Updated September 2026
What excavation actually costs in the Cowichan Valley
Free, no-obligation quote
Excavation quote request
The more detail about the property and the work, the closer the first number will be. We send a written quote after we visit your site.
Duncan Excavating calculates what excavation costs in the Cowichan Valley by machine time at $125 to $165 an hour on a four-hour minimum covering travel and setup. You can expect typical project ranges for foundation digging or drainage to run $3,000 to $15,000 all in, driveways to run $1,000 to $4,000 in machine time, and lot clearing to cost $1,500 to $3,000 an acre on light ground up to $6,700 an acre when dense. We quote disposal separately because CVRD recycling centres do not accept excavation spoil.
We price machine time, trucking and disposal after walking the property, checking access, ground and how far the material has to travel.
See our detailed breakdown of lot clearing and grading.
Our rates are current as of September 2026 and run on a four-hour minimum that includes one hour of travel and one hour of loading and securing equipment. Trucking and disposal are quoted separately.
| Work | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Lot clearing and grading, lightly wooded | $1,500 – $3,000 per acre |
| Lot clearing and grading, densely forested | up to $6,700 per acre |
| Footings and foundations, residential dig | $3,000 – $15,000 |
| Perimeter drains and ditching | two to four machine days, $2,000 – $5,500 in machine time before materials and disposal |
| Rural driveway and culvert | one to three machine days, $1,000 – $4,000 in machine time before gravel and culvert |
| Bulk excavation, by volume | $2.50 – $15 per cubic yard |
Ranges are for planning. Rock, site access, haul distance and digging depth determine your overall cost, so we quote every job after a site visit.
What changes the price?
Six things affect the price, roughly in order of how much they add. Machine size and whether the site can take it, since a mini excavator needs a path barely wider than a garden gate while a machine that can break rock needs a float and room to work. Haul distance and tipping fees represent the cost driver most property owners underestimate. Whether the bucket finds rock, because rock is broken rather than dug and that is a different machine at a different rate. Digging depth affects your costs because of a specific legal threshold for worker trench safety covered further down the page. Access and reinstatement on an established property, where getting to the work and putting the surface back can exceed the digging. And season, since ground that is workable in July behaves differently in January.
Where the material goes
Excavation spoil does not go to a CVRD recycling centre, so haul routing is priced into every clearing and excavation quote in this valley. The CVRD's recycling centres — Bings Creek at Duncan, Meade Creek and Peerless Road — publish a clear tipping fee schedule, and that schedule does not cover excavation spoil. The yard waste rules state it plainly: no rock, sod or dirt, and no stumps. Construction and demolition waste is not accepted either. So soil, sod, stumps and land-clearing debris go to a private facility such as Fisher Road Recycling at Cobble Hill, which accepts exactly those materials and quotes at the scale rather than publishing a rate.
| Material | Fee |
|---|---|
| Garbage | $242 per tonne ($7 minimum) |
| Rubble — asphalt, brick, concrete, paving stones, gravel, rock | $94 per tonne |
| Lumber — clean and untreated | $165 per tonne |
| Lumber — painted or treated | $242 per tonne |
| Roofing | $242 per tonne |
| Yard waste — commercial | $110 per tonne |
| Yard waste — residential | No charge |
| Rock, sod, dirt, stumps, construction and demolition waste | Not accepted |
Depth is the other multiplier
Under the OHS Regulation, before a worker enters any excavation deeper than 1.2 metres the sides must be sloped to a specified angle, benched, or supported by shoring or a trench box. Excavated material has to be kept 60 centimetres back from the edge of a trench and 1.2 metres from any other excavation. Past 6 metres, or where a structure sits adjacent to the dig, written instructions from a qualified registered professional are required. Because a trench at 1.1 metres and a trench at 1.3 metres are not the same job under safety rules, we measure depth on site before giving you a price.
Published fees that touch excavation work
These figures are set by the authorities named and are checkable independently. Tipping and permit fees make up a significant portion of what you pay beyond machine operating time.
| What | Authority | Published figure |
|---|---|---|
| Utility locate request | BC 1 Call | No charge; three working days' notice, or five for large projects |
| Notice of Intent for fill or soil removal in the ALR | Agricultural Land Commission | $150, filed at least 60 days before the work |
| Soil removal and deposit permit security | North Cowichan | $4,000, plus $4,000 for each hectare of land disturbed |
| Highway access permit | North Cowichan | $25 to process, $500 refundable per unit to a maximum of $2,000, plus a $50 street sweeping fee |
| Driveway access permit | City of Duncan | $50 application fee and a $1,000 damage deposit |
| Protected tree removal permit | City of Duncan | $50 plus a refundable replacement security; the fee is waived for a hazard tree |
These are the published rates at the time of writing and they move without much warning. Check the current schedule before relying on any figure here.
The ranges above are a planning starting point. We assess your access width, soil type and disposal destination during a site visit. When you request a quote, we list machine time, trucking and disposal separately.