Land Clearing and Grading Cost in Texas (2026 Guide)

Land clearing in Texas runs $1,500 to $4,500 an acre, and grading is a second bill on top of it. Most owners pricing a homesite, a barndominium pad or a driveway are really buying two jobs from two trades: someone to take the trees and brush off the footprint, then someone to move dirt.

We do the first job. We clear to grader-ready ground and hand the site to a dirt contractor, and we do not grade, build pads or pull permits. This guide gives our clearing number, then lays out what the grading half usually costs across Texas so you can budget the whole project before anyone mobilizes.

How Much Does Land Clearing and Grading Cost in Texas?

Here is how the two halves break down, with our clearing ranges first and published Texas rates for the dirt work after them.

Phase	Who does it	How it is priced	Texas range
Clearing the footprint	Cut Brush	Per acre	$1,500 – $4,500 an acre; most complete residential lots $2,000 – $6,000
Dozer work	Dirt contractor	Per hour, operator and fuel included	$122 – $207 an hour, regional averages
Rough grading	Grading contractor	Per square foot	$1 – $2 per sq ft (one Austin contractor)
Fine grading	Grading contractor	Per square foot	$0.40 – $1.00 per sq ft (same source)
Road base or select fill	Supplier, plus delivery	Per cubic yard	$15 – $65 per cubic yard posted in Texas metros

The dozer figures come from Texas A&M AgriLife’s 2026 Texas custom rates survey, which puts a land-clearing dozer under 160 horsepower at about $122 an hour in the South region and $159 in the East, and a larger machine at up to $207. Those are farm and ranch rates, so treat them as a floor for residential site work. The per-square-foot grading figures come from a published Austin grading cost guide, and the material prices are posted yard rates from suppliers in San Antonio, Houston, Kyle and Plano, before delivery in most cases.

To put that in one example: grading a 3,000-square-foot pad footprint at those rates runs roughly $4,200 to $9,000 before any fill is brought in. That is on top of clearing the lot.

Clearing Comes First: What Makes It Grader-Ready?

Grader-ready means the dirt contractor can start cutting the day they arrive. Trees and brush are off the footprint, stumps are handled to the depth the next trade needs, and the material is gone or mulched where it will not be in the way.

That last part sets the clearing price more than anything else. On the drive and the pad, the material has to go, because a dozer cannot cut to grade through a mulch mat. Around the edges, we can mulch it in place and leave it as erosion cover, which is cheaper than hauling. Our Texas land clearing cost guide breaks the clearing number down by what is growing, and our Texas forestry mulching cost guide covers the mulch-in-place half.

Pro tip: Clear the pad, drive and septic field, not the whole lot. Every tree you keep outside the footprint is clearing you do not pay for and shade you do not have to replant. Mark the footprint with the builder before we arrive.

Why Grading Costs Change Across Texas

The ground under the footprint drives the second bill, and Texas has three very different grounds.

Blackland clay around Dallas and Austin

The Houston Black soil series, which runs through the Blackland Prairie from north of Dallas toward San Antonio, has a high shrink-swell potential and cracks up to 4 inches wide in dry spells. Pads on that clay are engineered rather than simply scraped flat, and the work slows down when it is wet. Our Blackland Prairie clay guide covers what that means for clearing.

Rock in the Hill Country

West of Interstate 35, the Comfort soil series sits on limestone bedrock 10 to 20 inches down. Grading there turns into rock work the moment a cut goes deep, and rock is priced by the cubic yard at several times the rate of soil. A site that needs little cutting stays cheap. A sloped lot that needs a level pad does not.

Flat, slow-draining ground on the Gulf Coast

Around Houston and Conroe the problem is water, not rock. Pads go up rather than down, so fill and its delivery become the large line. In Montgomery County, a home in or within 100 feet of the mapped flood hazard area has to sit at least two feet above the base flood elevation, which sets how high the pad and foundation have to bring the floor.

What Permits Add to Clearing and Grading

Stormwater rules start at one acre of disturbance statewide. Under the TCEQ construction stormwater general permit, a site disturbing 1 to 5 acres needs coverage, a stormwater pollution prevention plan and a posted site notice. At 5 acres or more, a Notice of Intent is filed as well. Clearing and grading both count as disturbance.

Counties layer their own rules on top:

• Bexar County requires a $500 site development permit once 1 acre or more is disturbed in the unincorporated area, and clearing counts. Our San Antonio permits guide covers the aquifer rules too.
• Harris County requires a permit for development that includes filling, grading, paving and excavation. See our Houston permits guide.
• Montgomery County requires a development permit in unincorporated areas, and its definition names clearing and grading. Our Montgomery County permits guide has the steps.
• Travis County requires a clearing permit when machinery is used.

None of these change our clearing rate. They change the start date, and the grading contractor or builder usually carries the stormwater plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to clear and grade one acre in Texas?

Clearing one acre runs $1,500 to $4,500, and the grading depends on how much of that acre needs to be cut or filled. A full acre graded at published Texas rates of $1.40 to $3.00 a square foot would cost far more than the clearing, which is why most homesites grade only the pad and drive.

Does Cut Brush do grading in Texas?

No. We clear to grader-ready ground and stop there. We do not grade, build pads, install septic or pull permits. Tell us who your dirt contractor is and we will schedule the handoff so the site does not sit open between trades.

Should I mulch or haul before grading?

Haul from the footprint, mulch everywhere else. A mulch mat on a pad has to be stripped before the cut, so paying to mulch it first is paying twice. Around the edges, the mat is cheap erosion cover.

How much does a building pad cost in Texas?

Texas dirt contractors mostly quote pads per project rather than per square foot, because soil, fill height and compaction specs vary so much. Expect the pad to cost more than clearing the lot on clay or in a floodplain, and less on firm, flat ground that needs little fill.

Can I clear land in Texas without a permit?

On many rural parcels, yes, but not everywhere. Travis County, Harris County, Montgomery County, Bexar County and the City of Tyler all have rules that can reach clearing, and the TCEQ stormwater rules apply statewide at one acre. Our Tyler permits guide covers East Texas.

Get a Clearing Quote Before You Call the Grader

The cheapest site prep starts with the clearing scope written around the grading plan. Pick your region below, and we will walk the lot for free, mark the footprint with you and put a written land clearing price in your hands, usually within a day. Then your dirt contractor gets a clean, grader-ready site.