Site Grading and Lot Prep in Brant County

The details

Good grading is the reason a basement stays dry. We shape the ground so rain and snowmelt run away from your house, your shop and your driveway, and we leave the soil ready for grass.

What we grade

We prepare building lots, regrade older yards and fix low spots that hold water. On a new build we strip the topsoil first and pile it on site. After the foundation is backfilled, we cut and fill to rough grade, then spread the topsoil back for final grade. On older homes the job is often smaller: a sunken strip along the foundation, a flower bed that slopes the wrong way, or a backyard that turns into a pond every spring.

Laser levels, not guesswork

We set grades with a laser and rotary level, so the slope is measured, not eyeballed. The ground next to a wall should drop away from it, and the low point should lead somewhere useful, like a swale, a ditch or a catch basin. When a yard is too flat to drain on the surface, our trenching and drainage crew can bury perforated pipe in clear stone to carry the water off.

Clay, sand and fill

Some Brant County lots are heavy clay, others are sand. Clay sheds water slowly and stays soft after rain, so we grade it when it is dry enough to work and does not smear or rut. Sandy ground drains fast but washes out on slopes, so we pack it and get seed down quickly. If your site needs fill, we tell you how many loads and where they come from before any truck shows up.

After the build

Construction leaves a mess behind: tracked-in mud, buried scraps and hard ruts where trucks parked. We clean it up, loosen the ground, spread topsoil and seed it. Homeowners also call us to rebuild a front lawn from scratch. We grade it, add soil and leave it ready for seed or sod.

The right machine for a finished yard

On an established lot we bring the smallest machine that will do the job, often a compact skid steer. We finish the edges around walkways, steps and gardens by hand, and we leave the site raked and swept when we go.