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Costs of Clearing Land to Build a House & What to Consider in Building

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Building a home with an “on your lot” builder like HiLine Homes offers numerous benefits. While you’re deciding on your own house plan and customizing it for your needs, you’re also building potential equity. Clearing land is the first significant step in preparing your property for your home. Still, choosing the right location and clearing the land as you want it means considering specific factors and the associated costs of land clearing.

Read below to learn more about clearing land and the costs for lot clearing before breaking ground on your custom house construction.

What to Consider When Looking for Land

While the cost of clearing land is a primary concern when assembling home-building budgets, first consider the factors involved in selecting the land itself. Knowing how to choose the right land for your home will help with your budgeting moving forward, much like meal planning enables you to determine what to buy at the grocery store and stay within your budget for items.

If you don’t have a property yet, finding the right place will be easier if you know what you’re looking for. Consider the neighborhood in terms of its needs, particularly if you have school-age children, and what types of schools you want for your kids. Do you want to live in town, close to it, or further out? Do you want land with good views or extra space for an ADU?

Consider your needs when looking at land and ensure it is zoned for a residential home. Review the area’s building restrictions and discuss any concerns with a qualified professional, such as our Home Consultants, to make an informed decision about your home needs.

This is a crucial step and one that you shouldn’t skip. Before buying land, you want to conduct a feasibility study to know if it’s buildable. The land may have unseen issues, such as zoning, accessibility, soil quality, and water quality, among others. All these factors can cause issues for your home down the road, so before making an offer, take the time to conduct a thorough study to avoid surprises during construction.

Before you begin clearing land, you need to consider site preparation, such as the time it’ll take to clear it and an appropriate timeline to have the land cleared. To help with the timeline, look at how heavily wooded the property is, what vegetation to preserve, the slope of the property, and any obstacles like rocks or slumps.

Special equipment will likely be required to clear the land, and a licensed and bonded contractor who is authorized to perform that work should be contacted. It’s these types of site preparation factors you need to consider before getting to work.

Some areas have protected land, vegetation, and soil that are vulnerable to erosion or other concerns that can impact land clearing. Before beginning construction, contact your local land planning agency to find out what land permits are needed. Additionally, contact your local zoning and building departments to determine the ordinances in place for your property’s location.

This step can take some time, so finding out what permits are required is one of the first things to do when considering a piece of land. Once you’ve purchased the property, apply for what you need as soon as possible so you’re not held up by waiting for the necessary approvals.

What to Know About Clearing Land

Now that you understand the factors that go into choosing land to clear, it’s time to learn what goes into land clearing itself and the associated costs.

When clearing land for a home, an adequate area needs to be cleared for your yard, house, driveway, well, and septic system. There are several steps to the process of making the site ready for your “on your lot” home, so keep these things in mind as you move forward:

Get permits from local zoning entities
Make notes of what you want to keep
Get knowledgeable septic and well specialists to evaluate your land if needed
Mark the site plan for property lines, house, driveway, well, septic, etc
Check to see if you need an excavator for any larger trees

It’s essential to hire professionals to clear your property and obtain quotes, as a bank will require documentation of the bids submitted for clearing the land, as well as the construction costs.

The cost of clearing your land is entirely dependent on the job and property. There are things you might be able to do yourself, depending on your expertise and ability, or you may need to hire service contractors. Depending on the property condition, expect to pay for these services:

Get several bids on your project and choose the best contractor for your budget.

Doing things yourself is always going to save you money, but you should know what you can and cannot do, or wind up with more expensive redos. Building equity in your home starts with doing things through “sweat equity,” and that includes clearing your own land. However, most homeowners do not have the equipment or expertise to do these jobs themselves. Nevertheless, depending on the condition of the property, there are steps you can take to save money.

It’s tempting to only consider the cost of home construction and clearing land, but it can be much more expensive to hire someone to redo work due to cost-saving mistakes. Hiring a contractor may raise the starting costs, but can save you money down the road. Besides that, a bank will want to see bids before issuing a construction loan.

HiLine Homes Has You Cleared

HiLine Homes has helped thousands of homeowners get into quality homes at affordable prices for nearly 30 years. Our successful “on your lot” building program assists in attaining the dream of homeownership while building potential equity in a new home. Our streamlined “on your lot” building programs offer experts to guide you every step of the way, no matter if you own your land or are searching for the perfect lot.

Don’t know where to start? No worries. Whether you are looking for a traditional home building program or a Shell Program, our building process is designed to support you. Connect with a Home Consultant in your area to develop your journey to building the dream home to meet your lifestyle.

Contact your local HiLine Homes office to speak with a knowledgeable Home Consultant about our home building process. If financing is needed, be sure to ask about our approved lenders, whether you need to purchase land or not.