Two questions people ask before scrolling
Does NC Grade and Haul cover my county?
Coverage is deepest in the Triangle (Wake, Durham, Orange, Johnston), Charlotte metro (Mecklenburg, Union, Cabarrus, Gaston), and WNC Helene-recovery counties (Buncombe, Henderson, Rutherford). Use the metro links below to see verified contractors by county.
What does 'verified' mean on this directory?
Every listing is cross-checked against the NC Licensing Board, OSHA violations records, and NC workers' comp compliance — not self-reported. A contractor appears here only with an active license and current insurance.
If you typed “grading contractor near me” tonight, you’re probably sorting through a lot of noise. Most directories list anyone willing to pay a monthly fee. This one doesn’t work that way.
NC Grade and Haul lists contractors who passed a three-source verification check against public government records. Here’s what the check covers and where coverage runs deepest in North Carolina.
How We Verify — What “Verified” Actually Means
Three-source verification: what each check confirms
1. NCLBGC license check -- Confirms license class (Limited, Intermediate, or Unlimited) and that status reads Active -- not suspended, expired, or revoked. A suspended license ends the check here. 2. OSHA violations check -- Scans public DOL inspection records for serious violations. Three or more demotes the contractor from Verified to Listed -- they stay in the directory but lose the verified mark. 3. NC Industrial Commission workers comp check -- Confirms active coverage through the NC Industrial Commission Compliance Division. Without it, NC G.S. 97-19 can hold you -- the property owner -- liable for a worker's injury benefits. 4. Verified -- All three sources agree: active license, clean OSHA record, current workers comp. The listing shows which sources were checked and links to the public records.
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NCLBGC license check
Confirms license class (Limited, Intermediate, or Unlimited) and that status reads Active -- not suspended, expired, or revoked. A suspended license ends the check here.
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OSHA violations check
Scans public DOL inspection records for serious violations. Three or more demotes the contractor from Verified to Listed -- they stay in the directory but lose the verified mark.
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NC Industrial Commission workers comp check
Confirms active coverage through the NC Industrial Commission Compliance Division. Without it, NC G.S. 97-19 can hold you -- the property owner -- liable for a worker's injury benefits.
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Verified
All three sources agree: active license, clean OSHA record, current workers comp. The listing shows which sources were checked and links to the public records.
Every check links to the controlling public record -- you can pull the same data yourself.
Verified means three public sources agree: active license, zero serious OSHA violations, and current workers’ comp coverage.
Most directories list anyone who pays. We list anyone who passes. That’s the difference.
The NCLBGC lookup confirms the license class (Limited, Intermediate, or Unlimited) and confirms it isn’t suspended or expired. A suspended license is a dead letter — we don’t chase more data on those contractors. Active only.
The OSHA check flags contractors with three or more serious violations. That threshold is the cutoff — contractors above it are demoted from “verified” to “listed.” They stay in the directory but don’t carry the verified mark.
The workers’ comp check confirms active coverage. This matters for your personal liability. Under NC G.S. § 97-19, if a worker is injured on your property and the contractor carries no coverage, you — as the property owner who hired them — can be held liable for workers’ compensation benefits directly. Homeowner’s insurance typically does not cover this exposure. Active workers’ comp on the contractor’s side closes that gap.
Every listing shows the license number, verification tier, and which sources were checked. You can pull the same records yourself — we document exactly where to look.
Triangle Metro — Wake, Durham, Orange, Johnston
The Triangle has the deepest verified contractor pool in North Carolina — Wake County alone carries 67 verified listings.
The Triangle runs on Piedmont clay. New construction in Wake County subdivisions — the production builds that went up fast in Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, and Apex through 2020-2023 — was commonly graded to the site-plan minimum, and in Piedmont clay a minimum grade can settle toward the house, not away from it. That’s not a material failure. It’s a grade failure, and it’s fixable.
Contractors here work that problem regularly. They know what positive drainage looks like on a quarter-acre lot in Piedmont clay, and they know what a proof-roll on a driveway base should feel like.
