Pittsburgh Excavation Contractors

Residential Excavation and Site Preparation in Pittsburgh

Most of our excavation work is residential: foundation digs for additions and garages, pool excavation, demolition and removal of old slabs and outbuildings, and site preparation for new builds. We run compact CAT excavators and skid steers sized for South Hills lots, where tight access, a steep driveway, and a neighbor's fence three feet from the dig line are the normal conditions, not the exception.

Pittsburgh sits on heavy clay over shale. Clay holds water and turns to soup in spring, and shale shows up shallower than anyone expects. Both change how a dig gets priced and sequenced, so we walk every site before quoting and match the machine to what is actually in the ground.

• Foundation and footer excavation
• Pool digs and basement walkouts
• Demolition, haul-off, and land clearing
• Building pad and garage site prep

Land Grading and Yard Grading Services

Yard grading fixes the two problems Pittsburgh lawns have most often: water pooling against the foundation and slopes too steep to use. We cut and fill to establish positive drainage, typically a two percent fall away from the house for the first ten feet, then finish-grade with screened topsoil so the yard is ready for hydroseed or sod.

Land grading on larger lots follows the same logic at machine scale: building pads, gravel driveways, swales, and bank stabilization. With roughly 38 inches of rain a year, a grade that looks fine in August becomes a rut channel by April, so we shape every lot for the wet months, not the dry ones.

Drainage Excavation, Trenching, and French Drain Installation in Pittsburgh

French drain installation in Pittsburgh is half excavation and half plumbing. We trench to depth, lay perforated pipe wrapped in filter fabric, surround it with clean 2B gravel, and run the line to daylight or a dry well. In our clay, a drain built without enough gravel and fabric silts shut within a few seasons, so we never skimp on either.

We also handle utility trenching, downspout line burial, and foundation drainage repair. Wet basements in Baldwin, Whitehall, and Castle Shannon usually trace back to surface water and failed grading rather than the foundation itself, so we fix the cause outside the wall before anyone sells you an interior waterproofing system.

What Excavation Costs in Pittsburgh

Straight answers: small residential excavation jobs start around $1,500. A full day of machine work with an operator and trucking typically runs $2,500 to $5,000. Grading projects land between $1,500 and $8,000 depending on lot size, how much material has to move, and whether topsoil or stone gets imported.

What pushes a quote up or down: access (a machine that fits through your gate costs less than craning one over the house), soil and rock conditions, haul-off distance, and slope. Every estimate is free, itemized, and based on an actual site visit, so the number you see is the number you pay.