House Pads
We build raised dirt pads for houses, shops, barns and mobile homes. Topsoil comes off, select fill goes in, and the pad is compacted and sloped.
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Some jobs start with a hole. A footing has to be dug, or a lot cut down and built back up. Sometimes soft ground has to come out before anything sits on it. Dupree's Dirt and Excavation is an excavation contractor based in Bastrop with its own excavator and dump truck.
That matters on a dig. The same company that digs the hole loads the spoil and hauls it off. We dig footings, cut and fill building sites, take out old foundations and shape ground for a house pad. We come look at the site before we price the job, and the estimate is free.
Tell us about the job. We will get right back to you.
Most of our excavation work starts with a builder or a landowner who needs ground moved. Footing digs are the most common. We dig to the depth the plan calls for and the spoil goes in the truck.
Cut and fill is the other half. A lot that runs downhill gets cut on the high end. That dirt moves to the low end instead of leaving the property. When a site is short on dirt, we can get fill hauled in by the load and placed in lifts.
Soft ground is its own job. A wet pocket or a spot full of roots gets dug out until we hit ground that holds. Good fill goes back in and gets compacted in lifts.
The ground changes over a short distance here. Perry clay is the biggest soil in Morehouse Parish, and water moves through it very slowly. The soil survey reads 60 percent clay at the surface and about 70 percent below that. It cracks wide open in a dry August and turns to soup in February.
Bastrop itself sits on higher ground that digs easier most of the year. Portland ground fools people, because a silt cap sits over very heavy clay about 10 inches down. On Hebert ground the seasonal water table runs 1.5 to 3 feet down from December through April. That is why we look at the site before the price goes on paper.
Wet ground raises a second question before the excavator moves. Putting fill into a wetland falls under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. That call belongs to the Corps of Engineers, and it comes before the dig. Ouachita Parish also asks people to check with the permit office before any grading or fill.
We do. Louisiana law puts the notice on the excavator or demolisher, not on the property owner. Louisiana 811 asks for the locate request at least two business days before the project start date. The statute sets it at 48 to 120 hours, not counting weekends and holidays.
The marks that come back are a zone, not a line. The law defines it as the marked width plus 18 inches on either side, and hand tools work inside that. Anything on your side of the meter does not get marked on a free locate. Tell us where the line to the shop runs and where the septic field sits.
We do not dig utility lines, septic tanks and field lines, or storm drains. Those are separate trades, and a utility contractor or a septic installer handles them. What we do dig runs from a footing hole to the basin for pond digging on rural land.
Free estimates and site visits across Bastrop, Monroe and about 60 miles around.
(318) 614-2073From the first call to the final grade, here is how it goes.
Call (318) 614-2073 and tell us what the property needs. We ask a few questions about size, access and what you want at the end.
We come out and look at the ground, the access and where the water sits. Seeing it is the only way to price it right.
You get a price for the work and a plain list of what is included. The estimate is free.
Louisiana 811 is called before we dig, and any permit the job needs is sorted out first. Then the machines and the truck go to work.
The ground is graded back out and the debris is gone. We take a last look over it with you before we pull off.
Common questions about excavation across Bastrop, Monroe and about 60 miles around. If yours is not here, call and ask.
We build raised dirt pads for houses, shops, barns and mobile homes. Topsoil comes off, select fill goes in, and the pad is compacted and sloped.
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We dig farm, fishing and stock ponds on rural land around Bastrop. The basin, the dam and the spillway are all our work.
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We take houses, mobile homes, sheds, barns and garages down with our excavator and grapple. The debris leaves in our dump truck and the lot gets graded behind it.
Learn MoreWe are based in Bastrop and work northeast Louisiana, from Minden on the west side to Tallulah on the east.
The tracked excavator, the skid steer and the dump truck belong to us. Digging, grading and hauling all come from the same company.
Clearing, the pad, the drive and the final grade all run through us. You deal with the same company the whole way.
We come out and look at the ground before we put a price on it, and that visit is free.
Tell us where the property is and what you want done, and we will set a time to come look. Call (318) 614-2073, or fill out the form and we will get back to you.
Tell us about the job. We will get right back to you.