What Do Excavation Contractors Do?
July 28, 2022

Any digging that is required on a property, such as trenches for expansive gardens or pits for landscaping or old trees, should be done by expert excavation professionals. Professional excavators will guarantee that every task, whether it is site preparation or foundation digging, is carried out appropriately and competently while also assuring the security of the work area.
Before deciding to rent a bobcat or other equipment and dig up your land on your own, consider a few important aspects of excavation in general, as well as how experts handle digging and clearing. Knowing what excavation companies do can help you manage your property in the best possible way and ensure that any digging work you conduct is done safely.
Excavation companies do numerous additional activities linked to the ground in the construction industry in addition to just hauling dirt around. These tasks include site preparation, grading, trenching, and many others.
Also Read: Types Of Excavation In Construction
Site Preparation
In a normal residential building project, the excavation contractor arrives after the surveying team establishes the boundaries of the home and the lot. The contractor excavates the soil to the depth necessary for the new foundation and checks the soil’s firmness using compaction tests and, if necessary, compaction using machinery.
Excavation contractors must be able to use a level and transit to match the grade indicated by the surveying crew since the standards for the excavation are exact. The contractor backfills the area surrounding the new foundation after the foundation contractor pours the footers and stem wall.
However, excavation labor is not just used in residential buildings. It is used in foundations, roads and driveways, sewage lines, drainage, and landscaping projects.
Site Grading
Grading a site makes sure that it is sloped or inclined in a specific way, often to prevent a house, a road, or other building from having a water pool around its foundation and to safeguard the site from soil erosion and minor landslides. Grading should be done on an empty site before any building work starts, it could also be necessary before installing a new road, large landscaping features, growing crops, and more.
Grading a property is sometimes more challenging than homeowners believe it to be. The main reason for this is that it requires careful attention to angles and slopes while maintaining the compacted clay and dirt of the lot. Additionally, some dirt may need to be removed while grading.
Land Clearing
Land clearing may be necessary before performing an appraisal, to lower the danger of fires, or to clear the ground after a storm or other severe weather. To enhance the overall aesthetic of the land, a property owner can also desire to have trees, rocks, and other natural elements removed.
Land clearance is a common task for excavators, even when there is no digging to be done. Logs, fallen trees, boulders, heaps of soil from a landslide, and other undesired debris may all be removed using the same powerful machinery that is used to clear the ground itself.
Heavy Equipment And Operators
Equipment for excavation is expensive to buy and ensure. A small to medium-sized excavation firm may often own or rent a few sizable front-end loaders, bulldozers, backhoes, compactors, trenchers, and skid steers.
To remove extra soil, the majority of excavation firms also operate sizable dump trucks. Since there aren’t many people with college or trade school degrees in operating heavy equipment, the majority of contractors will employ experienced operators or new operators and teach them on the job. Many excavation contractors have experience operating big machinery.
An Excavation Contractors’ Additional Responsibilities
In addition to the aforementioned points, another responsibility of the contractor is the construction of temporary or permanent roadbeds that will enable other operators of heavy equipment to reach the project site effectively and safely.
This is very important, as the project moves forward, large concrete mixtures, cranes, and lifts have to be brought in.
More precisely, an excavation contractor frequently has the following responsibilities:
- Roads
- Driveways
- Sidewalks
- Demolition
- Drainage
- Dirt Overhauling
Hire An Experienced Excavation Contractor With Rough Rock Contracting
Rough Rock Contracting is helping its clients to make their construction projects successful. We are a reliable land clearing company in Ottawa, offering construction and other services related to the septic field, large yard, foundation dig, rock breaking, site prep, excavation, and more.
We handle all your excavation needs, including rock breaking and septic field installations, foundation digs, site prep, and large yard-work projects. Our construction professionals are well trained to handle all tasks related to landscaping, land clearing, and excavation. If you want to know more about us, contact us here.