Smooth graded and raked yard in front of a red barn ready for seed

Boone County, Indiana

Yard Grading in Zionsville & Boone County, Indiana

A yard that holds water against the house, ponds in the middle or washes out down a slope usually has a grading problem, not a grass problem. We regrade yards across Zionsville, Whitestown and the rest of Boone County so the water goes where it should.

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

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Seeding & Restoration · Boone County

Seeding & Restoration in Zionsville

Yard grading means reshaping the soil so the surface falls the way the water needs to go: away from the foundation first, then toward a swale, a ditch, a street or a drain that can take it. In Boone County that last part matters, because a lot of residential ground was farmland not long ago and sits fairly flat. With little natural fall to work with, small differences in grade decide whether a yard drains in an hour or holds water for days.

Most calls start with a symptom. Water standing along one side of the house after rain, a soft patch that never dries, mulch beds floating into the lawn, or a slope that is too steep to mow and keeps losing soil. We walk the yard, look at where the water comes from and where it can leave, and then set the new grade from that.

Southeast Boone County drains toward Eagle Creek and its branches, and many Zionsville neighbourhoods back onto a ditch or swale that is part of that system. If the water leaving your yard heads for one of those, it is worth knowing who looks after it before the yard is reshaped.

Call Travis at (317) 203-8928, or send the address and a few photos taken during or just after rain. Those photos show the problem better than any description.

How do I know the grade of my yard

Watch it in the rain. That one habit tells you more than any tool. Where does water go when it leaves the downspouts? Does it run away from the house, or sit along the wall? Is there a low spot where it gathers in the middle of the lawn? If water moves toward the foundation anywhere, the grade there is wrong.

For a closer look, a string line stretched level between two stakes shows the fall: measure down from the string to the ground at each stake and you can see which way the surface drops and roughly how much. Do it in a few directions from the house. We do the same thing with a laser level on site, then mark where the soil needs to come off and where it needs to go on.

How to grade a yard with a slope

A sloped yard is not the problem on its own. The trouble comes when a slope sends water at the house, or is so steep that grass cannot hold it. The fix is usually a combination: a gentle fall away from the foundation, a shallow swale across the slope to catch the water above the house and carry it around the side, and the steepest section eased back so it can be mowed and seeded.

Order matters. The rough shape is cut with the subsoil, the topsoil goes back over it, and only then does the finish grade get set. Purdue Extension's guidance on seeding a lawn says to avoid working soil while it is wet, because it clods, and to let it settle before the final rake and the seed. On Boone County clay that advice saves a lot of trouble. More detail is in our yard grading and drainage guide.

Drains, easements and the neighbours

Boone County's regulated drains are supervised by the County Surveyor, and the Surveyor's office does not allow fences, trees and similar structures inside a Regulated Legal Drain Easement. Inside the county drainage jurisdiction, new structures, additions and ponds need a drainage permit first, to make sure flow is not blocked and the neighbours are not flooded. Inside Zionsville town limits, ask the town as well.

Regrading a yard should never move the problem next door. We grade to the path water already takes off the property, not across a lot line, and where a yard needs more than a reshaped surface, the answer may be tile or a catch basin. Our drainage and culvert work covers that side.

Tracked machine with a finish attachment working a levelled yard

Main service page

Seeding, Straw & Site Restoration: The last pass: shaping topsoil, seed and straw, and leaving the ground looking like nobody dug it up.

What it includes

What the job covers

Regrading around the foundation so the ground falls away from the house
Reshaping swales between lots so water has a clear path
Filling low spots that pond and cutting high spots that block flow
Reworking slopes that are too steep to mow or keep washing
Topsoil spread and raked to a smooth finish grade
Seed and straw on the finished ground

Call (317) 203-8928 Free Estimate

Boone County towns

Town pages in Boone County

Boone 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

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 seeding & restoration service.

Clean stone edge and finished grade running along a metal building

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

Questions about this work

Seeding & Restoration: questions

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

Answers & guides

All guides

How much does it cost to grade a yard in Boone County?

It depends on how much soil has to move, whether it can be moved within the yard or new topsoil has to come in, how easy it is to get a machine in, and how much seed and straw the finished area needs. Wet clay slows everything. Travis looks at the yard and gives you a price for that yard, not a figure from a list.

Can you regrade the yard of a finished house in Zionsville?

Yes. Most of our yard grading is on lived-in property, where the grade has settled since the build or was never quite right. We work around the house, drive, beds and trees, and the cleanup and seeding are part of the job.

When is a good time to regrade and seed a yard in central Indiana?

Grading can happen whenever the ground is dry enough to work. For seeding, Purdue Extension puts the optimum window in late summer into early fall, so a yard regraded in summer can be seeded at the right time. Spring work is possible, but the grass has less time to root before summer heat.

My yard drains into a county ditch. Do I need permission to regrade?

Call the Boone County Surveyor's office before you change anything near a regulated drain. They can tell you whether the ditch is regulated, where the easement runs and whether your plans need a drainage permit. Inside Zionsville, ask the town too.

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