Grading

Every vertical build, parking field, and roadway on the Treasure Coast starts with the dirt underneath it. Timothy Rose Contracting handles grading from raw, vegetated ground to a construction-ready surface — clearing the site, cutting to grade, placing engineered fill, and compacting to the densities your geotech and your structure demand. We've been moving earth across Indian River, Brevard, St. Lucie, and Okeechobee counties since 1984, and we self-perform every phase in-house, so the crew that clears your lot is the same outfit that hands it off at finished grade. That continuity is the point. When grading is subbed out in pieces, density failures and re-work fall through the cracks between trades. We own the whole sequence — vegetation removal, excavation, fill, and compaction — under one FDOT-certified, $100M-bonded operation with a 40-plus-year municipal track record in Vero Beach, Fellsmere, Palm Bay, Viera, and Melbourne. You get a pad that passes proctor the first time and drains the way the plan intended.

How We Grade a Site

We start with vegetation and root removal — stripping organics and unsuitable material that would never carry load — then excavate to subgrade per the plan and the geotech report. From there we place fill in controlled lifts and compact each lift to the specified density, testing as we go rather than chasing failures at the end. On roadway and heavy-civil work we routinely tie grading into full-depth reclamation (FDR) and curb-and-gutter systems like CSPB and LSPB, so the grading we deliver is set up correctly for whatever paving, structure, or stabilized base follows. Because we run our own equipment and crews, we control the lift thickness, moisture, and sequencing that actually determine whether a pad holds.

Where Site Grading Is Used

Grading underlies nearly everything we self-perform: commercial building pads, parking lots and drive aisles, municipal roadways, drainage and retention areas, and large clear-and-grub site-prep packages. On the Treasure Coast that means contending with sandy soils, high water tables, and tight stormwater rules — conditions we've built grading around for four decades. Whether it's a single-pad commercial lot in St. Lucie or a multi-acre municipal project in Brevard, the deliverable is the same: a surface cut and compacted to the elevations, slopes, and densities the design calls for, ready for the next trade to start without re-work.

Why Timothy Rose Contracting

We are a self-performing heavy-civil contractor, not a broker — clearing, earthwork, and compaction are core competencies we run with our own people and iron, licensed under CGC #052940 and RU #0066532. That self-performance is what lets us stand behind grade and density: there's no finger-pointing between subs when the inspector shows up. Forty-plus years in business, FDOT certification, and $100M in bonding capacity mean we can carry the grading scope on projects most outfits can't bond, and our municipal record in Vero Beach, Fellsmere, Palm Bay, Viera, and Melbourne is on file with the agencies that hold us to spec. For a GC or owner, that's a grading partner who shows up, certifies the work, and is still here next year.

What to Expect Working With Us

Expect a contractor who reads the geotech report before the first machine moves and grades to it — not to a guess. We coordinate around your survey control, your stormwater permit, and your build schedule, and we document compaction so your testing lab and the AHJ have what they need. You'll deal with the same in-house team start to finish, with clear communication on lift progress, density results, and any unsuitable soils we encounter before they become a change-order surprise. The end product is a construction-ready surface at the elevations and slopes on the plan, compacted to spec and ready to hand off to footings, base, or paving.

Frequently asked questions

Do you handle clearing and grubbing, or just the earthwork?

Both — we self-perform the full sequence. We remove vegetation, strip organics and unsuitable material, and grub roots before we excavate to subgrade and place fill. Because it's all one in-house crew, the site-prep and the final grade are handled by the same team under one contract, with no gap between trades.

Will the pad be compacted to my geotech's density requirements?

Yes. We place fill in controlled lifts and compact each one to the density specified by your geotechnical report, testing as we go so problems surface during the work rather than at final inspection. We document compaction so your testing lab and the local building authority have the records they need to sign off.

Can you take on grading for large municipal or heavy-civil projects?

Yes. We've self-performed grading on municipal work in Vero Beach, Fellsmere, Palm Bay, Viera, and Melbourne since 1984, we're FDOT-certified, and we carry $100M in bonding capacity. That lets us take on grading scopes — including roadway work tied to FDR and curb systems — on projects many contractors can't bond.