Pullen’s Land Works is a hardscaping and excavation company based in Cleveland TN. We build retaining walls, paver surfaces, drains, and driveways for the clay soil and rainfall Bradley County actually gets.

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You’re probably on this page because water’s sitting somewhere in your yard that it shouldn’t be, a contractor already told you “that’s a grading problem,” or you’re staring at a sloped lot wondering if anything can even go on it. That’s the call we get most weeks in Bradley County. Footings that hit rock nobody knew was there, a French drain that should’ve been installed years ago, a house pad on ground everyone else said was too steep. Tell us what you’re looking at and we’ll tell you straight whether it’s a half-day fix or a bigger job, before you spend a dime.

Customer Reviews

Excavation Services in Cleveland TN

If you’re building in Bradley County, chances are your project starts with dirt, whether that’s a shop off Dalton Pike, a house pad on a sloped lot near Wildwood Lake, or a pond out toward Charleston. Before anything else happens on your property, someone has to move that earth, and how well it’s done decides everything you build on top of it.

We’ll handle your site prep, land clearing, grading, footing and house pad excavation, or pond excavation with our own equipment, so you’re not waiting on a rental or a subcontractor booked three weeks out. This county sits on clay, and we walk your lot before we grade it, so the water works with your house instead of against it. Get your dirt work priced before you commit to a floor plan. A flat lot and a sloped lot aren’t the same number.

Retaining Wall Services in Cleveland TN

Drive any older neighborhood in Cleveland and you’ll spot the same failure: walls leaning over sidewalks, bulging in the middle, block faces cracked in stair-step lines. Water builds up behind the wall, the clay swells, and the wall loses. Every wall we build gets drainage aggregate and perforated pipe behind the face, the detail that decides whether it holds for 40 years or leans in 5, and the first thing skipped on a cheap bid.

We build block, natural stone, timber, and tiered retaining walls, and we’ll repair yours where the base is still sound, telling you plainly when it’s past saving. If your lot drops eight or ten feet from one side to the other, two or three shorter tiers usually hold the grade better and cost less than one tall engineered wall. If your wall is leaning but not down yet, get it looked at this year. Early repairs cost a fraction of a rebuild.

Drainage Services in Cleveland TN

Standing water in your yard three days after rain. A crawl space that smells like a creek bed. A driveway that turns into a stream every storm. That’s a drainage problem, and it won’t fix itself, not with clay holding water at the surface and the next rain adding to it.

We install French drains, surface drainage, catch basins, culverts, and water diversion, plus erosion control on slopes losing soil, but the service that matters most is the first one: finding where your water actually starts. Because we handle excavation and grading in-house too, we fix the cause, not just where the water ends up, whether that’s a wall taking on pressure or a crawl space that’s really a grading problem underneath. Send us a photo of your wet spot and we’ll tell you straight whether it needs a crew or a weekend and a shovel.

Demolition Services in Cleveland TN

Every rural property in Bradley County seems to come with one: the barn nobody’s used since the 90s, the shed with the caved roof, the cracked slab where a garage used to stand. Taking it down looks simple until you’re standing in a debris pile with no way to haul it. We handle outbuilding demolition, concrete slab demolition, storm debris removal, site cleanup, and junk removal, with demo and haul-off in one booking so you’re not left calling around for a roll-off.

Most demo jobs here are step one of something else: your barn comes down because a shop is going up, your slab comes out because a patio is going in. We pull the old footings, then grade and prep the site for what’s next, one crew, one bill. When a storm drops trees across your property, we clear and haul the debris and regrade the torn-up ground. And your old concrete doesn’t have to go to the landfill: where it makes sense, we crush and reuse it as base material on site, cutting your haul-off cost and your gravel bill at the same time.

Synthetic Turf Services in Cleveland TN

>Mowing season in Cleveland runs nine months, March into November, plus watering through the July dry stretch and reseeding bare spots every fall. Synthetic turf ends that cycle, and in this climate it holds up year after year, but only if what’s under it is built right. Turf laid over bare clay fails the same way pavers do: water can’t get through, it pools underneath, and seams and wrinkles show within a year or two. We excavate and build a compacted, free-draining base under your turf first, every time.

