Golden Gate Estates acreage, East Naples infill, and estate-grade custom builds — FWC-authorized tortoise compliance for the Naples market.
Naples has the strongest custom-home market in Southwest Florida sitting on some of its best tortoise habitat. Golden Gate Estates — thousands of wooded 1.14- to 5-acre lots on deep sandy soil — is where most of the region's tortoise work happens, one custom home, pool, and guest house at a time.
East Naples and the Collier Boulevard corridor add steady infill and commercial work, while North Naples teardowns near preserve systems occasionally turn up burrows on lots that look thoroughly suburban. Collier County's own environmental review layers on top of the state rules, so listed-species documentation gets requested here more consistently than in neighboring counties.
The Estates offers a real cost advantage: with an acre-plus of land, on-site relocation is frequently possible — the tortoise moves to the back of your own parcel and the $5,000-per-tortoise recipient-site fee never enters the picture.
Where the tortoise work is in Collier's biggest market.
The signature job: custom home + pool + outbuilding on a wooded 1.14–5 acre lot. Survey first; on-site relocation often possible.
Preserve-adjacent suburban lots where an overgrown corner hides an active burrow. A $350 check protects a seven-figure build schedule.
Outparcels and remnant uplands along the county's busiest growth corridors.
Wooded Estates lots sell fast and sight-unseen. Know your burrow count — and your relocation math — before you close.
Statewide FWC rules govern the tortoises (Rule 68A-27, F.A.C.: 25-foot buffer, permit for conflicts, 90-day survey validity), and Collier County's Land Development Code adds its own environmental review — many county applications ask for listed-species documentation explicitly. One FWC-format survey report from us answers both reviewers.
For high-end builds we work quietly and precisely: GPS-mapped exhibits for your architect's site plan, coordination with your GC's clearing schedule, and relocation timed so the FWC review (2–6 weeks) runs inside your permit timeline, not after it.
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.
Estates lot or North Naples teardown — surveyed within 48 hours, documented for both the county and FWC.