Grading is the shaping of ground so that water leaves a property the way you want it to. It is the least visible work on any site and the most consequential — bad grading shows up later as a wet crawl space, a cracked foundation, a driveway that washes out every spring, or a lawn that will not grow.
We grade residential lots, yards, building pads and commercial sites across metro Atlanta. Rough grading to shape the site, finish grading to a tight tolerance for sod or concrete, and corrective grading on properties where water has been running the wrong way for years.
Do you need this?
If any of these sound like your property, this is the service:
- Water runs toward the house instead of away from it
- Parts of the yard stay wet for days after rain
- The lot is too uneven to build, park or plant on
- You need a level, compacted pad for a shop, shed or addition
- Soil has washed out and left ruts, gullies or exposed roots
How the job runs
- 1
Read the site
We walk the property and work out where water actually goes now, where it needs to go, and what is causing the problem. Often the fix is upslope of where the symptom shows.
- 2
Call Georgia 811
Utilities are located and marked before any blade touches ground. Always, on every job.
- 3
Cut and fill
High spots are cut, low spots are filled, and material is balanced on site where possible so you are not paying to haul in dirt you do not need.
- 4
Establish the fall
Ground is shaped to a positive slope away from structures — the standard is roughly six inches of fall over the first ten feet.
- 5
Compact
Fill is compacted in lifts. Uncompacted fill settles, and settled fill undoes the grade you just paid for.
- 6
Finish and stabilise
Surface is raked to a clean finish and seeded, strawed or sodded so the new grade does not wash away before it establishes.
What affects your price
Bigger lot work is quoted as a fixed price. What moves it: how much material has to move, whether fill has to be hauled in or spoil hauled out, slope and access, and whether the surface needs finishing for sod or just shaping.
We quote after seeing the site, and the price we give you is fixed and in writing. Estimates are free and there is no obligation.
Get a free quoteWhy it's different in Georgia
Metro Atlanta gets more than 50 inches of rain a year — more than Seattle — falling on red clay that barely drains. That combination punishes bad grading harder than almost anywhere in the country. Clay also behaves differently wet than dry, which is why grading here is about working with the moisture, not fighting it.