Excavation
Mini excavator digging for trenches, ditches, driveway cuts and dirt work. We clear and dig on the same trip across Hampshire County and the Eastern Panhandle.
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Grading sets how your ground sits and where the water goes. We cut down the high spots and fill in the low ones. Then we shape the surface so rain runs off instead of standing in the yard. Most of this work follows land clearing on lots around Augusta and Hampshire County.
Site prep is the same work with a building in mind. A cabin, a shed or a garage needs a pad that is flat and drains. We dig, shape and level the ground so a builder can set on it. Stumps come out before the grade goes in, so pulling the stumps is often part of the job.
Tell us about the job and the ground. We will get right back to you.
A pad is flat, solid ground that a building can sit on. We take the sod and topsoil off the footprint first. The dirt under it gets cut level, and the low side gets filled to match. Fill goes in layers, and each layer gets packed before the next one goes on.
Fill dumped in one pile settles later. A corner of the shed drops, and the doors stop shutting right. Layers keep that from happening. We run the pad about a foot past the building on every side so the edges hold.
Hampshire County requires a building permit for a house, an addition, a garage or a shed. The permit application asks for a site plan showing where the structures go. We grade to that plan, and your builder or concrete crew takes it from there. If the pad needs a way in, a gravel driveway can be cut on the same visit.
Most water trouble around a building starts with the grade. Ground that tips toward the wall sends every rain to the same corner. The fix is fall. Builders look for about 6 inches of drop in the first 10 feet out from the wall.
We shape that fall in with the bucket on the mini excavator. On a tight spot we cut a shallow swale and carry the water around the building instead. This part of West Virginia gets 35 to 40 inches of rain a year. The grade gets tested often.
Grading moves the water that runs across the top of the ground. Water that seeps out of a hillside or sits in clay needs a pipe. That is where a french drain picks up what the grade cannot reach.
Clearing and machine traffic leave ground rough. Ruts hold water, and the yard stays soft into the spring. Yard grading knocks the humps down and fills the ruts back in. The finish is smooth enough to mow.
We level old pasture and torn-up lots so they can be seeded. Bare shale and clay wash off a slope in a hard rain. A smooth, sloped finish holds the seed and the topsoil better. Topsoil comes off first and goes back over the finished grade.
Ridge ground in Hampshire County is thin. Some shale soils here run 10 to 20 inches deep before the bucket finds rock. On those lots, land leveling works with the fall that is already there. We set the pad where the ground allows it.
Free, no-obligation estimates across the Eastern Panhandle and the northern Shenandoah Valley.
(540) 327-1400From the first call or text to the finished property, here is how it goes.
Call or text (540) 327-1400 and tell us what the property looks like. Photos and a map pin help us picture the ground before we drive out.
We meet you at the property and go over what you want done. We check the slope, the wet spots, the trailer access, and what has to come down.
We give you a price for the work you asked about. The job goes on the schedule once you approve it.
The loader and the excavator come in on our trailer. Clearing, stump work and grading happen on the same job when the ground allows.
Before the machines load up, we go over the finished ground with you. You see the grade and where the chips and dirt ended up.
Common questions about grading and site prep across the Eastern Panhandle and the northern Shenandoah Valley. If yours is not here, call or text and ask.
Mini excavator digging for trenches, ditches, driveway cuts and dirt work. We clear and dig on the same trip across Hampshire County and the Eastern Panhandle.
Learn More We cut in new gravel driveways and lanes on rural lots, and regrade drives that have rutted or washed out. The surface gets crowned so water runs off the drive instead of down it.
Learn More We install French drains and drainage trenches that move water away from houses, cabins, barns and driveways. The mini excavator digs the line, then pipe and washed stone go in so the ground drains.
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We dig stumps out with a mini excavator, root ball and all. The hole gets backfilled and bladed level so the spot can be mowed or built on.
Learn MoreWe work out of Augusta, on US-50 between Romney and the Virginia line. That means ridge ground, shale and clay soil, grown-up fence rows, and old pasture growing back in.
A tracked loader with a mulcher head clears standing growth, and a mini excavator does the digging. Tracks spread the weight on soft ground and hold better on slopes than wheels.
We come out, look at the property with you, and price the work. The estimate costs nothing and gives you a number before any machine shows up.
We cover Hampshire, Mineral, Hardy, Grant, Morgan and Berkeley counties in West Virginia. East of the line we reach Winchester and Front Royal, roughly 50 miles from Augusta.
What does a French drain cost in West Virginia? Real market ranges per foot and per job, what drives the price, and free estimates. Call or text.
Read more →What a gravel driveway costs in West Virginia: published market ranges per square foot and per foot of drive, and what makes a rural drive cost more.
Read more →Tell us where the property is and what you want the ground to do. Call or text (540) 327-1400, or fill in the form and we will get back to you.
Tell us about the job and the ground. We will get right back to you.