Grading Contractor in Louisville & Surrounding KY

Grading Contractor from E & J General Contracting — a family-owned crew working across Louisville, Bullitt County, and central Kentucky.

About Our Grading Work

Rough grade, finish grade, drainage correction, and lot leveling. Water flows where you want it — away from the house.

Bad grading is the root cause of most wet basements, cracked driveways, and dead lawns we see. We fix that. From rough grading a fresh lot to dialing in a finish grade for sod, we get the slopes right the first time.

Who This Is For

  • Homeowners with standing water, washout, or a wet basement
  • Builders needing a building pad cut and rough graded
  • New construction sites needing finish grade for landscaping or sod
  • Anyone planning a driveway, patio, or shop and needs the pad right

What's Included

  • Site evaluation — we walk it before we quote it
  • Cut and fill calculations
  • Rough grading with skid steers and dozers
  • Finish grading with box blade or laser rake
  • Swales, berms, and surface drainage
  • Topsoil spread when imported or stockpiled on-site

Our Process

  • Read the land

    Walk the site after a rain if we can. Find where water collects, where it should go, and what's holding it back.

  • Strip & stockpile

    Pull topsoil aside, stockpile separately — we'll spread it back at finish grade.

  • Cut & fill

    Move dirt to where it belongs. Compact fill in lifts so it doesn't settle out.

  • Finish & seed

    Box-blade finish grade ready for sod, seed, or pavement. Straw or matting on slopes.

Equipment We Run

  • Bobcat skid steers with grading buckets
  • Mini & mid-size dozers
  • Laser level & grade lath
  • Box blades & power rakes
  • Compactors

Pricing

Small lot regrade and drainage correction typically runs $1,500–$5,000. Full lot rough grading on a quarter acre runs $3,000–$8,000 depending on cut/fill volume and haul-in topsoil. Finish grading for sod averages $0.10–$0.25 per square foot.

Grading FAQs

  • How much slope do I need away from my house?

    Code minimum is 6 inches of fall in the first 10 feet — about 5%. We aim for that or better. Most wet-basement calls we get trace back to grade pitched the wrong way.

  • Can you fix standing water in my yard?

    Almost always — it's some combination of regrading, swales, French drains, or downspout extensions. We'll diagnose it first, then quote.

  • What's the difference between rough and finish grade?

    Rough grade gets the dirt within 1–2 inches of final elevation and overall shape. Finish grade is the final smoothing pass — within a half inch — ready for sod, seed, or pavement.

  • Do I need a permit to regrade my property?

    In Jefferson, Bullitt, and Nelson counties, simple yard regrading usually doesn't need a permit. Anything that changes drainage onto a neighbor or affects a floodplain does. We'll let you know.

Where We Do Grading Work

Grading crews run across Jefferson, Bullitt, Nelson, Hardin, and Meade counties. Pick your city for local soil, permit, and pricing notes.

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