Site Excavation Services in Hobart

Summer and autumn are your best bet for excavation in Hobart – December through April gives us the driest conditions for compaction work. Winter’s wet season makes compaction nearly impossible some days, and you’ll end up with delays waiting for the ground to dry out enough to work. That said, we do excavation year-round, we just build in more contingency time for winter projects. If you’ve got flexibility, avoid June through August.

For most standard residential excavation – house sites, driveways, sheds – you don’t need separate excavation permits because it’s covered under your building permit. Where it gets tricky is if you’re doing major cut and fill near a boundary, altering drainage patterns, or excavating in erosion-prone areas around Hobart’s hillsides. We’ll tell you upfront if your specific site needs additional approvals from Hobart City Council. The builder or designer usually sorts permits, but we flag anything that looks like it’ll need extra approvals.

We stop, assess what we’ve found, and call you before proceeding – no surprises on the invoice. If it’s rock, we’ll tell you how extensive it looks and what the extra cost will be to break through it or work around it. Sometimes we find old foundations, buried rubbish, or soil that’s worse than testing suggested – whatever it is, we discuss options before continuing. Most Hobart excavations go smoothly, but when something unexpected turns up, communication happens before excavators keep digging.

Nearly every sloping block in Hobart can be built on – it’s just a matter of how much cut and fill you’ll need and whether retaining walls are required. A geotechnical engineer assesses your specific slope, soil type, and drainage to work out what’s needed. Steeper slopes like you see in parts of West Hobart or Mount Nelson cost more because they need more engineering and bigger retaining walls, but they’re definitely buildable. We’ve excavated sites on slopes that looked impossible, and they’re now solid homes.

We take precautions to protect neighboring properties – that’s part of doing the job properly. Vibration from equipment is minimal and won’t crack your neighbor’s walls or foundations. Where we’re working near boundaries, we shore up or batter slopes so there’s no risk of soil movement onto adjacent properties. In Hobart’s tight suburban blocks, we’re often working within meters of other houses, so we’re careful about where spoil gets stockpiled and how close equipment works to fence lines. If there’s any concern about a boundary or shared retaining wall, we flag it before starting.

Clear the work area of anything you value – garden ornaments, pavers you want to keep, plants that can be relocated, outdoor furniture, that sort of thing. We’ll work around established trees if you want them saved, but let us know which ones matter before we start. Make sure there’s clear access for equipment and trucks – move cars, open gates, trim back overhanging branches if they’re blocking the driveway. The clearer the site, the faster we work and the less chance of accidental damage to things you wanted kept.