Site Excavation
Stripping, cut and fill, and bulk excavation for driveways, lots, additions, and outbuildings.
Bucks County, PA
Site Work, Excavation
Site Work, Excavation
& Grading
Excavation, land grading, drainage, and base preparation — the work that happens before anything gets paved, and the work that decides whether what gets paved lasts. Residential lots, commercial sites, and everything that needs moving first.
- Free written estimates
- Licensed & fully insured
- Owner on every job
Site Work
Everything above ground
Everything above ground
depends on this
We got into excavation because we kept being asked to pave over ground that could not carry it. A driveway laid on a subgrade that was never properly prepared will fail regardless of how good the asphalt was, and the only honest way to quote that job is to price the groundwork too.
So we do the whole sequence: strip and excavate, establish grades, deal with the water, build and compact base, and then pave. One contractor, one responsibility, and nobody standing on your property explaining that the problem is the other trade’s fault.
Grading is about water
Land grading looks like moving dirt around and is really about deciding where water goes for the next thirty years. Pitch away from foundations, positive fall to somewhere it can safely leave, and no low spots where it can pool and sit. Get that wrong and you get wet basements, standing water in the yard, and pavement that fails from underneath.
Bucks County ground
Soil conditions here vary a great deal over short distances. The clay-heavy soils across the upper townships hold water and heave; areas closer to the river are sandier and drain freely but can be unstable in different ways; and shallow bedrock turns up often enough that it is worth allowing for. That variability is why we look at the ground rather than pricing from a standard build-up.
What we can and cannot do
We handle site preparation, grading, drainage, base, and paving. We are not engineers — where a job needs a stormwater design, a survey, or a soils report for a permit, that comes from a licensed professional and we build to it. We will tell you early if your job is one of those, because finding out late is expensive.
What We Do
Site work
Site work
services
Land & Site Grading
Establishing finished grades with positive fall away from structures and no standing water.
Drainage Solutions
Swales, french drains, trench drains, downspout runs, and inlets — routing water somewhere it can safely go.
Base Preparation
Stone base placed and compacted in lifts, sized to the soil and the load rather than to a standard.
Demolition & Removal
Old asphalt, concrete, and stone taken out and hauled away, with the material recycled where possible.
Gravel Drives & Lanes
New stone drives, farm lanes, and equipment yards graded, crowned, and compacted to shed water.
Before You Dig
What we sort out
What we sort out
first
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Utility marking
PA One Call before any excavation, every time, without exception. It is free, it is the law, and hitting a gas line is not a risk worth taking to save three days.
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Where the water currently goes
We walk the site and work out the existing drainage before we change anything, because moving dirt without knowing that is how you flood a neighbour.
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What the township requires
Earth disturbance thresholds, stormwater rules, and driveway access permits vary between townships here. We will tell you what your job triggers.
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Where the spoil goes
Excavated material either gets used on site to make grade or hauled off. Either way it is priced up front, not discovered as an extra.
Free Estimate
Got a site that needs
Got a site that needs
sorting before paving?
We will walk it, tell you what the ground actually needs, and quote the groundwork and the paving together. Call (215) 997-1258.
Questions
Site work
Site work
questions
Do I need a permit for excavation or grading?
It depends on how much earth you are disturbing and what you are changing. Most townships in Bucks County have a threshold above which an earth disturbance or grading permit is required, and anything that alters stormwater runoff or creates a new access onto a road generally needs approval regardless of size. A new access onto a state road needs a PennDOT highway occupancy permit.
We will tell you what we think your job triggers, but the township is the authority and it is worth a call to them early.
Can you fix standing water in my yard?
Usually. The fix depends on the cause — sometimes it is a regrade to create fall, sometimes a swale to intercept and redirect, sometimes a french drain where there is nowhere to grade to. What we cannot do is make water run uphill, so occasionally the honest answer is that the only real solution is a drain to a point of discharge, which is a bigger job than people hope.
How much base does a driveway need?
For a typical residential driveway on reasonable soil, 6 to 8 inches of compacted modified stone. On clay, on soft ground, or where the drive takes heavy vehicles, more — sometimes considerably more, occasionally with a geotextile between subgrade and stone to stop the two mixing. The number depends on what is under it, which is why we look rather than quote a standard.
Do you handle the paving as well?
Yes, and that is the point of doing both. When one contractor is responsible for the ground and the surface, there is nobody to blame when something settles. It also means the base gets built for the pavement that is going on it rather than to a generic spec.
How long does site work take?
Anywhere from a day for a small regrade to several weeks for a full commercial site. Weather matters more here than on most work — you cannot compact saturated ground, and a wet week genuinely stops excavation. We build that into the schedule rather than promising dates we would need luck to hit.
Free Estimate
Let's Talk About
Let's Talk About
Your Pavement
Tell us what you're working with and we'll get back to you within one business day — usually faster. Or skip the form and call (215) 997-1258.