Excavation & Earthworks Ellis Lane

It depends on the volume of material, the ground (wianamatta shale over hawkesbury sandstone on semi), access for the machine and how far spoil has to be carted. Every job gets a written quote after a site look, with the dig, cartage and cleanup spelled out, so you know what’s included before anything starts.

Usually, if the excavation is part of a build. Cut and fill beyond set limits, work near boundaries and anything on a lot with a flood, bushfire or heritage overlay needs approval as part of the DA or CDC. We work to the approved plans; check with your certifier before the dig is booked.

A trench, pool dig or single pad is a day or two; a knock-down site cut or a basement runs longer and depends on volume, ground and weather. Dates come with the quote, not after.

On the escarpment edge, yes. Wianamatta shale over Hawkesbury sandstone on semi-rural country. Toward Wedderburn, Appin, Wilton and the Georges River gorge, sandstone is usually within the first metre, ripped where it’s weathered and broken where it isn’t. It’s in the quote when the site look finds it.

Yes. House and shed pads benched into the rolling ground, dams shaped in clay, long driveways boxed and based, and clearing done to the Cumberland Plain woodland and bushfire rules. Mine subsidence approval applies on some southern blocks and is checked first.

It affects the approval more than the dig. Mine Subsidence Advisory NSW has to approve the build, and that can set conditions on footings and fill. We flag it at the site look and dig to what’s approved.

Reactive clay. It swells in wet winters and shrinks in dry summers, and anything poured on loose or uncompacted fill moves with it. A pad cut and filled in compacted layers to the engineer’s spec is what stops the new slab doing the same thing.

Yes. The old house down, slab and footings out, the block stripped and the new pad cut and compacted, as one run if you want the demolition handled too.