Rough grading
Bulk earthmoving to bring the site to shape — high spots cut, low spots filled, subgrade established and compacted in lifts. Where most of the machine hours go.
Grading & Earthworks · Southwest Florida
We setthe levelyou build to.
▸ Rough grade to finish grade
Grading for builders, owners and developers across Southwest Florida — pads, driveway grade, drainage shaping and finish grade held to the tolerance the next trade needs.
What we do
What a grading contractor actually does
Grading is not levelling. It is giving ground a deliberate shape: an elevation that holds, a fall that moves water where it is allowed to go, and a surface flat enough for whatever gets built on top of it.
Finish grading
The last few inches, held to tolerance. What a slab, a driveway or a sod line actually sits on, and where the difference between a good site and a callback lives.
Building pads
Pads shaped and compacted to the elevation on the plan, then checked — so the slab sits on ground that holds instead of ground that settles.
Drainage shaping
Swales, contours and fall away from the structure, tied into wherever the water is permitted to go. Flat land does not drain itself.
Lot leveling and regrading
Bare lots brought to grade, and existing ground reshaped when it ponds, sheds toward the house or never had a swale cut in the first place.
What decides the job
A level site and a correctly graded site are not the same thing.
Ground can look flat and still be wrong. What decides the scope is the elevation you have to reach, where the water is allowed to go, and how tight the finished surface has to be for whatever comes next.
- 01
The elevation you have to reach
Finished floor, drainfield separation, a flood requirement, or simply above where the water sits in August. This number sets the fill volume, and fill volume is most of the price on almost every grading job in Southwest Florida.
- 02
Whether the site can balance
Cutting high ground to fill low ground moves material without buying any. A site that balances costs dramatically less than one importing every yard. On flat platted lots there is usually nothing to balance with, and that is worth knowing before you compare two quotes.
- 03
Rough or finish, or both
Rough grading establishes shape. Finish grading holds tolerance. They are separate stages and separate money, and the single most common reason two grading quotes look wildly different is that they are not quoting the same stage.
- 04
Where the water is permitted to go
A swale, an inlet, a canal, the county right-of-way. Moving water off your ground is half the job — it then has to reach somewhere the system is designed to take it, or you have moved the problem rather than solved it.
- 05
What has to be worked around
Mature trees, an existing slab, a septic field, a driveway that stays, a neighbour who drains onto you. Every fixed point narrows how the grade can be shaped and is paid in hours rather than in yards.
- 06
The water table and the season
From June through October the table is up. Freshly graded ground ruts under machines and is harder to compact to spec. Some sites work through it fine; others finish faster and cheaper if they wait, and we say which yours is.
- 07
How the material gets there
Imported fill is a trucking operation before it is an earthwork one. Volume, haul distance and availability all move the schedule, which is why fill belongs on its own line in a scope instead of buried in a lump sum.
- 08
What holds it once it is shaped
Compaction in lifts at the right moisture, and erosion control before the first storm. Bare graded ground with no stabilisation is ground that gets graded twice.
How this gets priced
Grading is priced by how much ground moves, and how tightly.
Two numbers dominate: the volume of material and the tolerance the finished surface has to hold. Everything else modifies them. Knowing which is which is what lets you compare two proposals honestly.
We walk the site before quoting and write the assumptions down: target elevation, whether it balances, where the water goes, rough or finish. That is what makes an estimate comparable instead of a number you find out about later.
- Elevation gain and area
- The gap between existing ground and target elevation, across the area being graded. This is the largest line on most grading jobs and the first thing worth pinning down.
- Balanced or imported
- Material moved on site costs hours. Material bought and trucked costs hours plus the material. On flat lots almost everything is imported, and that difference is often the whole gap between two quotes.
- Rough only, or finished
- Finish grade holds tolerance and takes more passes. A quote for rough grading and a quote for a finished surface are not comparable, however similar the totals look.
- Access and obstacles
- Infill lots with fences, trees and neighbours decide machine size before preference does. Working around fixed points is paid in time, not volume.
- Drainage structures
- Shaping — swales, contours, fall — is grading. Pipe, inlets and structures are separate scope and belong on their own line.
- Season and stabilisation
- Wet season work needs different sequencing and sooner stabilisation. Dry ground is faster and cheaper for exactly the same site.
Where we run grading
Pick your area.
Get local ground truth.
Every area below has its own grading page — local coverage, real projects nearby and the same owner-operated crew out of Naples.
Before you call
What people ask before booking grading
01What is the difference between rough grading and finish grading?
Rough grading moves the bulk of the material and establishes the shape of the site: high spots cut, low spots filled, subgrade compacted. Finish grading is the last few inches held to tolerance, and it is what a slab, driveway or sod line actually sits on. They are separate stages and separate money. If two grading quotes look very different, this is usually why.
02Is grading the same as land clearing?
No, and they get bought at different moments. Clearing removes what is growing on the ground — brush, trees, stumps, roots. Grading gives the ground underneath a shape: elevation, slope, drainage, a pad. A lot with vegetation on it needs clearing first, because you cannot shape ground through stumps and organics left under a pad rot and settle. We do both, so it runs as one sequence.
03How do you know what elevation to grade to?
From the plan where there is one — permitted work is held to the finished floor elevation on the drawings. Without a plan, from what the site needs: fall away from the structure, a tie-in that matches the street and the neighbours, septic separation where there is no sewer, and enough height to stay above what the ground does in the wet season.
04My yard holds water. Is that a grading problem?
Almost always. Standing water is a shape problem: no fall away from the structure, a swale that was filled in or never cut, or settled fill that created a low point. What matters is where the water goes once it moves, so we walk the whole route rather than just the puddle.
05Do you import fill, or only move what is on site?
Either. Balancing on site gets checked first because moving material always beats buying it. If the elevation gain is more than the site can supply, fill is imported and that volume goes on its own line so you can see exactly what it costs.
06Who checks the compaction?
An independent geotechnical lab, and the independence is the point — a contractor should not be marking its own homework. It is usually ordered by the owner, builder or engineer. We coordinate the schedule so the lab is there when the lifts are ready.
07Can you grade during the rainy season?
Often, with adjustments. From June through October the water table is up, fresh ground ruts more easily and compaction to spec is harder. Some sites proceed normally. Others finish faster and cheaper if they wait, and we tell you which one you have on the walk instead of after the machine is out there.
08Do you handle drainage pipe and structures?
Shaping is grading and it is what we do: swales, contours, fall, tie-ins. Pipe, inlets and structures are their own scope and belong on their own line, so you can see what each part of the job costs rather than getting one number.