Buncombe County · about an hour west of our Union Mills shop
Excavation & Grading Contractor in Asheville, NC
Buncombe County ground makes contractors from flatter parts of the state nervous, and honestly, it should. Steep wooded lots, narrow switchback driveways, shallow rock, hillsides that move water fast the second it starts raining. That's just what Asheville-area work looks like. Clearing a homesite off a mountain road is a genuinely different job than clearing a lot in a subdivision, and it gets priced and planned that way.
Most of what we get called for in the Asheville area is site work on sloped parcels — clearing a building site, cutting or rebuilding a driveway that a truck can actually climb, benching a pad into a hillside, and getting the runoff under control before it takes the new cut with it.
We are based in Union Mills and run into the Asheville area regularly. If you are on a steep or awkward lot and other contractors have been vague about it, that is the conversation we are good at.
Working in Asheville
What the ground here is actually like
Terrain & soils
Buncombe County sites are dominated by slope. Expect thin soil over weathered rock on ridges and upper slopes, deeper colluvial soil in the coves and hollows, and a lot of it sitting at angles where any exposed cut will start moving in the first heavy rain. Driveway grades are the recurring constraint — many older mountain drives were cut steeper than anything a concrete truck or a moving van will attempt today. Storm runoff is concentrated and fast, so culvert sizing and outlet armoring matter far more here than they do on gentler ground.
Permits & local rules
Land-disturbing work in Buncombe County is administered through the county's Erosion Control program, and properties inside Asheville city limits fall under the city's own stormwater and steep slope requirements. Buncombe has a steep slope ordinance that adds review for development on the grades common here, and septic permits go through Buncombe County Environmental Health. We identify which jurisdiction and which triggers apply to your parcel during the estimate.
Areas we cover around Asheville
- Leicester and Sandy Mush
- Fairview and Reems Creek
- Candler and Enka
- Weaverville and Barnardsville
- Arden and Skyland
- Swannanoa and the Blue Ridge Parkway corridor
Services
What we do most in Asheville
Ordered by what this market actually calls about. Every service we offer is available in Asheville and Buncombe County.
Land Clearing
Brush, trees, stumps and undergrowth cleared and hauled so your lot is ready to build, farm or enjoy.
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Excavation
Land clearing, grading and site prep for residential and commercial projects across the foothills.
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Driveway Repair
Washed out, rutted, potholed or draining wrong — we rebuild gravel driveways so they shed water and stay put.
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Erosion Control
Is rain washing away your property? Culverts, ditches, swales, riprap and resloping that send water where it belongs.
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Grading
Rough grading, finish grading and resloping that puts water where it belongs and gives you a surface you can build on.
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Asheville questions
Do you work on steep lots around Asheville?
Steep ground is most of what we do in Buncombe County, so yes. Steep lots need benching, retaining and a drainage plan worked out before the cut rather than after, and they need equipment that can get in and work safely on grade. We walk the site and tell you plainly what the slope means for the schedule and the cost.
How much does land clearing cost in Asheville?
Lightly wooded ground in the Asheville area commonly runs about $2,000 to $4,000 per acre, and densely wooded steep parcels with stump removal often run $4,000 to $9,000 per acre. Slope and access drive the number more than tree density does — a parcel you can only reach by a narrow existing drive costs more to clear than an open one, regardless of what is growing on it.
Can you fix a steep gravel driveway that keeps washing out?
That is one of our most common Buncombe County calls. The fix is rarely just more gravel. Steep drives need a proper crown or in-slope, water bars or cross culverts to break the run up before the flow gains speed, ditching alongside, and a stone gradation that will actually stay on grade. We address all of it together.
Do I need a permit to clear or grade land in Asheville?
Possibly. Buncombe County requires erosion control approval for land disturbance at or above its threshold, the City of Asheville has its own stormwater rules inside city limits, and steep slope provisions can trigger review on smaller projects. We confirm which apply to your address before any ground moves.
Working on something in Asheville?
We are about an hour west of our Union Mills shop. Call (828) 375-7556 and we will come look at it.