Excavation Contractor in Morganton, Union Mills & Western NC
Land clearing, grading and site prep for residential and commercial projects across the foothills.
Site prep is the kind of work nobody notices when it's done right and everybody notices when it isn't. AllTrax handles full-service excavation and land clearing throughout Morganton, Union Mills, Asheville and the rest of Western North Carolina. New home, new outbuilding, a utility run, or a lot that just needs reshaping — we do the ground work first, so whatever gets built on top of it actually stays put.
This part of the state doesn't make it easy. Steep grades, shallow rock, red clay that holds water, hillside runoff that shows up out of nowhere in a hard rain — all of it changes how a site has to be cut. Years of working Burke, McDowell and Rutherford counties taught us to plan the cut, the fill and the drainage together, instead of finding out about the problem after the pad's already in.
Why AllTrax
Why work with us on excavation
We've read this ground before
Soil, rock, slope, drainage. It all behaves differently in the foothills than it does on flat land. We've been planning around Burke, McDowell and Rutherford county conditions long enough that we're not guessing anymore.
One crew, start to finish
Brush and stump removal, rough cut, slope correction, fine grading. One crew handles it all. No coordinating three contractors, and nobody to point fingers when the elevations don't match.
The right machine for the job
Compact excavators for tight residential lots. Track loaders when there's real material to move. Operators who've been at this long enough to work clean around trees, septic fields and property lines.
We handle the paperwork too
Erosion control measures, utility locates, county site permits, local code. We deal with it so your project doesn't stall out at inspection because nobody pulled the right piece of paper.
You'll know the cost before we start
A written proposal that spells out exactly what we're doing and a schedule we actually believe. If something changes once we open the ground (and on this terrain, it sometimes does), you hear it from us first, not on an invoice.
Scope of work
Our excavation services
Everything below is handled by our own crew and equipment.
Land clearing & vegetation removal
Removing brush, trees and overgrowth to open the site for construction, with the debris hauled off or piled where you want it.
Stump removal & grubbing
Complete removal of root systems so you are left with a clean, buildable area instead of settling and voids under your pad.
Rough grading & resloping
Shaping the land, setting slopes that drain away from structures, and establishing the working grade.
Fine & finish grading
Bringing the surface to precise tolerances for foundations, slabs, drives and paving.
Basement, footing & foundation excavation
Digging and shaping to the depth and dimensions your plans and engineer call for.
Pond excavation & water features
Excavation for farm ponds, retention basins and decorative water features, including spillways and outlet control.
Site drainage prep
Trenches, swales, stormwater channels and soil stabilization work built into the site plan rather than bolted on later.
Cut & fill / earth moving
Balancing elevations across the site by moving soil from high ground to fill low spots, which keeps haul-off costs down.
Our work
Excavation projects
Photos from our own job sites across Western North Carolina.
Service area
Excavation across Western North Carolina
We handle excavation and site preparation in these markets. Each page covers the terrain, soils and county rules where you are.
- Excavation in Asheville, NC
- Excavation in Morganton, NC
- Excavation in Union Mills, NC
- Excavation in Marion, NC
- Excavation in Black Mountain, NC
- Excavation in Rutherfordton, NC
- Excavation in Lake Lure, NC
- Excavation in Valdese, NC
- Excavation in Hickory, NC
- Excavation in Lenoir, NC
- Excavation in Bostic, NC
Outside these towns? See the full service area — and call anyway if you are just past the edge of it.
Answers
Excavation questions
How much does excavation cost in Western North Carolina?
Anywhere from about $2,500 to $15,000 for a typical residential job. The swing is almost entirely about access, slope, how much material has to move, and whether we hit rock. An open, flat lot near a road is the cheap end; a steep wooded hillside with a long driveway and shallow rock is the expensive end. We'd rather walk the property than guess over the phone. The number means more that way.
Do I need a permit to excavate or grade my property in NC?
Depends on the county and how much ground you're disturbing. Statewide, North Carolina requires an erosion and sedimentation control plan once you cross one acre of land disturbance, and Burke, McDowell and Rutherford counties each layer their own grading and driveway permit rules on top of that. We'll tell you exactly what your project needs during the estimate, and we can help pull the paperwork.
How long does site preparation take?
A residential pad on an accessible lot usually takes two to five working days. Add clearing, a long driveway, real cut-and-fill, or rock, and you're looking at one to three weeks. The wildcard is always weather: saturated red clay shuts grading down until it dries back out, no way around it.
Can you excavate on a steep lot?
Most of what we do is on a slope, so yes. Steep ground just needs more thought: benching, retaining, figuring out where the water goes once the cut is open. Usually that means erosion control in place before the first bucket moves, too. We plan all of that together rather than bolting drainage on afterward.
Do you haul away the material you dig out?
Depends on the site. A lot of the time it's cheaper to balance the cut and fill right there on the property than to truck the spoil off, so we look at that option first. If material genuinely needs to leave, hauling shows up as its own line item so you can see what it's costing you.
Related
Other work we handle
Most projects touch more than one of these. Doing them with one crew keeps the grades, the drainage and the schedule consistent.
Grading
Rough grading, finish grading and resloping that puts water where it belongs and gives you a surface you can build on.
ViewLand Clearing
Brush, trees, stumps and undergrowth cleared and hauled so your lot is ready to build, farm or enjoy.
ViewSteel Buildings
One call for the building and the ground it sits on — design, grading, gravel pad, concrete slab and foundation.
ViewErosion Control
Is rain washing away your property? Culverts, ditches, swales, riprap and resloping that send water where it belongs.
ViewNeed excavation done right?
Call (828) 375-7556 or send us the details and we will get out to look at it.