Gravel Driveways
Gravel driveway installation, repair and regrading around Shelby, plus farm lanes, access roads and gravel parking pads on Piedmont clay ground.
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Land grading is how a wet, uneven yard turns into ground that sits flat and drains. We do land grading in Shelby, NC and across Cleveland County, on lots of every size. Rough grading moves the bulk of the dirt with a dozer, and a skid steer does the finish pass. The finished surface sits on a slope, so rain leaves the yard instead of standing against the house.
We own the machines we run, so a job does not wait on a rental yard. A dozer handles the rough grading, and skid steers handle finish grading, pad work and gravel. We also run excavators, a tracked forestry mulcher and grapple trucks to haul off spoil. We grade about 25 miles out from Shelby, from Kings Mountain and Gastonia to Forest City and Rutherfordton.
Tell us about your land and we’ll get right back to you.
The first step is looking at the ground to see where the water goes now. If trees and brush are still standing on the lot, land clearing comes first, then we grade. After a summer thunderstorm a rolling lot shows you the ruts, the wet spots and the wash. We use all of that to set a target grade before a machine turns a track.
The dozer then cuts the high side down and pushes that dirt into the low side. That is rough grading, and it does most of the shaping on a lot. If the job needs dirt brought in or hauled off, the trucks move it at this stage. Red clay grades best when it is damp, since soaked clay ruts and baked clay breaks up hard.
Compaction comes next, because loose fill settles later and leaves a dip in the finished yard. We pack the fill in lifts, then finish grade with a skid steer to smooth the surface. On a lot that was just cleared we spread topsoil over the finished grade so grass can root. Grading stops at the surface, and digging for footings or culverts is excavation, quoted on its own.
The biggest factor on any grading job is how much dirt has to move. Leveling a back yard is a different day than cutting a building pad into a hillside. The deeper the cut, the longer the dozer runs and the more fill has to be packed. Area counts too, since a half acre takes a lot more passes than a small yard.
What happens to the dirt is the next piece of the number. Pushing clay to a low corner on the same lot costs less than hauling it off. Bringing in fill dirt, gravel or topsoil adds truck time plus the price of the material. Drainage work adds to it as well, whether that is a crown, a ditch or a swale.
Access changes the price more than most people expect, and it is easy to miss. An open pasture in Lawndale gives a dozer room to work in long, clean passes. A tight back yard behind a fence in Gastonia takes smaller machines and a lot more time. We come out, look at the site and give you a free estimate on the work before anything starts.
Most of our land grading is for homeowners with a yard that will not drain right. Water stands after a storm, the low corner stays soft, and mowing turns into a chore. One customer wanted an above ground pool on a sloped back yard and needed it soon. We graded that yard flat in a day, and they left us a five star review.
Building pads and shed pads are the other steady part of our grading work. A shed pad, a shop pad or a house pad gets cut level and then compacted. Around Boiling Springs and Kings Mountain most of those pads sit on some kind of slope. One side gets cut, the other gets filled, and gravel goes on top once the pad is done.
Gravel drives take a beating on a grade, since rain cuts channels and pulls the rock downhill. Gravel driveway grading pulls the gravel back up, cuts a crown and opens the ditch. We do that work on farm lanes and long drives in Cherryville, Dallas, Bessemer City, Lincolnton, Spindale and Grover. LDS Solutions is veteran owned and fully insured, and estimates are free at (704) 600-8146.
Free, no-obligation estimates across Shelby, NC and 25 miles around.
(704) 600-8146From the first call to the last pass of the rake, here is how it goes.
Tell us where the land is and what you want it to do. We set a time to come see it, usually within a few days.
We look at the ground, the growth and the access in person. You get a real number and a plan before any machine moves.
Our own equipment rides in on our lowboy. Most residential jobs run one to three days, and you see progress the first morning.
Debris is mulched or hauled off and the ground is left ready to use. We look the job over with you before we leave.
Common questions about grading & leveling across Shelby, NC and 25 miles around. Don't see yours? Give us a call and ask.
Gravel driveway installation, repair and regrading around Shelby, plus farm lanes, access roads and gravel parking pads on Piedmont clay ground.
Drainage and erosion control around Shelby, from driveway culverts and ditching to swales, washout repair and rip rap on banks.
Excavation around Shelby, NC. Footings, driveway culverts, drainage trenches, pond banks and site prep, with the spoil hauled off in our grapple trucks.
Forestry mulching grinds brush and small trees into a mulch layer where they stand. Nothing gets hauled off and nothing gets burned.
Bush hogging for fields, pastures and overgrown lots around Shelby, NC. Our rotary cutters take down waist high growth, briar and small saplings, and put the ground back in shape.
Tree removal in Shelby, NC for leaning, dead and storm-downed trees. We drop them with machines and haul the wood off.
LDS Solutions runs the way a veteran-owned company should: show up on time, do the work right, leave the place better than you found it. Our own crew runs our own machines.
Tracked mulcher, skid steers, excavators, dozer and grapple trucks, all owned. Your job never waits on a rental yard, and the right machine is always on the trailer.
We come look at the ground in person, tell you what the job takes, and give you a real number before any machine moves. The estimate costs you nothing.
Red clay that ruts when wet, pine and privet that come back every summer, foothill slopes that shed rain sideways. We work this ground every week and plan for it.
Gravel driveways wash out when water runs down them instead of off them. The crown, ditch, culvert and stone that fix it for good, with published repair costs.
Read more →Forestry mulching grinds growth in place for $1,000-$3,500 per acre. Traditional clearing strips to bare dirt for $3,000-$6,000+. How to pick the right one.
Read more →Land to clear, a field to mow, trees down from a storm, or a building that needs to come down? Call or send the form. We come look at the ground in person and the estimate is free. We clear land. You build dreams.
Tell us about your land and we’ll get right back to you.