No. 1
Concrete pads & slabs
Formed, poured, and finished slabs sized to your building, with the turndown edge and anchor layout the installers need.
4–6 in slab · fiber or rebar · vapor barrier · turndown edge
Site work & finishing
Site prep & groundwork in Sullivan, MO
A steel building is only as straight as the ground under it. We move the dirt, hold the bank back, pour the pad or drill the piers, set the building, and then finish the inside — insulation, wiring, drywall, and the whole build-out. One crew, one number, no waiting on somebody else's schedule.
What we do before the building lands
Priced per job after we walk the site. Bring us a bare hillside or a spot that's already flat — either way this is the list.
No. 2
Piers & footings
Drilled and poured piers below the frost line for barns, cabins, and buildings on ground you don't want to pour all the way across.
Below frost depth · sonotube or formed · anchor bolts set to plan
No. 3
Excavation & grading
Cut, fill, haul, and compact until the footprint is flat and the water runs away from it instead of under it.
Brush clearing · cut and fill · compacted base rock · drainage
No. 4
Retaining walls
Block, poured, and rock walls to hold a cut back and turn a sloped lot into a usable building pad or driveway.
Segmental block · poured concrete · boulder walls · drainage behind
No. 5
Insulation, drywall & electrical
Furring, insulation, wiring, lights, outlets, and a hung and finished drywall interior so the shop is usable year round.
Spray foam or batt · panel and circuits · taped and finished drywall
No. 6
Interior build-outs & cabins
Full interiors for camping cabins, shouses, and living quarters: framing, rooms, bath and kitchen finish, floors, and trim.
Framing · rooms and lofts · finish carpentry · flooring and trim
How a site job goes
- 1
We walk the site
We look at slope, drainage, rock, access for the delivery truck, and where the utilities run. You get one written scope covering dirt, concrete, and the building.
- 2
We build the base
Clearing, cut and fill, retaining walls if the grade needs them, then the pad, piers, or footings, poured and cured before delivery week.
- 3
We set and finish it
The building goes up on ground that's already right, and we come back inside for insulation, wiring, drywall, and the build-out.
What makes a site hard
Six things decide what your dirt work costs. Send photos and we can usually spot most of them before we drive out.
- Slope. Every foot of fall across the footprint is dirt that has to be cut, moved, or held back with a wall.
- Water. Where it comes from uphill and where it goes once your roof adds a few thousand square feet of runoff.
- Rock. Common on Ozark ground. Shallow rock can save you on fill and cost you on pier holes.
- Access. A delivery truck and trailer need room to get in, turn, and back up to the pad.
- Soft ground. Old fill, topsoil, and clay have to come out and be replaced with compacted base rock.
- Utilities. Lines, laterals, wells, and septic fields get located before a bucket goes in the ground.
Which base does your building need?
A starting point. We confirm it against your building's drawings and what your county requires.
| Building | Usual base | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Open carport | Graded, compacted gravel pad | Anchors drive straight into the ground; no floor needed |
| RV or equipment cover | Gravel pad, or slab under the parking lane | Tall frames need a flat, firm footing and good drainage |
| Enclosed garage or shop | 4 in concrete slab with a turndown edge | The base rail seals to flat concrete and you get a floor |
| Barn or ag building | Gravel pad on piers, or a partial slab | Dirt floor in the bays, concrete where you work |
| Cabin or living quarters | Slab or piers below the frost line | Heated, finished space can't ride on shifting ground |
| Shop with a lift | 6 in slab, thickened under the posts | Lift anchors need depth and strength the plan specifies |
After the building is standing
A bare steel shell is a good garage and a cold, damp workshop. The same crew comes back to fur the walls, insulate, run the wiring, hang and finish drywall, and build out whatever the building is actually for — a shop, an office corner, a bunk room, or a full camping cabin with a kitchen and a bath.
Doing it in one run means the insulation gets behind the wiring instead of around it, and the anchors and conduit sleeves go in while the pad is still being formed. Read more on insulation, drywall & electrical and cabin & home interior build-outs.
Where we do site work
Sullivan, Bourbon, Cuba, St. Clair, Stanton, Gray Summit, Woodland Lakes, and the rest of Franklin, Washington, and Crawford County. Hillside lots off Highway 185 and the lake properties around Woodland Lakes are most of what we grade, so slope and rock are familiar ground. Near the edge of that range? Call and we'll check the drive.
Questions we get a lot
Do I have to hire a separate excavator and concrete crew?
No. That's the reason this page exists. We do the dirt work, the retaining walls, the piers, and the pad ourselves, then set the building on it. One scope, one schedule, and nobody blaming the other guy when the pad is out of square.
Can you do the site work if I bought the building somewhere else?
Yes. Send us the manufacturer's drawings with the footprint, anchor layout, and leg height, and we'll build the pad or piers to match it. We also do site work on its own for shops, cabins, and driveways with no building involved.
How level does the ground actually have to be?
For an open carport, level within about three inches across the footprint is workable. For an enclosed garage or barn the base rail has to seal to a flat surface, so we grade it flat or pour a slab. Anything more than a few inches of fall across the pad is a grading job, not a shim job.
How far ahead of the delivery do you need to be on site?
Dirt work and gravel usually run one to three days depending on how much has to move. Concrete needs to cure before a crew walks a building onto it, so we pour at least a week ahead of delivery week and usually more.
What about rain and wet ground?
Dirt work is weather work. We schedule with a rain buffer and won't compact a base or pour on saturated ground, because a pad built in the mud settles later. If the weather pushes the pad, we push the delivery with it.
Do you handle permits for the site work?
We provide the building drawings and we'll tell you what your county asks for on a pad, a wall, or an electrical rough-in. Filing is usually the property owner's step, and we'll point you at the right office.
Get the dirt work and the building in one quote
Send photos of the spot, a rough size, and which way the ground falls. We'll come back with a scope for the site work and the building together.