What the job includes
Rough and finish grading, lot leveling, and moving water away from buildings before it does damage. Almost every wet basement and soft yard traces back to grade. Water goes where the dirt tells it to, and dirt is a lot cheaper to move than foundations are to repair.
Most of this work happens in the Mini-Cassia towns around the yard - Burley, Rupert, Heyburn, Paul and Declo - and across the Magic Valley in Twin Falls, Kimberly, Filer, Buhl and Jerome. We also run scheduled route days east to American Falls, Pocatello and Idaho Falls for grading & drainage on acreage and new construction, so a job there gets a real date rather than a maybe.
How we do it
Grading & Drainage, step by step
Slope away from the building
Ground should fall away from a foundation for the first several feet, every direction. Settled backfill that now slopes back toward the house is one of the most common and most fixable causes of a wet basement.
Finding where the water actually goes
We walk the property and look at where water stands, where it's cutting and where it's supposed to be leaving. That drives the plan — moving dirt without knowing that just relocates the puddle.
Swales instead of pipe where possible
A shaped swale is cheaper than a buried drain system, doesn't clog and is easy to maintain. Where the fall exists to make one work, that's usually the right call.
Grading before seed or sod
Landscaping over uneven ground locks in the problem. Finish grade first, get the surface smooth and draining, and the sod or seed that goes on top actually stays healthy.
Post-construction cleanup grading
Construction leaves ruts, stockpiles and compacted tracks. Regrading afterward puts the lot back to something you can landscape and gets water moving correctly again.
Irrigation and canal considerations
Property here often sits near canals, laterals and ditches with their own water schedule. Grading has to account for what those do in season, not just what the ground looks like dry.
Our work
Grading & Drainage photos
Real jobs, our own machines. Captions describe what is in the frame.
Before you call
What we look at on a grading job
Where the water goes now. After a rain or in spring melt is the best time to see it. A photo of standing water tells us more than a description.
Where it should go. Away from the foundation, off the driveway, into a swale or a ditch that actually leads somewhere.
What is in the way. Landscaping, a septic drain field, a buried line, a fence. Grade can only move where the rest of the property lets it.
Rough or finish. Rough grade for a building or a driveway, finish grade for a lawn. Different tolerances, different machines, different price.
Topsoil. Stripping and saving it for the finish grade beats hauling new in later.
Around the valley
Moving water across flat ground and benches
Most of the Mini-Cassia area is flat, which sounds easy and is not: water has nowhere to go, so grade has to be built rather than found. Around Twin Falls, Kimberly and Jerome the problem is rock under a thin topsoil that keeps water on the surface. Canal-side and river-side properties in Buhl, Filer and Burley deal with seep and spring water. On the benches around Pocatello and Idaho Falls the slope is there but it points at the house. Every one of those is a grading job, and every one starts with a laser and a walk in the rain if we can get it.
Estimates
Free on-site estimates, in writing
Four things set the price on excavation work. We walk the property, look at all four, and hand you one written number before anything gets dug.
- AccessCan the excavator and dump trailer get to the work without wrecking the yard? Tight lots and soft ground add time.
- Soil and rockMagic Valley ground goes from sandy loam to basalt a foot down. Rock changes the machine, the pace and the price.
- Haul-off and materialsDirt hauled away, gravel and road base hauled in, concrete to the recycler. Distance to the pit or the dump sets the cost.
- Permits and locatesSeptic permits, inspections and utility locates are part of the job and part of the estimate, not an add-on at the end.
How it works
Four steps, no surprises
- 01Call or text
Tell us what you need done and where. Photos of the site help, and a rough sketch of what you have in mind helps more.
- 02We walk the site
Free on-site estimate. We look at access, slope, soil, what is buried and where the water goes, then give you a written number.
- 03Locates and permits
Utility locates are called before any digging. Septic permits and inspections are scheduled with the health district.
- 04Dug, graded, cleaned up
The work gets done to grade, compacted where it needs to be, and the site is raked back so it is ready for whoever comes next.
Grading & Drainage by town
Pick your town for local detail, or just call and tell us where the property is.
- Grading & Drainage in Twin Falls
- Grading & Drainage in Burley
- Grading & Drainage in Rupert
- Grading & Drainage in Heyburn
- Grading & Drainage in Paul
- Grading & Drainage in Declo
- Grading & Drainage in Oakley
- Grading & Drainage in Jerome
- Grading & Drainage in Kimberly
- Grading & Drainage in Filer
- Grading & Drainage in Buhl
- Grading & Drainage in American Falls
- Grading & Drainage in Pocatello
- Grading & Drainage in Idaho Falls
Questions
Grading & Drainage questions
Can grading fix water in my basement or crawlspace?
Frequently, yes. If the ground has settled and now slopes toward the house, correcting the grade so water runs away is the cheapest first thing to try before anything more invasive.
How long does grading a yard take?
Most residential lots are one to two days depending on size and how much dirt has to move. Adding fill or cutting swales takes longer.
Do you grade before landscaping?
Yes — and it should happen in that order. Finish grading first means the sod or seed goes onto a surface that's smooth and draining correctly.
Can you fix standing water in my yard?
Usually. It's a matter of filling the low spot, shaping a swale to carry the water off, or both. We'll look at where the water is coming from before quoting a fix.
Grading & Drainage across the Magic Valley from Burley
Get a free estimate
Call or text for a free on-site estimate. Licensed and insured. Based in Burley, serving Twin Falls and all of the Magic Valley and Southern Idaho.