Excavation & Grading in Ottawa

What grading actually fixes

Grading is the work of setting the shape of the ground so water goes where you want it. On most Ottawa properties that means moving runoff away from the foundation, away from the garage threshold, and off the driving surface toward a ditch, swale or catch basin.

When grading is wrong, water sits. Water that sits soaks into the granular base, freezes, expands, and lifts whatever is above it. That is the mechanism behind heaved driveways, spring potholes, sunken sections and cracked aprons — and no amount of quality asphalt on top will stop it.

Base depth and compaction

Under a paved surface, granular base does two jobs: it spreads vehicle loads out over the subgrade, and it gives water somewhere to drain instead of pooling directly under the pavement. Both jobs depend on the base being the right depth for the traffic and being compacted properly, in lifts, rather than dumped and levelled.

Compaction is where corners get cut, because it is invisible the day the job finishes and only shows up two winters later. We compact in lifts and set the finished grade before anything gets paved.

Excavation on its own

Not every grading job ends in asphalt. We also do standalone site prep and excavation — building up a gravel driveway or parking area, correcting a low spot that floods every spring, preparing a base for interlock or a shed pad, or stripping out a failed surface so a property can be reassessed before committing to a full rebuild.

What's included

• Excavation of existing surface and unsuitable material, hauled off site
• Subgrade inspection and compaction before any base goes in
• Granular base placed and compacted in lifts to the depth the job requires
• Finished grades set to move water away from buildings and off the surface
• Low-spot correction, soft-spot removal and washout repair
• Machine and hand grading in tight areas equipment cannot reach
• Full cleanup and haul-away of excavated material