Lot clearing is what a builder means by cleared: trees cut and hauled, stumps pulled or ground, brush gone, the ground left bare and ready for a grader. It is the job for a new-home lot in Boiling Springs, a shop pad off I-85 or a barn site outside Landrum, and it is priced by the acre and by what has to leave the site.
The crew handles the clearing and the hauling and coordinates with your grader or excavator for the dirt work. Ground that will be disturbed beyond an acre needs the county's land disturbance permit and silt fence before the first tree comes down, and the crew will not start without it.
What a lot clearing job involves
- Site visit: trees to keep flagged, access planned, truck route and staging agreed
- Silt fence and construction entrance set where the permit requires them
- Trees felled and bucked, brush cut, everything staged for hauling
- Stumps pulled or ground and the holes filled, per the quote
- Debris hauled off, lot raked to bare ground, final walk with you or the builder
What's included
- Site visit and a written price before any work
- Cutting, hauling and disposal of all vegetation in the quoted area
- Stumps handled the way the quote says: pulled, ground or left
- Lot left ready for a grader
Not in the price
- Grading, excavation and pad building, which the crew coordinates with a grader
- Permit fees and engineered erosion plans
- Hauling of anything that is not vegetation
Clearing building lots in Spartanburg County
Most new lots here carry pines with a hardwood understory, and pines pull easier than oaks: a pine stump comes out with the roots in one pull, a big oak stump is ground. What drives the price is how many loads leave the site, because trucking to the landfill or a grinding yard is the cost that varies most.
Slopes and clay decide the erosion side. A lot on a hillside above a creek needs silt fence and often a sediment basin before clearing; a flat lot on the Duncan side may need only a construction entrance. The permit sets this and the crew builds to it.
Lot Clearing pricing in Spartanburg
Bare-ground clearing runs about $2,500 to $6,000 an acre in 2026: the low end for open pine with easy access, the high end for dense hardwood with stumps pulled and long hauls. Smaller jobs are priced by the day, roughly $1,500 to $2,500 for a machine, an operator and a truck.
The firm number comes from the crew after a site visit.
Full price list and what moves the price →
Related: Land Clearing Permits and Burning Rules in Spartanburg County, Land clearing in Boiling Springs, Land clearing in Inman. Official page: Spartanburg County Building Codes.
Lot Clearing questions, answered
Do you clear the whole lot or just the house site?
Whatever the quote says. Many owners clear the pad and the drive and mulch the rest so the lot keeps its trees and its shade.
Who gets the land disturbance permit?
The owner or the builder applies; the crew can supply what the application needs about the clearing and will not start before it is in hand.
Can you leave some of the wood for firewood?
Yes. Say so before the quote so the hauling is priced without it.