Site Preparation & Building Pads

Site preparation is everything that happens between raw ground and a surface something can be built on: clearing, stripping topsoil, cut and fill to the design level, compaction, erosion control and the access a build needs.

We prepare residential building pads, shop and garage slabs, shed and container bases and small commercial sites across metro Atlanta, working to builders’ levels where they are supplied and setting sensible ones where they are not.

Do you need this?

If any of these sound like your property, this is the service:

• You are building a house, shop, garage or barn and need the ground ready
• A slab, shed or container needs a level compacted base
• A builder needs the lot cleared, cut and stabilised before framing
• Access needs cutting in for concrete and delivery trucks

How the job runs

1. 1

   Clear and strip

   Vegetation removed and organic topsoil stripped and stockpiled. Building on topsoil is building on material that will decompose and settle.

2. 2

   Cut and fill to level

   The pad is cut to design level, with fill placed and compacted in lifts where ground has to be built up.

3. 3

   Compact properly

   Each lift compacted before the next goes on. This is the step that determines whether the slab cracks in five years.

4. 4

   Erosion control

   Silt fence, stabilised entrance and ground cover as required. Most counties inspect for this, and it protects the pad from washing before the slab goes down.

5. 5

   Access and drainage

   A stable entrance for concrete trucks, and surface water directed away from the pad rather than across it.

What affects your price

Why it's different in Georgia

Georgia EPD requires a land disturbance permit for any project disturbing an acre or more, and most metro counties require erosion and sedimentation controls regardless of size. Clay also needs moisture management during compaction — too wet and it will not compact, too dry and it will not bind.