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LandCore Solutions
Photos from active jobs are added every week — book a quote and we'll add yours.
Quick answer
Driveway grading and power raking restores a rutted gravel drive in a few hours — pothole repair, weed kill, crown reset, full regrade. Most Western Loudoun and Fauquier driveways need it every 12–24 months, and we add it on most forestry mulching and land clearing jobs while we're already on site. Day rate $3,000–$3,500; most driveway-only jobs are a half-day.
What we do
Power rake. Regrade. Re-crown.
Western Loudoun winters and spring runoff are brutal on gravel driveways. Wheel ruts deepen. Crown flattens. Weeds creep into the center strip. And before long every horse trailer trip is a slow bounce up to the barn.
A power rake fixes it in hours, not days. We mix the existing stone back together, pull the buried gravel back to the surface, kill the shallow weed roots, and re-establish proper crown so the next storm runs off instead of sitting in your potholes.
Power raking vs. box-blade grading
The two get conflated, but they're different jobs. A box bladeon a tractor smooths what's on top of the driveway — it's fine for a quick weekly tidy-up. A power rake rebuilds the surface from the top down: it agitates and remixes the existing aggregate, pulls buried stone back up, breaks shallow weed root mats, and lets the operator re-cut the crown profile to whatever drainage the property actually needs. Box-blade work lasts weeks; power-rake work lasts 12–24 months.
What spring runoff looks like in Western Loudoun
The clay-heavy soils across Loudoun and Fauquier hold water longer than the sandy soils east of the county line. That means the runoff sheets off the driveway crown for days after a March thaw rather than soaking in. Drives along Berlin Pike, Mountain Road, Route 690, and the longer Middleburg estate corridors all see the same pattern: a wet March/April, washboard ruts by mid-May, potholes by July if it goes unaddressed. The crown reset is what stops that cycle.
What's in the day rate
What's included — and what isn't.
Included
· Full power-rake pass across the driveway
· Crown reset for proper drainage
· Swale re-cut along edges (where applicable)
· Water-bar refresh on sloped drives
· Pothole repair using existing aggregate
· Weed-root agitation (no chemicals)
Add-ons (quoted separately)
· New gravel delivery + spread (when drive has lost stone)
· Geotextile fabric / base-layer rebuild
· Culvert install or re-set
· Major drainage rework (engineered swales)
· Asphalt or concrete work (we don't do — we'll refer)
· Snow removal (not a service we offer)
When to book it
Three signals it's time.
After spring
Snowmelt and March rain are when gravel driveways take the most damage. Most of our clients book a regrade between mid-April and mid-May.
Before a hunt or event
Hosting friends or a hunt breakfast? A regrade two weeks out gives the surface time to settle and look intentional when the trailers roll in.
While we're already on site
If we're mulching or clearing the back pasture this week, add the driveway. We save you the trip charge and finish in the same window.
Before-and-after sets from real LandCore jobs. New sets added every week from active properties across Western Loudoun and Fauquier.
Lovettsville · 320 ft · 4 hrs
Spring rebuild after a wet March.
Middleburg · 1/2 mi · 1 day
Estate driveway re-crowned ahead of hunt season.
Purcellville · 200 ft · 3 hrs
Power raked while already on site for fence-line clearing.
Leesburg · 600 ft · 5 hrs
Pothole repair after winter horse-trailer traffic.
FAQ
Driveway grading — straight answers
How often does a gravel driveway need to be regraded?+
In Western Loudoun, every 12–24 months is the right cadence — sooner if you have heavy spring runoff, log heavy traffic, or run horse trailers. Power raking once a year keeps the driveway flat, the gravel evenly distributed, and the weeds out of the wheel ruts.
What does power raking do that a regular grader can't?+
A power rake mixes the existing gravel back together, pulls the buried stone back to the surface, kills shallow weed roots, and re-establishes proper crown for drainage. A regular box grader just smooths what's on top — power raking actually rebuilds the driveway from the surface down.
Can you fix potholes without bringing in new gravel?+
Yes, in most cases. A power rake redistributes the gravel that's already there into the low spots. If the driveway has lost a meaningful amount of stone over the years, we'll quote new gravel as a separate add-on so you can see the cost up front.
Do you do this as an add-on while you're already on site for mulching?+
All the time. If we're already on the property for forestry mulching or land clearing, regrading the driveway adds a few hours and saves you a separate trip charge. Most clients book both at once.
