What Is a Grade Scan? Measuring a Driveway Instead of Guessing

By Kyle Abbey, Founder, GravelBoss · Published April 2, 2026 · Updated September 30, 2026

A Grade Scan is a $149 measured survey of your gravel driveway's grade and drainage. We measure the shape of the driveway on site, find where the crown has flattened and where water sits, and turn it into a written report and a proposal with a price. Most bad driveways are a water problem before they are a stone problem, and measuring is how you tell which one yours is.

What is a Grade Scan, in plain terms?

It is a measured walk of your driveway. We walk the drive with a hand-held measuring instrument, record where each point is and how high it sits, and turn those numbers into the shape of the drive: how long and wide it is, where it rises and falls, whether the middle is still higher than the edges, and which way the water will go.

The name says scan, so it is worth being straight about what it is not. It is not an aerial survey, a drone flight or a 3D scan, and it does not produce a point cloud. It is a survey on foot, point by point, done the way a careful person with a level and a tape would do it, only faster and with the numbers written down. A survey is only as good as the points taken, which is why we walk the whole drive, road to house, rather than sampling one spot.

What does the survey actually measure?

Length, width, area and the rise and fall of the drive along its length and across it. From those, we work out the grade, the crown and where the water will run.

The crown is the number most owners have never seen. Road guides call for about half an inch of fall per foot of width from the middle to each edge: the FHWA gravel roads guide says about 4 percent, and Penn State says 4 to 6. On a 12-foot drive that is only about three inches, spread over six feet each way. You cannot see three inches from the porch. You can measure it.

What the survey cannot tell you

A surface survey measures the surface. It does not see how deep the stone is, what the clay underneath is doing, or whether a culvert at the road is crushed. For those we look at the edges, the outlets and the pipe at the road, and ask you what the drive does in a storm and where it goes soft in spring. You know things about your drive that no instrument does. Where a finding depends on something we could not measure, we tell you so rather than guess.

What does the Grade Scan report show?

Written findings you keep, whether you hire us or not: where the drive has lost its shape, where the water goes, and what it would take to fix, with a written proposal if you want the work done.

• Where the crown has flattened or tips the wrong way.
• Where water collects, and where it runs.
• Low spots, ruts and washboard, marked on the drive.
• Whether the stone already there can be reworked, or whether new stone is needed, and roughly how much.
• What the survey points to outside our work, such as a culvert for the county or the township, or a wet section that needs subsurface drainage.
• Which tier fits, if any, with the scope, the price and the guarantee in writing.

If the scan shows the drive is in decent shape, the report says that too, and what to watch for. Not every drive needs a regrade, and a report that says so is worth having before you spend money. The drainage guide walks through what each finding usually means.

How much does a Grade Scan cost?

$149. That covers the visit, the survey and the written findings. The repair itself is priced on the written proposal.

For reference, the repair tiers start at $1,050 (including the $300 equipment setup fee) for a Drive Rake, $1,500 (including the $300 equipment setup fee) for a Drive Restore and $2,800 (including the $300 equipment setup fee) for a Drive Rebuild. Longer drives cost more. The pricing page and the Ohio cost guide explain what moves the price.

When is a Grade Scan worth it, and when is it not?

It earns its price when the same problem keeps coming back and nobody can say why. It is not worth it when the answer is obvious from the end of the drive.

If you are not sure which row you are in, call and describe it. We would rather tell you a scan is not needed than sell you one.

How does measuring before and after work?

On a Drive Restore or a Drive Rebuild, the finished drive is surveyed again the same way, so you can compare the shape that was there with the shape that was built.

The first survey sets the plan: where the crown goes back, where the low spots get lifted, and where the water will leave the drive. The second shows what was done: the crown across the drive at the same places, and the fall along it. Promises about a crown are easy to make; a measurement handed to you is a different thing. It also gives you, and anyone who works on the drive later, a record of how it was left.

A Drive Rake is a surface job and is not re-measured. The maintenance guide covers keeping the shape once it is built, and the regrade timing guide covers when to do the work.

What should you ask any gravel driveway contractor?

Six questions sort out most quotes, ours included. A good contractor answers each of them without hesitating, and puts the answers in writing.

Our own answers: a written price, never hourly; the stone named by number on the proposal; compaction as its own step; the water first. Every GravelBoss job carries the 90-day workmanship warranty in our proposal terms. It covers defects in grading, compaction and material placement, and does not cover normal wear and settling, snow plow damage or heavy vehicle damage. GravelBoss is insured; a certificate of insurance is available on request. Compaction matters because, as the FHWA guide puts it, rolling the stone gives a “denser, stronger, smoother surface.” Loose stone that was only spread and driven on ruts and washboards first.

One more thing worth asking for anything involving digging at the road: who is pulling the permit and who is calling 811. A good answer names a person. If the work is a culvert, the county, township or village usually decides the pipe, and our work stops at the driveway on either side of it.

What happens after the Grade Scan?

You get the findings and, if you want the work, a written proposal. There is no obligation either way.

1. Read the findings. They say what is wrong, why, and what is outside our work.
2. If a tier fits, the proposal names the scope, the stone, the price and the guarantee terms.
3. If you go ahead, the work is scheduled with you by a person, and the drive is measured again when it is done on a Restore or a Rebuild.
4. If you do not, the findings are still yours: take them to anyone, or use them to do the work yourself. Book a Grade Scan when you are ready.

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