Excavation in Extension

Do you work in Extension?

Yes — we run site prep, foundation and drainage work across Extension. The bigger, more rural lots here usually mean more room to keep spoil on the property, so access and lot size drive the quote more than the ground itself does.

What does a larger rural parcel change?

If you have got room to work with in Extension, the job usually costs you less. Where there's space to windrow material at the edge of the working area, it can stay on the parcel and go back in as backfill instead of being loaded, hauled and tipped, and you skip the disposal rates altogether. The float itself still costs by distance, so a longer haul out from Nanaimo costs more. The machine arrives on a float, so we check the approach, the turning room and any soft ground before we book it, because a truck that can't get in costs us both a day. On a long driveway or a shop pad well back from the road, we leave the machine on site overnight instead of floating it off and back again each morning. Tell us how a truck would get in off the road, and how tight the gate and the corners are, and we will tell you whether the float can make it in or whether we walk the machine the last stretch.

Does a small retaining wall need a permit?

Not always. In the RDN electoral areas, a retaining structure under 1.0 metre high that is holding back less than 1.0 metre of earth falls outside the building permit requirement, and that covers most of the low walls people put in to level a parking area, terrace a slope or tidy the edge of a driveway. Above either of those thresholds it needs a permit like anything else.

We will tell you which side of the line your job sits on when we walk it. If your wall needs a permit, we pull it as part of the job and it goes in the quote with everything else.

What does excavation cost in Extension?

Machine rates do not change out here, but two things usually pull an Extension quote in opposite directions. Room on the parcel means spoil can often stay put and go back in as backfill, and that takes the haul and the tipping fees out of your price altogether. Against that, the float is priced by distance, so a longer run out from Nanaimo costs more than a job in town. Our cost guide sets out the rates, and the permits page covers what the RDN needs for Electoral Area C.

What do we leave you with at the end of the day?

We do not walk off and leave a hole open behind us. At the end of the day we make the cut safe, so it gets fenced, covered or ramped, whichever suits it. We pull the machine back off the edge. We stack anything sharp or heavy out of the way, so it is not sitting where somebody walks in the dark. If your kids or your dog use the yard, tell us, and we will fence it properly rather than run a tape around it. We shape the pile so it does not slump overnight. We park the machine where it is not blocking your way in or out, and we leave you a clear route to your own door. If we are back the next morning, we leave the pile and the plates where we need them, so you are not tripping over gear that has been moved twice. Then we tell you what tomorrow looks like before we go.