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.
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, with our own tri-axle Kenworth dump truck on the crew. 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, fill dirt goes down in layers and gets packed. Old concrete and debris 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 crown and pack the drive in the same trip.
Land grading is priced by how much dirt has to move and how far it has to go. A yard that needs a little 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. A lot that needs extra fill costs more than one where we can push 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. For published price ranges by the square foot and by the acre, see our guide to what land grading costs in South Carolina.
Much of the Midlands sits on red clay, and clay does not let water soak in the way sandy soil 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. When the fix is a buried pipe, a culvert or a storm drain instead of a grade change, our storm drain and yard drainage work picks it up.
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 repair rutted, washed out and potholed driveways across the Midlands, from short residential drives to quarter mile farm lanes. Our crew cuts the ruts out, reshapes the crown and packs the surface so water leaves the drive instead of cutting into it. We also grade new lanes and replace broken concrete drives.
We tear down single wides, double wides and older trailers across the Midlands, then fill and level the lot.
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, fills the low spots, grades it flat and can finish with a repaired driveway, concrete or a septic system. No handoffs between companies, no waiting on a second crew.
Cleanup 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.
Real reviews from real demolition, excavation and site work jobs on Google.
Storm drain repair for apartment complex fixed twice, both required a large excavation. Did both jobs quickly and for a great price. Would highly recommend.
Awesome Company. Contracted them to demolish a double wide on my property. They did it quickly and cleaned up great. Even brought in fill to level the area out. Marked the septic system as required.
Stop looking. Awesome folks to deal with through and through.
HomeGuide puts land grading at $500 to $5,000 on average, or $0.40 to $2.00 per square foot. See what moves the cost to grade your yard or your lot in SC.
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Published guides put a new concrete driveway at $6 to $15 per square foot, or $2,400 to $8,600 for two cars. See what moves the cost in South Carolina.
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Published cost guides put land clearing at $500 to $2,000 per acre for light woods and $3,000 to $5,600 for heavy woods. See what moves your cost in SC.
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Published guides put a new septic system in South Carolina at $5,000 to $15,000, and lots around Columbia at $5,000 to $8,000. Free on site estimates.
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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.
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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 →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.