How much does land grading cost in Louisiana?

Land grading costs $0.08 to $2.00 per square foot, according to Lawn Love. Homeowners typically pay $770 to $3,000 to grade a lot of 1,000 to 2,000 square feet. Fixr puts a 1,000 square foot regrade at $1,500 to $2,600. A full acre runs $15,800 to $44,535 on Lawn Love’s numbers.

Those are published national ranges. Around Acadiana, heavy clay and wet weeks move the number, and so does every load of dirt. A real number for your ground needs an on-site look.

What does land grading cost per square foot and per acre?

Lawn Love puts land grading at $0.08 to $2.00 per square foot, with an average of $1.40. Fixr says to expect about $1 to $2 per square foot when no extra fill dirt is needed. Per acre, Lawn Love lists $15,800 to $44,535 and Fixr lists $15,000 to $45,000.

Fixr notes that the average American yard is far less than an acre, and few get regraded whole. Our land grading and yard leveling work fixes low spots, ruts and humps. It also regrades yards that fall toward the house and grades lots before a build.

Both publishers price by area. Fixr’s figures leave out extra fill dirt.

The kind of grading moves the rate. Lawn Love puts fine grading, smoothing the top 1 to 3 inches, at $0.08 to $1.00 per square foot. Rough grading, like shaping a yard for drainage, runs $1.00 to $2.00.

How much does it cost to level a yard or regrade around a house?

Bob Vila, citing Angi and HomeAdvisor, puts yard leveling at $1,006 to $3,237, with a national average of $2,122. Lawn Love lists $835 to $3,000 for regrading around a foundation for drainage. Louisiana’s residential code sets the target: ground falls at least 6 inches in the first 10 feet from the house.

That rule is section R401.3 of the 2021 International Residential Code, which Louisiana uses with state amendments. It says lots “shall be graded to drain surface water away from foundation walls.” Where a lot line or a wall blocks that fall, drains or swales carry the water away instead.

Fixr prices a 1,000 square foot yard by how many feet of slope get leveled. Lawn Love prices common yard jobs.

Some jobs are billed by the hour. Lawn Love lists $40 to $180 an hour, and Fixr puts grading labor at $50 to $150. ProMatcher’s statewide Louisiana average is $92.48 an hour, machine and operator included.

ProMatcher’s Lafayette report rests on a single entry, from November 2020, at $81.51 to $107.05 an hour. A real number for your yard needs an on-site look.

When grading alone cannot move the water, a French drain may be the next step. Those prices are in the French drain cost guide. A gravel drive that needs regrading has its own numbers in the gravel driveway cost guide.

What moves the price of land grading around Acadiana?

Lawn Love says the cost moves with project size, the lay of the land, fill dirt, permits and waste removal. Around Acadiana, heavy clay and rain add their own weight. Every load of dirt hauled in or hauled off adds cost. Access and the grade you need matter too.

Heavy clay. The Iberia soil series is a clay described about 5 miles east of New Iberia. The USDA rates it poorly drained, with very slow permeability, so the grade has to carry water off. In normal years it dries and cracks up to 1 inch wide and 20 inches deep.

Rain. Louisiana averages 57.2 inches of rain a year, per NOAA’s state climate summary. The soil survey puts it near 60 inches by New Iberia. Bob Vila says yard leveling goes best in spring or fall, in dry weather. Here, a wet week stops the work.

Dirt in and dirt out. High spots get cut, and that dirt fills the low spots on the same lot. Lawn Love puts extra fill dirt at $6 to $17 per cubic yard, for the dirt alone. Fixr puts hauling surplus dirt off at $130 to $200 per cubic yard. Fill that comes in gets packed in lifts.

Rough grade and finish grade. Lot grading before a build takes two passes. A rough grade comes first, then a finish grade to the builder’s or surveyor’s numbers. A surveyor or engineer sets those elevations, and Fixr puts an average land survey at $600. A raised house pad is its own job, covered under house pads and mobile home pads.

Access. Lawn Love says the cost depends on how easily excavators, trucks and heavy equipment can enter the property. A back yard behind a narrow gate takes longer than an open lot. Brush and small trees come off first, and those prices are in the land clearing cost per acre guide.

Can you grade your yard yourself?

For a small spot, yes. Lawn Love says hand tools for leveling a patio or walkway area cost around $267. It says to hire a contractor for bigger jobs, because faulty grading causes drainage problems. Bob Vila puts a full DIY leveling job near $1,800.

Renting machines adds up fast, Lawn Love says, and Bob Vila puts it at $265 to $500 a day. Bob Vila says the DIY total is not much less than hiring a pro. Lawn Love reminds DIYers to call 811 before digging. The flood zone permit and the Civil Code water rules apply to a DIY regrade too.

What rules apply when you grade a yard in Louisiana?

Four rules shape a grading job here. The residential code calls for 6 inches of fall in the first 10 feet. The 811 notice goes in before digging, and in a mapped flood zone the floodplain permit comes first. The Civil Code bars making the water burden on the lot below any worse.

Flood zones. Federal flood rules list grading, filling and excavation as development. Communities in the program must require permits for all development. So in a mapped flood zone, the parish or city floodplain permit comes before any dirt moves.

Water and the lot next door. Louisiana Civil Code article 655 says a lower property must receive the surface water that flows naturally from above. That changes when an act of man has created the flow. Article 656 says whoever owns the higher land may not make that burden worse. In plain terms, a regrade may not send more water onto the lot next door.

The 811 notice. Louisiana’s dig law counts the removal of earth in or on the ground as excavation. We put the 811 notice in at least 48 hours ahead and no more than 120 hours ahead. Weekends and holidays do not count.

How do you get a real number for your land grading job?

A real number needs an on-site look. We check how the ground falls and where the water goes. We look at how much dirt the high spots hold and how the machines get in. Then the published ranges above narrow to one price for your job.

We grade with compact excavators and a track loader, from our base in New Iberia. Our yard leveling and lot grading work covers Iberia, Lafayette, St. Martin, Vermilion, St. Landry, Acadia and St. Mary parishes. Estimates are free and done on site. Call (337) 201-0594 or ask for a free land grading estimate.