Wide stripped and levelled field ready for building layout

Central Indiana

Site Grading & Land Grading in Central Indiana

Site grading sets the ground to the shape a build or a property needs: level where things sit, falling where water has to go. On Grade grades sites and land across Putnam County, Indiana, Hendricks and Boone counties and the west side of Indianapolis.

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Based in Greencastle, Indiana
One crew, first cut to final grade

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Site Preparation · Central Indiana

Site Preparation across Central Indiana

Grading is the part of groundwork that decides how a site behaves for the rest of its life. A house pad that is a little high sheds water; a little low and every storm finds the basement. A drive that falls the right way stays put; one that holds water in the middle ruts and washes. We take the ground from where it is to where the plan, or the owner, needs it, and we check it as we go.

Our base is Greencastle in Putnam County, Indiana, and the work runs east along the I-70, US-40 and US-36 corridors through Hendricks County and up into Boone County around Zionsville, Whitestown and Lebanon. The ground across that stretch is mostly glacial clay that drains slowly, which is why grade is rarely just about looks here. Get the fall right and the clay is manageable; get it wrong and water sits.

Land grading covers a lot of different jobs: a building site cut to a civil plan, a lot shaped for a new house, acreage leveled for a barn or an arena, a field corner reshaped so it stops holding water. The machines are the same. What changes is how tight the tolerance has to be and who sets it.

Site grading vs. land grading

People use the two terms loosely, and both are fine. In practice site grading usually means grading for something being built: elevations come from a site plan or a builder's stakes, the pad has to be within a tolerance, and fill under a structure gets placed in lifts and compacted. Land grading tends to mean shaping open ground: leveling a rough field, reshaping a yard, cutting a swale across acreage.

Both start the same way, with the topsoil stripped and kept, and both finish the same way, with topsoil back on and the surface left smooth enough to seed. The middle is where they differ. If you are not sure which you need, our guide to excavation vs. grading explains how the stages fit together.

Who has a say before the ground is moved

Once land disturbance reaches one acre or more, IDEM's construction stormwater general permit applies, and erosion controls need to be in before the grading starts. Towns with their own stormwater programs add a local review. Whitestown, for one, routes stormwater plans through the Boone County Surveyor's office and issues final approval from its own Engineering Department.

Drains are the other check. In Boone County the Surveyor supervises regulated drains, and a drainage permit is required before new structures, additions or ponds inside the county drainage jurisdiction. Hendricks County and Putnam County, Indiana have their own surveyors' offices for the same kind of question. And anything that cuts into the ground needs an Indiana 811 request at least two full working days ahead. We tell every owner to confirm with the office that covers the parcel.

Grading that holds up on clay

Central Indiana clay is good material when it is placed right and poor material when it is not. Fill pushed into place wet and left to settle on its own moves for a couple of winters, and anything built on it moves too. Fill under a slab or pad goes down in thin lifts, each one compacted before the next, at a moisture the soil will actually pack at.

The same clay is why we would rather wait a few days than grade in mud. Wet clay smears, seals and ruts, and the surface you leave behind is not the surface you get after it dries. The finish grading and seeding stage depends on that rough grade being right underneath.

Graded building pad beside a long dark pole barn with equipment on site

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Site Preparation & Construction Site Work: Clearing, stripping, cutting and rough grading a site so the builder can start on schedule.

What it includes

What the job covers

Rough grading building sites to the plan elevations
House pads, pole barn pads and shop pads cut and filled
Cut and fill balanced on site wherever the soil allows
Swales and positive drainage shaped away from buildings
Land leveling on acreage, fields and lots
Topsoil respread and finish grading for seed
Grade checked with a laser as the work progresses

Call (317) 203-8928 Free Estimate

Central Indiana counties

County pages in Central Indiana

County

Hendricks County, Indiana

The western edge of the Indianapolis build-out — Avon, Plainfield, Brownsburg and Danville — and the closest dense market to Greencastle.

See the county County

Boone County, Indiana

Zionsville, Whitestown and Lebanon, where new residential ground and the Whitestown industrial corridor are both still being cut.

See the county County

Putnam County, Indiana

Home ground. Greencastle, Cloverdale, Bainbridge, Fillmore and Reelsville — the county the equipment sits in overnight.

See the county

Communities nearby

Greencastle Danville Brownsburg Avon Zionsville Lebanon

How it goes

From the first call to the final grade.

Call or text Travis

The address, roughly what you are trying to do, and when you need it.

A look at the ground

Most jobs need a look. Travis will arrange a time to come out, walk the ground with you and give you a number.

Located before digging

Anything that breaks ground gets located through Indiana 811 first.

One crew, start to finish

The person who strips the site is the person who sets the final grade.

On the ground

Photos of the work.

Every photograph on this site is a job On Grade did. Nothing is stock and nothing is staged. See more work. Or read about the full site preparation service.

Stripped and levelled ground behind a metal building, staked and ready

Rough-graded house site with the finished home standing at the back of the lot

Vertical cut into a snow-covered bank with a levelled working platform graded out below

Levelled and compacted pad with materials staged at the edge

Questions about this work

Site Preparation: questions

Not seeing yours? Call or text (317) 203-8928 and ask Travis, or read the guides.

Answers & guides

All guides

What does a site grading contractor do?

A site grading contractor shapes the ground to set elevations: stripping topsoil, cutting high ground, filling and compacting low ground, shaping swales and drainage, and leaving the surface ready for building or for topsoil and seed. On Grade does this for houses, pads, drives and acreage.

Do I need a permit to grade land in Indiana?

It depends on the size of the job and where it is. Disturbing an acre or more brings in IDEM's construction stormwater general permit, and towns and counties have their own rules on top. Ask the planning or building office that covers your parcel, and the county surveyor if a regulated drain is nearby.

Which areas does On Grade cover for site grading?

Putnam County, Indiana, where we are based in Greencastle, plus Hendricks and Boone counties and the west side of Indianapolis. Call (317) 203-8928 with the address if you are unsure.

Can grading be done in winter in Indiana?

Sometimes. Frozen ground can be worked for rough cuts, but frozen or wet soil should never go in as fill under a structure, and seed will not take until the right season. A lot of winter grading is planned so the finish work lands in spring or fall.

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