Excavation Contractor in Coopertown, TN

Excavation and Site Prep Under Coopertown's Building Codes

Coopertown builds under the 2021 International Building Codes. Post-frame homes, barndominiums included, need an engineer's design and stamped drawing before the town issues a permit. That means the pad under a barndominium gets built to a plan.

Site prep and grading for Coopertown homes and barns follows that plan. We cut and fill the pad, then grade the lot so water runs off the right way. Our guide to what a building pad costs in Tennessee lists market numbers.

The town's grading permit application asks how many cubic yards will move and who will haul the dirt. It also asks for the haul route inside town limits. The permit goes void if work does not start within 6 months. A phased job needs a separate grading permit for each phase.

Gravel Driveways and the Coopertown Driveway Permit

Every new driveway in Coopertown needs a driveway permit before work starts. The permit is $50, and the fee covers a site inspection that sets culvert size and placement. The town's specs call for culverts at least 15 inches across and 25 feet long, with headwalls on both ends. The town's application allows Class III reinforced concrete or HDPE dual wall plastic pipe.

Where a house drive meets a paved road, at least its first 20 feet must be asphalt or concrete. That paved strip must be at least 12 feet wide. From there, we build the gravel drive back to the house or barn. The driveway must be finished before the town grants a certificate of occupancy for a new house.

Erosion prevention and sediment control measures go in before other driveway work starts. One stated purpose of the driveway rules is to limit grade changes and vegetation removal on hillsides. Erosion control on Coopertown drives and building sites uses silt fence and rock check dams to hold soil in place.

Our roots are in building roads for a timber company's log trucks. That is why gravel driveways and farm roads around Coopertown are a specialty for us.

Land Clearing and Mulching on Coopertown Farm Ground

Coopertown began as Nave's Crossroads, named for David Nave, who settled in the area in 1825. The name Coopertown came from a large cooper shop that made barrels for the nearby Red River Mills Distillery. By 1874, Robertson County distillers were making 45,000 barrels of whiskey a year.

In the 1800s, prime farmland made the community prosperous. Today the town covers 31.6 square miles of southern Robertson County. Its 2024 future land use map still includes agricultural preserve areas and rural residential land. Where that ground has grown up in trees, a house or barn site starts with clearing.

Land clearing on Coopertown acreage takes out trees and brush, and an excavator with a thumb pulls the stumps. Plan for the wood before the first tree comes down. The town's spring and fall pickup takes downed limbs only. It does not take trees, and it asks people not to leave large trunks or stump bases at the road.

For brush and saplings, forestry mulching on Coopertown land is one answer, since it grinds them where they stand. Pasture that has grown up in weeds and briars gets cut back with bush hogging around Coopertown.

Underground Utilities as Coopertown Grows

Residents incorporated Coopertown in 1996 in response to a proposal to put a landfill in the community. The census counted 3,027 people in 2000 and 4,278 in 2010, a 41.3 percent jump. By 2020 the count was 4,480.

A stage line out of Nashville once ran through Coopertown, Turnersville and Port Royal. Highway 49 through town carries traffic cutting between I-24 and I-65. In July 2018, Lowe's opened a 1.2 million square foot fulfillment distribution center. It sits on York Road, off I-24 at exit 24.

The town's 2024 future land use map also shows an interstate industrial district and a town center. In Coopertown, plumbing permits come from the Springfield Water Department. Electrical permits come from the State of Tennessee.

We dig and backfill the trenches for underground utility lines on Coopertown lots. A licensed plumber or electrician makes the connections. Tennessee 811 needs notice at least 3 and no more than 10 working days before digging. Where water stands against a foundation, French drains and yard drainage carry it away from the house.