House Pads & Building Pads in Tuscaloosa, AL
House pads, shop pads and mobile home pads in Tuscaloosa and Tuscaloosa County, cut to firm ground, filled in lifts and compacted to grade so your slab or foundation crew can go straight to work. Call or text (205) 535-6376.
A pad built for the ground it sits on
Pads around Tuscaloosa come in two kinds, and the map tells you which one you have. North and east of the city the lots are wooded hills, so the pad is mostly cut: one side dug into the slope, the other built up. South and west the land is low and flat, so the pad is mostly fill, raised to keep the house above water. Each fails in its own way when it is rushed.
Replacing an old mobile home with a new one? Start with mobile home removal in Tuscaloosa, then the pad.
We build house pads and building pads across Tuscaloosa County: house sites, shop and barn pads, mobile and manufactured home pads, pole barn sites and pads for shipping containers. The cut side is taken down to firm ground. The fill side goes up in lifts and is compacted as it goes, never dumped in one push. Fill that was not packed settles, and it shows up years later as a crack in the slab.
If you have plans or a surveyor's stakes, we build to them. If not, the pad is set off the existing grade 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? Start with land clearing in Tuscaloosa, then the pad follows on the same ground.
What a Tuscaloosa pad job covers
- House, shop and barn pads
- Mobile and manufactured home pads
- Cut side down to firm ground
- Fill placed and compacted in lifts
- Built to plans or surveyor's stakes
- Graded so water runs away
Hill pads, flat pads and lake lots
Hill lots north and east
North and east of the city the county is plateau country: hilly, wooded and underlain by the Warrior Coal Field. A house pad on a slope there has a cut bank on the uphill side and a fill slope on the downhill side. The cut has to reach firm ground, not just topsoil, and water coming off the hill has to be turned before it reaches the pad. Where a cut needs holding back, a block or boulder retaining wall can be part of the job. Rock near the surface can slow the cut, and you hear about it when we find it.
Low ground south and west
South and west of the city, toward the river bottoms, the county drops onto the coastal plain, which the Encyclopedia of Alabama describes as low-lying and occasionally swampy. Here the question is how high the pad needs to be. The City of Tuscaloosa says property in a floodplain needs a land development permit before construction, and your builder or surveyor will give the finished floor height. We build the fill up to that mark in compacted lifts and shape the yard so water leaves. More on shaping in land grading.
Lake lots, city rules and the drive in
Lots directly next to Lake Tuscaloosa come under the city's land development permit for clearing, grading or disturbing soil, and commercial lots do too. Building permits run through the city's Building and Inspections office. On any job that disturbs an acre or more, ADEM's construction stormwater permit comes into play. The pad also needs a way in: a drive onto a US or state highway needs an ALDOT permit, and county roads go through Tuscaloosa County Public Works. Get the paperwork moving early. The pad can be staked while you wait.
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.
How much does a house pad cost in Tuscaloosa, AL?
It depends on how much dirt has to move. Slope, the size of the pad, 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. We price your lot after looking at it, and the estimate is free.
Do I need a permit to build a house pad in Tuscaloosa?
It depends on the address. The City of Tuscaloosa lists a land development permit for disturbing soil on commercial property, on lots directly next to Lake Tuscaloosa and in floodplains, and building permits go through Building and Inspections. Ask the city or the county with your address before dirt moves. Jobs that disturb an acre or more also come under ADEM's stormwater permit.
Can you build a pad for a mobile home in Tuscaloosa County?
Yes. Mobile and manufactured home pads are cut, filled and compacted the same careful way as a house pad, sized for the home and set so water drains away from it. If an old home has to come off the site first, the teardown and the new pad can be done in the same trip.
Who builds house pads on sloped lots near Lake Tuscaloosa?
We take them. A sloped lake lot is a cut-and-fill pad: the uphill side cut to firm ground, the downhill side built in compacted lifts. Lots directly next to the lake come under City of Tuscaloosa permits for disturbing soil, so get the city's answer first. We work to the lines and limits you are given.
Tuscaloosa and Around
We cover Tuscaloosa and the country around it, including:
Forestry Mulching in Tuscaloosa
Brush, briars and small timber ground to mulch where they stand. No piles, no hauling.
See the Tuscaloosa pageExcavating in Tuscaloosa
Footings, trenches, culverts, stumps and the digging jobs that have no name.
See the Tuscaloosa pageHouse Demolition in Tuscaloosa
Old houses and outbuildings torn down, hauled off, slab out, lot filled and graded.
See the Tuscaloosa pageTree Removal in Tuscaloosa
Dead, leaning and storm-damaged trees taken down by machine, stumps pulled, ground left level.
See the Tuscaloosa pageGravel Driveways in Tuscaloosa
Gravel drives and access roads cut in, based, crowned and ditched so they last.
See the Tuscaloosa pageAll Services in Tuscaloosa
Everything we do in Tuscaloosa and Tuscaloosa County.
Tuscaloosa 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 Tuscaloosa?
Call or text, or send a few details. Estimates are free.