Schwinger Lawn Service -- Grading & Landscaping
Grading & Landscaping in Stuart, Iowa
Fix drainage problems, level out low spots, and get your yard looking the way you want it. Residential and commercial.
Schwinger Lawn Service -- Grading & Landscaping
Fix drainage problems, level out low spots, and get your yard looking the way you want it. Residential and commercial.
Voted Best Lawn Care Business -- Best of Guthrie County
Land Grading and Drainage
Iowa's clay soils don't absorb water well. Add Guthrie County's rolling-to-flat topography and you get low spots that hold water after every significant rain. Those wet areas kill grass, breed mosquitoes, and if they're close enough to your foundation, they become a basement problem.
Grading corrects this by reshaping the ground so water moves away from the places you don't want it. That might mean filling a low spot with topsoil and compacting it, re-sloping a section of yard so it drains toward a ditch or swale, or cutting a drainage channel. The fix depends on the specific problem.
We assess your property, figure out where the water is coming from and where it needs to go, and give you a straightforward plan. No guessing, no unnecessary work.
Call 515-523-1061
Stuart, Iowa
Beyond grading, we do the landscaping work that comes after -- or the work you want regardless of drainage issues. Whether you're starting with a bare lot after new construction or updating an existing yard, we can help.
Iowa Lawns and Drainage
Water pooling against a foundation finds its way in. Grading that slopes away from the house at 6 inches per 10 feet is the standard for a reason -- it keeps water moving away from the structure instead of toward it.
Grass doesn't grow well in standing water. Low spots that stay wet after rain develop moss, bare patches, and disease problems. Fill and regrade those areas and you've solved the problem at the source instead of reseeding the same spot every year.
A yard with persistent wet spots isn't usable for days after rain. Fixing the grade makes the lawn functional -- for kids, for mowing, for whatever you actually want to do back there.
Iowa's clay soils are notoriously slow to drain. After a wet spring, it's not unusual to still have standing water on clay-heavy lots a week after rain. If your yard has that problem, it's worth addressing rather than living with it. We've done this work throughout Guthrie County and know what solutions actually hold up here.
Get a Site AssessmentCommon Questions
How do I know if my yard needs grading?
The clearest signs: water stands in the same spots for a day or more after rain, you have dead or thin grass in low areas that you're constantly reseeding, your basement or crawlspace gets water after heavy rain, or the ground near your foundation has settled and now slopes toward the house instead of away. If any of those sound familiar, it's worth having us look at it. We can usually tell pretty quickly whether grading is the right fix or if something else is going on.
Do you do small residential jobs or only large projects?
We do both. Most of our grading work is residential -- filling a low spot in a backyard, re-sloping a section of lawn, prepping a new bed area. We're not set up exclusively for large commercial earthwork. If you've got a small drainage problem or a single area that needs attention, that's exactly the kind of job we do regularly. Give us a call and describe what you're dealing with -- we'll tell you straight if it's something we can handle or if you need a different contractor.
How long does grading take?
A straightforward residential job -- filling a few low spots or re-sloping a section of lawn -- is typically a half-day to full-day job. Larger projects with significant material movement, or jobs that involve trucking in fill dirt or topsoil, take longer depending on the scope. We'll give you a realistic timeline when we quote the job. Most residential grading we do is complete in one to two days.
Do you haul away the excess dirt?
Yes, when we're cutting grade and removing material. If we're bringing dirt in to fill low spots, there's typically no excess to haul. If we're cutting down a high area or leveling a slope, we can either use that material elsewhere on your property or load it out. Hauling is generally included in the project quote -- it's not a surprise add-on. If you have a specific situation, ask us when we're quoting and we'll spell out exactly what's included.
Call us or fill out the form. Free quotes on all grading and landscaping work in Guthrie County and surrounding areas.
Where We Work
Our grading and landscaping crews serve Guthrie County and the wider Stuart area. We cover Earlham, Dexter, Panora, Lake Panorama, Adair, Adel, Diamondhead Lake, and Greenfield, plus Winterset, Guthrie Center, Redfield, and surrounding communities. If you are within a reasonable drive of Stuart, call and we will tell you straight whether we can get to you.
Stuart, Iowa
3278 White Pole Road, Stuart, IA 50250 • Serving Guthrie County and surrounding communities