mobilization, one crew and one invoice. Residential or commercial, the sequence is the same: flag the keepers, drop the big trees, run forestry mulching over the brush and tree tops, grub the pad, grind the stumps. Small residential pads are a one-job clearing day. Large jobs for a developer run the 300-hp machine a week at a time with the same equipment and expertise. Services for residential and commercial clients both start with a walk of the pins and end with a line-item quote you can trim.

Cedar Out, Oaks Kept: Clearing Across Central Texas

Cedar is the only crop in Texas nobody planted and everybody harvests. It is ashe juniper, it reseeds from berries not stumps, and AgriLife research shows a mature canopy intercepts the first inch of rain. We clear your land of cedar to under 10 percent canopy and leave every live oak and post oak. I avoid wounding oak limbs from February to June, the oak wilt window named by Texas A&M Forest Service, and mulch around the trunks instead. The 42-acre Blanco County tract I walked at 55 percent canopy took 6 days with the 300-hp head, $27,500 plus transport, and the spring below the stock tank ran again. When I assess your land I read canopy percent first, then the oaks.

Timber Value in East Texas: Forestry Services vs. Mulch Under the Pines

A 20-acre stand of 14-inch loblolly in Smith County has sale value, and Texas A&M Forest Service publishes timber-sale guidance for exactly that. Sell the pine first, then call us for the understory. The real job in the Piney Woods is yaupon, sweetgum and privet under the pines, and our Lindale crew cleared 15 acres of it in 3 days for $11,400 with the pines kept. Pine understory runs $1,200 to $2,000 an acre. Forestry services like thinning and trimming are a consulting forester's trade. The forest is theirs; the brush is ours. Mulchers leave the pine roots alone, so an understory you let overgrow comes back slower under a mulch layer.

Stump Grinding vs. Excavation After Tree Clearing

Grinding takes the stump 6 to 12 inches down at $4 an inch, $175 minimum, and the roots rot in place under the mulch. Pulling takes the root ball out with the dozer, and only a slab or a septic field needs it. Lots with 10 or more stumps go by the day at $2,800 with the forestry mulchers already on site. Mesquite, hackberry and tallow stumps get ground 8 to 10 inches deep because they resprout from the crown. Oak, pecan and pine do not. Tell Teo the stump count and the biggest diameter when you call.

Protected Trees, Heritage Oaks and Warbler Habitat in Texas Communities

The state of Texas has no permit for clearing trees on your own land, but cities and two federal species rules do. Austin protects heritage trees over 24 inches, San Antonio has significant and heritage tree rules, and Georgetown, Boerne, Fort Worth and Prosper each run an ordinance inside the city and its ETJ. The golden-cheeked warbler nests in mature cedar-oak canopy from March to July, so in Travis, Williamson, Hays, Comal, Kendall, Kerr, Gillespie, Bexar and Burnet we clear that canopy type outside the window. TPWD and USFWS set that rule. In Bastrop County sandy pine tracts fall under the Lost Pines Habitat Conservation Plan for the Houston toad. Property owners in the surrounding areas usually have none of this, and I tell you which case you are in on the first call.

Tree Clearing Cost per Acre in TX and When to Schedule a Free Estimate

Cedar runs $900 to $1,400 per acre under 30 percent canopy, $1,800 to $2,600 at medium cover, and $3,000 to $4,000 for dense old-growth cedar or mesquite, all left as mulch on the ground. Rock or caliche adds a day in the Hill Country, wet blackland a day up north from November to April.

  • Skid steer with mulching head, $2,800 a day, transport included within 60 miles of Johnson City, Lindale or Weatherford.
  • 300-hp head, $4,200 a day plus transport, for large commercial tracts and ranches.
  • Full clearing to dirt, $2,000 to $4,500 per acre. Excavation services for the pad at $160 an hour.
  • Haul-off $650 to $1,200 a load. Minimum trip $1,100.

If you need land and not one tree gone, call (832) 987-3495 or send the form with your county, acreage and clearing needs. Teo will call back before the end of the business day and schedule a free estimate within 60 miles of a yard. Services available beyond that circle carry transport as its own line.

