Land Clearing Cost in Gautier, MS

Two things set most Gautier prices: water and Chinese tallow. Mississippi State University Extension describes the tree as tolerant of fresh to saline waterlogged soils, spread by water and birds, and able to bear seed within three years, so a coastal back lot left alone fills in fast. Our per-acre ranges apply from Pascagoula, Moss Point and Ocean Springs to Vancleave, D'Iberville and Agricola. Inside each one, the figure follows how soft the ground is, how many tallow stems stand on it, and what the city or county asks for before a machine rolls in.

Forestry mulching is easy to describe. The machine grinds brush, small trees and their stumps into mulch on the spot, stumps end flush with the ground, and nothing is hauled off the property. Taking stumps out below grade, or cutting and trucking away a very large tree, is something we go over with you and price inside the quote. Grading and pad building are your builder's job; we leave the ground clear so that work can start. Tallow sprouts back from its roots, so any treatment visit is named as its own line, and the agreed figure holds through the job unless you change what we do.

The city and county fee tables are laid out in the Gautier and Jackson County permit guide. What each method looks like on the ground is on the Gautier services page, prices for the rest of the state are in the Mississippi land clearing cost guide, and coastal ground and towns are covered on the Gautier land clearing page.

Gulf Coast Clearing Prices per Acre

Forestry Mulching

$1,500 – $4,000 / acre

Saplings, brush and stumps ground into a mulch layer on the lot itself. Firm, dry ground with thin growth sits at the low end; a soggy wooded parcel crowded with big tallow and pine sits at the high end.

Tallow & Wet-Ground Clearing

$1,500 – $2,500 / acre

Tallow thickets, vine and understory taken out from under the live oaks and pines that stay. Back lots, ditch banks and old fields where tallow has moved in tend to price in this row.

Land Clearing

$1,500 – $4,500 / acre

A full parcel taken down to the finish your quote spells out. A few small trees on firm ground start near the floor; heavy timber on soft ground runs toward the ceiling. Pulling stumps below grade and trucking off very large trees can be priced into the quote if you want them.

Lot & Homesite Prep

$1,500 – $4,500 / acre equivalent

Space for a house, a drive and a utility run opened on a wooded coastal lot. Gautier wants its clearing permit and a protected tree check before work; once we have cleared to the ground, your builder does the grading and the pad.

One small lot still takes a full trip. Getting the machine to a yard in Gulf Park Estates or a back lot near Hurley is the same trailer run as a whole day of work, so the floor for any job sits near $1,500. Pairing two or three small spots on one visit stretches that floor.

Why Two Gautier Lots Price Differently

Soft ground and timing

Chinese tallow does well on waterlogged soil, and that same soil slows a tracked machine after rain and can leave ruts. A start date that can slide to a dry week often saves more than a discount would. Where part of a lot may be wetland, the Department of Marine Resources is the contact in the Coastal Zone, which takes in Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties (228-523-4106); George County is not part of that zone. Its answer can shrink the area we quote, while the rate stays put.

How many tallow stems there are

A handful of young tallow trees on a lot edge go quickly. An old field gone over to tallow is a crowd of trunks, often packed between pines and oaks you want kept, and each one is machine time. Mississippi State University Extension notes that mowing a sapling can turn one stem into several and that the roots have to be destroyed to stop resprouting. Our price covers bringing the stand down; basal, cut-stump or foliar treatment of what comes back is a later visit by a licensed applicator.

Live oaks and magnolias

The City of Gautier protects live oaks, magnolias and other significant trees, and removing one takes its own permit, $50 plus a $1 filing fee. Running a mulcher close around a big live oak is slow, careful work, and those hours sit inside the figure. Which trees stay is settled before we put a number on the job.

Reaching the lot

Our crew brings the machine in on a trailer, and the closer it unloads to the work, the more of the day goes to cutting. A narrow lot between houses, a soft driveway or a stretch of wet ground between the road and the trees adds time. Our crew covers all of that when they call you about the job.

City and county fees

Inside Gautier the site clearing permit is $25 under an acre, $50 from one to 4.9 acres and $100 at five acres and up, each plus a $1 filing fee; mowing or bush hogging alone needs none. In unincorporated Jackson County the land disturbance permit is $25 under an acre, or $100 plus $5 an acre from one acre up, with $1 filing and $10 issuance fees, and work started before a required permit pays five times the fee. You pay those to the city or county. They can push back a start date; our rate does not change.

Gautier and Jackson County Cost Questions

Expect most work to fall between $1,500 and $4,500 an acre. Taking tallow and vine out from under trees you keep is the cheaper end; a wet, heavily wooded parcel is the expensive end. Request a free quote and our crew will contact you to talk through the lot and put one figure in writing.
Mulching is one machine grinding brush, small trees and stumps where they stand, with stumps ending level with the ground and no load leaving the lot. Clearing takes on bigger timber and denser stands, which takes more hours, so its band reaches $4,500 against $4,000. Stumps out below grade and haul-off of very large trees are quoted when you ask for them, and grading is your builder's work. The Gautier forestry mulching cost guide covers the mulching figure.
The permit fees go to the city or county and can add days, but our per-acre rate stays the same. Ground that may be wetland needs an answer from the coastal agencies before any machine work. Requirements vary by parcel, scope and jurisdiction; the governing authority decides. Each rule and fee is cited in the Gautier and Jackson County permit guide.
No. The statewide bands apply here too; standing water, tallow and the city tree rules simply place coastal jobs within them. The Mississippi land clearing cost guide shows how ground and growth move prices elsewhere. If cogongrass is on the parcel, the Mississippi Forestry Commission has offered free initial treatment to approved applicants, and a RESTORE grant application covers Jackson County (as read on 6 October 2026).

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