Calcasieu Parish
Westlake sits on the west bank of the Calcasieu River, a bridge away from our Lake Charles base. We work for both homeowners and the businesses and trades operating around town.
Westlake is a small city by population — around 4,800 residents at the 2020 census — but it carries a heavier commercial and industrial footprint than that number suggests, with chemical plants and refineries throughout the surrounding area. Our work here splits between the two.
Clearing, filling, compacting and grading a site so a building, a yard or a laydown area can go on it. Includes getting the elevations right for drainage before anything permanent is poured.
Site preparation and dirt workAll-welded or bolt-up, wood-free, and designed to stand up to storms. We handle everything from a backyard workshop to a commercial facility, and doing the pad and the building together means one company owns the connection between them.
Our steel building workDigging and backfilling for utilities and conduit, and putting the ground back so you cannot tell where we were. We do this regularly for other trades.
Excavation and dirt workClearing out what is left after a demolition, a storm or a job that ran out of steam. Sometimes the first step toward using a property is simply getting the old material off it.
Clearing and removal services"I use Upward Development for my underground electrical services. They do a great job and make it look like we didn't even dig a ditch 3 ft deep with electrical conduit underground."
If you are hiring on behalf of a business rather than for your own house, these are the things worth confirming with any contractor — including us.
The practical challenge on most Westlake jobs is not the dirt. It is everything else on the site — existing utilities, active operations, traffic that has to keep moving, and neighbors close enough that where we stage material matters.
That is a planning problem more than an equipment problem. We would rather spend an extra half hour walking a site and agreeing on the sequence than lose a day fixing something that was avoidable.
Tell us what has to exist when we leave. That is usually a more useful starting point than a list of tasks.
We look at access, existing conditions, drainage and anything nearby that constrains how we work.
Written, with exclusions stated plainly.
Slotted against real conditions, including weather, which moves dirt schedules in this part of the state.
Work performed, site cleaned up, and walked with you before we call it done.
Westlake sits between two of our busiest areas:
An address and a short description is enough to start. Call or text 318-452-7653, or email lucas@upwarddevelopment.us if drawings or specifications are easier to send that way.