Columbia County, GA
Site Work, Concrete & Paving in Evans, Georgia
Concrete driveways, grading, drainage and paving across Evans and the Columbia County growth corridor. Red clay subgrade and new-subdivision drainage.
Evans is the centre of Columbia County’s growth, and most of what we do here reflects that — new subdivision work, drives for houses built in the last two decades, and drainage correction on lots where the water started going the wrong way once the neighbourhood filled in.
Our Augusta office on Gordon Highway covers Evans. Land clearing, grading, storm drainage, concrete driveways and flatwork, asphalt paving and commercial site packages.
Red clay, and what it does to a driveway
Evans sits north and west of the Fall Line, in Piedmont country. That means red clay subgrade, rolling terrain and narrow stream valleys, which is a different proposition from the sandy ground across the river in Aiken County.
Clay does two things that matter.
It holds water. Water that gets between a driveway and a clay subgrade has nowhere to go. It sits there, and it works. Freeze and thaw, wet season and dry, load passing over the top — and the base gradually loses the fine material that was holding it together. The void that leaves is what cracks the surface above it.
It moves. Clay changes volume with moisture content. A base built directly on unimproved clay moves seasonally, and whatever is on top moves with it.
The answer is not a thicker surface. It is getting water away from the subgrade in the first place and building a base that drains rather than one that traps. This is why we look at where water goes before quoting a driveway, and why we do the grading and drainage ourselves rather than pouring on someone else’s preparation.
Growth changes where water goes
A lot of the drainage work we do in Evans is a second-order effect of how fast the area has developed.
Ground that used to absorb rainfall and release it slowly becomes roofs, driveways, streets and compacted lots. The same rain now arrives faster and in greater volume at whatever is downhill. Properties that never had a water problem develop one because of what was built uphill of them, and the original subdivision grading was set to a plan drawn before the surrounding phases existed.
On individual lots there is a related version. The grading a builder leaves is set to the subdivision drainage plan, not to your finished yard. Once landscaping, fences, raised beds and the neighbours’ hardscaping go in, the fall that was there on paper often is not there in practice.
Columbia County permitting is stricter than most
Worth knowing before you start, because it catches people out.
Columbia County requires a Land Disturbance Permit application for all projects involving land disturbing activity, and building permits with any associated soil disturbance — including minor disturbance — require an approved LDP first. That is a considerably lower bar than the acre-scale thresholds that apply in a lot of neighbouring jurisdictions.
The Engineering Services Division administers it and can be reached on (706) 447-7645. County offices for this sit at 630 Ronald Reagan Drive in Evans.
We handle the application on our own jobs, and we put erosion control in before the ground opens rather than after somebody asks for it.
What we do most of in Evans
Concrete driveways and driveway replacement · drainage correction on established lots · new subdivision site work, streets and curb and gutter · commercial parking lots along the retail corridors · site grading and building pads · land clearing on the remaining undeveloped parcels
We replace, we don’t repair. If a drive is cracking and settling, something under it has already failed, and covering the surface does not touch the cause. We take it out, fix what caused it, rebuild the base and pour new.
Free estimates from either office, no obligation.
Common questions — Evans, GA
- Do I need a land disturbance permit in Columbia County?
- Columbia County is stricter than most of the region on this. All projects involving land disturbing activity require a Land Disturbance Permit application, and building permits with any associated soil disturbance — even minor — require an approved LDP first. That is a lower bar than the acre-scale thresholds that apply in a lot of neighbouring jurisdictions, and it catches work that owners often assume is exempt. The Engineering Services Division handles it and can be reached on (706) 447-7645. We manage the application on our jobs.
- Why does new construction in Evans so often have drainage problems?
- Two reasons that compound. The subgrade is Piedmont red clay, which holds water rather than letting it through, so anything that does not drain across the surface tends not to drain at all. And rapid subdivision development changes where water goes — ground that used to absorb and slow runoff becomes roofs, drives and streets, and the water has to go somewhere. On a new lot the grading was done to a subdivision plan, not to your finished landscaping, and the two often disagree once the house is in and the yard is established.
- My lot backs onto a creek or drainage easement. Does that change things?
- Yes, and it is common in this part of the county. Work near a stream or inside a drainage easement carries buffer requirements and restrictions on what can be disturbed or filled, and getting that wrong is expensive to undo. The Evans and Martinez area drains through several named watersheds and the review reflects that. We check what your parcel is subject to before proposing anything.
- Can you fix standing water in a yard without regrading everything?
- Often. Standing water usually means the ground has no fall toward anywhere water can leave, or that the route it used to take is now blocked or built over. Sometimes intercepting water before it reaches the low spot solves it. Sometimes it needs a catch basin and a pipe to somewhere it can legally discharge. We look at where water enters the property, where it collects and where it can go, then build the shortest sensible path.
Free estimates in Evans
Tell us about the site and we’ll come look at it. No obligation, and no charge for the estimate.