Recommendations for Grading away from the house?

We have a swell that slopes towards the house. Looks like the ground has settled from where they backfilled after digging out for the foundation.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a landscaping company, etc. for filling in the swell to have it slope away from the house? It may be too much of an area to be filled in and they may have to bring out a bobcat to regrade the side yard.

It will be sloping away from the house towards the street/cul-de-sac so it won't have any impact on any neighbors. I just want to have it done before we do anything with the basement.

The house was built in 1998 and we are the second owners so I think it is too late to have the builders do anything.

 

It may not be too late!!! The yard grading is critical in the building of a home and is engineered. I would call the builder and get a copy of the grading plan or get it from the engineer. Call the builder to come out and call Loudoun County as they take this very seriously and could force the builder to correct the problem if they are not cooperative. Of course if it is something the previous owner did that could be a different ballgame.

All lots are engineered for drainage so when you do extensive landscaping or putting in a pool or decks and other structures be very careful of this. If what you have done changes the drainage negatively you could be responsible for the problems it creates to your neighbors. I don't know how many times I have seen swimming pools create major drainage problems. Personally I always recommend the owner to have the lot re-engineered if it lloks like what is going to be done could cause problems. Of course for some odd reason pool companies and landscape companies will ignore this advice and end up with major problems. Does not make any sense to me!!!!

Bottom line the builder will be responible if proven they did not backfill properly. The builder might try to get out of it so that is why the county is important.

There was a court case many years ago that said a home should structurally last 100 years and a builder had to rebuild a home that was 25 years old because of faulty structural construction, this case was in Dallas Texas.

Lee J Buividas

 

The county will only help if the section your home is located in has not had the bond released. Once it's off bond, the county will tell the homeowner it is their problem, unless the county was notified of the issue prior to bond release.

 

That is what some at the county may tell you, but if you know how to complain you would be surprised what they will do. Seen it happen on several occasions!!

Lee J Buividas

 

Lee: Can you tell me what area of the County Gov't to contact for this? We have a similar problem with our townhouse - the front doesn't drain off, and the water gets caught up under the driveway. When it freezes in winter the driveway raises up more than an inch, which has caused the brick veneer to pull away from the garage, and the driveway to crack. Thanks.

Jim & Clarissa

 

Contact Jim Brown from the county. He's part of the erosion and sediment control. He's been a blessing in helping us get the builder to regrade our back yard a couple times! I just hope it's finally correct! The builder really seems to listen to him. Of course, we're in a section where the bond has not yet been released. It's certainly worth a try. He's quick to come out and very easy to talk to. He also returns calls within the same day (usually within a couple hours).

 

OK, I read the booklet that came from the builder and it says that the homeowner is responsable for the grading after the first year. The house was built in '98.

So if going through the county doesn't pan out, does anyone have any recomendations for grading away from the house? Anyone recommend someplace like Meadows Farms?

 

Please email me for a great recommendation! This guy works for a bigger company (and did an awesome job on our lawn) but does weekend work on the side.

 

Mejrd - would you PM me with the contact info for the individual in your last post?

 

LKelly, mejrd,

I contacted the person that you recomended, he came out and seemed like a nice guy. He gave me a quote and agreed to do the work that weekend. That was the weekend before July 4th. I called him on Saturday when he was supposed to show up and he was in Miami for the 4th of July weekend. OK, 4th of July weekend, no biggie, right?

Well he agreed to do it the following weekend and when I followed up with him again, he said he had to do work for his parent company on that Saturday. OK, side work, lower priority, etc. still understandable. I have tried to contact him for several weeks afterwards and he doesn't answer his phone. So I guess he changed his mind and didn't bother to tell me? I was even going to say "Hey, if you don't have the time or don't want to do it, give me a quote for your company and I can have them do the work." but like I said, I can't get a hold of him. Too bad as my neighbor was interested in having him do some work after I told him about this guy.

Soooo, I don't know. Maybe I will call him again later this week. If you get a hold of him, let me know. I still need the work to be done and I liked his proposal.

If not, anyone else have any suggestions for someone to grade away from the house?

Thanks,
Jim

 

rlab,

Thanks for that update; sorry you haven't had your problem fixed yet, though! Yesterday, I called (or made estimate requests online to) a couple of local landscaping companies. Perfect Landscapes (www.perfectlandscapes.com) responded (by phone) within two hours of my online submission. I was no longer home when they called, so I haven't made an estimate appointment yet. They're BBB members, have a Class A license, and are based in Ashburn. Other than that, I know nothing about them, but it's a decent start!

 

Hi LKelly,

So did you ever follow up with perfect landscapes or anyone else? Any recomendations?

I am getting ready to start calling around to get someone out here.

All I really need is a Window Well put in, some fill dirt to grade away from the house and then Sod or Seed. A couple of sprinkler heads may have to be raised as well.

Anyone else have any recoemndations that they have used recently?

Thanks!

 

I did indeed get estimates from Perfect Landscapes (Chris) and American Lawn Brothers (Ricky). Perfect Landscapes charges $25 for the consultation (applied to the contract cost if you choose them); American Lawn Brothers did not charge. The consultations were very informative, and both companies seemed quite compentent. We have not contracted with either one yet -- still trying to decide if we want to tackle it ourselves.

 

LKelly,

We used August Landscaping for our home, I also believe that Ray has multiple referrals in Southernwalk after he completed our project last fall. (I think you may have stopped by to take a look at our sprinkler system during the spring, corner lot off @ Ridgeway)

The owner's name for August Landscaping is:

Ray Dytmeyer 703-447-4583
http://www.augustlandscaping.com/

He did assist us with drainage issues (neighbor's sump pump), exterior pump and extensive french drains...with all the rain we have had, I can see a major improvement.