Excavation and grading work we do in Dundas
We handle the machine side of a residential project in Dundas, from the first cut to the final grade. The work covers:
- Site and lot grading. Shaping the ground so water runs where it should, not toward the house or onto the neighbour's yard.
- Foundation and footing excavation. Digging out for additions, garages, and structural footings, down past the frost line.
- Trenching. For drainage, weeping tile, and service lines.
- Footings and post holes. For the decks and fences we build, dug to depth so they don't heave.
- Prep digs. For patios, walkways, and retaining walls on the slope.
- Demolition and haul-off. Breaking out old concrete and removing the soil and debris, hauled away and left clean.
We do the digging ourselves. The Hammer Construction is licensed and insured, and we book the locates and confirm the permits before a bucket touches the ground. Every job starts with a free on-site quote, where we walk the lot, look at the access and the slope, and tell you straight what the dig involves.
Locates first: Ontario One Call before we dig
Before any machine breaks ground in Dundas, the buried utilities have to be marked. We book the locate request through Ontario One Call, it's free, and it's the law. The Ontario Underground Infrastructure Notification System Act, 2012 requires anyone digging in Ontario, homeowner or contractor, to ask for locates first, whether it's a single fence post or a full excavation.
The request goes in at least five business days ahead. Ontario One Call then notifies the utility owners, gas, hydro, water, telecom, and they come out and mark their buried lines. Digging without locates is an offence under the Act, and it's how a machine puts a bucket through a gas line. We don't skip it. We make the call on every job and wait for the marks before we start.
Grading and drainage on Dundas's slopes
Dundas didn't earn the name "the Valley Town" for nothing. The streets climb up off the valley floor and the escarpment closes in fast, so a lot of lots here carry real slope. That makes grading the part of an excavation you can't afford to get wrong.
The rule is simple and it doesn't change: water moves away from the house, and it never gets dumped onto the neighbour's land. On a steep Dundas lot that's harder to pull off than on a flat one, gravity is already pushing runoff somewhere, and the job is to control where. We cut swales, regrade away from foundations, run downspouts out past the wall, and set the falls so the lot sheds water instead of pooling it against a footing.
Get the grade wrong and you find out the first heavy spring melt, when water that should have run to the street is sitting in a basement instead. We grade it once, properly, so it drains the way it should for good.
Permits, the conservation authority, and the escarpment in Dundas
Most of what decides whether a dig needs a permit is what you're building. Structural excavation ties into the building permit for the structure, demolition needs its own, and plain grading or landscaping often needs no building permit at all, but it still needs locates and still has to respect the grading rules. We confirm the permit side with the City before we start, so there are no surprises.
Dundas adds a layer that flatter towns don't. Spencer Creek runs right through the valley, and the Hamilton Conservation Authority (HCA) regulates the land around watercourses, floodplains, wetlands, and steep slopes. Under Ontario Regulation 41/24, in force since April 1, 2024, you need a permit before site alteration in those regulated areas. On a steep escarpment lot, or anywhere near Spencer Creek, that can absolutely apply, so we check it first and confirm with the HCA before we break ground, rather than dig and find out after.
There's one more layer up on the brow. Land that's designated under the Niagara Escarpment Plan can fall under the Niagara Escarpment Commission on top of everything else. We don't guess on this, if your lot sits on escarpment-protected land, that's something we help you confirm before the work is booked, not after.
Machine work that fits a Dundas lot (tight access + slope)
A lot of Dundas backyards are the older, tighter kind, century homes in the King and Sydenham downtown core, narrow lots running back off the street, mature trees and existing fences boxing in the space. Add the slope and you've got the two things that make machine access the real challenge here: there isn't much room to get in, and what room there is, isn't level.
That's a planning problem before it's a digging problem. We look at the access route at the quote, the gate width, the side-yard pinch, what we can protect and what has to come out, and we pick the approach that gets the work done without tearing up half the yard to reach the other half. On the steeper lots up toward Sydenham Hill or out around Pleasant Valley and Governor's Road, we stage the dig so the machine works with the grade instead of fighting it.
When the dig is done, we backfill, do the final grade, and haul off the spoil. The site gets left clean, not a pile of clay and a rutted lawn for you to deal with after we've gone.
What working with us looks like
Here's how an excavation job runs with our crew:
- Free quote. Send your details through the contact form, or call or text (647) 424-1148. We come out, walk the lot, and look at the slope and the access.
- Locates and permits. We book the Ontario One Call locates and confirm the City and conservation-authority side before any digging starts.
- The dig. We excavate to depth, footings down past the 1.2 m (4 ft) frost line where the job calls for it, and trench or grade to plan.
- Grade and drainage. We shape the final grade so water runs away from the house and off the lot the right way.
- Clean-up. We backfill, haul the spoil, and leave the site clean before we call it done.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need locates before digging on my own property in Dundas?
Yes. Ontario law requires a locate request through Ontario One Call before anyone digs, even on your own land and even for something as small as a fence post. It's free, and it has to go in at least five business days ahead. We book it for you on every job and wait for the lines to be marked before we start.
Will my Dundas excavation need a conservation authority permit?
It might. Spencer Creek and the steep escarpment slopes put parts of Dundas inside Hamilton Conservation Authority regulated areas, and under Ontario Regulation 41/24 you need a permit before site alteration there. Whether your specific lot is affected depends on where it sits, so we check with the HCA and confirm before we break ground.
How deep do you dig footings in Dundas?
Footings have to bear on undisturbed soil below the frost line so they don't heave. In this part of southern Ontario that's about 1.2 m (4 ft) below grade. We dig to that depth on structural footings and on deck and fence posts, because anything shallower gets lifted by freeze-thaw within a season or two.
Can you work on a steep or tight Dundas lot?
Yes, it's most of what Dundas is. We plan the machine access around the slope and the tight older backyards downtown, stage the dig so it works with the grade, and protect what we can on the way in. We talk the access through with you at the free quote.
What happens to the dirt you dig out?
We haul it off. The spoil, and any debris from a demolition, gets removed and the site backfilled and graded, so you're not left with a pile of clay to deal. Leaving it clean is part of the job, not an extra.
Get a free excavation quote in Dundas
Want a straight answer on your dig? We'll come out, walk the lot, look at the slope and the access, and give you an honest quote with no pressure. The Hammer Construction is local, licensed, and insured, we book the locates and dig to depth, and we leave the site clean when we're done. We also build decks and fences if your project needs the build done by the same crew. Get a free quote through our contact form, or call or text (647) 424-1148.