Land Clearing and Grading Cost in Alabama (2026 Guide)

You have the lot and a house plan, and the woods are still standing where the slab is supposed to go. Clearing an Alabama building site runs $1,500 to $4,500 an acre with Cut Brush, and most house lots around Huntsville come to $2,000 to $6,000 in total for the clearing. Grading follows us and is billed by your dirt contractor. Our Alabama crews work around Huntsville, Birmingham, Gadsden, Tuscaloosa, Montgomery and Dothan.

At a glance:

• Our clearing of the house footprint, driveway and utility runs is priced by the acre, and stumps come out where the pad and drive will sit.
• Grading is a second contractor. Your dirt contractor quotes the pad, drive and yard by the hour or by the job, once the ground is bare.
• ADEM’s stormwater permit applies from one acre of disturbance, or less inside a larger common plan. Under the fee schedule effective October 15, 2026, it costs $1,000 below five acres, plus $100 an acre once a project reaches five.
• Birmingham wants an erosion and sediment control permit for non-exempt land disturbance of any size: $100 for a house lot, doubled if the work started first.

Our crews clear building sites in all six areas. We hand over bare, stump-free soil where the house, drive and septic will go, and the grading, pad building, septic and permits go to your dirt contractor and builder.

How Much Does Land Clearing and Grading Cost in Alabama?

A wooded Alabama lot takes two outfits in a row: we take the trees, brush and stumps off the ground, then the grader shapes the pad and the drive. Each sends its own bill.

Phase of the job	Who does it	Price	What you have when it is done
Clearing the house site, drive and utility runs	Cut Brush	$1,500 – $4,500 an acre equivalent; most Huntsville lots $2,000 – $6,000 total	Bare soil with the stumps out of the footprint
Mulching the rest of the lot or tract	Cut Brush	$1,500 – $4,000 an acre	Brush and small trees ground in place, stumps cut flush
Opening the woods you keep around the house	Cut Brush	$1,500 – $2,500 an acre	Understory gone, keeper trees standing
Grading the pad, drive and yard	Your dirt contractor	Bid by the grader once the site is clear	A shaped pad and drive ready for the builder

Where these numbers come from. Our three bands are the same on all six Alabama pricing pages, and the Huntsville pricing page is the one that adds the $2,000 to $6,000 lot total. The other five list grading as its own line, quoted by someone else. Ask your grader for the pad, the drive and any fill as three separate numbers, so you can see where the dirt money goes.

What Changes the Price of an Alabama Building Site

Sinkholes in the Tennessee Valley. The Geological Survey of Alabama notes that much of the state, north Alabama in particular, sits on limestone that dissolves, and that sinkholes over that rock are one of the two main causes of ground sinking. If we find a depression inside the footprint, we flag it and work around it; it is a question for a geologist or geotechnical engineer before anyone cuts a pad, as our North Alabama karst guide explains.

Rock a foot down around Birmingham. Montevallo soil, typed near Graysville in Jefferson County, reaches shale at 10 to 20 inches, with 35 to 85 percent shale fragments in the subsoil. A pad cut into a Montevallo slope reaches rock almost at once, and the grader’s job can turn from pushing dirt to ripping it. On Sand Mountain the Hartsells soil, typed in Marshall County, holds sandstone at 20 to 40 inches.

Clay that moves in the Black Belt. Houston clay runs 60 to 80 percent clay with very high shrink-swell potential, and Sumter ground reaches chalk at 20 to 40 inches. Clay that swells when wet and cracks when dry is a poor base for a slab, so on prairie ground get a soil report before the pad is designed.

Kind ground in the valley and the Wiregrass. Decatur soil, first described in Limestone County, is very deep and well drained, with limestone more than six feet down on slopes mostly under ten percent. Valley lots price on slope and sinkholes, not rock. Around Dothan the Dothan soil drains well too, though plinthite starts 24 to 60 inches down and some profiles show wetness below 30 inches, which matters for a basement or a septic field.

Stumps in burn-ban months. Roots left in the pad or drive would foul the grader’s cut, so they come out first. ADEM bans land-clearing burns in Madison County and eleven others from May 1 through October 31. A pad we clear in those months has its stumps ground or trucked away, and that cost sits on our side of the bill, not the grader’s.

Pro tip: Once the footprint is cleared, walk it after the next hard rain and before the grader is booked. Water that disappears into one spot on valley ground, or stands for days on Black Belt clay, means the pad plan needs a second look. Photograph it for your grader and engineer.

