Excavation Services & Site Preparation in Parksville

What gets dug

• Land clearing and site prep

  We clear brush, stumps and topsoil, cut the building envelope down to the level on the drawings, and compact the pad before the forms arrive.

  See how we strip and prep a lot.

• Foundation digs and backfill

  We dig footings to the depth on the drawings, step back the sides where the walls run deep, then backfill and compact in layers once the wall has cured.

  See how we dig to the depth on the drawings.

• Drainage and perimeter drains

  We run a perimeter drain with filter cloth and drain rock at the footing, and tie it into a sump or an outlet that drains downhill on its own, so it still runs in January.

  See how we keep water off the footing.

• Driveways and parking pads

  We cut the firm ground under the driveway, lay fabric where the ground is soft, then place pit run for structure and crush on top, compacted in layers to a crown that sheds water.

  See how we build a driveway that lasts.

From first call to final grade

1. Site walk

   We look at access, slope, services and where the spoil can go, on the ground rather than guessing from a plan.

2. Written quote

   We price each part of the job on its own line, so you can see what changed if anything changes.

3. Locates and permits

   We file the BC 1 Call locate and sort any building permit, development permit or highway access before we book a date.

4. Dig and grade

   We walk the cut, the backfill and the finish grade with the owner before the machine leaves.

Where the work happens

Oceanside sits on glacial outwash sand and gravel over Quadra Sand, with fractured Haslam shale close to surface inland around Errington. A trench we leave standing open all day in bedrock will run in French Creek delta sand by the afternoon, so we decide bedding, shoring and driveway build-up on your lot rather than from a standard detail. That goes for all of our excavation services, from a drain trench to a full building pad.

• Qualicum Beach
• Coombs and Errington
• French Creek
• Nanoose Bay

Also working in Hilliers, Whiskey Creek, Dashwood, San Pareil and Meadowood.

How long does a BC 1 Call locate take?

BC 1 Call members mark their lines within three working days, at no charge. We file it before every dig and we don't start until it's back.

Does a building permit have to be in hand before digging starts?

The Regional District won't let any stage of the project start until the building permit is in hand, and that includes our part. Qualicum Beach's building bylaw names excavation directly in the work a permit covers.

Where does the spoil go?

The Regional District's Church Road Transfer Station takes wood waste at $275 per tonne and yard waste at $60. Clean soil and land-clearing debris are not accepted there, so those loads go to private soil-receiving sites.

Does the time of year change the schedule?

Most of our rain falls between October and March, so we size a drain for the wet half of the year, not the average. We can hold deep cuts and driveway builds to a date more easily in the drier months.

What happens on a site visit?

We walk the property and establish access, slope, where services run and where the spoil can go. It takes about fifteen minutes, and we build the quote from what we find.

How is a quote structured?

We quote machine time, the trip to bring the machine in, trucking, materials and disposal as separate lines, so a change to one of them stays visible.