How Much Does Land Clearing Cost in North Carolina?

Typical Land Clearing Costs per Acre

Cost guides price land clearing by the acre, and the biggest factor is how thick the growth is. These are national figures from 2025 and 2026 cost guides, not our prices:

• Brush and overgrowth only: about $800 to $3,000 per acre for brush removal, according to HomeGuide.
• Lightly wooded (underbrush and small trees): HomeGuide reports $1,200 to $2,500 per acre. Angi reports about $500 to $2,000 for a lightly forested acre.
• Moderately wooded (thicker underbrush and medium-sized trees): about $2,500 to $4,500 per acre, according to HomeGuide.
• Heavily wooded (dense growth and large trees): HomeGuide reports $4,500 to $8,000 per acre. Angi reports about $3,600 to $5,600 for a densely forested acre.

For smaller house lots, HomeGuide lists about $800 to $3,000 for a quarter acre and $1,000 to $5,000 for a half acre. Angi puts the average clearing project in North Carolina at about $3,710. The price per acre usually drops a little on bigger jobs.

The only way to know your cost is a walk of the property. That is why our estimates are free, with the plan and price in writing before any work begins.

What Drives the Price

• How thick the growth is. Scattered brush clears quickly. Dense woods with thick underbrush take much more cutting and cleanup.
• Tree size and type. Big trees need heavier equipment and more handling. HomeGuide notes that hardwoods like oak take longer to cut and remove than pine.
• Slope. Equipment moves slower and more carefully on hills, and steep ground can rule out some machines.
• Wet ground. Rain and soft soil slow heavy equipment and can make a site unsafe until it dries out.
• Stumps. Leaving stumps, stump grinding below the surface, and digging stumps out are different jobs with different prices. Think about what the ground needs to support: a lawn, a pasture, a driveway or a foundation.
• What happens to the wood. Hauling everything away costs more than leaving firewood-length logs or chips on site. Mature timber can have value, and NC State Extension points landowners to a consulting forester before any timber sale.
• Access and hidden rock. A flat way in from the road costs less than a lot behind a narrow lane or a soft field. Buried rock and debris slow the work.

Selective Clearing: Keep the Trees You Want

You don't have to clear everything. Selective clearing removes only what is in the way and leaves the rest, like a few shade trees near the house site or a wooded strip along the road. HomeGuide notes it can cost more per acre, but it can save money by leaving less debris to handle.

Selective clearing is part of every job we do. We walk the land with you, you point out the trees that stay, and we plan the work around them.

When North Carolina Requires an Erosion Control Plan

Clearing land for a house or other development counts as land-disturbing activity under state law, because it changes the land's natural cover. Under the Sedimentation Pollution Control Act, if the work will disturb more than one acre, an erosion and sedimentation control plan must be filed at least 30 days before work starts and approved before any land is disturbed. As of July 1, 2025, NC DEQ's review fee is $119 per disturbed acre. Under an acre, you still have to keep sediment on your property.

Some cities and counties run their own programs, which can be stricter than the state's. DEQ's list of local programs, last revised May 15, 2025, does not include Randolph County or Asheboro, so plans here are reviewed by the state through DEQ's Winston-Salem Regional Office. In another county, check DEQ's list first.

Logging first does not get around the plan. The NC Forest Service says that when trees are cut as the first step toward development, the approved plan is required before logging begins. DEQ says farmland used for crops or livestock is generally exempt, so if you are clearing for pasture, ask how the rules apply to you.

Rules change, and this is general information, not legal advice. Check with NC DEQ and your county or city planning office before clearing starts.

Streams, Ponds and Buffers

Water on or next to your land adds rules. State law requires a buffer strip along any lake or natural stream beside land-disturbing work, wide enough to keep visible sediment in the part of the strip closest to the work.

In the Randleman Lake watershed, state rules also protect a 50-foot vegetated buffer on every side of streams, lakes and ponds. The first 30 feet from the bank or water's edge stays undisturbed except for uses the rule allows, and the next 20 feet must stay stable and vegetated. Some buffer work needs written approval first, and some is not allowed at all. DEQ's online buffer map lets you enter an address to see which rules apply. Tell us about any creek, pond or wet area when we walk the land.

Call 811 Before Any Digging

North Carolina's dig law counts digging, grading and scraping the ground as excavation. If a clearing job includes stump work or grading, the person doing the work must notify NC 811 at least three full working days before starting, and utility locators mark their lines for free. 811 covers utility lines, so also show your contractor private lines, such as a water line to a barn.

Questions to Ask a Land Clearing Contractor

• What exactly is being cleared, and what stays? Walk the land together and mark the keepers.
• Where are the property lines? Under NC law, whoever cuts trees on someone else's land without permission can owe the owner triple their value, and a landowner who points out the wrong lines can end up paying for it. If the lines are unclear, get a survey first.
• What happens to the wood, brush and stumps, and is hauling included?
• Is grading included? Clearing and grading are separate jobs. HomeGuide lists $2,000 to $5,000 for grading a small, mostly level home site.
• If more than an acre will be disturbed, who files the erosion control plan and maintains the erosion controls?
• Who contacts NC 811?
• Are you insured? We carry $1,000,000 in general liability insurance.
• Is it all in writing? The price should say what is included and what could change it, such as buried rock or weeks of rain.

Land Clearing in Asheboro and Randolph County

Jacob Fisher, one of our two owners, runs our land clearing work. He has run heavy equipment on land clearing jobs for nearly six years, and you deal with him directly from the first call through cleanup. We clear building lots, driveways, fence lines and pastures across Randolph County and beyond. Call or text our main phone at (336) 523-8278 or our alternate phone at (336) 479-4339 for a free estimate.