We install lawn turf, pet area turf, and putting greens. Pet turf is our fastest-growing request: dogs turn a clay yard into a mud pit every winter, and a properly drained area stays clean and doesn’t hold odor. Putting greens need a dead-flat, stable base to putt true, an excavation job before it’s a turf job, since greens laid on hand-raked dirt go wavy by the second summer. Turf isn’t for every yard, and we’ll tell you when it isn’t, but on a full-sun clay lot that bakes every July and floods every January, it may be the last lawn decision you ever make.

Hardscaping & Paving Services in Cleveland TN

Paver patios and driveways fail in East Tennessee for one reason: the base wasn’t cut deep enough past the clay. The pavers themselves almost never break, the ground under them moves, and the surface heaves until you rip the whole thing out. We build patios, driveways, walkways, steps and landings, and gravel driveways, and every one starts below the surface: we excavate past the soft clay and build a compacted stone base in lifts, set for the freeze-thaw swings of a Tennessee winter.

Gravel driveways are their own craft here. A drive that ruts every winter doesn’t need more gravel, it needs a crown, a compacted base, and somewhere for the water to go, which is why yours will stay smooth while the neighbor’s washes out every February. Steps and landings matter on the sloped lots that make up most of this county, turning space you never use into space you use daily. One honest note: pavers cost more upfront than poured concrete, but they win over time, since a settled section can be lifted and re-laid in an afternoon instead of demolished.

Our Services

Site Preparation

From raw lot to build-ready: clearing, rough grading, pad cutting, and the drainage planning that decides whether the finished building stays dry. We prep sites for homes, shops, barns, and additions, sequenced so the follow-on trades start on schedule instead of waiting on dirt.

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Land Clearing

Root balls out, not stumps shaved at grade. Cleared timber piled, burned where permitted, or hauled. Ground left smooth enough to mow or build on, with the trees you want to keep protected from machine damage. Selective clearing is available too, so specimen trees you want kept get flagged and worked around instead of taken down by default.

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Grading

The cheapest insurance a property can buy. We cut and shape ground so water moves away from structures, driveways shed instead of rut, and yards drain instead of swamp. Most "drainage problems" in Cleveland are grading problems wearing a disguise.

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Footing Excavation

Dug to depth, to width, on undisturbed ground, ready for inspection. We coordinate with your builder and concrete crew so footings pass the first time and pours happen on schedule. We probe for rock and soft spots before we dig, so surprises show up in the estimate, not halfway through the pour.

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House Pad Excavation

A pad that stays put: cut to solid ground, built up in compacted lifts where fill is needed, high enough that the wet season stays outside, graded so hillside water routes around. Where the pad sits decides half your site costs, so bring us in before the plans are final.

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Pond Excavation

Stock ponds and recreational ponds on ground that wants to hold water: clay-sealed bottoms, banks graded to hold, spillways sized for the storms this county gets. We confirm the site will hold water before a bucket touches dirt. Liners are rarely needed here, since Bradley County clay holds water well on its own.

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OUR Gallery

Take a look at our recent transformations in Bradley County & Cleveland TN

A hardscaping project planting bed prep, during construction, in Cleveland, TN.

A hardscaping project hardscaping front, after completion, in Cleveland, TN.

A paver patio site grading progress, during construction, in Cleveland, TN.

A paver patio charcoal detail, after completion, in Cleveland, TN.

A porch paver patio old wooden deck, before construction, in Cleveland, TN.

A porch paver patio new deck, after completion, in Cleveland, TN.

A paver walkway french drain paver installation progress, during construction, in Cleveland, TN.

A paver walkway french drain, after completion, in Cleveland, TN.

A retaining wall construction gravel trench behind wall, during construction, in Cleveland, TN.

A retaining wall construction wall steps view, after completion, in Cleveland, TN.

A demolition old barn angle view, before construction, in Cleveland, TN.

A demolition excavator debris cleanup, during construction, in Cleveland, TN.

