Land Clearing
Land clearing for overgrown lots, fence lines and acreage across Southeast Louisiana. We take out the underbrush and small trees, then dig the stumps and root balls out with the excavator.
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Ground in New Orleans does not forgive a bad grade. Roughly half the city sits below sea level, so rain has nowhere to run on its own. It waits on the pumps. A low back yard in Gentilly or Lakeview holds water for days after a storm. An old slab pushes runoff toward the house. A burned or storm-damaged building ties up a lot nobody can use. New Orleans lots are tight, too. Older lots often run about 30 feet wide by 120 feet deep, with the house close to both lines. Dirt work in New Orleans is as much about access as it is about digging.
We are J-Rod's Dirt Work, based in Hammond, LA. The crew that quotes your job is the crew on the machines. New Orleans sits inside our service area. We come down I-55 across the Manchac swamp, then east on I-10 into the city. Most of our Orleans Parish work is demolition of blighted and storm-damaged structures. We also handle concrete removal and fill dirt for low lots. Small lot grading comes with most of those jobs. Our machines are a Kubota SVL75-3 tracked skid steer and a Case excavator. Small equipment or big equipment, we bring what fits the lot. Estimates are free, residential or commercial. No job too big or too small.
Tell us about the job and the ground. We will get right back to you.
Elevation changes fast here. The old high ground follows the river levee and the Metairie and Gentilly ridges. The French Quarter reaches about 17 feet above sea level at its highest natural point. Back away from the river and the ground drops. Parts of Broadmoor sit 3 to 6 feet below sea level. Parts of Lakeview and Gentilly sit 5 to 8 feet below. Parts of New Orleans East sit 6 to 12 feet below. Two lots on the same block can drain very differently. We check grades before we move dirt.
Soil is the other half of the story. Near the river you get sand and silt. Farther back you get soft clay and peat left by old marsh. When peat drains and dries out, it breaks down and packs down. That is a big reason the ground here keeps sinking. City figures put the average at about a fifth of an inch a year. The city also drains by pump. The system moves roughly half an inch of rain an hour once the pipes fill. Heavier rain stands in the street until the pumps catch up. Fill gets placed with all of that in mind.
Low lots take fill dirt hauled in and spread. Raising a back yard a few inches can move water away from the slab. Once the fill is down, grading the surface gives that water somewhere to go. Old driveways, patios, sidewalks, and cracked slabs come out first. Broken concrete holds water and blocks any new grade. New Orleans East lots run wider. Most of that ground was built out in the 1960s and 1970s. Many of those subdivisions were laid out around man-made lakes that help drainage. Those yards give a machine room to work and stockpile dirt.
Structure work runs differently inside the parish. A demolition permit comes through Safety and Permits. If the property sits in a local historic district, the HDLC reviews the demolition first. Older buildings in National Register districts outside HDLC go to the City Council. The city's Property Viewer shows which rules land on your address. Tight lots in Bywater or the Lower Ninth Ward change the approach. Access from the street decides the machine and the order of work. We take the structure down and haul the debris off. What is left is a clean lot. If a build follows, our building pad work picks it up.
Communities and areas we serve around New Orleans: Gentilly, Lakeview, Mid-City, Broadmoor, Bywater, Lower Ninth Ward, New Orleans East, Little Woods, Village de L'Est, Algiers Point.
New Orleans ZIP codes served: 70117, 70119, 70122, 70127, 70131.
Free estimates throughout Orleans Parish and the surrounding area.
(985) 500-4145 Land clearing for overgrown lots, fence lines and acreage across Southeast Louisiana. We take out the underbrush and small trees, then dig the stumps and root balls out with the excavator.
Learn More We take down houses, mobile homes, sheds, barns and small commercial buildings. The debris gets loaded out and hauled off, so the lot is clear when we leave.
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Excavation covers cuts and fills, soft or bad material dug out, and ditches and drainage swales. A Case excavator and a Kubota SVL75-3 skid steer do the work within 50 miles of Hammond.
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We sell fill dirt and haul it to your property. Loads get dumped where you want them, spread out, and packed down so the ground holds.
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We build new gravel driveways and gravel roads from the subgrade up, with base rock under the top rock. We also re-gravel and regrade older drives that have gone to potholes and soft spots.
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Land grading shapes your ground so water runs off it instead of standing on it. We handle yard leveling and lot grading within a 50 mile radius of Hammond.
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We take a lot from raw ground to a pad you can build on. Fill placed and compacted in lifts, rough grade set, and access roughed in for the trucks.
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We break out old driveways, slabs, patios, sidewalks and footings and haul the pieces off. The ground gets graded smooth or built back up with fill.
Learn MoreA few of the questions we hear most around New Orleans. If yours is not here, call or text and ask.
Call or text (985) 500-4145, or send the form and we will get back to you. Tell us the address and what the ground needs, and we will set up a free estimate.
Tell us about the job and the ground. We will get right back to you.