.png)
What we do
• Site set-out and levels taken before anything at all is dug.
• Excavation for pools, decks, patios, driveways and retaining.
• Pile holes for decks, fences and sleeper walls.
• Re-grading, so water leaves the house instead of collecting at it.
• Spoil removal — truck, bin or barrow, depending on the access.
• Demolition and strip-out of old decks, paving and planting.
• Basic site drainage laid as part of the build, where no consent is needed.
Access decides everything
Access decides the method, and it decides the price more than the volume does.
Herne Bay is the extreme case: a gap under 850 mm between garage and front door, 2.2 m of headroom, and a change of direction around columns. A 1.2 t Takeuchi from Pronto Hire went in through the side, and 63 cubic metres of soil came out by barrow, in 14 bins. A truck would have been faster, and there was no way on earth to get one in.
What is under the ground
What is under the ground matters as much as what is on it. At One Tree Hill we hit volcanic rock a metre down, and with powerlines overhead ruling out a crane, that shaped where the pool could physically go.
Before we set out, we locate the existing stormwater runs and services, and keep the excavation a metre clear. Disturbing a line means an engineered fix, and often a consent that nobody had budgeted for.
Levels, and why they come first
Levels are set at excavation and everything downstream inherits them.
At Point Chevalier the driveway was the low point between the street and the house, so the drainage was resolved before a single load of concrete was ordered, and the whole surface re-graded around a new cesspit. Get the falls wrong at this stage and no amount of good finishing work above will keep water off the building.
Consents and compliance
Excavation is where consent questions surface, and we would rather find them in week one than at inspection.
Depth, proximity to boundaries, retaining height and any change to drainage can all trigger one. Where a job needs an engineer or a consultant we appoint and brief them, work to their drawings and hold the programme together. They certify their own work, and consented drainage goes to a specialist who signs it off. We work that out before quoting.
Where we work
Auckland-wide. Recent excavation and earthworks in Herne Bay, One Tree Hill, Meadowbank, Point Chevalier and Torbay, plus wider work in Titirangi.
Common questions
Do you subcontract the digger work?
No. We run our own excavation on almost every job, hiring plant where a specific machine suits the access. It is the same crew from the first dig to the last board.
Can you get a machine into a tight site?
Usually. Herne Bay was under 850 mm of access with 2.2 m of headroom and we still got a 1.2 t machine in. We assess it on the first visit and tell you straight if it will not work.
Where does the soil go?
Truck, bin or barrow, depending on what can reach. At Herne Bay it was 63 cubic metres, out by barrow into 14 bins.
Do I need a consent to excavate?
Sometimes. Depth, boundaries, retaining height and drainage can each trigger one.