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Site work between clearing and the slab pour
We’re licensed and insured, so a builder can bring us in as the earth works company in San Antonio for the dirt under a slab. That covers everything between cleared ground and the pour, and each piece gets built to the numbers on your engineer’s plans. David’s been clearing and moving dirt around San Antonio since 2000.
Look closely at a lot once the brush is gone. You’ll find a root mat, dark topsoil and soft spots where the piles sat, and a slab poured over organic dirt like that can settle. Clearing that layer down to firm soil is site preparation, and it’s the first dirt job after the trees come down.
Still looking at standing cedar and brush? The work opens with land clearing, and a construction site that has to be cleared to a plan’s limits is a site clearing job. After either one, site prep isn’t done until you can walk the slab footprint without finding roots, dark dirt or a soft spot.
Pads on flat lots, cuts on Hill Country slopes
The shape of the lot tells you which dirt job comes next. On flat ground, a house, shop or barndominium sits on a pad raised above the yard around it, and that’s building pad construction. A hillside homesite gets leveled with cut and fill before any pad goes on, and plenty of Hill Country lots need both.
Check what’s sitting in the footprint before any of that starts. Old stumps, or an old slab where the new one goes, come out first, and those are their own jobs: stump removal and slab removal. Low spots matter too, since fill dumped in one thick pile can look flat at first, then keep sinking once a slab’s weight sits on it.
Grade that sheds water and a drive trucks can use
Once the pad’s up, the ground around it decides where rain goes. Finish grade, the last shaped surface around the slab, should fall away from the house. Ground tipped toward it sends runoff to the slab edge and soaks the soil underneath. Shaping it right is grading and leveling.
A build also needs a way in that’s firm enough for loaded trucks. A drive cut without a firm subgrade, the packed soil the rock sits on, ruts the first time a concrete truck rolls in. Cutting that path is driveway excavation, and gravel driveway installation puts the rock on top. Ranch roads, stock tanks and pasture grading are acreage work, and that side of the business runs as our earthmoving company.
Building lots, permits and growth near San Antonio
The Helotes Creek watershed feeds Edwards Aquifer recharge, and a 2,700-home proposal near Scenic Loop and Babcock drew community scrutiny in January 2026. Soil work in a watershed people are watching waits on the aquifer question, so we find out which zone a tract’s in before anything’s stripped. Nobody can promise how the owner’s or engineer’s plan with TCEQ comes out, so we build the dirt schedule around the answer.
In Kendall County, the County Engineer’s Office issues Residential Development permits for new homes on acreage. A pad there goes in to the plan set that permit approved, so we’ll ask for it first.
By late 2023, about 15,000 lots north of Potranco had Medina County approval, and Castroville expected to double within five years. Lots like that open in phases, each needing prep, pads and drive cuts in order, which one crew can run back to back. Around Lytle, the Devine News counted 999 platted residential lots in 2020. Much of that’s old pasture, so the organic layer comes off before the pads go in to the plans.
Papers and photos worth gathering first
- The engineer’s plan set with pad spec
- A survey showing corners and elevations
- Photos of the cleared or brushy lot
- A map pin dropped on the homesite
- Your builder’s target date for the pour
- House, shop or barndominium on the slab
What to settle before any dirt moves
- Whether the tract’s in an Edwards zone
- County or city approvals the plans need
- Brush and stumps out of the footprint
- Any old slab or rubble on the pad site
- Where buried water lines and wells sit
- A truck route in for fill deliveries
How a dirt job for a slab runs with us
Whoever’s running the build, a slab job with an excavating contractor goes in about the same order on flat or sloped ground. Each step sets up the next one.
- 01
Call with the plans in hand
Have your plan set close when you call a dirt work contractor like us. Sarah answers every call, takes the address and what’s being built, and the engineer’s pad spec goes up through the estimate form.
- 02
Photos, a pin and the estimate
Send photos and a map pin through that same form, and add the acreage if you know it. The estimate’s free, and a site walk gets set up only when a slope or the access can’t be read from photos.
- 03
Match the plans to the ground
Before a machine moves, the plans get checked against the grade stakes, the marked stakes that set corners and elevations, so nobody’s guessing at height. County or city approvals stay with you and your builder.
- 04
Strip, cut and bring in fill
Stripping and slope cuts are dozer work. Fill comes in on the compact track loader, and a smooth drum roller passes over every layer until it’s tight. The work follows the builder schedule, and it’s planned backward from the pour date.
- 05
Check grade and call it ready
Pad and drive elevations get checked against the plans before the machines leave, and anything off gets fixed then. That check’s done against the stakes, not by eye, so the form crew starts from the same numbers.
Earthworks
Our earthworks services
Site Preparation
David’s crews take cleared ground the rest of the way. Topsoil and organics stripped, a rough grade that sheds water off the pad, and a firm entrance so concrete and framing trucks don’t bog down.
Building Pad Construction
House, shop and barndominium pads go up in lifts of select fill or caliche, each one moisture conditioned and compacted to spec. In Castroville’s flood-prone spots, pad height’s worth a hard look.
Grading & Leveling
Finish grade is where a slab job’s won or lost. We work off the surveyor’s stakes, check elevations with a laser level, and leave positive slope off the slab so water doesn’t sit by the foundation.
Cut and Fill
On a sloped homesite, we cut the high side and use that spoil to fill the low side in compacted lifts, benched into the hill. Bulverde wants a city permit first, so you’ll need it before we start.
