Three Things That Decide an Orlando Clearing Job
The four-inch line. Orange County requires a permit to remove any tree larger
than four inches in diameter at chest height on private property. That is a low threshold, and
it means the tree survey is not a formality here, it is the first real step. Fees run $25 per
acre residential and $50 per acre commercial, specimen trees must be preserved where reasonable
options exist, and approved specimen removals replace at two to one on caliper.
You cannot burn your way out of it. Burning yard waste and tree-cutting debris
on residential property is prohibited here without an air curtain incinerator or a Florida
Forest Service authorization, and the county's own Air Quality Management section will not
authorize open burning of that material. Whatever comes down has to be processed or hauled,
which changes the economics of every clearing quote in this county.
Which trees are actually the problem. Chinese tallow reached almost every
county in Florida after arriving as an 18th-century ornamental, and camphor has been spreading
since 1875. Neither responds to simple cutting: tallow needs the fresh stump treated and
seedlings pulled before they seed, camphor needs herbicide on trees and stumps. Removing them
properly is different work from clearing brush, and it is worth pricing as such.