Land Clearing Cost Guide for Montgomery, AL

Montgomery AL Land Clearing wrote this guide for Montgomery and River Region owners comparing land clearing estimates. Clearing is priced one job at a time, so you will not find per-acre rates here. Two parcels of the same size can come in far apart depending on what grows on them, how wet the ground is and where the debris has to go.

Use the factors below to describe your land clearly, and ask each contractor to split the quote into parts so you can see which conditions drive the total.

What changes an estimate

What is growing and how thick

Open fields with scattered saplings go fast. Solid privet walls, kudzu-covered ravines and dense young pine take more machine hours. A handful of big water oaks or tall pines near a house can cost more to remove than an acre of light brush, because they may need to come down in pieces.

Wet clay and bottomland

Black Belt clay south and east of Montgomery turns soft and sticky after rain, and river and creek bottoms can stay wet for weeks in winter and spring. Contractors may need to wait for dry weather, use tracked machines or add matting, which affects schedule and price. Possible wetlands may need a check with the Corps of Engineers before work, which can change the layout.

Slope, rock and buried surprises

Hilly ground north of the river toward Wetumpka and Tallassee slows equipment and raises erosion control needs. Old home places and farm dumps often hide tin, concrete, wire and glass that must be separated by hand. Tell the contractor about anything you know is buried.

Access and travel

Narrow gates, soft drives, ditches without culverts and low power lines can limit equipment. If a path must be opened to reach the work area, that adds time. Remote tracts far from the contractor's yard add mobilization cost.

Debris: mulch, haul or burn

How the cut material is handled is often the biggest swing between quotes. Mulching in place avoids trucking but leaves chips on the ground. Hauling leaves a clean surface but adds loading, trips and disposal fees. Burning can cost less where it is allowed, but outside city limits the Alabama Forestry Commission requires a permit for burns of a quarter acre or more, and land clearing piles generally need one too; permits can be denied in dry or windy weather. Inside Montgomery or another city, check with the fire department, since burning may not be allowed at all.

Tires, shingles, treated lumber and trash cannot go in a burn pile and must be hauled, which adds cost.

Stumps, stormwater and timber value

Cutting flush, grinding and digging out are three different jobs. Building pads usually need stumps and roots removed; lawns and pasture often only need them ground. See stump grinding.

Silt fence, stone construction entrances and seeding add cost, and disturbing roughly an acre or more for construction generally brings ADEM stormwater requirements. On wooded land, pine sold to a timber buyer before clearing might offset part of the bill; a registered forester can tell you whether that is realistic for your stand.

Questions to ask every contractor

• Exactly where are the clearing limits, and which trees stay?
• Are stumps cut, ground or dug out, and in which areas?
• Is debris mulched, burned or hauled, and who pays for disposal?
• Who gets burn permits and sets up erosion controls?
• How are rain delays, buried trash and extra work priced?
• What will the ground look like when the job is done?