Marks Clearing & Grading runs several phases at once at Rolesville's Merritt Reserve
About 700,000 cubic yards of earthwork is underway at a subdivision with 499 lots on the town's preliminary plat. The company says the order of the work is harder than the dirt.
About 700,000 cubic yards of earthwork is underway at Merritt Reserve, a subdivision in Rolesville. For Marks Clearing & Grading, the company clearing the land, moving earth and installing utilities there, the dirt is not the hard part.
The order the work is done in is. The company calls Merritt Reserve one of its largest multi-phase projects, and on July 31, 2026, it described how it is running several phases at once.
Town of Rolesville records show what the ground is being readied for. The preliminary plat, approved Dec. 3, 2025, lays out 225 single-family lots and 274 townhomes, 499 in all, on about 148.6 acres. The rezoning before it allows up to 525 homes and two small commercial areas.
The phases overlap. Clearing opens later phases while mass grading, the large-scale reshaping of the ground, follows. Utility crews lay storm, water and sanitary lines in ground that was cleared months earlier.
The company does clearing, earthwork, utilities, curb and paving with its own crews, so the job sits on one schedule. The site has also stopped work for safety stand-downs, a pause to walk through hazards.
"On a project this size, the dirt isn't the hard part. The sequencing is," the company wrote.
About this story
By Sotwire Desk. Based on Marks Clearing & Grading's own announcement, with public records where cited. Erin O'Brien of Marks Clearing & Grading confirmed this account to Sotwire.
Key facts
- Marks Clearing & Grading
- Rolesville, NC
- Projects
- Client confirmed
- Erin O'Brien
- Merritt Reserve, a multi-phase subdivision in Rolesville, NC
- About 700,000 cubic yards, underway as of July 31, 2026 (company)
- Clearing, moving earth and installing utilities
- Clearing, earthwork, utilities, curb and paving
- One of its largest multi-phase projects
- About 148.6 acres assembled from three properties, including land on Emily Lane, Rolesville Road and Louisburg Road (Town of Rolesville records)
- 225 single-family lots and 274 townhomes, 499 in all
- Allows up to 525 homes and two small commercial areas
- Merritt LV1 Owner LLC (listed by the Town of Rolesville)
- Marks Clearing & Grading (listed by the Town of Rolesville)
- Marks Clearing & Grading did not say what the contract is worth, or which builders will put houses on the lots
Key events
- Town of Rolesville approved the preliminary plat for 499 lots
- Wake County issued the land-disturbance permit
- Marks Clearing & Grading said about 700,000 cubic yards of earthwork was underway
- A final plat for Phase 1A was under town review