Clearing and Grading Costs Across Alabama

The Tennessee Valley, around Huntsville. Madison, Limestone and Morgan counties sit on Decatur red clay over limestone. Clearing and grading are usually straightforward here; the risks are sinkholes and the summer burn ban. Inside the city, check Huntsville’s own permit rules before the dozer is booked, using our Huntsville permit guide.

Birmingham and the ridges. Jefferson and Shelby counties put shallow Montevallo shale under steep lots, and the Golly Hole near Calera, which opened 120 feet deep in 1972, shows that Shelby County has limestone sinkholes too. Birmingham’s ordinance defines grading as any act by which soil is cleared, stripped, stockpiled, excavated, scarified or filled, so our clearing counts. The Birmingham permit guide walks through the exemptions.

West Alabama and the Black Belt. Around Tuscaloosa, a city Land Development Permit covers clearing or grading on commercial land, on property directly beside Lake Tuscaloosa and in designated floodplains, with comments back in 14 business days. Toward Greene, Hale and Dallas counties the Houston and Sumter clays take over. See the Tuscaloosa permit guide.

The Wiregrass, around Dothan. Gentle, well drained sandy loam makes this easy ground for dirt work. The paperwork is the twist: the city’s land disturbing application covers clearing as well as grading. The Dothan permit guide has the details.

Permits and Burning for Alabama Site Work

ADEM’s construction permit. The state’s Construction General Permit, ALR100000, reissued on April 1, 2026, covers disturbance of one acre or more, or less in a common plan of development or sale that reaches an acre. Its best management practices plan has to be prepared and certified by a Qualified Credentialed Professional, an environmental consultant who also runs the required site inspections. ADEM says permits are generally issued within 30 to 45 days. Projects draining to impaired or Outstanding Alabama Waters pay a priority site fee on top of the base fee.

Birmingham. The city engineer accepts or rejects a complete application within 14 days. The residential exemption for minor grading does not cover a developer or builder putting up a house, so a builder’s lot needs the permit: $100 for a house or duplex, $400 for non-residential work.

Burning. ADEM allows clean vegetation to be burned only on the land it grew on, at least 500 feet from the nearest occupied house, lit between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. From May 1 to October 31, land-clearing burns are banned in Baldwin, Mobile, DeKalb, Montgomery, Etowah, Morgan, Jefferson, Shelby, Lawrence, Russell, Madison and Talladega counties; farm and forestry burning is handled separately there, except in Jefferson County, where it stops for the season too.

Cut Brush does not file permits, but we will tell you which of these is likely to apply before we start.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to clear and grade a lot in Alabama?

Our clearing runs $1,500 to $4,500 an acre equivalent, and most Huntsville house lots come to $2,000 to $6,000 in total for that part. The grading number comes after, from your dirt contractor, once the site is clear.

Does Cut Brush grade or build pads in Alabama?

No. We stop at bare soil: stumps out of the pad and drive, and the brush mulched or hauled. Grading, the septic system and the permits are for you, your builder or your engineer to arrange.

What does an ADEM stormwater permit cost?

From October 15, 2026, $1,000 under five acres, and $100 an acre more across the project at five acres or above, capped at $10,000 per permit action. The consultant who writes the plan and runs the inspections bills separately.

Do I need a permit to grade a lot in Birmingham?

Usually, yes. The city requires an erosion and sediment control permit for non-exempt land disturbance of any size, at $100 for a house or duplex. Apply before work starts, because the fee doubles once it has begun.

Can I burn the stumps from my pad?

Outside the twelve ban counties, and outside May through October inside them, yes, if the pile is at least 500 feet from any occupied house and you hold a free Forestry Commission permit for a fire over a quarter acre or near woods. Few subdivision lots can meet the 500 feet, which is why we usually grind or haul.

Get a Site Clearing Quote for Your Alabama Lot

Choose the area nearest the land below and request a free quote. Our crew will contact you to discuss the lot, the road access and the house, drive and septic footprint your builder has staked, and if you already have a dirt contractor, we will line up our finish with their start. Around Huntsville, the lot clearing service page shows the scope, and the Alabama land clearing cost per acre guide prices tracts with no house planned. Building across the state line? See our Tennessee and Georgia clearing and grading guides.

Sources

• ADEM: Construction General Permit ALR100000
• ADEM: Fee Schedule F, effective October 15, 2026