When you've got to move earth out of the way, you call an earthmoving service. At least, that's the short version of what you need to do. The actual process takes a little longer and relies on a series of tasks being completed before any equipment actually moves in. Some of these are typical issues, like contacting the local utility to ensure there are no buried lines in the areas where you need soil removed; you'd have to do that even if you were just creating terraced soil in your yard. For larger excavation jobs, however, there's more at stake, and thus more preparation is needed.

Look for Up-to-Date Equipment

First, any earthmoving service you hire needs to have up-to-date equipment. It doesn't necessarily have to be new and this year's model. But it should be in good condition and meet Australia's work codes for excavation, earthworks, and related industries. This equipment will be safer to use, better at controlling emissions, and more efficient overall. You really don't want an accident happening on your property due to using out-of-date equipment.

Ask About Land Preparation

Any service you hire should either handle land preparation itself or have a specific list of things you need to do to prepare the land before work starts. This can include cutting trees and removing stumps and shrubs; many earthmoving services will do that for you. If you have a sprinkler system installed in the area where the excavation will be done, you'll need to remove that yourself, which is something that an earthmoving company likely won't do; you'd have to call a plumber or landscaper. Removing or protecting hardscaping in the area, verifying property lines, and ensuring there are no surprises like old wells or septic tanks on neglected land you just bought are, of course, all necessary before any earthmoving is done.

Ensure Reps See All of the Earth to Be Moved

Sometimes earth that needs to be excavated is in one area with symmetrical borders. Other times, however, the area is an odd shape that might require different sizes of excavators, or even different types of excavation machinery. Some of the land might be very rocky, or it might be unstable. When you have someone from the earthmoving service arrive to evaluate the job and give you a quote, be sure they see all of the land that needs to be excavated (if it's very large, a drone video may be acceptable). This representative needs to know exactly what the job entails. Don't assume that the little strip of land that's only a couple of feet wide will be easy to deal with and that the earthmovers will deal with it when they reach it. They need to know ahead of time.

Start calling earthmoving services now to arrange for initial quotes. If it turns out you need to do a lot of preparation before the earthmovers can start, you need to know now. Find an earthmoving service company near you today.

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