What Is The Process Used For Construction Site Excavation?
Before any construction project can begin, excavation contractors must come in and assess the cleared and prepared site to finalize it for excavating and building.
In many cases, the excavation company and site preparation company are the same contractors, which can make this step of the project easier and faster.
Once the lot is assessed and final excavation planning is complete, the actual digging can begin!
1. Site Assessment and Preparation
The first essential step taken by an excavation contractor before starting any heavy digging and earthmoving work is assessing the construction site and completing any preparation that may be required.
The site must first be cleared of all debris as well as the surrounding areas leveled and graded as needed for the project, with accessways installed around what will be the main areas of excavation.
Drainage concerns should be handled accordingly with natural drainage areas protected and supplemental installations dug and drainage installed.
The whole area around the building pad and the pad itself should be ready to have the foundation excavated and installed at this point.
2. Planning the Excavation
Once the building site is ready, the excavation company must then carefully plan out the excavation work to be performed.
This begins by first referring to the project drawings to determine where the digging must happen and how deep the excavation will be depending on the type of foundation being installed.
Corner benchmarks and building boundaries must be set, top ground levels set, and locations for all trenches and dewatering wells established.
After all of these critical components and locations are marked around the building pad, the digging can then commence.
3. Excavating The Site
With the planning completed and the excavation site marked according to the building plans, the excavation contractor will then bring in heavy equipment and begin digging.
Though the planning and preparation part of the process can take weeks to months, the actual excavation can usually be completed fairly quickly in days to weeks, depending on the size and depth of the foundation and footers being dug.
Slab foundations are the shallowest and fastest, full basement foundations the deepest to dig and longest for an excavation company to complete with crawl space foundations somewhere in between the two.
As long as there are no boulders encountered while excavating for the foundation and the work can be completed according to the project plans without issue, the site should be ready to have the foundation installed within a few weeks or less.
Hire A Skilled Excavation Contractor For Expert Digging
Though the work performed by an excavation contractor may seem simple enough, it is a process that requires careful preparation to get it right.
Excavation errors can affect the stability of the foundation that is being installed and potentially the whole construction project.
No matter what type of structure is being built at the construction site, project owners should always hire a highly qualified excavation company to assess and prepare the foundation site according to project plans, then carefully excavate for the foundation pad or basement and footers.