Stone River's Complete Commercial Excavation FAQ

Excavation refers to digging and removing soil or rock from a site. Earthwork is the broader discipline that covers cutting, filling, hauling, placing, and compacting soil to bring a site to design grade. Excavation is one part of a complete earthwork scope.

Scale, specifications, and accountability. Commercial excavation works to engineered civil drawings, third-party compaction testing, and municipal inspection schedules, with larger equipment and tighter tolerances than residential lot work. Stone River works exclusively on commercial and industrial projects.

A single commercial pad site can take one to three weeks, while a full site development scope with detention and utilities can run several months. Duration is driven by acreage, cut-and-fill volume, weather, and soil conditions. We commit to a schedule at bid time and report progress against it.

Commercial excavation is priced by the scope: cut-and-fill volume, haul distances, soil conditions, and required testing all drive the number. Small pad scopes may run in the tens of thousands of dollars while full site development packages run considerably higher. Stone River provides itemized bids so you can see exactly what drives the price.

Rough grading moves the bulk of the soil to within a few tenths of a foot of design elevation. Fine grading brings the surface to the tight tolerance the civil drawings require, ready for paving, concrete, or landscaping. GPS grade control is used to verify both stages.

With GPS machine control during the work and third-party verification after it. A geotechnical testing firm checks compaction at engineer-specified locations, and finished grades are shot against the civil drawings before handoff. Documentation goes to the general contractor and engineer of record.

Often, yes. Many Texas municipalities require a clearing or site development permit before work begins, and sites disturbing one or more acres need TPDES stormwater coverage. Tree preservation ordinances may also apply. We confirm requirements with the local jurisdiction before mobilizing.

Grubbing is the removal of stumps, roots, and buried organic material after the surface vegetation has been cleared. Organics left in place decompose and settle, compromising anything built above them, which is why clearing and grubbing are typically bid together.

A detention pond holds stormwater temporarily and releases it at a controlled rate, staying dry between storms. A retention pond holds a permanent pool of water. Which one a site needs is determined by the drainage study and the local drainage authority's criteria.

Most new commercial development in the Houston area must mitigate increased stormwater runoff, and on-site detention is the most common method. Requirements are set by HCFCD, the City of Houston, or the county drainage district depending on where the site sits.

811 is the call-before-you-dig service that notifies utility owners to mark their buried lines before excavation begins. Texas law requires a locate request at least two business days before digging. It protects the crew, the public, and the project schedule.

The excavator is responsible for requesting public utility locates through Texas 811 before digging. Private utilities on the property, such as site lighting or irrigation, are not covered by 811 and are typically located by a private locating service coordinated with the owner or general contractor.

Select fill is imported soil that meets an engineered specification, typically a low-plasticity sandy clay, used where the native soil cannot achieve the required stability. Native soil is what is already on site. The geotechnical report dictates when select fill is required under a pad.

Pad thickness is set by the structural and geotechnical engineers, not the excavation contractor. Typical Houston-area commercial pads run one to four feet of compacted select fill above prepared subgrade, depending on soil conditions and building loads.

Yes. Stone River carries commercial general liability, workers compensation, and equipment coverage appropriate for commercial sitework in Texas. Certificates of insurance are available on request at bid time.

A SWPPP (Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan) documents how a construction site will control sediment and runoff. TPDES is the Texas permit program that requires it for sites disturbing one or more acres. Compliance means installing and maintaining the controls in the plan and keeping inspection records current.

Houston and the surrounding metro is home base, with regular work across Harris County and the Gulf Coast corridor, plus project-by-project coverage of Austin, San Antonio, Dallas-Fort Worth, Corpus Christi, Galveston, and College Station.

Stone River self-performs its core scopes of excavation, grading, clearing, trenching, and pad construction with its own equipment and crew. Long-standing subcontractor relationships cover adjacent scopes like surveying and concrete when a project needs them.