Clearing, grading, and pad preparation that get a site ready to build — with our own equipment and operators.
What We Provide
Clearing, grading, pads, and compaction — here is how we get a raw site ready for buildings, equipment, and underground utilities.
Below the Surface
Tucson dirt does not behave like the dirt in the textbook. What sits under a local pad — and what we do about it — decides whether the building on top performs for decades.
Dig almost anywhere in the Tucson basin and you will eventually meet caliche — a naturally cemented layer of calcium-carbonate hardpan that can run from a few inches to several feet thick and turn up hard enough to stop a blade. Caliche does not care about the schedule: it has to be ripped, hammered, or hauled, and a crew that mobilizes with the wrong iron loses days waiting on the right machine. Because we own our Cat fleet, we move from blade to ripper to breaker on the same mobilization, and the same experience carries into our trenching and excavation work when utilities have to cross it.
The other half of desert earthwork is what the geotechnical report says about the soil that stays. Local sites routinely carry pockets of expansive clay that swells when it finally gets wet, or loose alluvium that collapses under load. The standard remedy is over-excavation: remove the unsuitable material below pad grade to the depth the geotech calls out, moisture-condition it, and rebuild the pad in controlled lifts of engineered fill. It is unglamorous work that no one sees at the ribbon cutting — and it is the difference between a slab that stays flat and one that does not. Our grading and backfill and compaction crews are the same company, so the over-excavation and the rebuild are sequenced as one operation.
Compaction is verified, not assumed. Before fill goes in, the geotechnical lab establishes the soil's proctor — its maximum dry density at optimum moisture content, per ASTM D698 or D1557 — and a field technician then tests each compacted lift with a nuclear density gauge against that benchmark. Under slabs, footings, and paving, the spec typically requires 95 percent of maximum dry density. A pad at 90 percent looks identical to a pad at 95 the day it is finished; the difference shows up two years later as settlement cracks and doors that stop latching. We place fill in lifts sized to the compactor, water to optimum moisture, and schedule testing lift by lift, so a failing test means re-working one layer — not tearing out a finished pad.
Just as important is who owns which grade. Rough grade brings the site to within roughly a tenth of a foot of plan — the surface that utilities, foundations, and paving sections are built from. Finish grade is the tighter final surface directly under slabs, hardscape, and landscape. On hard-bid work, the line between the two is a classic source of trade disputes; our proposals state exactly which grades we deliver and certify, and on design-build projects we typically hold both, along with the site civil infrastructure the finished grades drain to.
Dust, Stormwater & Monsoon
In Pima County, moving dirt is a regulated activity. The contractors who treat dust and stormwater as afterthoughts are the ones whose sites get shut down.
Fugitive dust is enforced here, not just written down. Before dust-generating earthwork begins on most commercial sites, the Pima County Department of Environmental Quality (PDEQ) requires an air-quality activity permit backed by a dust-control plan — water trucks or other suppressants working the disturbed area and haul routes, trackout control where trucks leave the site, limits on visible emissions, and a plan for shutting operations down when the wind outruns the water. PDEQ inspectors patrol active sites, and a citation can stop the job while everyone argues about whose fault it was. We build the permit, the plan, and the water truck into our scope from the first load ticket, so dust compliance is never a change order.
Stormwater has its own paperwork. A project that disturbs one acre or more — or that is part of a larger common plan of development — needs coverage under Arizona's AZPDES Construction General Permit, which means a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan. The SWPPP defines the best management practices on the ground: a stabilized construction entrance, silt fence and fiber rolls at the downstream perimeter, inlet protection, and a concrete washout — and it requires documented inspections on a routine schedule and after storm events, from first disturbance through final stabilization.
Then there is the monsoon. From roughly mid-June into September, an afternoon storm can drop an inch of rain on a graded site in under an hour, and everything about how we stage dirt work anticipates it. We grade to drain from the first pass of the blade instead of leaving low spots to pump out later, keep temporary berms and swales ahead of the storm cells, and protect compacted pads before the weekend — because a soaked, trafficked pad can lose the density it already passed and have to be re-worked. After a significant storm, disturbed areas and BMPs get inspected and documented before heavy equipment rolls again.
Desert sites flip from dust to mud in a single radar echo, and the same grading plan has to work on both days. Summer also means heat: our crews start at 6 a.m. so the heaviest physical work is done before the worst of Tucson's 100-plus-degree afternoons — a schedule that protects both the crew and the compaction moisture we just watered into the fill.
Where It Applies
From Tucson, our site prep crews work commercial pads, industrial yards, and municipal sites across Arizona.
The Design-Build Advantage
We grade the pad with our own Cat fleet and then build on it ourselves — so site prep is sequenced around the underground and the foundations from the start, not handed off between contractors.
Back to UndergroundFAQ
Straight answers on dirt, dust, and density. For the rest of the scope below the slab, start with our underground overview.
On most commercial projects, yes. The Pima County Department of Environmental Quality (PDEQ) requires an air-quality activity permit before dust-generating earthwork begins, supported by a dust-control plan — watering, trackout control, and limits on visible emissions. Enforcement is active, and a violation can stop the job. We carry the permit, the plan, and the water truck as part of our site preparation scope.
Any construction activity that disturbs one acre or more — or that is part of a larger common plan of development — needs coverage under Arizona's AZPDES Construction General Permit, and that means a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan. The SWPPP spells out the best management practices on the ground — stabilized construction entrance, silt fence, inlet protection, concrete washout — and requires documented inspections on a routine schedule and after storm events, from first disturbance through final stabilization.
Before fill goes in, a geotechnical lab establishes the soil's proctor — its maximum dry density at optimum moisture, per ASTM D698 or D1557. A field technician then tests each compacted lift with a nuclear density gauge against that number, and specs under slabs, footings, and paving typically require 95 percent of maximum dry density. Fill that only reaches 90 percent can consolidate later and show up as cracked slabs and settled paving, so we re-work any lift that fails before the next one goes down.
Caliche is the naturally cemented calcium-carbonate hardpan that underlies much of the Tucson basin, sometimes several feet thick and hard enough to stop a blade. The cost drivers are how thick it is, how shallow it sits, and whether it has to be ripped, hammered, or hauled off — the geotechnical report usually tells that story before the first pass. Because we own our excavators, rippers, and breakers, we price caliche from experience instead of padding for the unknown — send us the geotech and request a bid.
Rough grade brings the site to within roughly a tenth of a foot of the plan elevations — the surface that underground utilities, foundations, and paving sections build from. Finish grade is the tighter final surface immediately under slabs, hardscape, and landscape. The line between the two is a common source of disputes between trades, so our proposals state exactly which grades we deliver and certify — and on design-build work we typically carry both.
Yes, with planning. From mid-June into September we grade sites to drain from the first pass, keep temporary berms and swales ahead of the storms, and protect compacted pads so a soaked surface does not have to be rebuilt. After a significant storm, disturbed areas and BMPs are re-inspected and the SWPPP log updated before heavy equipment goes back to work.
More Underground
Explore the rest of our underground scope, or see the full underground overview.
Send the grading plan or walk us through the site. We'll come back with an equipment plan and a realistic dirt schedule.
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