Aiken County, SC
Site Work, Concrete & Paving in North Augusta, South Carolina
Concrete, grading, drainage and paving across North Augusta. City stormwater permitting, sandy Aiken County subgrade, and crews minutes away in Augusta.
North Augusta sits between our two offices — a short run across the river from the Augusta yard on Gordon Highway, and comfortably inside the territory our Aiken office has covered since the company started there.
We do the full range here — land clearing, site grading and excavation, storm drainage, concrete driveways, sidewalks and curb and gutter, asphalt and gravel drives, and commercial site packages and parking lots.
Licensed both sides of the river, which matters more than it sounds
A job in North Augusta is in South Carolina. Different state agency, different permitting path, different licensing.
Pave-Way is bonded, licensed and insured in both Georgia and South Carolina and has been working both sides since 1978 — the company was formed in Aiken before the headquarters moved to Augusta. For us a river crossing is not an event.
It is worth knowing when comparing contractors, because a Georgia-only outfit picking up a North Augusta job is learning the process on your schedule.
Permitting is a city process here
North Augusta handles its own land disturbance permitting, and the structure is worth understanding before you plan a schedule.
Any public or private industrial, commercial or residential subdivision project engaged in land disturbing activity in the city must obtain a land disturbance stormwater permit from the city. Depending on the size of the disturbance, a state permit may be required on top of it.
Large projects — disturbing more than an acre, or less than an acre but part of a larger common plan of development — receive two permits: a City of North Augusta large project permit and a state NPDES permit.
The state side runs through SCDES, the Department of Environmental Services, which took over stormwater permitting when South Carolina restructured DHEC. Documentation that still points at SCDHEC is out of date on the agency name.
The city has published a stormwater application review fee of 100 dollars per disturbed acre, capped at 2,000 dollars. Fees and thresholds get revised, so we confirm the current figures against your specific site rather than quoting what applied last year. We handle the applications on our jobs.
Sandier ground than across the river
North Augusta is in Aiken County, on the South Carolina side, and the ground generally reflects that — sandier material south and east of the Fall Line rather than the red clay that dominates Columbia County a few miles away.
That flips which problem you are solving.
Drainage is usually less of a fight. Water goes into sand rather than standing on it, so the persistent standing-water complaints we deal with in Evans and Martinez are less common here.
Stability is more of one. Sand carries load poorly unless it is confined and compacted properly. A base that was placed and rolled a couple of times looks finished and ruts under the first loaded truck. Sand also erodes readily on any slope while the ground is open, which makes erosion control a practical necessity during construction rather than a formality.
Ground near the river bluffs can behave differently from the general pattern, and there are pockets where sand sits over clay and you get both problems at once — water moves down freely until it reaches the clay and then travels sideways. We dig into the subgrade before quoting rather than assuming.
What we do most of in North Augusta
Concrete driveways and driveway replacement · drainage correction · site grading and building pads · commercial parking lots, resurfacing and striping · land clearing · subdivision site work, curb and gutter · asphalt and gravel drives
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.
Free estimates from either office, no obligation.
Common questions — North Augusta, SC
- Who issues land disturbance permits in North Augusta?
- The city does. Any public or private industrial, commercial or residential subdivision project engaging in land disturbing activity in North Augusta must obtain a land disturbance stormwater permit from the city, and depending on size may need a second state permit as well. Projects disturbing more than an acre — or less than an acre but part of a larger common plan — are treated as large projects and receive both a City of North Augusta large project permit and a state NPDES permit. The city has published a stormwater application review fee of 100 dollars per disturbed acre with a 2,000 dollar cap, though fees get revised, so we confirm current figures rather than quoting last year's.
- Being in South Carolina, does that complicate a job just over the river?
- Not for us. We are bonded, licensed and insured in both Georgia and South Carolina and have worked both sides of the river since 1978 — the company started in Aiken. It does mean a different permitting path from a job in Richmond or Columbia County, and different state agencies, which is worth knowing if you are comparing contractors. A Georgia-only contractor working a North Augusta job has a learning curve on your time.
- What counts as a large project in North Augusta?
- Disturbing more than an acre makes it a large project — and so does disturbing less than an acre if the work is part of a larger common plan of development or sale. That second condition catches people out, because a single small parcel inside a wider development is treated as part of the whole rather than on its own. Large projects receive two permits, a City of North Augusta large project permit and a state NPDES permit, and that means two review timelines to plan around rather than one.
- Is the ground here like Augusta or like Aiken?
- Closer to Aiken. North Augusta sits on the South Carolina side in Aiken County, generally into the sandier material south and east of the Fall Line rather than the red clay of Columbia County. That usually means drainage is less of a struggle than it is a few miles into Georgia, and stability is more of one — sand carries load poorly unless it is properly confined and compacted, and it erodes readily on a slope while the ground is open. Sites near the river bluffs can differ from that, so we dig into the subgrade rather than assuming.
- How quickly can you get a crew here?
- Quickly. Our Augusta yard on Gordon Highway is a short run across the river, and our Aiken office covers the South Carolina side, so North Augusta sits between the two. We own our equipment and run our own crews rather than hiring either, which is the main reason our schedules hold.
Free estimates in North Augusta
Tell us about the site and we’ll come look at it. No obligation, and no charge for the estimate.