Excavation in Billings, MT
We dig a test pit before we write a number, and the dirt that comes out is priced by the load rather than buried in a lump sum. Site work goes wrong on the two things you can't see from a drawing.
What We Move
Dirt, rock and what's under the slab. We don't build what goes on top and we'll point you at people who do.
The Four Things That Happen Before We Dig
None of these are optional and three of them carry fines. They are also the reason a cheap bid is usually a bid that hasn't read the site.
811 locate — two full business days, by law
Montana law requires at least two full business days' notice to Montana 811 before anyone digs, and the locates are free. Hitting an unmarked line is a bad day; hitting a line that was never located is a liability question with a very short answer.
A test pit, before the price
We put a machine in the ground and look. Rock at four feet, clay that turns to soup in April, or groundwater above the footing elevation each change the number by more than any line item you'd argue about. A flat quote written from a drawing is a guess dressed as certainty.
Stormwater permit over one acre
Disturb an acre or more and the site needs coverage under Montana's Storm Water Construction General Permit (MTR100000) with a written pollution-prevention plan. On a site that size EVERY contractor needs their own coverage — silt fence is a legal requirement, not decoration.
Where the dirt is going, in writing
Spoil has to end up somewhere and hauling is priced by the load-mile. We put the cubic yards, the truck count and the tip fee on the quote so you can see the number rather than discovering it. See below — it is usually the biggest single line.
Every Hole Makes a Hill You Have to Pay For
A 1,600 square foot basement at nine feet deep is roughly 530 cubic yards of ground. It does not compress on the way out — spoil swells around 25% once it's broken — so call it 660 yards loose, and at twelve yards a truck that is about fifty-five loads leaving your street.
Where those loads go is the difference between a quote and a surprise. On a big enough lot we balance the cut against the fill and move almost nothing. On a tight infill lot every yard is a haul and a tip fee. Same hole, wildly different number — which is why we walk it before we write it.
- ✓Cubic yards, truck count and tip fee stated as their own line
- ✓Cut balanced against fill on site wherever the lot allows it
- ✓Import priced separately when the site needs structural fill
- ✓Concrete and asphalt crushed for re-use rather than hauled away
Ground We've Moved Around Billings
Everything Above Ground Is Sitting on What We Left
Once the slab goes down, nobody looks at our work again — and if it settles, it takes the building with it. So it gets measured rather than eyeballed.
95% Proctor, minimum
The ordinary spec under footings and slabs. We place in lifts and test each one rather than dumping three feet and hoping the plate compactor reaches the bottom of it.
Tested by a lab that doesn't work for us
A third-party geotechnical lab takes the readings. A contractor certifying their own compaction is not a test, it is a sentence — and you get the actual report.
A failed lift gets pulled
It happens. When it does we take it out and redo it before anything goes on top, on our time. Finding it later means finding it through a cracked slab.
Drainage designed before backfill
Perimeter drain, free-draining backfill and a positive fall away from the structure. Most 'foundation problems' are drainage problems that were decided at backfill.
Cut to survey, not to eye
GPS grade control on the machines and a rotary laser to check it. Two inches out over a pad is a footing depth argument you don't want to have with an inspector.
As-builts handed over
Where the utilities actually run, not where the plan said they would. The next trade — and the next owner — will need it, and almost nobody provides it.
The Ground Here Decides the Calendar
Site work in the Yellowstone Valley is a spring-to-autumn business and pretending otherwise costs money. Once the ground is frozen you can still dig with enough machine, but you cannot compact frozen fill and you certainly cannot backfill with it — it thaws in April and the whole lot settles.
So we book the calendar honestly. If your foundation is not going in until November we would rather tell you in June that the site work should happen in September, than take a deposit and hand you a problem that shows up next spring.
- ✓No compacting frozen material — it settles when it thaws, every time
- ✓Winter digs are possible; winter backfill mostly is not
- ✓We'll tell you to wait rather than take the deposit
- ✓Frost protection and blankets where a pour genuinely can't wait
How a Site Job Runs
Most residential sites are one to three weeks of machine time, and the paperwork runs alongside it.
Walk the site
An hour on the ground with whatever you have — survey, site plan, soils report. Access and slope tell us as much as the drawings do.
Test pit & quote
A machine in the ground before a number on paper, then a quote with the export haul, the import fill and the rock contingency each on their own line.
Locates & permits
811 filed with two full business days to run, plus the stormwater permit and erosion control if the site is over an acre.
Move the ground
Clear, cut, dig and haul, to GPS grade control and checked with a laser. You get a photo at the end of each day the machines are on site.
Backfill, compact, test
Placed in lifts, compacted, and tested by an independent lab to 95% Proctor. You get the report and the as-builts before we pull off.
What Builders Say About the Quote
They dug two test pits before quoting and found shale at four feet across half the pad. Every other bid was a flat number that would have become a change order the first morning.
The quote had a line for export haul with the cubic yards, the truck count and the tip fee written out. I have never seen that itemised before and it is most of why I went with them.
Compaction came back at 96% from an independent lab. When one lift failed they pulled it and redid it before anyone poured on top. That cost them two days and they never mentioned it as a favour.
They filed the 811 locate and the stormwater permit and just handled the silt fence. I found out later that fines for the second one are per day and per contractor.
Questions From the Site Walk
Why is your quote higher than the flat number I was given?
Usually because ours includes the export haul and a stated rock contingency and theirs doesn't. Those don't disappear when they are left off a quote; they arrive later as a change order when you have no leverage and a machine is already on site. Compare the line items, not the totals.
Do I need a soils report?
For a house on a normal lot, usually not — our test pit tells us enough. For anything with a structural engineer involved, a retaining wall over four feet, or a site with known groundwater, yes, and it will save you money rather than cost it.
What happens if you hit rock?
We stop, show you, and price it before continuing — hammer time is charged by the hour and it is the one thing nobody can predict from the surface. That is exactly why we carry a stated rock contingency instead of a flat number that quietly assumes there isn't any.
Can you work in winter?
We can dig, with enough machine and some patience. We cannot compact frozen fill, and backfilling with frozen material means the whole thing settles when it thaws. If your schedule allows it, we'll tell you to wait for the ground rather than take your money twice.
Who pulls the 811 locate?
We do, and we allow the full two business days the law requires. If someone tells you they'll 'be careful' rather than wait for locates, that is the whole review you need of that contractor.
Do you do the concrete too?
No. We hand you a hole that is to grade, compacted and tested, with the report — and we work with several good concrete crews around Billings. One trade doing both usually means one of them is a sideline.
Start With an Hour on the Ground
Bring the survey if you have one. We'll dig a test pit before we write a number, and the number will have the haul in it.
Tell Us About the Ground
Site size and whether you have a soils report are the two things that move the number most. We'll come back within a working day.