Ground work
Excavating & grading
Drainage, lot grading and access roads, dug with a Kubota excavator and a Takeuchi track loader and left at finish grade.
Standing water, a grade that runs at the foundation, no way in for the truck
Most excavating calls start with something you can see after a rain. A low corner of the yard that stays soggy for days. Ground that slopes toward the house instead of away from it. A back lot with no road a dump truck can use, or soft ground that swallows anything heavy. Scott Keen walks the spot with you first, because the fix depends on where the water is coming from and where it has room to go.
Premier Arbor Services works out of Locust Grove, where Piedmont clay holds water longer than most people expect and hardwood roots wander under everything. Drainage and yard grading are a normal part of the work here, done by the same crew and the same machines that take down the trees.
Orange Kubota excavator arm beside black corrugated culvert pipes on a cleared forest access road
A Kubota excavator, a Takeuchi track loader and a light touch on your lawn
The equipment is their own: a Kubota excavator for digging, trenching and laying pipe, a Takeuchi track loader for moving and spreading material, and dump trucks to haul spoil away or bring fill in. Tracks spread the weight of a machine over more ground, which matters when the ground is a finished yard.
Heavy equipment does not have to wreck a lawn. Their blog covers minimal-impact access, meaning the route in and out is planned before a machine moves, and it covers excavation versus hand digging for site prep. The sensible split is a machine for the long runs and the bulk, and a shovel near roots and anything buried.
The access road in the photo is that kind of work: black corrugated culvert pipe laid on a cleared forest road, with the orange Kubota arm still in the frame.
Finish grade, ready for whatever goes on top
A good excavating job ends with ground you can use. Spoil is hauled off or spread, the surface is shaped to shed water, and the soil is left at finish grade, ready for top soil, seed or sod, or a pad to build on. Premier describes its excavating and custom hardscaping as work meant to add value and curb appeal to a property, and grade is where that starts.
Lots near the water around Lake Anna and Lake of the Woods have little margin for runoff, so the grade is set to carry water away from the house and keep soil from washing downhill. When the ground is right, the same crew can carry on into river rock, mulch and planting beds, with Scott on the job the entire time from the first pass to the last rake.
“He cleared a third of the acre lot in Glen Allen, VA, and left the land in perfect condition.” Matt DiCerbo, Glen Allen, VA