Residential Demolition
We tear down houses, mobile homes, and double wides across the Midlands. Full size excavators and dozers do the work, and the lot is left graded and clean. Free estimates from our West Columbia shop.
Our Services
A grading contractor moves dirt until the ground sits at the right height and the right slope. Dirt Cheap does that work around West Columbia, Lexington County, and the rest of the Midlands. We cut building pads for houses, shops, and metal buildings on lots that are not flat yet. We level yards that dip, fill the low spots that hold water, and give runoff somewhere to go. Site prep also covers spreading fill dirt after a house or a mobile home comes down.
Dirt Cheap is a family run and woman owned business, with a shop on Edmund Hwy in West Columbia. Our crew runs the equipment and is on the job site every day. We work with full-size excavators and dozers, and our own tri-axle Kenworth dump truck moves the dirt. We cover roughly 50 miles around Columbia, which takes in most of the Midlands. On a raw lot we clear the trees and brush before grading starts. Estimates are free, so call (803) 796-4727 and tell us what the ground is doing.
Tell us about the structure, lot or job and we will get right back to you.
You call and tell us the address and what the ground is doing now. We come out, look over the lot, and check where the water sits and where it can go. We shoot grades so the high spots and the low spots are on paper before anything moves. On a building pad we work from the plan sheet and hold the pad to the elevation it shows. Then you get a written price for the dirt work, and the visit costs you nothing. The machines roll once you give the go ahead.
We start by stripping the topsoil and stockpiling it if you want it back on the yard. The dozer cuts the high ground and pushes it into the low spots until the lot reads level. When a lot needs more material than it has, we truck in fill dirt and spread it in layers. Rock and old concrete that turn up in the dirt get pulled out before the fill goes back. The finish grade comes last, and leftover dirt leaves on our own trucks as part of the job. If the graded path will carry cars, we can follow it with a stone driveway.
Land grading is priced by how much dirt has to move and how far it has to go. A yard that needs a few loads of fill and a day of dozer time is a small job. A building pad on a sloped lot can run several days of cutting, filling, and packing. Trucking dirt in or out costs more than pushing what is already on the property. Access matters too, since an open field lets a dozer work far faster than a fenced backyard.
Soil condition is the other big lever on the number. Wet red clay has to dry before machines can work it, so a rainy week pushes the schedule back. A pad that will carry concrete we pour on top gets graded to a tighter tolerance than a back yard. Old fill, buried debris, or a stump field under the surface all add hours to the job. Steep slopes take more passes than gentle ones, and every pass is machine time. That is why we price dirt work on the lot, and the estimate is free.
Much of the Midlands sits on red clay, and clay does not let water soak in the way sand does. Rain runs across the surface instead, so any low spot in the yard holds a puddle for days. A yard that stays soft after every storm usually has a grade problem under it. We fix that by reshaping the surface so water moves toward a ditch or out to the street. Some lots need the water carried below grade, and that becomes a trench and a pipe run.
Clay also swells when it gets wet and shrinks back as it dries out. A building pad here gets built in layers and packed down as each layer goes in. Plenty of Midlands lots sit nearly flat, which leaves very little fall to work with. On those we plan where the water goes first, then set the finish grade to match. Summer storms here drop a lot of water fast, so the grade has to handle a hard rain. We grade lots in Irmo and Lexington the same way we do at home in West Columbia.
Free, no-obligation estimates across the Midlands, from our West Columbia shop.
(803) 796-4727From the first call to clean ground, here is how it goes.
Tell us what you need gone or built: a house, a mobile home, an overgrown lot, a driveway, a septic system. Our office gets you on the schedule fast.
We come see the property, look at access and what has to leave, and give you a written number. The estimate is free and the price covers the work we agreed on.
Our crew runs the equipment on site. Full size excavators and dozers handle the teardown or dirt work, and debris leaves on our own trucks as part of the job.
The site gets graded out, filled where it needs it, and left ready for what comes next: a new build, a driveway, a septic system or just a clean lot.
Common questions about grading & site prep across the Midlands. Don't see yours? Give us a call and ask.
We tear down houses, mobile homes, and double wides across the Midlands. Full size excavators and dozers do the work, and the lot is left graded and clean. Free estimates from our West Columbia shop.
Dirt Cheap tears down commercial buildings across the South Carolina Midlands. Strip malls, churches, warehouses and condemned structures come down with full-size excavators and dozers. We work out of a shop in West Columbia.
We clear wooded and overgrown lots across the Midlands, half acre house sites and multi acre tracts alike. Full size excavators and dozers take out the trees, the brush, and the stumps. Our shop is in West Columbia and estimates are free.
Dirt Cheap digs site excavation, utility and drainage trenches, and storm drain repairs across the Midlands. Our shop sits in West Columbia, and we run full size excavators and dozers. Estimates are free.
We install gravel driveways across the Midlands, on short residential lots and on quarter mile rural drives. Our crew strips the soft topsoil first, then builds the stone base in packed lifts. We also regrade rutted drives and top them back up with fresh stone.
Dirt Cheap pours concrete driveways, patios, walkways, and slabs around West Columbia. Our excavators strip and pack the ground before any concrete goes down. Estimates are free.
Full size CASE excavators, dozers and a tri axle Kenworth dump truck. Machines sized for two story houses, commercial buildings and whole lots. A mini excavator crew cannot do this work.
One contractor takes the structure down, clears the lot, brings in fill, grades it flat and can finish with gravel, concrete or a septic system. No handoffs between companies, no waiting on a second crew.
Hauling off the mess is part of the job, on our own trucks. The site gets cleaned as the teardown happens, so when the machines load up and leave, the lot is done.
The shop sits on Edmund Highway, so Columbia, Lexington and Cayce are minutes away. Family and woman owned. Call and you talk to our office, not a call center.
When a burnt house comes down instead of getting repaired, how standard homeowners policies handle debris removal, why a burnt house left standing becomes a code case, and how the teardown differs.
Read more →
Published 2026 guides put house demolition at $4 to $17 per square foot. Columbia area estimates run $9,000 to $19,000. What moves the number, plus real Lexington County permit and landfill fees.
Read more →Published guides put single wide demolition at $3,000 to $7,000 and double wides at $5,000 to $12,000. Lexington County landfill fees, the pre 1976 relocation rule, and the title and tax steps most owners miss.
Read more →A structure that needs to come down, a lot that needs clearing, a driveway that needs help, a septic system going in? Call or send the form and we will come look at the property and price the job. The estimate is free.
Tell us about the structure, lot or job and we will get right back to you.