We build dirt pads in Florence, SC for houses, mobile homes, shops, barns and sheds. You have a spot picked for a new home or shop, but the ground there sits low or runs uneven. A dirt pad fixes that with flat, raised ground, and it starts with the soft topsoil coming off. Every estimate is free, and we give it on site after looking over the ground you want to build on.
Our pad work is mainly residential, and the pad is one piece of the dirt work on a lot. Leveling a whole yard or fixing a lot that holds water falls under grading and site prep. The track skid steer does most of the spreading and finish grading, and the mini excavator moves the heavier dirt. We build pads around Florence and out to Darlington, Marion, Lake City and the rural ground between.
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First the topsoil, roots and stumps come off the footprint, because that soft material settles later under a building. Then we cut the high side down and move that dirt over to fill the low side. Fill comes in next, small amounts on our dump trailer and truck loads we line up for a full pad. We shape the fill in layers so it settles more evenly across the whole pad.
The top of the pad ends up flat and a few inches above the ground around it. The ground falls away from the pad on every side, so rain runs off instead of pooling around it. We size the pad wider than the building, which leaves working room around the edges. If a builder, installer or engineer has compaction specs or a soil report, we build the pad to that plan.
Mobile homes are nearly one in five Florence County homes and over a third in Marion County, per Census data. The federal installation standard wants firm undisturbed soil or fill compacted to at least 90 percent of maximum relative density. Grass, roots, twigs and wood scraps have to come out wherever the footings will go. The ground must slope away from the home at least half an inch per foot for the first ten feet.
Under the state Manufactured Housing Board rule, footings sit on firm undisturbed soil or on controlled fill free of grass and organic material, bearing at least 1,000 pounds per square foot. The installer sets and levels the home on its piers, and the pad under it is our part. Florence County's mobile home permit asks if any part of the parcel touches a flood plain, so check that early. The mobile home site prep guide covers the whole lot, and mobile home demolition clears an old unit first.
A house pad starts with the plan from your builder or engineer, which sets the finished height and footprint. We build the pad to match, and stumps in the footprint get dug out with the mini excavator. If an old house or shed still stands there, demolition and debris haul-off comes first. If the lot is still wooded, land clearing comes before any dirt moves on the pad.
Pads for shops, barns and sheds get the same steps, scaled to the size of the building. When the building goes on a concrete slab, our part of the job ends at the dirt. We leave the pad flat at the height on the plan, and a concrete contractor pours the slab. A shed or barn without a slab still gets a flat top with fall on every side.
A pad can need a permit, depending on how much ground the work disturbs and whether it touches a wetland. The state Department of Environmental Services counts filling low areas as land disturbance, and its permit starts at one acre. Florence County has its own Stormwater and Land Disturbance Application for sites under one acre, with no application fee. Fill in a wetland that counts as federal water needs a Section 404 permit from the Army Corps of Engineers.
Any digging on the lot starts with an SC811 locate request at least three business days ahead. That count skips the day the ticket is filed, along with weekends and holidays. HomeGuide puts fill dirt at $4 to $15 per ton delivered, and the fill dirt cost guide breaks it down. Have the building size and any plans from your builder or installer ready, then ask for a free on-site look.
From the first walk of the property to the last pass of the grade, here is exactly how it goes.
We come see the actual job first: the structure, the brush, the ground under it, and how equipment gets in. Demo and land work price off what is really out there.
You get a free, no-obligation quote with a real number and a real plan: what comes down or gets cleared, where the debris goes, and when. It holds unless the scope changes.
The equipment shows up when we said and the job runs the way we quoted it: teardown, clearing, digging, grading. If something unexpected turns up, you hear about it right away, not on the bill.
When the work is done we go over the property together. Debris hauled the way we agreed, grades draining the right way, the site left clean. Done means you say it is done.
Common questions about dirt pads across Florence & the Pee Dee. Don't see yours? Give us a call and ask.
We grade lots, level rough yards and get home and mobile home sites ready around Florence. Free on-site estimates.
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We take down single-wide and double-wide mobile homes around Florence, haul the debris off in our dump trailer and level the old pad.
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We handle residential excavation around Florence with a mini excavator and a track skid steer. Root digs, buried debris, pad cuts and low spots that hold water.
View DetailsThe house comes down, the debris leaves on the trailer, and the lot gets graded flat. The same people handle the whole sequence, start to finish.
A mini excavator, track skid steer, tractor and dump trailer, matched to residential lots and rural acreage. Big enough for real work, small enough to spare your yard.
We look at the property in person and price what is really there. The estimate is free, and it holds unless the scope changes.
Based in Florence, covering Darlington, Hartsville, Sumter, Marion, Lake City and the towns between. Most jobs sit within an hour of home base.
Fill dirt prices in South Carolina per yard, per ton and per truckload, how many yards a house or mobile home pad takes, and when fill needs a permit.
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Excavation cost in South Carolina: excavator hourly rates with an operator, price per cubic yard by soil, cost by job and the permits to check first.
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The full site prep sequence for a manufactured home in SC: who does what, what the pad must meet, what each phase costs, and the Florence County steps.
Read more →A structure that needs to come down, an overgrown lot, stumps in the way, ground that holds water, a pad or driveway that needs building? Call or send the form. We come look at the property and hand you a free quote with a real number on it.
Tell us about the job. We will get right back to you.
