How much does brush clearing cost per acre?
Published market ranges put brush clearing at roughly $500 to $2,000 per acre for light growth, $1,500 to $4,000 for medium density, and $3,000 to $6,500 or more per acre for heavy cover (OWNR OPS 2026 guide; national aggregators publish similar bands). Crew-plus-equipment rates run about $110 to $265 per hour. California jobs usually land in the upper half of national numbers.
Those are real published figures, not our price list. Around Redding, no company publishes local per-acre rates, and there is a reason: density, slope and access swing the same acre by 3x or more. Here is how to read the numbers honestly, and where they do and do not apply to brush clearing on Shasta County ground.
What are the published per-acre ranges?
| Job type | Published range | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Light brush (grass, weeds, saplings) | $500–$2,000 per acre | OWNR OPS |
| Light brush | $330–$630 per acre | LawnLove |
| Medium brush (shrubs, small trees) | $1,500–$4,000 per acre | OWNR OPS |
| Heavy brush (dense growth, vines) | $3,000–$6,500 per acre | OWNR OPS |
| Lightly wooded land | $500–$2,000 per acre | HomeAdvisor |
| Heavily wooded land | $3,600–$5,600 per acre | HomeAdvisor |
| Hand clearing, crew only | $2,000–$5,000 per acre | OWNR OPS |
| Crew + equipment, hourly | $110–$265 per hour | Fixr, Bob Vila, LawnLove |
| Labor only, per worker | $50–$100 per hour | Dropcurb |
| Common minimum job charge | $1,500–$3,000 | OWNR OPS |
Attribution matters here. The consumer aggregators (HomeAdvisor, LawnStarter, LawnLove, Fixr, Bob Vila) publish national averages. The trade guides (OWNR OPS and similar) publish the density tiers and minimums that match how contractors actually quote. Neither is Redding-specific, and California sources consistently describe this state as one of the most expensive clearing markets on labor, insurance and disposal costs.
What about the $20 to $200 per acre number?
You will see it on several big sites, and it is the most misleading figure in this niche. It originates with one publisher, has been syndicated across others so it looks independently confirmed, and sits 10x to 100x below every brush-specific range in print. It describes something like a light mowing pass on open ground. If a quote for real brush work lands anywhere near it, ask what the crew is actually cutting.
Why do small jobs cost more per acre?
Minimums. Published contractor minimums run $1,500 to $3,000 per job, because a half-day of crew time, travel and disposal exists whether the parcel is a quarter acre or three. Published half-acre figures make the same point: $250 to $1,000 for light growth but $1,700 to $3,100 for heavy (LawnStarter, HomeAdvisor). On small lots, the honest comparison is the whole-job price, not the per-acre math. Our small-lot pricing logic is covered in what overgrown lot cleanup costs.
One note on our own model: a hand crew arrives in a pickup. There is no lowboy trailer or machine mobilization built into our minimum, which is part of why small and mid-size jobs are our natural ground.
Brush clearing or land clearing: which are you pricing?
The two get quoted interchangeably and should not be. Brush clearing cuts and removes vegetation. Land clearing continues into stump grubbing, root removal and grading, and published comparisons show that step roughly doubling the price. A Sacramento-area guide prices light brush at $1,540 to $2,420 per acre against $3,960 to $6,160 for grubbing the same ground (OWNR OPS Sacramento).
If your goal is fire safety, weed abatement compliance, or ground you can walk and use, you need brush clearing. If you are building, you need the bigger job, and probably an excavation outfit. When the job is a lot or acreage that needs the growth taken down with no earthwork, that is our hand-crew land clearing. We will tell you which one you are describing on the walk-through.
What moves your quote up or down?
Four levers, in order of weight:
- Density. The light-to-heavy spread is the whole table above. Shoulder-high starthistle mows fast; manzanita and buckbrush thickets are crew hours.
- Terrain and access. Steep, rocky, tight ground takes longer on foot, and it is exactly the ground where a machine cannot work at all. The trade-offs are laid out in hand crew vs machine clearing.
- Debris handling. Cut-and-pile, chip, or haul are different prices. Published debris figures run $200 to $500 per acre for on-site piling versus $500 to $2,000 or more per acre for haul-off (OWNR OPS). Shasta County’s free chipping program can absorb some of it.
- Timing. Booked-ahead spring work prices better than a June emergency. The calendar logic is in when to clear brush in Northern California.
What a written quote should include
Acreage or linear footage measured, the growth described, the debris plan named, and a number that holds unless the scope changes. That is what our estimates look like, with dated before-and-after photos when the work is done. The walk-through and the written estimate are free.
Call or text (530) 238-5077 for a free written estimate anywhere within 50 miles of Redding.