County-level coverage in the Triangle:
| County | Verified Contractor Pool |
|---|---|
| Wake | 67 verified |
| Durham | 7 verified |
| Orange | 7 verified |
| Johnston | 10 verified |
Find a Raleigh grading contractor or browse Wake County grading contractor listings directly.
For how to hire a verified NC grading contractor outside a specific county, the QN hub covers the full landscape.
Charlotte Metro — Mecklenburg, Union, Cabarrus, Gaston
Charlotte metro contractors handle Piedmont clay grading, erosion control, and post-construction grading corrections — coverage is expanding as the verification pipeline reaches Mecklenburg.
The Charlotte area shares the Piedmont clay profile of the Triangle: dense, slow-draining, and less forgiving of rough finish grades than sandy Coastal soil. Urban lot constraints in Mecklenburg add a layer — smaller lots, tighter setbacks, more neighbors watching the silt fence.
Mecklenburg County has its own permit and erosion control requirements. Contractors working Charlotte metro should know both county and NCDOT standards if the job touches a road shoulder.
Coverage is actively expanding. If your county isn’t showing a full verified pool yet, check back — or use the vet checklist in the section below to run your own check against public records.
Find a Charlotte grading contractor to see current Mecklenburg and surrounding county listings.
Western NC — Buncombe, Henderson, Rutherford
WNC coverage is surge-focused post-Helene — contractors here specialize in washout repair, road re-establishment, and driveway rebuilding on steep, rocky terrain.
This isn’t Raleigh. WNC operators work shallow soil over rock, not Piedmont clay. Equipment choices are different. Timeline expectations are different. A driveway rebuild in Rutherford County after Helene involves rock removal and road-base re-establishment that a Triangle contractor hasn’t seen on a residential job.
The backlog is real. Buncombe, Henderson, and Rutherford contractors have been working surge volume since late September 2024 — when the FEMA major disaster declaration for Helene landed (DR-4827-NC, declared September 28, 2024). If you’re in Bat Cave, Black Mountain, or Chimney Rock, expect to book further out than a non-Helene market.
WNC operators routinely cross county lines based on terrain and access, not county boundaries. A contractor based in Buncombe may be the right call for a Henderson County job on a particular ridge.
For timing help, see booking grading after a NC hurricane.
How to Vet Any Contractor Outside Our Listed Counties
If your county isn’t listed yet, the NCLBGC portal is your fastest free verification tool — it takes two minutes and catches suspended licenses instantly.
Four steps:
- License check. Go to portal.nclbgc.org/public/search. Search by business name or license number. Confirm the status reads “Active” — not expired, suspended, or revoked.
- request. Ask the contractor to email a Certificate of Insurance with your project address listed as the certificate holder. If they hesitate, that’s information.
- Itemized quote. Any contractor who won’t break out materials, labor, and equipment separately is quoting blind. A lump-sum number with no line items means you can’t check what you’re paying for.
- OSHA check. Search OSHA’s public inspection records by company name at osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.html. Look for serious violations — three or more moves a contractor to our “listed” tier.
For a deeper walk-through of what each check catches, see NC grading license requirements and the contractor red-flag checklist.
Copy This Before You Call
The question most homeowners forget to ask upfront:
Question card — copy before calling
“Do you pull your own permits, or does the GC pull them? Can you send me your license number and a COI with my address on it as certificate holder?”
If a contractor hesitates on either question, you have your answer before the job starts.
Find a Verified Contractor in Your Metro
Pick your metro below — each listing shows license number, verification tier, and confirmed service types.
- NC grading contractor near me — full directory, all metros
- How to hire a grading contractor in NC — what to look for before signing anything
- Wake County grading contractor — Triangle county listings
- Raleigh grading contractor — Raleigh-specific pool
- Charlotte grading contractor — Mecklenburg and surrounding counties
Every listing is cross-referenced against public government sources. If the data changes — a license lapses, an OSHA violation lands — the listing updates on the next verification cycle.