Low-rise specifics
When do grading, sodding and the driveway get done?
Usually after you move in, often a season or two later. Final grading, sod and paving depend on weather, municipal inspection and the construction stage of neighbouring lots. Builders commonly hold a deposit for this work and return it once it is completed and approved.
You will very likely move into a house with a dirt yard and a gravel driveway. This is normal, it is in your agreement, and it still surprises almost everyone.
Why it waits
Final grading needs the neighbours finished. Lot grading is engineered across the whole block so water drains to the street or a swale. Your lot cannot be finalised while the lot next door is still a construction site with heavy equipment crossing it.
Municipal inspection is required. The municipality inspects grading against the approved plan before signing off. That is a queue, and it moves with the subdivision rather than with your house.
Sod and asphalt are seasonal. Neither goes down in winter. A December closing means spring at the earliest, and if the block is not ready by then, the following season.
Driveways are often paved base-first, with the top coat applied a year or more later once settling has occurred, which is better practice, not a shortcut.
Realistic timelines
- Spring or summer closing: sod and base paving sometimes within a few months, if the block is complete.
- Fall or winter closing: expect the following spring or summer.
- Early phase of a community: longer. Possibly a second season.
- Final top coat on the driveway: commonly 1–2 years after closing.
The deposit you pay for it
Your statement of adjustments will likely include a grading and sodding deposit, often $1,000 to $3,000. It is usually refundable once the work is done and inspected.
Two things to do: keep the receipt, and diarise a reminder. These refunds are not always issued automatically, and a buyer who never asks sometimes never receives it. Follow up at the one-year mark.
What you must not do
Do not alter the grading. Not a garden bed against the foundation, not a patio, not regrading a low spot, not a fence that interrupts a swale. Altering grading before final approval can:
- Void the grading portion of your Tarion coverage.
- Make you responsible for drainage problems, including a neighbour’s.
- Cause the municipality to refuse sign-off and the builder to withhold your deposit.
Wait for approval. Then landscape.
Record it at the PDI
At the pre-delivery inspection, write down the state of the exterior, no sod, gravel driveway, rough grade, no walkway. Photograph it. That establishes what was outstanding at handover, which is exactly what the form is for.
Living with it
Budget for the gap. You may want interim gravel or mulch, a temporary walkway, and a plan for mud by the back door. Plan your landscaping, fencing and deck for after final grading approval, building before it is how people lose both a deposit and a warranty claim.
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