Hartselle Land Clearing & Home Site Prep
A sandstone is named after this town, but plenty of the ground around it is low valley clay. We clear acreage around Hartselle, Falkville and Priceville and get it ready for a house, with the water figured out first.
A rock named for the town, and clay in the low ground
Geologists named the Hartselle Sandstone for rock exposed here in Morgan County. That does not make every Hartselle tract sandy. Town sits about 673 feet up, in the range an old federal soil survey gave for the Moulton and Cotaco valley lowland. That same survey puts Little Mountain to the north of the lowland, with Decatur down on the river side of it, and Sand Mountain to the south.
Soil names have changed since 1921, so we go by what the ground shows, but the old survey explains why neighbors here can have very different dirt. In the valleys it describes well drained red clay loam broken up by Colbert silt loam, which it calls poorly or imperfectly drained and one of the most extensive soils in those valley sections. On the Hartselle sandstone it describes lighter soils, and it says some of the fine sandy loam gets marked by gullies several feet deep. One lot may need a built up pad and a pipe under the drive. The next may need water kept out of a washed draw.
Most of the western half of the county drains through Flint Creek and its branches, and No Business Creek runs near town on its way there. This was logging and timber country once. Now, with I-65 about two miles east on Highway 36, Hartselle is a popular place to live for people who work in Decatur and Huntsville. The usual buyer is a family with a few acres, a house plan and a field or woodlot in the way.
What grows here
The old county survey lists shortleaf pine, white oak, black oak, chestnut oak, poplar, gum and hickory on the sandstone soils. Brush and briars fill in once a field sits idle.
What the ground does
Low clay can stay wet and rut under a loaded truck. Sandy slopes dry sooner but can gully where water gets concentrated. Find out which one you have before you plan the drive.
Common jobs here
House sites on a few acres, chert drives with a pipe at the road ditch, pads raised up out of low ground, and a usable way back to the far end of a tract.
What Hartselle land usually needs
Across the south end of Morgan County, from town out toward Falkville, Somerville, Eva and Priceville.
House sites on a few acres
The building spot, the yard and the way in handled as one job, then rough ground ready for your builder. Low clay gets checked first because it sets how much fill the site needs.
Pipes where the ditch stays wet
Crossing a wet road ditch takes a pipe that is set right and sized for the water. On low Hartselle ground, that pipe can matter more than the stone on top of it.
Chert drives up off the clay
Chert and gravel built above the soft ground with a crown, so the drive sheds rain instead of holding it. Our own trucks bring the stone in.
Idle fields and woodlots
Pine, hardwood and brush cut back off ground that has sat too long. Show us the trees you want left, and the rest gets ground up and left where it fell.
The work
Photos here are our own, never stock. The two things that decide a Hartselle job are soft low clay and sandy slope, so ask us which one you have.
Three dump trucks parked side by side.
Red truck door lettered Suttles and Sons.
Black dump truck parked on pavement at sunset.
City office first, county engineer if you are outside the limits
Inside Hartselle, start with the Building Office or Planning Office. The city’s published permit list covers structures and trades. We did not find a clearing or grading permit on it, so ask them before work starts instead of assuming there is none. Its development guide also asks plans to show the disturbance area on lots of two acres or more.
Flood ground is a different matter. Hartselle’s flood ordinance counts filling, grading and excavation as development and requires a development permit before that work begins in a special flood hazard area. The Chief Building Official runs that program. Out in the county, the Morgan County Engineer’s office on Shull Road administers the county flood ordinance and its flood development permit.
ADEM’s construction stormwater permit comes in at one acre of disturbance or more, or as part of a larger plan that reaches that, which can catch a house site on acreage. New entrances on US 31 or Highway 36 generally go through ALDOT. When we quote, we tell you which of these we know touch your place. The owner holds the permit unless we agree otherwise.
What changes a Hartselle price
No two Morgan County tracts price the same. These four things tend to swing a quote around Hartselle.
Wet clay
Soft low ground slows machines and trucks, and it can call for fill and stone that a dry site would never need.
Ditch and pipe
How long the pipe runs, how deep the road ditch sits and whether it holds water all change the cost of getting in.
What is standing
Brush on an idle field goes a lot quicker than pine and hardwood timber on a wooded back slope.
Fill coming in
Raising a site off clay takes loads of fill and chert, and every load is priced partly on how far it has to run.
Around Hartselle
Falkville is about five miles south on US 31, and our home base of Cullman is farther down that same road. We also work out toward Priceville, Somerville, Eva and Lacey’s Spring.
Hartselle land questions
What will it run me to clear land in Hartselle?
Nobody can give you an honest number sight unseen. The thickness of the growth, how wet the ground is, and whether you want cleared ground or a finished house site all play into it. Text a few pictures and a pin to (256) 735-3214 and you will get a real quote.
Do you burn what you clear?
No. Brush and trees get chewed up and stay on the ground as mulch, so there is no burn pile. What truly has to go, like spoil from a pad cut, can leave in our own dump trucks.
I want to keep the big oaks. Can you work around them?
Yes. Tie something on the ones you care about and we clear up to them. It takes a little longer, and it is worth it on a house site.
Does Hartselle make me get a permit to clear land?
Call the city Building Office first. We did not find a clearing permit on the city's published list, but grading or fill in a flood hazard area needs a development permit, and an acre or more of disturbance can fall under ADEM. Outside the limits, start with the Morgan County Engineer.
My lot holds water after a rain. Can it still be a house site?
Can you run a chert drive in off Highway 36 or US 31?
We can build the drive. A new entrance on a state route generally needs ALDOT's okay, so settle that before the pipe goes in. On a county road, ask the Morgan County Engineer's office what they want.
Is Hartselle ground the same as Decatur ground?
Not really. Little Mountain stands between them. Decatur has the river, Wheeler Lake and TVA to think about, while Hartselle is mostly about Flint Creek branches, wet valley clay and sandy slopes. Neither is one soil throughout, so we look at each tract.
Will pictures be enough to get a price?
Most of the time. Show us the worst of the growth, your road frontage and any wet spots, and drop a pin. A few places need a walk first, and we will tell you when that is the case.
Land clearing in Hartselle, Alabama
Land clearing in Hartselle, Alabama with Suttles & Sons runs from the first brush cut to a site your builder can use: clearing, mulching, pads, chert drives, culverts and our own trucks for the material.
We work across south Morgan County, including Falkville, Priceville, Somerville and Eva. Read more on home site prep, driveway culverts and hauling fill and chert.
Each job gets its own quote once we have seen pictures or the land. Call or text (256) 735-3214 for a free estimate.
Get a free Hartselle estimate
Send pictures, a map pin and what you plan to build. Kalob will tell you straight what the ground needs and what it will take to get there.
Request an estimate
Photos help most. Text them to (256) 735-3214 after you send this.