How to Choose an Excavating Contractor: What to Ask

What should you ask an excavation contractor?

Ask for a written, line-item scope, and ask what it leaves out. Ask how rock, poor soil and groundwater will be priced if they turn up, who places the Diggers Hotline request, who pulls permits and handles erosion control, and for a certificate of insurance. Then ask how backfill is compacted and what finished means.

What are the key questions, at a glance?

Question	Why it matters	What a good answer sounds like
Can you put the scope in writing, line by line?	A one-line quote cannot be compared or enforced	Depths, areas, materials, haul-off and restoration listed separately
What is excluded, and what are you assuming?	Exclusions are where the second invoice comes from	A written list of exclusions and site assumptions
How will you price rock, bad soil or water if you hit them?	Nobody can see underground before digging	An agreed method in advance, and a call to you before extra work starts
Who places the Diggers Hotline request?	Wisconsin law requires notice before soil is disturbed	We do, and you will see the ticket before we arrive
What about lines the utilities will not mark?	Private lines on your property are not marked by the utilities	Show us what you know, and here is how we find the rest
Who pulls the permits and handles erosion control?	Rules vary by municipality and the landowner can carry the risk	A named person and a plan, not we never bother
Can I see a certificate of insurance?	Excavating can damage property, lines and people	Sent straight from the insurance agent, with current dates
How will backfill be compacted?	Poorly compacted fill settles, sometimes months later	In layers, with the method explained
What are the payment terms?	Paying too far ahead removes your leverage	Payments tied to stages of work that you can see
What does finished mean on this job?	Rough grade and a finished lawn are different jobs	A clear description of the site as it will be left

Why do the questions matter more on an excavating job?

Most trades can see what they are pricing. A roofer can count squares and a painter can measure walls. An excavating contractor is pricing ground nobody has looked inside yet, and the thing that drives the cost, whether that is clay, rock, a high water table or an old foundation someone buried in the 1960s, stays hidden until the bucket finds it.

So the way an estimate is written decides what happens when something unexpected turns up. Two contractors can quote almost the same figure and leave you in very different positions once digging starts. The questions below are the ones that tell them apart.

What should you ask about the scope of work?

Can you write the scope down, line by line?

A good excavating estimate reads like a description of the job. It says how deep, over what area, what material comes in, what goes out, and what the site looks like when the crew leaves. Excavation, compaction, hauling or stockpiling spoil, gravel or fill brought in, and restoration each get their own line.

A single figure with a one-line description is not necessarily dishonest, but it gives you nothing to compare and nothing to point to later. If one contractor’s estimate is half a page and another’s is two lines, you are not comparing like with like, whatever the totals say.

What is excluded, and what are you assuming about the site?

Every estimate rests on assumptions: that machines can reach the work area, that the soil is workable, that nothing is buried where it should not be. Ask to see those assumptions written down, along with anything that is specifically excluded. Exclusions are not a warning sign. An estimate that has none is. It usually means the contractor has not thought about the job yet, or plans to have that conversation later, when you have less choice.

Is this a fixed price or time and materials?

Both are legitimate. A fixed price suits a job that can be fully described up front; time and materials suits work where nobody can say what is down there. What matters is knowing which one you have agreed to, and on a time-and-materials job, how hours are tracked, how often you will see them, and whether there is a point at which the contractor stops and checks with you.

How will you price the things neither of us can see yet?

This is the question that separates contractors more than any other. Rock, soft or unsuitable soil, groundwater and buried debris are the usual culprits. The answer you want has three parts. First, how each one will be priced if it turns up, agreed before work starts. Second, a commitment to stop and call you before doing extra work, rather than presenting it on the final invoice. Third, photographs of what was found, so you are not being asked to take the extra charge on trust.

What should you ask about utilities and buried lines?

Who places the Diggers Hotline request, and when?

Wisconsin law requires at least three business days of notice to Diggers Hotline before soil is disturbed, and weekends and legal holidays do not count toward those days. The request is made by calling 811 or submitting it online. According to Diggers Hotline’s guide for excavators, a ticket stays valid if work starts within 10 calendar days of the start date and is not interrupted for more than 10 calendar days, so a job that stalls may need a fresh request.

The contractor doing the digging should place the request. Ask them to confirm it, and to tell you the ticket number before the machine arrives. It costs them nothing to share it, and a contractor who is vague about it is telling you how they handle the rest of the job.

What about lines the utilities will not mark?

Diggers Hotline’s member utilities mark their own lines, not yours. Anything you own on your side of the meter is typically private: a power line to a detached garage, a gas or propane line to a grill or outbuilding, irrigation, a septic system, a well line, low-voltage lighting, an invisible pet fence. Those will not be painted on the ground just because a ticket was placed.

Ask the contractor how they deal with private lines. The answers worth hearing are that they want your own sketch of what you know, that they will dig carefully by hand near anything suspected, and that they can arrange a private locating service when the job warrants it. The answer you do not want is that nobody ever marks those anyway.

How close will the machine get to the marks?

Wisconsin requires excavators to keep power equipment at least 18 inches from a marked, unexposed line, and to work by hand inside that distance. A contractor should be able to explain how they will expose a line safely when the work has to cross or run alongside it. If the answer is that they have done this a thousand times and not to worry, keep asking.

What should you ask about permits and erosion control?

Who is pulling the permits?

Grading, excavation and drainage work can need a permit from the town, village, city or county, and the rules are not the same from one municipality to the next across southeast Wisconsin. Some jobs need nothing. Some need a permit plus an inspection before anything is backfilled. Ask who will find out what applies to your property, who will pull the permit, and whose problem it is if an inspector stops the work.

