Cost to Clear 5 Acres in NC: 2026 Prices and Permits

Clearing 5 acres in North Carolina starts at about $7,500 with forestry mulching: our published starting point of around $1,500 an acre, times five. Most residential clearing runs $1,500 to $4,500 an acre, so five fully wooded acres land between $7,500 and $22,500, set by tree size, slope and wet ground. If most of the parcel is overgrown field, brush hogging at $75 to $400 an acre costs far less. And because the job disturbs more than one acre, North Carolina’s erosion plan rule needs settling before a machine arrives.

How Much Does It Cost to Clear 5 Acres of Land in NC?

The table multiplies our published starting points across five acres. It is arithmetic, not a quote: the real number comes from walking the land.

Scope on a 5-acre parcel	The arithmetic	Budget at our published rates
All 5 acres of woods, forestry mulched	5 × $1,500 to 5 × $4,500	$7,500 to $22,500
A 1-acre homesite mulched, the rest left standing	1 × $1,500 to 1 × $4,500	$1,500 to $4,500
2 wooded acres mulched, 3 acres of field brush hogged	(2 × $1,500 to $4,500) + (3 × $75 to $400)	$3,225 to $10,200
All 5 acres of overgrown field, brush hogged	5 × $75 to 5 × $400	$375 to $2,000
State erosion plan review fee, where the state reviews the plan	5 × $119	$595

Three things to know about those numbers. The $1,500 an acre is a floor, not an average: light brush and saplings sit near it, and dense hardwoods run higher. Brush hogging carries a minimum of $250 to $500 per visit, so a small field on its own trip may simply cost the minimum. And larger jobs usually earn a lower per-acre rate because the equipment is already on site, so at our published starting point five wooded acres begin around $7,500.

Where your parcel falls in the range comes down to what we find on the walk. Our forestry mulcher grinds trees up to 8 to 12 inches in diameter in one pass; trunks bigger than that get felled separately and the stump and brush mulched, and that cutting goes into the quote. Wet red clay after rain, creek bottoms, steep ground and old fence wire hidden in the brush all slow the machine. Our per-acre cost guide breaks the rate down by density, and our guide to how long land clearing takes per acre explains what sets the time on site.

BEFORE

AFTER

Do You Need to Clear All Five Acres?

Often not, and this is where most of a 5-acre budget is won or lost. Before we price anything, we ask what each part of the land is for: the house, the drive, the septic area, a yard, a pasture, woods you want to walk through. Each answer is a different job:

• Homesite and drive: mulched to the ground so your grading contractor can prepare the pad. Cut Brush clears; we don’t grade or build pads.
• Woods you’re keeping: the understory, vines and small trees mulched out from under the trees worth saving, which opens the stand without taking it down.
• Old field: brush hogged if the saplings are still under 2 to 3 inches; past that it is mulching work.
• Everything else: left alone, which costs nothing.

The savings are plain arithmetic. Mulching two wooded acres instead of five takes 3 × $1,500 = $4,500 off the budget at the starting point, and more where the trees are heavier.

Pro tip: Flag the house corners, the drive and the septic area before the walk-through, and tie ribbon on the trees you want kept. A quote for “the homesite” then has a footprint to price, and the land outside it stays out of the bill.

Mulching leaves stumps at ground level and roots in the soil, which helps hold the clay. Where you need stumps lower, we offer stump grinding in North Carolina.

Should I Sell the Timber Before Clearing 5 Acres?

Call a consulting forester before you collect clearing quotes: whether five acres holds enough sellable timber is their judgment, and sealed-bid sales run with a consultant beat non-consultant sale prices by at least 11%, with a written contract signed first. If a harvest goes ahead, our quote shrinks to the tops, stumps and understory left behind. Our guide to selling timber before land clearing covers the sale itself.

Do I Need a Permit to Clear 5 Acres in NC?

If the work disturbs more than one acre, yes: an erosion and sedimentation control plan has to be submitted at least 30 days before land disturbance begins and approved before any work starts. Five acres is five times that line. What that means for your budget and schedule:

• The fee. On plans the state reviews, the processing fee is $119 per acre of disturbance or part of an acre, so five disturbed acres come to 5 × $119 = $595. Local programs set their own fees.
• “Forestry” is not a shortcut. The forestry exemption covers work on forestland for the production and harvesting of timber, done to the Forest Practice Guidelines. Clearing ground for a house, a yard or a pasture is not timber production, so calling a homesite job forestry does not take it out of the rule.
• Clearing less may not get you under the line locally. Durham County requires a permit for private, non-agricultural land disturbance of more than 12,000 square feet, well under half an acre. Our county-by-county permit thresholds cover Wake, Johnston and the rest.
• The cost of skipping it. Violations carry a civil penalty of up to $5,000 per day for each violation, and once your grading contractor finishes a phase, graded slopes must be vegetated or stabilized within 21 calendar days.

Mulching keeps roots in the soil and puts a layer of chips over the clay, but don’t assume that takes a 5-acre job outside the rule. Ask the office that reviews erosion plans for your county before you schedule anyone. We don’t draw or file erosion plans; that sits with you, your engineer or your grading contractor, and we set the mulching date once the plan is approved.

Why Do Quotes for the Same 5 Acres Vary So Much?

Because they often price different jobs. Before you compare totals, line the quotes up on these points:

• How much is cleared. All five acres fence to fence, or a footprint with the good trees kept?
• Stumps. Ground to ground level by the mulcher, ground lower, or pulled out and hauled? Pulling every stump on five acres is a different scale of work.
• Debris. Mulched where it stands, or cut, piled, then hauled or burned? Our comparison of forestry mulching vs grubbing and hauling shows what each leaves on the ground.
• Big trees. Is felling trunks over 12 inches in the number, or extra?
• Grading. A bid that includes a finished pad is construction prep, not clearing. We clear and leave the pad to your grading contractor, so compare our quote with the clearing line of theirs.
• Erosion control. Who installs the measures your plan calls for, and is it priced?

A quote that answers all six lets you compare like with like. If your tract is closer to ten acres, or you are thinking of clearing in phases, our guide to the cost to clear 10 acres in NC covers that math.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to clear 5 acres of wooded land?

At our published rates, $7,500 to $22,500 with forestry mulching: $1,500 to $4,500 an acre, times five. Young pine and brush sit near the bottom; mature hardwoods, slopes and wet ground push toward the top. Trunks over 12 inches add felling time.

Is it cheaper per acre to clear 5 acres than 1 acre?

Usually, because hauling the machine in and setting up are spread over more ground and the equipment is already on site. We don’t publish a fixed discount, and our published starting point is around $1,500 an acre.

Does cleared land just grow back?

The roots stay in the ground with mulching, so some regrowth is normal. Loblolly pine does not sprout back from a stump; sweetgum and most other hardwoods do. A brush hog pass each season keeps those sprouts from becoming the next thicket, and treating them with herbicide is a job for a licensed applicator.

What is the cheapest way to clear 5 acres?

Clear only what you will use, and match the tool to the growth. An overgrown field with no real trees is a brush hogging job at $75 to $400 an acre. For woods, forestry mulching costs less than cutting, piling and hauling because nothing leaves the property.

Get a Price for Clearing Your 5 Acres

The fastest way to a real number is a walk of the property. Request a free quote and our crew will contact you to talk through the property, access and the clearing you need, from a homesite footprint to the full five acres. You can also call (919) 525-3950.