House Pads & Building Pads in Northport, AL
House pads, shop pads and mobile home pads in Northport and north Tuscaloosa County, cut to firm ground, filled in lifts and compacted to grade. Free estimates. Call or text (205) 535-6376.
Pads on both sides of Northport
Northport is two kinds of ground. The old part of town sits low on the north bank of the Black Warrior River, with a levee along the water. North of town the land climbs toward Lake Tuscaloosa, wooded and steep, and west out US-82 toward Coker it opens into acreage. A pad on a river lot is mostly about water. A pad on a hill lot is mostly about the cut.
Replacing an old mobile home with a new one? Start with mobile home removal in Northport, then the pad.
We build house pads in and around Northport, which is on our side of the river: coming down from Fayette County, we reach it before we reach Tuscaloosa. The cut side is taken down to firm ground with the Cat dozer and the excavator. The fill side goes up in lifts and is compacted as it goes. Fill that was not packed settles, and it shows up years later as a crack in the slab.
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 workable slope. Estimates are free and priced off the lot. Still in trees? See land clearing in Northport first.
What a Northport pad job covers
- House and manufactured home pads
- Shop, barn and container pads
- Hill lots cut and filled
- Fill compacted in lifts
- Pads raised on low lots
- Built to plans or stakes
Northport ground and Northport rules
Sand, clay and gravel under the hills
The Coker Formation takes its name from Coker, just west of Northport, and geologists describe it as mostly sand and clay with some gravel. Northport also sits at the fall line, where the harder rock of the Appalachian side meets the coastal plain. Under a pad that can mean firm red clay most of the way and a soft pocket at one corner. We cut to firm ground, strip roots and topsoil out from under the fill and say what we found.
River lots and lake lots
Low lots toward the Black Warrior need the pad raised and the yard shaped so water leaves the building. Ask the city whether a lot is in a mapped floodplain before fill goes in, since building in a floodplain comes with its own rules. North of town, lots directly next to Lake Tuscaloosa come under City of Tuscaloosa rules on disturbing soil, so check with the city first. Your builder or surveyor gives the finished floor height, and we build the fill to it.
Permits and the road in
The Northport Planning and Inspections Department handles the city's planning, zoning and building rules, and a city's reach can extend a little past its limits, so ask before dirt moves. A job that disturbs an acre or more comes under ADEM's construction stormwater permit. US-43, US-82 and Highway 69 are state routes, so a new drive onto one needs an ALDOT permit, and county roads go through Tuscaloosa County Public Works.
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.
Do I need a permit to build a house pad in Northport, AL?
Ask the Northport Planning and Inspections Department with your address before dirt moves. It handles the city's building and zoning rules, and an address just outside town may still be theirs. A job that disturbs an acre or more also comes under ADEM's construction stormwater permit.
How much does a house pad cost in Northport, Alabama?
It depends on how much dirt has to move. Slope, pad size, how far down firm ground is, whether fill has to be brought in and how easy the lot is to reach all move the figure. Our house pad cost guide explains each one. The estimate is free.
Can you build a mobile home pad in Northport or Tuscaloosa County?
Yes. Mobile and manufactured home pads are cut, filled and compacted like a house pad, sized for the home and graded so water drains away from it. If an old home has to come off first, the teardown and the new pad can be done on the same trip. See mobile home pad requirements in Alabama.
Do you build pads on hill lots north of Northport toward Lake Tuscaloosa?
Yes. A sloped lot is a cut-and-fill pad: the uphill side cut to firm ground, the downhill side built in compacted lifts, with water turned before it reaches the pad. Lots directly next to the lake come under City of Tuscaloosa rules on disturbing soil, so get that answer first.
Northport and Around
We cover Northport and the country around it, including:
Forestry Mulching in Northport
Brush, briars and small timber ground to mulch where they stand. No piles, no hauling.
See the Northport pageExcavating in Northport
Footings, trenches, culverts, stumps and the digging jobs that have no name.
See the Northport pageHouse Demolition in Northport
Old houses and outbuildings torn down, hauled off, slab out, lot filled and graded.
See the Northport pageTree Removal in Northport
Dead, leaning and storm-damaged trees taken down by machine, stumps pulled, ground left level.
See the Northport pageGravel Driveways in Northport
Gravel drives and access roads cut in, based, crowned and ditched so they last.
See the Northport pageMobile Home Removal in Northport
Old single-wides and double-wides torn down on site, hauled off, and the ground left graded.
See the Northport pageAll Services in Northport
Everything we do in Northport and Tuscaloosa County.
Northport overviewTuscaloosa County
Land clearing, mulching and dirt work across Tuscaloosa 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 Northport?
Call or text, or send a few details. Estimates are free.