More vacant sandy lots than anywhere in Lee County — Lehigh Acres is our highest-volume survey area south of the Caloosahatchee.
Lehigh Acres was platted in the 1950s into roughly a hundred thousand lots — most of them half-acre, most of them dry sandy uplands, and a huge share still vacant. Sixty years of undisturbed sandy soil is exactly how you farm gopher tortoises, and Lehigh delivers: it's the highest burrow-hit area we survey in Lee County.
Lehigh is also owner-builder country. If you're building your own home here, understand that the tortoise rules bind you exactly like they bind a production builder: no clearing within 25 feet of a burrow until it's resolved under an FWC permit, and only authorized hands may touch a tortoise. The half-acre standard lot is good news, though — bigger lots survey for $700 and sometimes have room for on-site relocation.
We run Lehigh survey routes weekly, so single-lot jobs get folded into existing trips — that's why our scheduling stays fast even at Lehigh volumes.
What the calls look like out here.
The signature Lehigh project. Survey when you order plans — the report is valid 90 days for the FWC application and keeps your schedule honest.
Spec builders running Lehigh lots in volume. Batch surveys on one mobilization, per-lot FWC-format reports.
Larger rural parcels east and north — high burrow counts, good on-site relocation potential.
Lehigh lots sell sight-unseen constantly. A $350–$700 survey tells a remote buyer exactly what they're getting.
Lehigh Acres is unincorporated, so building permits run through Lee County — and county review expects wildlife compliance handled before clearing. The tortoise rules are statewide (Rule 68A-27, F.A.C.): 25-foot buffer, FWC permit for conflicts, survey no older than 90 days at application.
Money-saving note for Lehigh's half-acre lots: if the back of your lot has suitable habitat and your house footprint allows it, on-site relocation (moving the tortoise to a protected corner of your own property) can avoid the $5,000-per-tortoise off-site recipient fee entirely. We evaluate that possibility during every Lehigh survey.
The same four steps everywhere we work — most clients only ever make one phone call.
Give us the property address and your timeline. We confirm whether a survey is needed and schedule within 48 hours.
We walk 100% of the parcel, GPS-map every burrow, and deliver an FWC-format written report the next business day.
If tortoises are present, we prepare and submit the FWC relocation permit application for you. Typical review: 2–6 weeks.
Once permitted, we capture and relocate the tortoises to an approved recipient area. You're legal to clear and build.
Same transparent pricing across our whole service area — no location markups.
| Gopher tortoise survey | $350 / quarter acre |
| Relocation (up to 2 tortoises, permit included) | $1,400 |
| Each additional tortoise | +$400 |
| Off-site recipient site fee (waterfront/canal lots — paid to the conservation site) | $5,000 / tortoise |
Full details, examples by lot size, and what's never included: see the pricing page.
We're out here every week — your lot can be on this week's route. Call or book online.