House Pads & Building Pads in Jasper, AL
House pads, shop pads and mobile home pads in Jasper and Walker County, benched into the hill, filled in lifts and compacted to grade. Next door to us in Berry. Free estimates. Call or text (205) 535-6376.
Making a flat place on Walker County ground
Flat ground is scarce around Jasper. Walker County is plateau country cut into narrow valleys, and most lots that come up for sale are on a slope, on a ridge or on reclaimed mine land. A house, a shop or a manufactured home needs a level, firm place to sit, and here that place nearly always has to be made. That is what a pad is.
Replacing an old mobile home with a new one? Start with mobile home removal in Jasper, then the pad.
We build house pads around Jasper and across Walker County, which is next door to us. Most are part cut and part fill. The uphill side is cut down to firm ground with the Cat dozer and the excavator. The downhill side is built up in lifts and compacted as it goes. Spoil off the cut is spread, stacked or hauled, whichever you want. Your slab or foundation crew takes it from there.
Have plans or surveyor's stakes? We build to them. If not, the pad is set so water runs away from the building and the drive comes in at a slope a loaded truck can climb. Estimates are free. Hillside pads cost more than flat ones, and you hear that before work starts. If the lot is still wooded, see land clearing in Jasper first.
What a Jasper pad job covers
- House and manufactured home pads
- Shop, barn and container pads
- Hillside benches cut and filled
- Fill compacted in lifts
- Swales to turn hill water
- Spoil spread, stacked or hauled
Pads on hills and on mined land
Benching a pad into a hill
On a Walker County hillside the pad is a bench. USDA's Sipsey soil, first described in this county, lies on narrow ridgetops and side slopes of 4 to 30 percent, with soft sandstone 20 to 40 inches down. So the cut often reaches rock, which is firm ground to build on but slow to dig. The fill side matters more. It goes on in thin lifts, each one packed, with the old topsoil and roots stripped out from under it first. Then a swale above the cut turns the hill's water before it reaches the pad.
Pads on reclaimed mine land
Walker County's coal history means a building tract near Jasper can turn out to be former mine property. Reclaimed ground has been moved once already. USDA describes mine spoil soil in north Alabama as 40 to 90 percent rock fragments, mostly shale with broken sandstone and coal. It can be loose, and no two corners of a lot are sure to match. A pad on it needs a careful look at what is under the building, corner by corner. We tell you what we find as we cut. If your builder or engineer wants testing, say so early so it can be lined up as the lifts go in.
Permits and the road in
Inside the Jasper city limits, the Building Inspections Department issues building permits and reviews plans, and the Planning Department handles zoning. Outside the cities, ask the Walker County engineering office and the health department what applies to your tract. A job that disturbs an acre or more comes under ADEM's construction stormwater permit. A drive onto Highway 69, Highway 5 or another state route needs an ALDOT permit. Most hill lots also need the drive cut before a concrete truck can reach the pad, so the road in and the pad are planned together.
Real Job Photos
Phone pictures from real jobs, captioned with what they show. See more recent work or read about our full house pads service.
Can you build a house pad on a steep lot in Jasper, AL?
Yes, within what the slope allows. The uphill side is cut to firm ground and the downhill side built up in compacted lifts, with water turned away above the cut. On taller cuts a block or boulder retaining wall may be part of it, and very steep sites can call for an engineer's design.
Is it safe to build a house pad on old strip mine land in Walker County?
It can be done, but the ground needs a hard look first. Reclaimed land is fill, and it can be loose or rocky and change within a few feet. Many owners have an engineer check it before building. We cut down to what is firm, build fill in packed lifts and tell you what we find.
How much does it cost to build a house pad in Jasper, Alabama?
Slope is the big one here, followed by pad size, rock, how much fill is needed and how hard the lot is to reach. A bench on a steep hillside moves far more dirt than a pad on a level lot. See the house pad cost guide, then call or text for a free estimate on your ground.
Do you build shop and barn pads around Jasper and Cordova?
Yes. Shop, barn, pole barn, carport and shipping container pads are built the same way as a house pad, in dirt or gravel, cut, filled and compacted in lifts. Our shop and barn pads page has the details. Tell us the building size and where the doors face.
Jasper and Around
We cover Jasper and the country around it, including:
Forestry Mulching in Jasper
Brush, briars and small timber ground to mulch where they stand. No piles, no hauling.
See the Jasper pageExcavating in Jasper
Footings, trenches, culverts, stumps and the digging jobs that have no name.
See the Jasper pageHouse Demolition in Jasper
Old houses and outbuildings torn down, hauled off, slab out, lot filled and graded.
See the Jasper pageTree Removal in Jasper
Dead, leaning and storm-damaged trees taken down by machine, stumps pulled, ground left level.
See the Jasper pageGravel Driveways in Jasper
Gravel drives and access roads cut in, based, crowned and ditched so they last.
See the Jasper pageAll Services in Jasper
Everything we do in Jasper and Walker County.
Jasper overviewWalker County
Land clearing, mulching and dirt work across Walker County.
County overviewHouse Pads
Pads cut, filled in lifts and compacted to grade for houses, shops and mobile homes.
The full serviceHouse Pads in other places
Need House Pads in Jasper?
Call or text, or send a few details. Estimates are free.