Does the job need a stormwater permit from the DNR?

According to the Wisconsin DNR, most construction projects that disturb one acre or more of land need coverage under the state’s construction site stormwater permit. The landowner applies, by filing a Notice of Intent at least 14 working days before construction begins, and the landowner is responsible for the erosion control and stormwater plan. An acre is smaller than many people expect, roughly 210 feet by 210 feet. Land clearing or site preparation on a rural or semi-rural lot can reach it quickly, so ask the contractor to estimate the total disturbed area early, not after work has started.

What erosion control goes in, and who looks after it?

Bare soil moves in the rain. Silt fence, stabilized entrances, and seeding or matting on exposed slopes keep your soil on your property and out of the street, the storm drain and the neighbor’s yard. Ask what the contractor plans to install, when it goes in relative to the digging, who checks it after heavy rain, and whether taking it out at the end is part of the job.

What should you ask about insurance?

Can I see a certificate of insurance?

Ask for a certificate of insurance showing general liability coverage and workers’ compensation for the crew. The cleanest way to get one is sent directly from the contractor’s insurance agent, not as a photocopy from the truck. Check that the policy dates cover the dates of your job and that the business named on the certificate matches the business on your estimate.

Who pays if something gets damaged?

Heavy equipment is hard on driveways, curbs, sidewalks, septic systems and lawns, even when everything goes to plan. Ask how the machine will get in and out, whether they use ground protection mats on lawns or soft ground, and what they repair at the end of the job. Get the answer in the estimate.

What should you ask about who does the work?

Will your own crew do the work, or will any of it be subcontracted?

Subcontracting is normal. Hauling, concrete and specialty drainage work are often brought in. What you want to know is who they are, whether they are covered by the same insurance or carry their own, and who you talk to when the subcontractor and the contractor disagree about whose problem something is.

What should you ask about soil, compaction and water?

How will backfill be compacted?

Fill that is pushed back into a trench and left to settle on its own will keep settling, sometimes for a season or more. That is how patios crack, walkways sink and low spots appear where water then collects. Backfill that will carry weight should be placed in layers and compacted as it goes, with material suited to the job. Ask how they do it and what equipment they use for it. On work under a slab or a driveway, ask whether compaction will be tested.

Where will the water go when you are finished?

Almost every excavating job changes how water moves across a property, whether that was the point of the work or not. Ask the contractor to show you where water will flow once the job is done. Ground next to the house should fall away from the foundation, and water should leave your property the way it arrived, rather than being pushed onto the neighbors. A contractor who has thought about this will be able to walk you along it.

What should you ask about schedule and weather?

When can you start, and what would move the date?

Wet ground stops excavating work. Saturated soil cannot be compacted properly and machines rut what they drive on. Southeast Wisconsin’s spring thaw and wet stretches push schedules around every year, so a start date is always provisional. What you want is an honest explanation of what moves it and how you will be told.

What should you ask about payment and cleanup?

What are the payment terms?

A deposit is common, especially where materials are ordered for your job. Beyond that, payments are best tied to stages of work you can see, with the last one due when the job is finished to the standard in the estimate. Be wary of paying most of the job before work starts. Where subcontractors or suppliers are involved, ask about lien waivers, so a supplier who was not paid cannot come to you for the money.

What does finished mean on this job?

Rough grade ready for construction, finish grade ready for topsoil, and a restored lawn with seed down are three different endings. Ask which one you are getting, and whether it includes hauling away spoil, rock and debris, repairing tire ruts, and removing marking flags and erosion control at the end.

Which answers should make you walk away?

• A firm price for drainage or grading work given over the phone, without seeing the site.
• Reluctance to put the scope, exclusions or payment terms in writing.
• No clear answer on who places the Diggers Hotline request.
• A certificate of insurance that never arrives, or names a different business.
• Pressure to pay most of the job before work starts.
• No plan for rock, bad soil or groundwater beyond we will see.
• Permits dismissed as unnecessary without anyone checking with the municipality.

None of these proves a contractor is bad. Each one moves risk from them to you, and a contractor who is confident in their work rarely needs to do that.

How do you compare the estimates once they are in?

Put them side by side against the same written scope. If one contractor included restoration and another did not, the totals are not comparable until you ask the second one to price it. If one is noticeably cheaper, find the line that explains it. The cheapest estimate is only the cheapest job if it covers the same work. Where two contractors come in close, the better choice is often the one whose answers to the questions above were clearest.

What should you have ready before a contractor walks the site?

Ten minutes of preparation makes every estimate you collect more useful, and makes them easier to compare against each other.

Can you describe what is going wrong, not just what you want built?

Where does water sit, and after how much rain? Which part of the lot is too steep or too soft to use? A contractor can design around a problem. A request for a specific fix only gets you that fix, whether or not it solves anything.

Do you know where your private lines run?

Sketch what you know: the septic tank and field, a buried line to a garage or shed, irrigation, a well, a propane line, a pet fence. Rough is fine. It is information nobody else on the job will have.

Have you decided what finished looks like?

Ready for a slab, ready for sod, or ready for you to take over with a rake are three different jobs. Decide which one you are buying before the first visit, so every contractor quotes the same thing.

If you have a project in southeast Wisconsin, whether that is excavating, grading, drainage or land clearing, bring these questions to your site visit with LandEx Company. Request a free estimate at landexcompany.com or call 262-327-9847.