Everything rides on grade
Water in the crawlspace, ice on the sidewalk, a yard you can't mow without scalping — all grading problems. Good grade work is measured in inches and planned in slopes: fall away from the house, swales that carry water between properties, transitions that mow clean. It's the least glamorous work we do and the most noticed when it's wrong.
Hooper's Excavation and Demolition does final grade for new builds, corrective regrading for established properties, and laser grading where flat actually has to mean flat.
Grading services
- Final grade for new construction — shaping the lot after the builders leave, ready for seed or sod.
- Corrective regrading — fixing yards that pond, slope toward the house, or eroded over the years.
- Laser grading — pads, barn floors, and arenas graded to tight tolerance.
- Swales and crowns — putting shape into ground so water moves where it should.
- Topsoil respread — finishing with real growing medium, not compacted clay with paint-thin dressing.
Final grade on new builds
Builders' rough grade is not a finished yard. Final grade means positive slope off every wall (6 inches of fall in the first 10 feet is the standard), downspout and sump discharge shaped in, swales established along lot lines, and 4 to 6 inches of topsoil where grass is supposed to live. Done right, your yard drains, grows, and mows correctly for as long as you own the house.