What should you do after land clearing?

Last Updated: November 8, 2026 · Written by Sunward Palm Coast Land Clearing

Keep the lot stable until the house goes up. In Palm Coast that means leaving the silt fence in place through sod and landscaping, keeping the roadside swale clear and sodding it with bahia where disturbed, and following the engineered grading plan so the lot drains from rear to front. For permits applied for from July 1, 2025, an engineer certifies the final lot grading. Sunward Palm Coast Land Clearing hands every cleared lot over with those steps in mind, and we walk the lot with you or your builder at the end.

Silt fence stays

Clearing leaves bare sand, and bare sand moves in the first heavy rain. Palm Coast requires erosion control in place before clearing and maintained for the duration of construction, through sod and landscaping. So the fence stays when we leave. Check it after storms, clear the sand that builds up against it, and repair it where it sags or tears. On a lot cleared in summer, when about half the year’s rain falls, it works hard; the rainy season guide explains why.

The swale

Palm Coast drains its streets through roadside swales rather than curbs and pipes, and the city’s engineers design a swale and culvert plan for each new home from its survey. The owner is responsible for keeping the swale clear of debris. A swale disturbed by clearing or construction is sodded with bahia grass. While we clear, we keep chips, sand and logs out of it, which is far simpler than cleaning it out later.

Drainage and the grading plan

Clearing doesn’t set the final shape of the lot; the engineered grading does. A new Palm Coast home needs a grading and drainage plan from a Florida professional engineer. For most properties the rear yard drains to the front roadside swale, and grading may not flood or drain onto adjacent properties. A lot regrading permit is required if heavy equipment such as graders, dozers or skid steers is used to regrade, and for permits applied for from July 1, 2025 the final lot grading and drainage is certified. Where clearing stops and grading starts is covered in the clearing or grading guide.

Sod or seed

The lot clearing permit requires all disturbed areas to be sodded or seeded. On a lot where the builder starts right away, that happens with the finished landscaping. On a lot left waiting, or a side lot cleared next to your home, covering the ground sooner keeps it from washing and slows the weeds and palmetto seedlings that move into bare sand.

Stumps and settling

Stumps ground below grade at the edges of the lot settle a little as their roots decay, so the spots usually need a soil top-up before sod. We pull the stumps under the footprint with their roots, as clearing and grubbing requires, so nothing is left to settle under the slab.

Trees you kept

Kept trees need their protection fence until the heavy work around them is done, including the builder’s grading and fill. Raising the ground around a trunk smothers the surface roots, so a keeper near a grade change is worth raising with your builder; we point those trees out on the hand-off walk. Watering a kept tree through its first dry spring after clearing helps it recover from any root loss.

Gopher tortoises after clearing

Gopher tortoises move between lots on dry sandy ground, and a burrow that appears on a lot after clearing, even weeks later, is protected like any other one. Neighbors’ lots count too, since the 25-foot buffer is measured from the burrow wherever it is. Before the builder’s machines start the grading, a quick look for new burrows avoids a stop later; work within 25 feet of one needs an FWC permit, as the gopher tortoise guide explains.

What clearing doesn’t cover

Fill, compaction, the culvert, final grading, sod and landscaping belong to the site work after clearing. What land clearing includes lays out where the line usually falls, and the guide to how long clearing takes puts the steps in order.