Basements, footings and voids filled and compacted properly, and the surface graded to the levels and falls your design needs. Filled in layers rather than tipped in and hoped over.
Backfill that has been tipped into a void and levelled off looks identical on day one to backfill that has been placed and compacted in layers. The difference shows up over the next two winters as settlement, and by then the slab or the drive on top of it has cracked and the cause is invisible.
Proper backfill goes in in layers of a depth the compaction plant can actually work through, each one compacted before the next, using material that is suitable rather than whatever was nearest. Where the fill is under something structural, the specification comes from the engineer and testing may be required.
We work to the layer depth and record it. Suitable material often comes from concrete crushing on the same site, voids are created under excavation, and the finished plot is handed over under site clearing.
Recent work
How It Runs
Four stages, priced before stage two
Agree the spec
Material, layer depth and compaction.
Place in layers
Each layer compacted before the next.
Form the levels
Graded to the design levels and falls.
Record it
Layers and levels recorded for the file.
Water
Get the grading falls right or the water stays
Grading is mostly about where water goes. A surface that falls the wrong way by a small amount will pond, and against a building that means water sitting at the base of a wall for years. It is also a neighbour issue, because ground regraded to shed water usually sheds it somewhere, and that somewhere should not be the plot next door.
Falls are set from the design where there is one and from common sense where there is not: away from buildings, toward a drainage point that exists, and at a gradient that will survive a little settlement. We set them, check them with a level rather than by eye, and tell you where the water is going.
Drainage runs and soakaways sit outside our scope and we will say so rather than imply otherwise. Surfaces above are removed under driveway removal, the void beneath is formed under excavation, and the wider works sit under site work.
Because compaction plant only works through so much material. Tipped fill looks the same on day one and settles over the following winters, cracking whatever was built on it.
Often yes, and it saves both disposal and import. Where an engineer has specified imported stone we follow the specification instead of substituting.
We grade to falls that shed water away from buildings toward a drainage point. Installing drainage runs and soakaways is a different trade and we say so rather than implying we cover it.
Properly compacted fill settles very little. That is the whole reason for placing it in layers, and it is why we record the layers rather than just the finished level.
Yes, and it is worth raising early. Regraded ground sheds water somewhere, and it should not be onto the plot next door.
Customer reviews
What Hartford owners say about their demolition contractor
