Land Clearing & Development · Residential & Commercial
Clearing a lot so you can actually build on it
Land clearing is a different job from tree removal, and it gets quoted differently. Rather than one tree in a yard, it is an area — trees, undergrowth, brush and stumps taken off a piece of ground so it can be built on, fenced, farmed or landscaped. We clear residential lots, commercial sites and rough acreage across Giles, Montgomery and Pulaski counties. The question that actually drives the price is not just how many trees there are but what happens to the material afterwards: hauled off site, chipped on site, or stacked for the owner. We will walk the boundary with you, agree what is coming out and what is staying, and leave the ground at a workable grade rather than a field of stumps and windrows.
What's included
Agreed on site before anything is cut.
- Boundary walk — we agree exactly what comes out and what stays before we start
- Tree and undergrowth removal — the standing timber and everything beneath it
- Brush and scrub clearance including the material that makes a lot look worse than it is
- Stump handling — ground out, dug out, or left, priced either way
- Material disposal — hauled off, chipped on site, or stacked for you
- Left at a workable grade not a field of ruts and windrows
What drives the price
Quoted by the piece of ground, not per tree. These move the number.
- Acreage — the starting point for any clearing quote
- Density and tree size — mature timber and light scrub are very different work
- What happens to the material — hauling off costs more than chipping on site
- Stumps — whether they are ground, removed entirely, or left in place
- Terrain and slope — steep or wet ground slows everything down
- Access — whether equipment can get onto and around the site
How the job runs
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Step 1
Tell us what the land is for
Building, fencing, pasture, a drive or just reclaiming it — it changes the spec.
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Step 2
We walk the boundary
We agree what comes out, what stays, and where the material goes.
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Step 3
You get a written price
Clearing, stumps and disposal set out separately. Free and no obligation.
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Step 4
We clear the site
Trees, brush and stumps handled as agreed, ground left workable.
The part that takes the longest — raking the ground back to clean before we leave.
How we work
The debris is the job, not the afterthought
On a clearing job the felling is rarely what takes the time — it is dealing with what comes off the ground afterwards. A lot that has been cut but not cleared is not a lot you can build on, fence or run a mower over. That is why we agree up front whether the material is going off site, being chipped where it stands, or being stacked for you, and why we stay on a job until the ground is actually clear rather than leaving a customer with a field of brush piles.
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Priced by
Acreage & density
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Material
Hauled, chipped or stacked
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Left as
Workable grade
“NRV Tree Pro was excellent!!! I was very pleased with how they cleared all the debris and stayed on the job from start to finish.”
Patty N. · Google review
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Land clearing questions
What people ask us before clearing a lot
Clearing is quoted differently from tree removal, and the questions are different too. These are the ones that come up most.
How much does land clearing cost per acre?
There is no single per-acre rate, because an acre of light scrub and an acre of mature standing timber are completely different jobs. What sets the price is the acreage, how dense the growth is and how large the trees are, what happens to the material afterwards, whether stumps are coming out, and how easily equipment can get around the site. Hauling everything off site costs more than chipping it where it stands. We walk the ground with you, agree the spec, and give you a written price that separates the clearing, the stumps and the disposal.
What happens to the trees and brush you clear?
That is your decision, and it is one of the biggest levers on the price. The material can be hauled off site entirely, chipped on site and either spread or piled, or cut to length and stacked if you want the wood. Some customers keep the timber for firewood or milling and have only the brush removed. We will set out the options with the cost difference when we quote so you can pick, rather than assuming.
Do you take the stumps out too?
We can, and it is priced separately so you can choose. Stumps can be ground down below grade, dug out completely, or left in place. If you are building, fencing or planning to run machinery over the ground you generally want them out. If the land is going back to rough pasture or woodland edge, leaving them is often fine and saves a significant amount. Tell us what the land is for and we will tell you which makes sense.
Do you handle permits and erosion control?
Requirements depend on the site, the acreage and the locality, and larger disturbances in particular can bring in erosion and sediment control obligations set by the county or the state. We are not the authority on what your specific project needs — that comes from your county or town office, or from your builder or engineer if you have one. What we will do is flag anything we notice when we walk the site so it is not a surprise later, and work to whatever plan you have in place.
How long does clearing a lot take?
It depends far more on density and disposal than on acreage. A small lot thick with mature timber that all has to be hauled away can take longer than a larger area of light scrub that gets chipped on site. Access matters too — ground that machinery cannot get around slows everything down. When we walk the site we will give you a realistic window rather than an optimistic one, and if the weather is likely to matter we will say so.
Do you clear for fence lines, pasture and food plots?
Yes. Not every clearing job is a building site. Cutting a fence line, opening up pasture that has grown in, clearing food plots, or reclaiming ground that has gone to scrub are all common work for us across the New River Valley. These jobs are usually about the finished grade and what is left behind rather than about removing every stump, so tell us what the ground is for and we will spec it accordingly.
Can you do the access road at the same time?
Yes, and it usually makes sense to. We build and repair gravel drives and access roads as well, so a site that needs both a clearing and a way in can be handled by one crew as one job. That avoids the common problem of clearing a lot you then cannot get equipment onto. Mention it when you call and we will quote the two together.