Free tool
Land clearing cost calculator
Enter the acreage and what is growing. The calculator multiplies the typical per-acre range for Denton-area projects by your acreage, then lists the permit, stormwater, landfill and silt fence costs that sit outside that range.
Your land, your range
Typical range for 3 acres
$7,500 to $13,500
Land clearing, moderate brush with small trees: $2,500 to $4,500 an acre, times 3 acres.
Forestry mulching, if the mulch can stay: $4,200 to $10,500 ($1,400 to $3,500 an acre).
Forestry mulching leaves roots in the ground. Land that will carry a slab, driveway or pad needs grubbing as well.
Separate lines
- City of Denton clearing and grading permit$453Needed for clearing, grading or grubbing unless the work is exempt (very small disturbance outside floodplains and creek buffers, or normal crop work that removes no trees).
- City of Denton tree removal permit$425Needed when protected trees come down. Post oaks 6 in. or more across count as heritage trees.
- City of Denton tree mitigation$200 per caliper inchApplies to protected trees removed beyond what the code allows. Not added to the total: it depends on a tree survey.
- BurningThe City of Denton does not allow open burning inside city limits, so debris is mulched or hauled.
What pushes toward the high end
- An acre or less: a small job still needs the machine delivered and a working day, so the per-acre price runs high.
- Dense cedar and larger hardwoods take more machine hours per acre than open brush.
- Wet clay: the clays west and north of Denton rut after rain, so work waits for the ground to firm up.
- Keeping trees: working around marked keepers is slower than clearing everything.
- Roots and stumps pulled out (grubbing) and debris hauled away cost more than mulch left in place.
Cost-share programs
- USDA NRCS EQIP can share the cost of brush management on qualifying farm and ranch land. It is competitive, the contract comes before the work, and clearing for a homesite or development is not funded.
- Texas A&M Forest Service mechanical fuel reduction grants reimburse up to $2,000 an acre for mulcher work that creates defensible space around homes, only inside the program's eligible area and only through its annual application window. Burning disqualifies the work.
A budgeting range, not a quote. The price for your land comes from walking it: what stays, how the ground and access are, and which permits apply. Permit fees are paid to the city or town and can change.
How the numbers work
The headline figure is your acreage times a per-acre range, and nothing else. Light brush and small trees run $1,500 to $3,500 an acre, moderate brush with small trees $2,500 to $4,500, and heavy woods $3,500 to $6,500 or more. Forestry mulching of light to moderate growth runs $1,400 to $3,500 an acre. These are typical ranges for Denton-area projects, not quotes, and heavy woods keep an open top because dense cedar and large trees have no firm ceiling.
There is no hidden multiplier for size or season. Instead, the notes under the result say which conditions push a job toward the top of its range: a small lot that still needs a machine delivered for a day, wet clay, dense cedar, and trees that have to be worked around.
The separate lines come from public agencies. Permit fees are from the adopted fee schedules of the City of Denton, the Town of Argyle and the City of Sanger; for Justin, Roanoke, Krum, Ponder and the county they are confirmed per address. The 1-acre and 5-acre stormwater thresholds and the Notice of Intent fee are from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) construction general permit. Brush rates are the City of Denton Landfill's. The silt fence range is from Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) bids on Denton County contracts. Cost-share programs are run by USDA NRCS and Texas A&M Forest Service, each with its own eligibility rules.
Debris tonnage is never estimated, because how many tons an acre produces depends on what is cut. For the reasoning behind each range, read the guide to land clearing cost per acre, or use the land clearing assessment if the method itself is still open.
Get an Exact Quote
The calculator gives a budgeting range. A walk of your property turns it into a price: what stays, how the ground and access are, and which permits apply.