Forestry Mulching
We grind palmetto, underbrush and especially the extremely invasive Brazilian Pepper in place, leaving your mature native trees standing and the ground open and walkable.
See Forestry Mulching →
Complete lot clearing with excavator and root rake, plus fill dirt delivered and compacted for a house pad. No deposit and no long wait.

Punta Gorda has an unusual amount of vacant land sitting inside finished neighborhoods. Punta Gorda Isles went in between 1957 and 1981, Deep Creek has been building since the mid 1970s, and Burnt Store Lakes is still filling in lot by lot off Burnt Store Road. Plenty of those platted lots never got a house. Decades later the buyer shows up and the lot is a wall of Brazilian pepper with two decent oaks buried somewhere in it. That is most of the land clearing we do here. It is a lot between two occupied houses, with a driveway on one side and a screened lanai on the other, and there is no room to be careless.
A standard lot clearing runs $5,000 to $9,000 in most cases. We never take money up front on land clearing. You pay when the work is done and you have walked it. Scheduling is generally never more than two weeks out, which matters if you have a builder holding a slot. If your lot is inside the city we work to the city tree rules, including keeping the specimen trees you want kept. If it is in Deep Creek, Burnt Store Lakes or out in the Ranchettes then it is Charlotte County rules instead. We tell you which set applies before we quote, and we mark the trees you are keeping before anything starts.
An infill lot in Punta Gorda Isles or Burnt Store Isles is a precision job. Neighbors on both sides, deed restrictions, a canal at the back and an HOA or association that will hear about it if we make a mess. We keep the work inside your pin lines, protect the trees you are keeping, and leave the pad the way your builder needs it.
Acreage out east is a different machine and a different day. There we are usually mulching first and only clearing to bare ground where a structure or a drive is actually going. Either way you are not paying anything until the job is finished and you have signed off on it.
A lot clear is not a mow and a haul. Trees come down, stumps come out, and the excavator and root rake work the ground until the organic material is gone. Roots left in the ground rot, and that can turn into soft spots under a slab years later.
Everything we pull gets loaded and hauled off site. What you are left with is open, level ground a surveyor and a foundation crew can work on.
Plenty of lots around here need to come up before anything gets built on them. We deliver fill dirt, spread it and compact it so the pad is ready when the foundation crew arrives.
Doing the clearing and the pad with one company keeps it on one schedule. There is nobody to point at when a date moves, and nobody waiting on somebody else to finish first.
Most people who call us have never cleared a lot before and have no idea what the permit side looks like. That part stalls more projects than the machinery ever does.
Clearing a lot around here usually involves a permit, and the rules change from county to county and city to city. We walk you through what applies to your property, tell you who you need to talk to, and make sure the work is done properly. Ask early. It is much easier to sort out before a machine is sitting on the ground waiting.
Speed is the whole point of hiring us. Getting on the calendar is generally never more than two weeks out.
Customers tell us about contractors who took a deposit and then did not come back for months. That is not how we work. We do not take money up front, and a large portion of our work is repeat business.
Some of our customers have held onto a lot for years and are finally building on it. Others are contractors who need a site open on a specific date, or developers taking a larger parcel down in phases. Property that has sat empty and grown over is normal work for us.
Two things bring most of these calls in. We are fast, and we do not ask you for money before the work is done.
ACI has been working in this area for 23 years. The crew shows up in uniform, in clean lettered trucks, and the site gets cleaned up before we pull out.
Every photo on this page is an ACI job. No stock images.
Usually there is a permit involved. The specifics depend on your county, your city, what is growing on the property and what you plan to put on it. Most of our customers have never been through the process. We explain what is involved, point you to the right office, and make sure the clearing is done properly.
A standard lot clearing averages $5,000 to $9,000. Lot size, tree cover, access and how much material has to be hauled off all move that number. The estimate is free and there is no obligation.
No. We never take money up front on land clearing. You pay when the job is complete and you have walked the property.
Land clearing is generally never more than two weeks out. Call or text and we will tell you exactly where the calendar stands that week.
It depends on the lot. Size, tree cover, access and how much material has to come off all change the answer. Larger parcels and heavy tree cover take longer, and we will give you a straight answer on that before you commit to anything.
Yes. We deliver, spread and compact fill dirt for a house pad, so the clearing and the pad stay on one schedule with one company.
No. We never take money up front on land clearing. You pay when the work is finished and you have walked the lot with us. That has been the policy for 23 years.
Land clearing is generally never more than two weeks out. If you have a builder waiting on a pad, tell us the date when you call so we can slot it properly rather than promising something we cannot hold.
Yes, and inside the city limits you may be required to. We walk the lot with you first and flag every tree that stays. That is also the point where we tell you if one of them is a permit issue rather than a preference.
We work across Sarasota, Charlotte and Manatee Counties, and travel further for storm work.
We grind palmetto, underbrush and especially the extremely invasive Brazilian Pepper in place, leaving your mature native trees standing and the ground open and walkable.
See Forestry Mulching →
We bring in fill, set the grade and compact it, so your house pad, driveway or parking area sits on ground that drains right and stays put.
See Fill Dirt & Grading →
One stump or hundreds, any species, ground out clean with our own turbo diesel machine anywhere from Sarasota to Punta Gorda.
See Stump Grinding →Free, no obligation estimates. 24/7 emergency service.