How much does brush hogging cost per acre?

For open brush — goldenrod, meadowsweet, raspberry, small saplings under four inches — I'm typically $300 to $600 per acre. Denser lots with four-inch-plus saplings, heavy debris, or mixed hardwood move to an hourly rate. Every job starts with a free site visit so the quote is based on what's actually there.

Can you clear right up to a lake or wetland?

Yes — with the NH shoreland and wetland setbacks respected. Around Newfound Lake, Webster Lake, and the Pemigewasset, there are protected buffer zones where the rules change, and violating them is expensive. If your project is close to the water, I'll walk it with you and stay on the legal side of the line.

How long does a brush hogging job take?

A single acre of open brush is usually about half a day. Denser or tree-mixed lots get broken into stages — sometimes a day to knock things down and a return trip for cleanup or forestry mulching. Fall through early spring is the best window; late April and May are wet and can leave tracks.

Brush Hogging & Land Clearing in Hill, NH — Lakes Region Property Services

A field that was kept open ten years ago and has since grown in is one of the most satisfying jobs on my calendar. In a couple of days a waist-high tangle of goldenrod, raspberry canes, and volunteer saplings goes back to being pasture, or a trail, or a view of Newfound Lake that's been hidden behind brush for half a decade. I work across Hill (03243), Bristol (03222), Franklin (03235), Plymouth (03264), and the rest of central NH.

What gets cleared

Overgrown pastures & fields. Brought back from hay-field to clean pasture. Full reclamation from 5-foot brush down to something a bush hog can maintain yearly.
Fence lines. Reopening fence lines where saplings and briars have pushed into the wire. Keeps the fence visible and the boundary clear.
Walking trails. Opening up and maintaining private trail networks for snowshoeing, hiking, or snowmobile access.
View-lines to water. Thinning and ground clearing to recover a view toward Newfound Lake, Webster Lake, or the Pemigewasset River — within NH's shoreland setback rules.
Buffer strips. Clean margins between field and woods, driveway and woods, or house and woods.
Fire-break prep. Defensible-space clearing around houses and outbuildings, especially on wooded lots in Alexandria, Bridgewater, and New Hampton.

How I price it

Open-brush jobs — waist-high weeds, light saplings under four inches, no heavy debris — run as a per-acre price. That's the cleanest number for both of us and it's what works for most fields and view-line projects.

Once the job has four-inch-plus saplings, heavy stone or old barbed wire buried in the brush, steep grade, or a lot of haul-out, it switches to an hourly rate. Hourly protects you from me padding a per-acre price "just in case" and protects me from eating the cost when the site turns out worse than it looked. Either way, the site visit is free and the estimate is in writing before any machine rolls in.

When to schedule

The best brush-hogging window in central NH is late fall through early spring, when the ground is firm or frozen. Machines don't leave ruts, the brush has dropped its leaves so you can actually see what you're cutting, and ticks are asleep.

The window to avoid is mid-April through May — mud season. Even a well-tracked machine will leave scars on a soft field, and a wet lot can turn a half-day job into a full day of mess. If you're calling in April about a summer job, that's perfect timing — we'll get it on the books and hit it once the ground firms up.