Driveway Excavation
Gravel or concrete, every drive starts with the cut. We strip topsoil and roots along the path and take out stumps in the way. Then we compact the subgrade so the base course you lay later won’t sink.
Site Clearing
Grading can’t start until the site’s clear. We take a construction site down to the clearing limits on the plan and grub roots out of pad and road footprints. We stage it so dozer work picks right up.
Stump Removal
A stump left under a slab or drive rots and leaves a void. Under pad and driveway footprints, we pull the root mass, haul it, and fill the hole with select fill in compacted lifts. It’s build-ready.
Gravel Driveway Installation
Caliche or crushed limestone? It depends on the soil and the traffic. We lay road base over a compacted subgrade, crown it so water runs off, and add a turnaround so trucks aren’t backing out blind.
Slab Removal
Want a new pad where an old slab sits? We confirm the slab type first and break out the concrete, grade beams and piers. Then we haul the rubble off and regrade the ground so it’s ready to build on.
Did you know?
San Antonio’s been moving dirt for water since the 1700s. Mission crews dug acequias by hand. The Espada Aqueduct, built between 1740 and 1745 to carry one over a creek, is the oldest Spanish aqueduct in the U.S. Water still flows across it today.
FAQs about earth works company in San Antonio
Before the first load of fill
Get the engineer’s pad numbers before anybody prices your dirt, since a guess at height or fill throws off everything after it. And find out early whether the tract’s inside an Edwards Aquifer zone.
How much does a building pad cost in San Antonio?
A building pad’s cost comes from its footprint and height, the volume of select fill or caliche it needs, and how far that material’s hauled. The engineer’s compaction spec sets how many lifts go in and how much moisture work each one takes. Sloped lots need cut and fill before the pad starts, and shelf rock on Hill Country lots limits what can be cut. Longhorn Land Clearing & Excavation prices pads free from your plans, photos and a map pin.
Do I need an Edwards Aquifer plan before site work near San Antonio?
You might, if the tract is over the Edwards Aquifer recharge or contributing zone in Bexar, Comal or Medina County. TCEQ requires a plan before soil is disturbed for regulated activities, and it lists construction and land clearing among them. Contributing zone plans apply when a project disturbs at least five acres or is part of a larger common plan. Kendall and Bandera counties aren’t named in the rule, and TCEQ’s Edwards Aquifer Map Viewer shows where a property falls.
Do I need to call 811 before digging on my property in Texas?
Yes, the Railroad Commission of Texas says homeowners, excavators and contractors are required by law to call 811 at least two days before digging. The call gets buried utility lines marked so a pad cut or driveway excavation doesn’t hit one. Private lines, like a water line run out to a barn, may not get marked through 811, so point those out yourself. Longhorn Land Clearing & Excavation calls 811 before digging.
What is cut and fill on a sloped Hill Country lot?
Cut and fill moves dirt off a lot’s high side onto the low side to level an area for a pad, drive or yard. The fill goes in lifts, each one moistened and compacted to the engineer’s spec, so it doesn’t settle under the slab. On hill lots around Helotes and Boerne, limestone often sits close to the surface, which limits how deep a cut can go. Where the rock won’t cut, the plan shifts toward building up with more fill.
Who decides how high a building pad should be?
Your engineer or builder sets the pad elevation on the plans. The floodplain administrator has a say if the lot’s in a mapped flood zone. Medina County requires a floodplain permit for any development in the floodplain, and the Kendall and Comal county engineers handle floodplain permits of their own. Parts of Castroville near the Medina River and lots along Cibolo Creek in Boerne carry flood-zone status. Longhorn Land Clearing & Excavation builds the pad to the elevation on the approved plan.
What is the difference between site preparation and land clearing?
Land clearing takes the brush and trees off, and site preparation gets the cleared ground ready to build on. Site prep covers grubbing out roots, stripping topsoil and organic material from the building area, rough grading, and setting up for the pad and driveway. On a homesite around San Antonio, they’re usually done back to back with the same machines. Doing both with Longhorn Land Clearing & Excavation keeps one crew on your schedule instead of two.
Do I need a Bexar County permit to grade an acre or more?
Likely, if the project will disturb an acre or more. Bexar County’s Storm Water Quality Site Development Permit applies to construction that will disturb one or more acres of land. Separately, Bexar County Public Works reviews construction activity near the 100-year floodplain. Check both before grading larger tracts at the west edge of the Culebra corridor, where subdivision lots give way to acreage.
How is a building pad built for a house or shop slab?
A building pad starts with stripping the organic topsoil and setting grade stakes, then select fill goes in lifts, each compacted at the right moisture. The pad gets shaped to the footprint, height and side slopes on the plans. When the engineer calls for density testing, it’s done by a testing lab, not the dirt crew. Longhorn Land Clearing & Excavation builds to the engineer’s spec and leaves the pad ready for the form crew.
Do I need a permit for a new driveway off a county road?
Often you do, and it’s the county that issues it. In Kendall County, the County Engineer’s Office issues access and driveway permits, and in Medina County, driveway permits run through the precinct commissioner. Get the permit before the driveway is cut, since the county may have a say in where it ties into the road. Once the access is approved, the driveway excavation and base can go in.
How does clay soil affect a building pad around San Antonio?
Expansive clay swells when it’s wet and shrinks as it dries, and that movement can crack a slab poured straight on it. The Handbook of Texas describes much of Bexar County outside the Hill Country as gray to black cracking clay soils. Engineers often call for select fill, moisture conditioning or removing some of the clay under the pad. Longhorn Land Clearing & Excavation builds to that spec and leaves the engineering call to the engineer.