Question 1

Do I need to call before I dig on Vancouver Island?

Accepted Answer

Yes. BC 1 Call is free and members respond within three working days. A ticket is valid 30 days from the request date, and digging must start within 14 days of the locate.

Question 2

How deep can a trench go before it needs shoring?

Accepted Answer

Any excavation over 1.2 metres that a worker enters has to be sloped, benched, engineered or shored under WorkSafeBC's regulation — we plan the method before the machine arrives.

Question 3

What does excavation cost in Nanaimo?

Accepted Answer

Hourly machine rates on Vancouver Island run from about $142 to $398 depending on the excavator class. Site prep and foundation digs are priced from a walk of the property.

Question 4

How much notice do you need before a job?

Accepted Answer

It depends on the job — a straightforward site-prep dig can often be scheduled within a couple of weeks, but foundation work tied to a build schedule or a locate-heavy site can take longer to line up. We'll give you a real window once we've walked the site.

Question 5

Do you handle the permits, or do we?

Accepted Answer

You hold the permit — the building department issues it to the property owner or their agent — but we tell you what your project needs before we quote, and we won't start excavation ahead of it.

Question 6

What happens if you hit something unexpected underground?

Accepted Answer

We stop and reassess. A locate tells us what utilities are down there, not what the soil itself will do — if we hit rock, an old foundation or anything else that changes the job, we talk it through with you before we keep digging.

Question 7

Do you work on smaller residential lots?

Accepted Answer

Yes — we run equipment sized to the job, from a compact mini excavator on a tight lot to a larger machine on an open site. Access is one of the first things we check on a site walk.

Question 8

What's included in a quote?

Accepted Answer

Machine class and estimated hours, any disposal or haul-away costs, and anything the site itself adds — slope, soil, access. We walk the site before we give you a number, not after.

Frequently Asked Questions

Ready for a quote on excavation in Nanaimo?