The mill town Pacific Mills built is growing again — we handle the dirt work.
Drainage grading has a measurable standard: ground should fall away from your foundation about a quarter inch per foot — a 2% slope — for the first six to ten feet. We grade to that number and verify it by instrument, because “looks flat” is how yards end up holding water. Upstate red clay raises the stakes: our Cecil-series subsoil is nearly impermeable once compacted, so the surface has to move the water — the ground won’t absorb it.
The other half of quality grading is what’s underneath. Fill dumped in one thick layer settles as it wets and dries — cracking the slab or patio above it a year or three later. We place fill in thin lifts and compact every one with dedicated equipment. And we won’t work red clay wet: pushing mud to hit a schedule smears the clay into a crust that causes drainage problems for good.
Laser on site, existing falls measured — we find where the water actually goes before we move dirt.
Organics stripped, fill placed in thin lifts, each lift compacted — no loose fill, no future settling.
Falls away from the foundation at the 2% standard; swales carry water to a proper outlet.
Grades re-checked by instrument; bare clay stabilized so it doesn’t wash before grass takes hold.
Usually, yes. Most residential drainage problems are slope problems — water with nowhere to go. Regrading, swales, and crowning solve what French drains often just hide.
We set a rotary laser level on the site and check grades against it as we work, instead of eyeballing the slope. It’s how building pads come out flat and drainage swales actually carry water where they should.
The red Cecil clay is the usual culprit — gravel sinks into wet clay and washes on slopes. The subsoil here runs 40 to 60 percent clay; it drains fine undisturbed but seals up once compacted, so water sits or runs where you don't want it. A geotextile base, a proper crown, and drainage relief are what keep a driveway on this ground.
Free written estimate. See the price before any work begins.
