Since you are asking the question, are you unhappy with “final grading” that has been done? Or concerned about what needs to be done? Final grading is usually done with large equipment, so not fine tuning. It should keep soil without much void between foundation and potential landscaping and draining away from foundation. A lot depends on your specific property as well. Landscapers come and manually fine tune to property, planned layouts for beds and site specific issues such as short distances between homes might require specific drainage methods.

Following. Our excavator leaves each step unfinished and is a source of empty promises. We have stipulated that he is to grade it to safety. Months have gone by where he left it dangerous to walk around house due to steep grade. I suspect we will end up doing it ourselves, but we don't expect him to bring in extra fill or gravel for draining. The foundation crew did that against the house when they laid tile and water proofed it.

In order to obtain a certificate of occupancy for a completed home in Virginia, grading needs to be performed so the grade slopes away from the home at least 6" in the first 10' The grading is something we are responsible for as the home builder.

PUNCTUATION POLICE

" . . . at least 6" in the first 10'. The grading is . . . "

I think it is about the same thing in Michigan, but I spell words wrong.

@Mark Bischak,

It's good to know that a big picture person like you can sweat the small details, too! I agonized for some time before writing the above post sans period. I know that English units of measure like ft and in would be followed by a period (SI units would not,) but I wasn't sure about a symbol like " " ." Fortunately for me, freshmen English wasn't required when I went to engineering school.

I am just wanting to put a single simple clear unambiguous sentence into a contract specification describing the final grade.

Years ago my current house had no grading on 1 side - you could see where some concrete had seeped under the form and then few small but ugly gaps under that to the ground from erosion - it's since been landscaped...

How about something like: (to paraphrase from @Charles Ross Homes - thanks)

"Final Grade: Grade shall slope away from the house at least 6 inches in the first 10 feet and shall not display visible gaps between the ground and concrete"

Hi, Hu,

I like it--especially omitting the period at the end. The punctuation police will be along any minute....

On a more serious note, there's more to grading a site than just the 10 ft. closest to the foundation. The required final grades should be established as shown on the approved site development plan.

To me reading your comments sounds like you are jumping around a bit on different things.

"How about something like: Final Grade: Grade shall slope away from the house . . ."

In general final grade should be specified in general notes and on wall sections and elevations. It should expose the foundation wall a min 4" (6"-8" adopted many places) and slope away as Charles says. There should not be a need to dictate rough grade vs final grade. Your contract should state whether there is a topping thickness, sod/seed, or left rough grade and finished by owner. Any need for more grading like swales and retaining walls should be handled on a landscaping plan and figure out who's doing it.

- "After the forms are removed, the construction is complete, ... what is typical or normal practice for a builder to do in pushing any fill back around the slab and leaving the project to the next phase - a landscaper?"

Contractors just love to backfill foundations at the 2nd or 3rd day from the pour. Admittedly, this allows framing to start safely and keep their insurance premiums low. However, they usually never shore/brace the walls good enough, and you will get cracks. The slope will not be fine tuned. Skipping the foundation drainage lecture, the backfill will remain rough grade until the end, and then whoever the contract says does final. Backfill for slabs talked about below.

- "Do they place enough fill to ensure say 6 feet of drainage away in all directions for example?"

- Beyond backfill (height which will be detemined by the plan/elevation drawings which should address the site topography) if there are other areas to do either further filling or excavating, this should be accounted for originally by the excavator and the setting of the foundation height. They will either want some of the spoils or figure how much it will cost to truck spoils off. If you are talking about 6' from the edge of slabs, that requirement is from the foundation. Sidewalks, patios, and driveways will also have their own slope (and should be noted on drawings).

- "you could see where some concrete had seeped under the form and then few small but ugly gaps under that to the ground from erosion"

You must be talking about flatwork, and that is common for the forms to not go all the way down to the bottom of what is dug out for the slab (if you use 2x4 for a 4" slab you theoretically have 1/2" squeezing under - that's ok). Slabs go in long after the foundation is backfilled, so it will remain exposed as they will not redo rough grading, that moves to final grading and what/who is specified in the contract to do it and what to do.