- Gravel pad install, Rockshire Drive area (south Charlotte) — pad cut, base graded and compacted. Invoiced $1,552.
- Driveway reconditioning, Spicewood Drive area — a 150-foot by 15-foot gravel drive, rutted and dusty. We removed and replaced rather than topdressing, because topdressing a failed base just re-ruts in a season. Talked through #57 stone vs. crushed concrete vs. crushed asphalt on site — crushed asphalt for smooth and low-dust, #57 for drainage. Invoiced $5,500.
- Erosion repair, Autumn Oak Drive area — regrade and stabilise a washing slope. Invoiced $900.
- Clearing and cleanup, Glenburn Lane and Charter Place areas — $1,500 and $1,190.
What that tells you about Charlotte pricing: small residential clearing and pad work here has run roughly $900–$1,600. Full driveway removal-and-replacement runs $5,000+ because it is a haul-off job, not a grading job. Anyone quoting a driveway rebuild at pad-install prices is planning to topdress and leave.
Access is the Charlotte constraint. In-town lots are the tight ones: mature hardwoods, fenced rears, narrow side yards, neighbours on both sides. We size equipment to the gate opening, not the lot, and plan the debris route before the first cut. On the Spicewood job the customer's concern was our truck on his failing drive — on tight lots we stage on the street and barrow in rather than run loaded equipment over a drive we're about to rebuild.
Permits: disturb one acre or more and Mecklenburg County requires an approved soil erosion & sedimentation control plan before work starts (Charlotte UDO Article 28). Most single-lot residential clearing stays under that threshold — we confirm on the site walk.
