Site Protection & Access
Crews and equipment mobilized with the driveway, home, existing landscape and neighboring property protected. Access and staging are planned before the first machine moves.
Start Your Project
Phase 01 / Site prep & excavation
Everything you see rests on what you don’t.
Excavation, grading and drainage for properties across Northern Utah.
Grade, drainage and compaction decide whether a finished landscape holds for twenty years or fails in two. R2 builds the ground first—so the walls, patios and planting that follow have something solid to stand on.
R2 LandscapeBuilt With Purpose.
Where projects go wrong
Most landscape failures start underground.
Settling pavers, cracked flatwork, leaning walls, water against the foundation, a lawn that stays wet in one corner all season—these are almost never finish problems. They are sitework problems that were covered up. Northern Utah’s clay soils, rocky fill and freeze–thaw cycles are unforgiving of shortcuts taken in the first two weeks of a project.
What this phase covers
Ground work.
Done once.
Demolition & Haul-Off
Removal of old concrete, asphalt, fencing, sod, rock, stumps and failed hardscape—loaded, hauled and disposed of, with dump fees carried by us.
Excavation & Earthwork
Cut, fill and export to bring the site to plan elevation. On-site material is reused where it is suitable and removed where it isn’t—we don’t bury problems to save a haul.
Rough Grading & Drainage
Positive slope established away from the home and structures, low points resolved, and subsurface drainage—French drains, area drains, catch basins—piped to a real discharge point.
Grade Structures
Retaining and boulder walls that make the grade work: engineered base, drainage rock and drain line, geogrid where required, compacted backfill. Engineering coordinated when height or surcharge calls for it.
Utilities, Sleeves & Base Prep
Trenching for irrigation mains, lighting, gas and electrical sleeves before anything is paved over—then compacted base brought to grade so hardscape starts on a tested subgrade.
Why it matters here
Utah ground has opinions. We plan around them.
Clay that holds water, imported fill of unknown quality, hillside lots, high water tables in the valley and a freeze–thaw cycle that finds every weak base—Northern Utah sites come with real conditions, not generic ones.
Because R2 designs, estimates and builds the whole property, the sitework is planned against the finished landscape from day one. Elevations, drainage paths and sleeve locations are decided while they are still cheap to change—not discovered by a subcontractor halfway through.
How the phase runs
Controlled
from day one.
Verify
We walk the site, confirm elevations and drainage outfalls, locate utilities, and confirm access and staging before mobilization.
Move Earth
Demolition, excavation, export and rough grade—run with the site kept clean and the neighbors considered.
Prove Grade
Slopes, drainage and compaction are checked and documented before the next phase begins. Nothing gets built on a subgrade we haven’t signed off on.
The right fit
For properties where the ground has to be right the first time.
Site prep and excavation is Phase 01 of an R2 residential build, and it is also work we take on directly—new-construction lots, drainage corrections, hillside grading, and demolition ahead of a landscape that someone else will finish.
Our work
Built, not rendered.
Common questions
Before you
reach out.
What does site preparation include?
Demolition and removal of what is not staying, excavation, haul-off, rough grading, drainage, and a compacted base ready for whatever is built on top of it.
Why does grading matter so much on Utah properties?
Because most landscape failures start underground. Water that is not given somewhere to go finds somewhere itself - usually a foundation, a wall or a patio. Grade and drainage are decided first because everything else is built on them and buries them.
Do you handle drainage problems on existing landscapes?
Yes. Standing water, water moving toward the house and saturated areas are all grading and drainage problems, and they are solvable without necessarily rebuilding the whole property.
Where we build
Kaysville · Farmington · Bountiful · North Salt Lake · Mountain Green · Morgan · Huntsville · Eden · North Ogden
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Landscape design · Residential construction · Retaining walls · Hardscape · Outdoor living · Planting & irrigation · Pools · Commercial
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