Land Clearing Services Throughout Texas: Right of Way Clearing, Site Prep and Land Management

Johnson City covers the Hill Country and Central Texas. Weatherford covers North Texas mesquite and post oak. Lindale covers the Piney Woods. Gulf Coast tallow on gumbo clay goes to the Houston sister site, where the mulcher floats and a dozer sinks. Land clearing across all four regions comes off one price sheet, and our land-clearing services cover lot clearing, acreage, brush clearing, brush removal and haul-off by truck, right of way clearing and right-of-way clearing for pipelines, vegetation management along a fence line, mulching services, forestry mulching services, site preparation and land management after the fact. Expert land clearing from professional land clearing crews, fully insured, and land clearing contractors who specialize in juniper, mesquite and pine understory. We are not land services for wells, septic or concrete. Comprehensive land clearing solutions is ad language; what we sell is clearing brush and unwanted vegetation at a price per acre. For land clearing services in Texas and Texas land clearing projects of any size, call (832) 987-3495 or send the form. Teo will have an answer for you before the business day is over.

Luanne Pruitt

Owner, Pruitt Range & Brush

Luanne Pruitt, 51, owns Pruitt Range & Brush and runs it from Johnson City in Blanco County, with crews in Lindale and Weatherford. She grew up on a cow-calf ranch near Llano. She spent 12 years as an NRCS field technician writing EQIP Brush Management plans for Texas ranchers, bought her first mulcher in 2014 when too many of those plans sat unexecuted, and has cleared cedar, mesquite, pine understory and homesite lots full time since 2015. Her dispatcher Teo takes every call and form.

FAQ

Tree Clearing Questions from Texas Property Owners

Fill out the form or call (832) 987-3495. Teo will call you back before the end of the business day.

What is a normal price for clearing an acre of trees in Texas?

Mulched in place, $900 to $4,000 an acre by canopy percent, and $2,000 to $4,500 an acre cleared to dirt with grubbing and haul-off. By the day the skid steer runs $2,800 with TX transport included inside 60 miles of a yard. A dense tract budgets at the high end.

How much does it cost to clear 20 acres of trees?

About $18,000 to $52,000 mulched, or 4 to 7 days with the 300-hp head at $4,200 a day plus transport, depending on canopy and species. The 42-acre Blanco County job at 55 percent canopy came to $27,500 plus transport in 6 days, so 20 acres of similar canopy lands near $13,000.

Do you remove single trees or do tree trimming?

No, we clear land, and a tree service with a bucket truck handles single trees, trimming and storm work in a yard. Our smallest job is a half-acre homesite at $2,800. Need land cleared at any scale above that, and the mulchers are the right tool.

Is it okay to clear and trim trees in Texas right now?

Juniper, mesquite, pine understory and brush can be cleared any month. Live oaks should not be wounded from February to June because of oak wilt, and mature cedar-oak canopy in warbler counties waits until after July. Everything else is a year-round job, and most owners see the value of their land rise the week the view opens.

Do I need land clearing before construction?

Yes, a builder wants a pad cleared to dirt with the root balls out, plus a drive and a utility path, before the forms go down. Site prep for a slab is grubbing and rough grading, and we stop at the dirt. Concrete, wells and septic are other people's trades, and I know people who do them.

What does land clearing include, and what do you not do?

Clearing includes felling, turning trees and brush to mulch, grubbing, stump grinding, haul-off and rough grading, written as separate lines on one quote. We do not pour concrete, drill wells, install septic or demolish houses. Call (832) 987-3495, tell Teo what the land is for, and the quote comes back with the lines you need and none you do not.

Related

Services

Excavator with a grapple piling cleared trees and brush, free land clearing estimate in Texas
Free on-site estimate within 60 miles of a yard

Call
Teo.

Fill out the form or call (832) 987-3495. Teo will call you back before the end of the business day.

(832) 987-3495

Get a free estimate

Dispatcher Teo takes every form and call at the Johnson City office. Callback before the end of the business day.

Free on-site estimate within 60 miles of a yard.

☎ Call nowFree estimate