Honest answer: it depends on dirt nobody has seen yet, which is why we quote from your property instead of a price sheet. The drivers are access, slope, rock, wet ground, and haul distance. What stays fixed is the process: we walk the site, price the full scope in writing, and the number does not move for conditions we should have caught on the walk. If the ground hides something nobody could see, you hear about it before we proceed, never on the invoice.

Benefits of our Excavation & Hardscaping services

BUILT FOR THIS GROUND, NOT GENERIC METHODS

Everything We Build Accounts for Bradley County Clay and Rainfall

Clay soil swells when wet and shrinks when dry. Cleveland gets 55 inches of rain a year. We don’t follow the methods that work on sandy soil or in drier climates. Every wall, drain, driveway, and graded surface is built for how the ground actually behaves here.

WHAT YOU'RE QUOTED IS WHAT YOU PAY

Quote Doesn’t Change Mid-Project for Conditions We Should Have Caught

We walk your property, identify conditions upfront, and quote a price that covers the full scope. When work starts, the quote doesn’t change because we should have caught the issue on the walk. If something genuinely unexpected shows up underground, we tell you before we proceed, not after.

FIXED ONCE, NOT PATCHED REPEATEDLY

We Fix the Root Problem, Not the Symptom

Adding gravel to a failing driveway just extends the problem. We diagnose what’s actually wrong, usually the grade, and correct it so the fix holds. One repair instead of recurring calls.

Free consultation

We come to your property, walk the land, check terrain and drainage, talk through what your property needs.

Written
quote

You get a written quote covering exactly what gets done and what it costs. What we quote is what you pay.

We
build it

We show up on the committed date. The crew that walked your property is on your job. You get updates throughout.

Final walkthrough

We walk every section with you. Anything that needs adjusting gets handled before we leave.

Jack started his business at 17 mowing yards. By 20, he had built a successful mowing operation. But he understood that Cleveland TN and the surrounding areas had unique needs that were unmet, which he wanted to focus on the long term. The work he’s always been drawn to is hardscaping and excavation, understanding the ground, building structures that last decades, solving problems without shortcuts. At 22 he made the transition, and Pullen’s Land Work was built around that focus.

Growth is valuable only if quality remains consistent. That’s why Jack stays involved on every major project. Zack serves as the main foreman and brings the same standards to every job. The business is built on being known for doing work correctly, not on becoming the largest operation. Accountability and reputation matter more than scale.

Driveway Grading

$50 off

Dirt Work / Clearing

$100 off

Retaining Walls & Pavers

$200 off

Service Areas

Bradley County & Cleveland

Beyond Bradley County

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a permit for excavation work?

For most residential grading and driveway work in Bradley County, no. Land disturbance over an acre and work in regulated areas have requirements, and where they apply we tell you before anything starts.

How soon can you start?

The free walk-through usually happens within days. Start dates depend on season and scope; you get a real date with the quote, and we show up on it.

Can you work with my builder?

Yes, and we prefer it. Footings, pads, and utilities go smoother when the dirt contractor and the builder talk before the first cut.

Get the dirt priced first. Free written quote from the crew that will actually do the work: (423) 716-4143.

Do I need to be present at the job site at all times?

In most cases, no. As long as we have clear access to the work area and any underground utilities (private lines) are marked, our crew can handle the heavy lifting while you’re at work. We’ll provide daily updates so you’re never in the dark.

What does a retaining wall cost in Cleveland TN?

The quotes changes based on your requirements we take into account how much face foot is installed per square face, drainage inclusions. The only accurate number comes from seeing your property.

What areas do you serve?

Cleveland TN and all of Bradley County, Athens, Chattanooga, and Knoxville.

Do you take credit cards?

Cheque and bank transfer are available options right now.

EXCAVATION CONTRACTOR IN CLEVELAND TN

Customer Reviews

Excavation Services in Cleveland TN

Retaining Wall Services in Cleveland TN

Drainage Services in Cleveland TN

Demolition Services in Cleveland TN

Synthetic Turf Services in Cleveland TN

Hardscaping & Paving Services in Cleveland TN