Grading
We regrade worn gravel driveways and build new ones. We also grade yards and lots so water moves away from the house.
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Site preparation gets a bare lot ready to build on. Bedrock Excavation and General Contracting clears and strips the lot, then rough grades it. We dig for the foundation, and once the foundation is in, we backfill around it. The compacted pad under a house or shop is part of the job too.
We prepare home lots, acreage, farm ground and commercial sites across the Lower Yakima Valley and the Tri-Cities. Site preparation is one of our excavation services around Sunnyside. The utility lines are another trade's work, and they go in after we prepare the site. Call or text (509) 439-2533, and we look at the lot and put the quote in writing.
Tell us about the teardown, dirt work, pad or building project and where it is. We look at the job and put the quote in writing.
Lot clearing takes the brush and debris off the ground you plan to build on. Stripping comes next, and we scrape off the topsoil and roots under the building area. Roots and topsoil break down and settle over time, so they come out before any fill goes in. The residential code Washington uses says the ground under a floor must be cleaned of all vegetation and organic material.
On farm ground, an old orchard comes out first through orchard removal. If an old house or barn stands on the lot, our demolition work takes it down. Yakima County's grading permit lists tree stumps and debris as prohibited fill. We haul the debris off the property with our own trailer.
Rough grading comes after the stripping. We cut the high spots and fill the low ones until the lot sits at the levels on your plans.
Foundation excavation digs out the ground for the footings, the concrete base that carries the walls. Washington's residential code says footings must rest on undisturbed natural soil or engineered fill. Fill under footings has to be designed and tested to accepted engineering practice. The code puts exterior footings at least 12 inches below the undisturbed ground surface.
The code also requires frost protection, and one way is setting footings below the local frost line. Sunnyside's building division lists a frost line depth of 24 inches, and Yakima and Kennewick list the same. In unincorporated Yakima County, footing excavation under a valid building permit needs no separate grading permit. A dig over 5 feet deep with unsupported sides still needs one.
Backfill is the dirt placed back against the foundation walls after they are poured. The code says backfill waits until a wall has enough strength and is anchored to the floor above, or braced. We place it in thin layers and compact each one, so the ground beside the walls settles less. A building with a slab floor also needs a compacted pad, and we build shop pads and house pads too.
USDA soil survey maps show Warden and Esquatzel soils under much of the ground in and around Sunnyside. Most of it is silt loam or fine sandy loam. The survey rates that ground limited for shallow excavations, those up to 5 or 6 feet deep. The limit it names across the area is unstable excavation walls: trench sides that can cave in.
A few low soils near town, like Outlook silt loam, are somewhat poorly drained. The survey puts their water table within about 30 inches of the surface at its highest. On the slopes north of town, it puts a cemented hardpan about 25 to 30 inches down. Any lot's soil can be looked up on the USDA's Web Soil Survey.
The survey flags most of this ground as dusty too, and high wind can lift dust off bare, disturbed soil. In Benton County, the Benton Clean Air Agency requires a soil destabilization notification before soil-disturbing work starts. Benton County and its cities want a copy of that form before they issue permits.
Call or text for a written quote. We work about 50 miles around Sunnyside across the Yakima Valley and the Tri-Cities.
(509) 439-2533From the first call or text to the finished work, here is how it goes.
Call or text (509) 439-2533 about the job. Let us know where the property is and what you need done.
We look over the site and the ground. We check the access, and what has to come out or come in.
You get a written quote that spells out the work. The job goes on the schedule when you say go.
Before any digging starts, a locate request goes to 811 so buried utility lines get marked. Washington law calls for it two to 10 full business days ahead.
We do the work the quote describes and haul off what has to go. The ground is left ready for what comes next, like a crop or a shop.
Common questions about site preparation around Sunnyside and the towns out to Yakima and the Tri-Cities. If yours is not here, call or text and ask.
We regrade worn gravel driveways and build new ones. We also grade yards and lots so water moves away from the house.
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We cut and level building pads for shops, garages, houses and campers, with a compacted gravel base. When you want a concrete slab, we pour that too.
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We pull old orchards out of the ground, stumps and roots included. The wood gets piled or hauled away, and the ground is left clear for what comes next.
Learn MoreThe company that cuts your pad can also build the carport or shop that sits on it. One call covers both halves of the project.
When a job needs gravel brought in or debris taken out, we haul it on our own trailer. Extra dirt from a cut can go out the same way.
We look at the job before we price it. The quote comes to you in writing, with the work spelled out.
A driveway grading guide for gravel driveways in the Lower Yakima Valley: the crown, washboard, potholes, when to regrade and market cost ranges.
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House demolition cost in Washington: published ranges for Yakima and the Tri-Cities, plus what asbestos surveys, permits and haul-off add to a teardown.
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Orchard removal cost per acre in the Yakima Valley: published WSU figures, what drives the price, burn permit rules and what the ground becomes next.
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Shop pad costs in the Yakima Valley: published ranges for gravel pads and concrete slabs, what drives the price, and permits. Call or text (509) 439-2533.
Read more →Tell us about the job and where it is, and we will set a time to look at it. Call or text (509) 439-2533 or use the form, and the quote comes to you in writing.
Tell us about the teardown, dirt work, pad or building project and where it is. We look at the job and put the quote in writing.