Rough and finish grading
Rough grading for pads and lots, then finish grade shot to tolerance for slabs and flatwork.
Before The Pour
Site Grading and Compaction in San Antonio, TX
Grading decides where water goes for the life of the property. We set finish grade with a laser, compact to the target, and walk the drainage with you before anything gets poured on top of it.
Get a free estimate
Most quotes back in 24 hours.
What's Included
Grading work we handle across the San Antonio metro
Compaction to target
Sheepsfoot, padfoot, or smooth drum matched to soil type, compacted to the specified density.
Drainage and swales
Positive drainage, swales, and berms that carry water away from foundations and neighbors.
How We Build It
The details that decide whether San Antonio concrete lasts
Proof rolling
Every pad gets proof-rolled before base or forms. Soft spots get dug out and rebuilt instead of poured over.
Working with your engineer
If a geotech report exists, we build to it and hand back the documentation you will need at inspection.
Overview
Site Grading and Compaction in San Antonio, TX
Grading decides where water goes for the entire life of a property. Every slab, driveway, foundation and yard depends on the ground being shaped so runoff moves away from structures and toward somewhere it can leave. Get it right and you never think about it again. Get it wrong and you're dealing with standing water, soggy yards and moisture against a foundation permanently.
We provide rough and finish grading, compaction, drainage shaping and pad preparation for homeowners, builders and commercial property owners across the San Antonio area. That covers grading building pads and lots, finish grade for slabs and flatwork, correcting yards that hold water, cutting swales and berms, and compacting fill to a specified density.
Grading and compaction go together because shaping the ground is only half the job. Ground that's the right shape but not compacted will settle out of shape, and then you're back where you started with water pooling in the low spot that formed.
Often handled alongside excavation services in San Antonio, concrete foundations in San Antonio and concrete slab installation in San Antonio.
Why It's Worth Doing Right
What Proper Grading Prevents
Water moves away from the house
Positive drainage around a structure is the single most effective thing you can do to protect a foundation over the long term.
No more standing water in the yard
Low spots that hold water after every rain kill grass, breed mosquitoes and make sections of a yard unusable.
Flatwork that sits right
Slabs, patios and driveways poured on a properly graded and compacted pad stay where they were placed instead of settling into a dip.
Less erosion
Shaped slopes and swales carry water in a controlled path instead of letting it cut channels across the property.
You're not creating a neighbor problem
Drainage that dumps onto adjacent property causes disputes. Grading with the whole site in mind avoids that.
A pad that's ready for the next trade
Finish grade shot to tolerance and compacted to target means the concrete crew can form and pour without rework.
Is This You?
Signs Your Property Needs Grading Work
- Water standing in the yard for a day or more after rain
- Runoff flowing toward the house, garage or shop instead of away from it
- Soggy spots that never fully dry out and won't hold grass
- Erosion channels cutting across a slope or along a fence line
- A new slab, driveway, patio or building pad that needs finish grade and compaction
- Fill that was dumped and left loose and now needs to be built into a proper pad
- A yard that was never graded properly when the house was built
- Water from an adjacent property or street running onto yours with nowhere to go
What to Expect
How Grading and Compaction Work
01 Walk the site during or after a rain if possible
Seeing where water actually goes beats guessing from dry ground. We look at the low spots, the discharge points and where runoff is coming from.
02 Shoot existing elevations
We measure current grade so the plan is based on real numbers, including how much fall is available to work with.
03 Written scope and drainage plan
You get the shaping approach, any swales or berms, fill quantities and compaction targets in writing before work starts.
04 Rough grading
The site is cut and filled toward design shape, with material moved and placed in controlled lifts rather than dozed into place loose.
05 Compaction to target
Equipment matched to the soil type — sheepsfoot, padfoot or smooth drum — compacts each lift to the specified density.
06 Finish grade and verification
Finish grade is set with a laser to tolerance, drainage paths are walked with you, and pads are proof-rolled before they're turned over.
Worth Knowing
How Much Fall Do You Actually Have to Work With?
Most drainage problems around here aren't caused by a lack of skill — they're caused by a lack of fall. On a flat lot with only a few inches of elevation change from the house to the property line, there's a limited amount that shaping alone can accomplish, and pretending otherwise leads to a regrade that doesn't fix anything.
When there isn't enough fall, the honest answer usually involves adding something: a swale to concentrate the flow, a French drain or area drains to collect water and pipe it out, or building the pad up rather than trying to cut the yard down. We measure the available fall first and then tell you what's realistically achievable, including when the fix is bigger than a grading job.
What we look at on a drainage and grading visit:
- Elevation difference between the structure, the yard and the discharge point.
- Where roof downspouts currently discharge — often the actual cause of a wet spot.
- Whether water is entering the property from a neighbor, a street or an alley.
- Soil type, since clay drains slowly regardless of how the surface is shaped.
- Whether the fix is surface grading, subsurface drainage, or a combination of both.
Service Area
Grading and Drainage Work in San Antonio
We grade lots, pads and yards across San Antonio and the surrounding communities, including Alamo Heights, Boerne, Bulverde, Helotes, Schertz, Cibolo, Converse and New Braunfels.
The rainfall pattern in this region is what makes grading so consequential. Long dry stretches are broken by storms that drop a lot of water in a short time, and a yard that drains fine in a light rain can hold water for days after a heavy one. We plan for the heavy event, not the average.
Clay soil adds a second factor. It absorbs water slowly and holds it, so surface shaping matters more than it would on sandy ground, and in some cases surface grading alone won't be enough without adding subsurface drainage. We'll tell you which situation you're in rather than selling a regrade that won't solve the problem.
Questions
Grading and Drainage Questions
Can grading fix my standing water problem?
Sometimes on its own, and sometimes only as part of a solution. It depends on how much fall is available and where the water can be sent. We measure elevations first and tell you honestly what grading alone can accomplish.
What's the difference between rough grading and finish grading?
Rough grading moves the bulk of the material to get close to design shape. Finish grading sets the final surface to tolerance — the tight work required before pouring flatwork or laying sod.
How do I know if the fill on my property was compacted?
Density testing by a lab is the definitive answer on engineered work. Practically, proof-rolling reveals soft spots. Fill that was dumped and left loose will settle, and that usually shows up as low spots or cracked concrete later.
Will regrading my yard affect my neighbor's property?
It can, which is why we look at the whole drainage picture rather than just moving water off your lot. The goal is to route runoff to an appropriate discharge point, not shift the problem next door.
Do you install French drains and area drains?
Yes. When surface grading alone can't solve a drainage problem, subsurface drainage collects water and pipes it to a discharge point. We'll recommend it when the site genuinely needs it.
How soon after grading can I lay sod or pour concrete?
Usually right away once finish grade is set and compaction is verified. Timing depends mostly on soil moisture — work can be delayed if the ground is too wet to compact properly.
Get a Free Grading and Drainage Estimate in San Antonio
Tell us where the water is going wrong, or what pad you need built. We'll come out, shoot elevations, look at the drainage picture and give you a written estimate for the grading and compaction work.
Related Services
Often paired with grading in San Antonio
Let's put a real number on your project
Tell us what you are building in the San Antonio area. We will walk the site, check soil, drainage, and access, and send a written scope you can actually compare against other bids.
- Call Us
- (210) 941-9634
- Meeting Hours
- Mon – Fri: 7:00am – 5:30pm CST
- Email Us
- dp1879425@gmail.com
- Address
- 1420 S Flores St, Suite 120, San Antonio, TX 78204Get directions
Book a free site walk
Pick a time that works for you. We will come measure the site, check drainage and access, and send a written quote.