Cost to Level a Yard in Austin [2025 Data]

Yard leveling costs in Austin average $2,349, and most regrading projects total between $1,149 and $3,550. Your price will depend mainly on the size of the area you’re leveling and the severity of the slope you’re correcting. Austin is relatively flat, but homeowners pay relatively high costs for yard leveling due to above-average property sizes and unusually heavy soil due to high clay content.

Yard Leveling Cost Factors

You could pay as little as $375 to level your yard in Austin, Texas, but costs can climb as high as $5,500. There are a few factors you can consider to help you determine where in this range your total will fall.

Size

On average, you’ll pay between $1 and $2 per square foot to level your property in Austin, so larger projects covering more ground will almost always cost more. You can get a rough estimate for your total by measuring the area you want to regrade and using these average costs to get an idea of the pricing.

If you’re looking to level your entire lawn and smooth out depressions and need to account for a larger area, you may need to estimate costs based on acreage instead of square feet. The average property in Austin is roughly 0.221 acres, much larger than you’d see in most major metropolitan areas. Larger property sizes are one reason the average cost of yard leveling in Austin sits well above the national average.

Type of Project

The part of the outdoor space you’re regrading and why plays a big role in calculating the final cost to level your yard. Check out these common regrading projects below to get a sense of how your plans for your property can affect your regrading costs in Austin.

Severity of Slope

The slope of your existing lawn will help dictate the overall price tag for this project. If you have a very steep slope on one side of your yard that you need to level, that will cost you more than a slight slope. Contractors typically charge based on the elevation change; the more significant the change, the bigger the price tag.

Austin has a relatively flat topography, so most homeowners won’t see a significant uptick in costs due to severe sloping. However, excavating even small amounts of dirt to smooth out a slope will cost more in Austin than in most other cities due to the high clay content of the soil that makes it heavy and challenging to work with.

Land Clearing

Before you start leveling your land, you may need to pay to clear the area of brush, shrubs, debris, or trees. Land clearing costs in the area average between $500 and $1,000, although you could see significantly higher costs if you need to remove trees to move forward with your leveling project. 

More than 40% of Austin is covered by the tree canopy, which is well above average for major metropolitan areas, so there’s a good chance you’ll need to budget for even higher costs to clear trees.

Land Surveying

You may also need to pay for a land survey, which costs between $800 and $5,500, depending on the specifics of your land leveling project. If you’re leveling land around the perimeter of your property to put in a fence, you may need a survey to ensure you don’t illegally modify your neighbors’ properties.

Austin also has buried water, sewer, and gas lines, and a land survey can help determine where these lines are located to avoid damaging them if you’re excavating.

Fill and Topsoil

Fill dirt is a rocky material that’s ideal for packing in pockets during a regrade. It costs between $5 and $30 per cubic yard. How much you need depends on the scale of your project and what’s available to relocate from elsewhere in your yard.

Topsoil goes down over the fill dirt. You’ll pay between $12 and $55 per cubic yard. Topsoil costs more than fill dirt because it’s full of nutrients to help nurture a lush landscape.

Yard Leveling Pro Costs

When you hire a landscape grading company in Austin to get the job done, you can expect between $2,100 and $2,350 to go toward labor, which accounts for between 90% and 95% of your total costs. The cost of living in Austin is 11% higher than the national average, and this drives up labor costs, making the per-hour price you’ll pay for labor more expensive than you’d see in most other areas.

While labor is expensive, hiring a professional will save you a lot of time and potential injury and ensure you get a perfectly flat yard with a good slope for drainage to avoid flooding. A professional is also less likely to cause damage to underground utility lines, which can mean a lower risk of personal injury and property damage.

The City of Austin doesn’t require permits for land leveling, so you won’t need to worry about permit fees when estimating your costs. However, you will need to pay permit fees if you’re leveling your land for another purpose, like installing a fence, patio, driveway, or pool. Ask your land leveling contractor if your ultimate plan will require permits.

Does Leveling a Yard Increase Home Value?

Leveling your property can add value if it was previously too sloped to be usable, but since Austin has a relatively flat topography, the likelihood of increased home value from land leveling is minimal.

However, the reason for leveling may mean a bump in home value. You’ll see a healthy return on investment (ROI) on general landscaping costs, the cost to install a driveway, patio, or deck, or the cost to install a pool in the hot climate.

How Angi Gets Its Cost Data

Home is the most important place on earth, which is why Angi has helped more than 150 million homeowners transform their houses into homes they adore. To help homeowners with their next project, Angi provides readers with the most accurate cost data and upholds strict editorial standards. We survey real Angi customers about their project costs to develop the pricing data you see, so you can make the best decisions for you and your home. We pair this data with research from reputable sources, including the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, academic journals, market studies, and interviews with industry experts—all to ensure our prices reflect real-world projects. 

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