Excavation Contractors in Minnesota

They are the main reason pads, drives and footings fail here. Clay holds water and heaves when it freezes, so footings and posts go below the frost line, and pads and drives are built on compacted granular fill instead of wet clay or topsoil. Grading the site so snowmelt and spring rain run away from the building keeps water out of the pad. We also time the digging around wet spring ground rather than working it into mud.

It depends on how much dirt and gravel has to move, so we quote each job for free after a site visit. Pad size, how much topsoil comes off, how much fill and gravel go back, trees and stumps to clear, the length of a drive or trench, soil and slope all change the work. A site far from a gravel source also costs more to supply. When we build the building too, the site work and the build are planned and quoted together.

Often, for part of the work. A new drive onto a county or township road usually needs an access permit, and the road authority may decide where it goes and whether it needs a culvert. Grading near lakes, rivers and wetlands falls under shoreland and wetland rules, and footings for a building are covered by its building permit. Every dig starts with an 811 locate, and we check what your county and township require before we start.

Yes. We take on dirt work by itself, like a pad for a garage or home, a new gravel drive, a cleared lot, or a trench to run power or water to a shed. Because we also build pole barns, shops and barndominiums, we prepare ground the way a builder needs it: level, compacted and draining away from where the building will sit.

Late spring through fall, once the frost is out and the ground has dried enough to work. Frozen ground can be dug, but frozen fill cannot be compacted properly, so pads and drives are best built on thawed, workable soil. In spring, load limits on township and county roads can keep loaded gravel trucks and heavy equipment off some roads until the limits lift. Getting the quote and permits done over the winter lets the work start as soon as the ground is ready.