How Much Does It Cost to Level a Yard in Fort Worth?

HomeGuide says regrading a small lawn costs $500 to $1,000, and an average backyard runs $1,000 to $5,000. Angi says leveling a yard costs $2,177 on average, and it can range from $1,022 to $3,332. How much dirt has to move, and how far, decides where a Fort Worth yard lands.

These are national figures from the big cost guides. Our yard leveling and land grading work covers Fort Worth’s south side from our base in Burleson. Estimates are free and priced at the property.

What does it cost to level a yard in Fort Worth?

Yard leveling cost depends on the job, and the cost guides split it by job type. Each row below names the guide behind the number.

HomeGuide says most residential grading projects are a quarter acre or less. So for most home yards, the top rows of the table apply. The per-acre rows fit pasture and bigger lots.

Is it priced by the square foot, the hour or the acre?

All three show up in the cost guides. HomeGuide lists land leveling at $0.40 to $2.00 per square foot. Angi says most yard leveling costs $1 to $2 per square foot.

HomeGuide prices driveway grading higher, at $3 to $8 per square foot. On average, HomeGuide puts a driveway grading job at $700 to $2,500.

Angi says pros who bill by the hour charge around $40 to $180 per hour. Lawn Love says hourly grading prices include the machine, such as a skid steer or backhoe, plus operator fees. HomeGuide puts grading companies with a mini excavator, bobcat, backhoe or skid-steer at $100 to $300 per hour for labor.

Angi says a clear, dig and fill regrade runs around 12 to 24 hours of labor. An hourly quote is built from those hours times the rate.

Lot grading on bigger ground gets priced by the acre. HomeGuide puts land grading at $17,400 to $43,600 per acre, and Lawn Love lists $15,800 to $44,535. A quarter-acre home lot runs $4,400 to $10,900 in HomeGuide’s numbers.

What pushes the price up on a Fort Worth lot?

Size. HomeAdvisor says most residential yards run 5,000 to 10,000 square feet. Rough-grading a whole 5,000 square foot yard at HomeGuide’s $1 to $2 rate comes to $5,000 to $10,000. That is why most jobs price only the problem area, like a low corner or one side of the house.

Slope. HomeGuide puts leveling a sloped yard or removing a hill at $1,000 to $5,000. A steeper yard has more dirt to cut from the high side and push to the low side.

Dirt in or out. A yard with high and low spots can often balance itself, with the cut filling the low ground. A yard that is low all over needs dirt trucked in. Angi puts fill dirt for a regrade at $5 to $30 per cubic yard. Our Fort Worth fill dirt cost guide covers the truckload math.

Clay. Tarrant and Johnson Counties sit on heavy clay that swells wet and shrinks dry. That movement is why the fall away from the slab matters so much here. Soaked clay also has to dry out before a machine can shape it, so rain can move a start date.

Access. A fenced backyard with a narrow gate limits which machine fits. Smaller machines move less dirt per pass, so tight access adds hours.

Topsoil and grass. HomeGuide lists topsoil at $10 to $50 per cubic yard. New sod or seed goes down after the final grade, and it is its own line on the bill.

How much should the yard slope away from the house?

Fort Worth’s residential code answers this in section R401.3. Lots must be graded to drain surface water away from the foundation. The grade has to fall at least 6 inches within the first 10 feet. That works out to a 5 percent slope.

Some lots cannot get that much fall. Where lot lines, walls or slopes block it, the code calls for drains or swales that carry water away. Within 10 feet of the foundation, paved surfaces like a patio must slope at least 2 percent away.

Regrading one side of the foundation runs $500 to $1,000 in HomeGuide’s numbers. HomeGuide puts the whole house at $1,000 to $3,000, and HomeAdvisor lists the same range for an entire foundation.

Do you need a permit to level a yard in Fort Worth?

Most backyard jobs fall well under Fort Worth’s grading permit line. The city requires a grading permit for land disturbing activity of one acre or more. The city’s fee is $950 plus $25 per acre, plus a $50 application fee and a $16.87 technology fee.

Fill has its own rule. Fort Worth requires an approved Fill Permit before fill is placed. Fill used for landscaping on improved property is exempt from the fill registration rules. A new detached house or duplex needs a Residential Lot Grading Pattern with its building permit application.

Outside Fort Worth, each city sets its own rules. In Burleson, grading needs a Notification of Grading and has to follow Ordinance No. B652. Angi says permits run around $100 to $500, depending on the city and county.

HomeGuide says most residential projects do not require a grading plan. A topographic land survey runs $400 to $1,500 in HomeGuide’s numbers.

Before any digging, the One-Call Board of Texas says you or your contractor must notify 811. The notice goes in at least two business days ahead, even for work in your own yard. Texas Utilities Code 251.151 sets the window at 48 hours to 14 days before digging. Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays do not count.

Can regrading send water onto a neighbor’s yard?

It can, and Texas law has a rule for it. Texas Water Code 11.086 bars diverting or impounding the natural flow of surface water. The rule applies when the overflow damages another property. A person whose property is hurt by that overflow may recover damages.

Fort Worth’s fill ordinance adds its own rule in Sec. 12.5-873. The property owner must not change the existing drainage pattern so that it floods adjacent properties. The same goes for a significant increase in runoff to them, and the property owner assumes all liability for it.

So a good regrade moves water away from your house without sending it onto the lot next door. We look at where the water runs today before any dirt moves.

Do you need fine grading or a machine regrade?

HomeGuide splits grading into two jobs. Fine or finish grading works the top 1 to 3 inches of soil, at $0.40 to $1.00 per square foot. Rough grading removes slopes and contours the ground for drainage, at $1 to $2 per square foot.

Shallow dips and bumps in the grass are a lawn-care job. Moving dirt from high ground to low ground is machine work, and that part is ours.

Our three skid loaders work the tight spots close to a house. Dozers and wheel loaders shape open ground. Our excavators run from a compact Bobcat E88 up to Kobelco 140, 270 and 350 machines.

A pad for a new house is a different job. We build new house pads to the elevations and specs the builder or engineer gives us.

How do you get a price on your yard?

Low yards often need more dirt. Our own trucks and end-dump trailers bring in fill dirt for low yards, and extra dirt leaves the same way. Decades of demolition and dirt work sit behind the company.

We price every yard at the property, and the estimate is free. We look at where water sits after a rain and how a machine gets into the yard. Set up a free yard leveling estimate with the address and the spots that hold water.