Residential Demolition
We tear down houses, mobile homes, and double wides across the Midlands. Full size excavators and dozers do the work, and the lot is left graded and clean. Free estimates from our West Columbia shop.
Dirt Cheap offers trenching services in West Columbia and across the Columbia area. A trench gives a new line a safe path underground. We dig for a water line to the house or a well house. We dig for power to a shop and for electrical conduit along a drive. Drainage pipe runs and footing trenches are the same kind of dig. The plan or the trade sets the depth, width and grade, and we dig to it. A licensed plumber or electrician, or the utility, then sets and connects the line. Our full size CASE excavators handle long runs and deep cuts. Wider digs fall under site excavation and slab cut outs.
Dirt Cheap is a family and woman owned demolition and site work contractor. Our shop sits on Edmund Highway in West Columbia, on the Lexington County side of the Congaree River. The company runs full size CASE excavators, dozers and a tri axle Kenworth dump truck with trailers. On a trench, the same equipment digs the run and grades the ground once the line is in. Any extra dirt that has to go leaves on our own trucks. As a trenching contractor, we work about 50 miles around the shop. That reaches Columbia, Lexington, Irmo and Sumter. Estimates are free, so call (803) 796-4727 and tell us where the line needs to go.
Tell us about the structure, lot or job and we will get right back to you.
Every trenching job starts with a locate. South Carolina law puts the notice on whoever digs, so the SC811 locate request goes in before the first cut. The notice goes in 3 to 12 full working days before digging starts. The day it is given does not count. The notice expires 15 working days after the start date it names. Digging past that needs a new notice. Once the utilities mark their lines, a tolerance zone applies. It runs 24 inches on either side of a marked line, plus half the line's diameter. Machine digging stays out of that zone unless the law's conditions are met. A marked line gets uncovered by careful hand digging first.
OSHA requires a protective system in any trench 5 feet deep or more. That means sloping or benching the walls, shoring them or setting a trench box. Under 5 feet, the system can be skipped when a competent person finds no sign of a cave-in. Any trench 4 feet or deeper needs a ladder, ramp or stairway within 25 feet of travel for each worker. The dug dirt and the equipment stay at least 2 feet back from the edge. Once the trade sets its line, we close the trench back up and compact it in lifts. Reshaping the whole yard falls under grading and site prep for the lot.
The Columbia area sits on the fall line, the boundary between the Piedmont and the coastal plain. That is why one lot digs sandy and the next is red clay. Most of Lexington County sits in the Sandhills. A University of South Carolina geography guide describes extremely rapid drainage through those sandy soils. A sandy trench wall dries out fast and can slough into the cut. Red clay holds water, so a clay trench can sit wet after a rain. In a dry spell, a Town of Gaston planning report notes the clay can bake dry into a brick-like hardpan. That slows the bucket down.
Trenching on a wooded lot means roots, and sometimes stumps right on the line. When the run crosses a stand of trees, land clearing ahead of the trench line opens the path first. An old driveway or sidewalk in the way gets broken out where the trench crosses. When the whole slab has to go, that is concrete removal for a whole drive or sidewalk. A run along a state road shoulder needs paperwork before anyone digs. Any work in an SCDOT right of way needs an encroachment permit first. SCDOT charges no fee for that permit.
Length sets the base, since guides price trenching by the linear foot. Depth and width come next, since a bigger cut moves more dirt. Soil and roots matter too, and so does any driveway crossing. Access counts as well, since a full size machine needs a way in. Most of the dug dirt goes back in, and any extra is spread on site or loaded out. Published cost guides from Angi and HomeGuide put a standard trench at about $5 to $12 per linear foot. Angi runs harder digs, with obstructions or difficult soil, at $13 to $40 per linear foot.
Every estimate starts with a look at the site. We measure the run and check the soil along the line, including any crossings. We also look at where the excavator gets in and where extra dirt can go. Jared Smith wrote in a review: "Storm drain repair for apartment complex fixed twice, both required a large excavation. Did both jobs quickly and for a great price." For water line and electrical trench figures, see the South Carolina trenching cost guide. Estimates are free, so call (803) 796-4727 and tell us what the trench is for.
Free, no-obligation estimates across the Midlands, from our West Columbia shop.
(803) 796-4727From the first call to clean ground, here is how it goes.
Tell us what you need gone or built: a house, a mobile home, an overgrown lot, a driveway, a septic system. Our office gets you on the schedule fast.
We come see the property, look at access and what has to leave, and give you a written number. The estimate is free and the price covers the work we agreed on.
Our crew runs the equipment on site. Full size excavators and dozers handle the teardown or dirt work, and debris leaves on our own trucks as part of the job.
The site gets graded out, filled where it needs it, and left ready for what comes next: a new build, a driveway, a septic system or just a clean lot.
Common questions about trenching across the Midlands. Don't see yours? Give us a call and ask.
We tear down houses, mobile homes, and double wides across the Midlands. Full size excavators and dozers do the work, and the lot is left graded and clean. Free estimates from our West Columbia shop.
Dirt Cheap tears down commercial buildings across the South Carolina Midlands. Strip malls, churches, warehouses and condemned structures come down with full-size excavators and dozers. We work out of a shop in West Columbia.
We clear wooded and overgrown lots across the Midlands, half acre house sites and multi acre tracts alike. Full size excavators and dozers take out the trees, the brush, and the stumps. Our shop is in West Columbia and estimates are free.
Grading and site prep out of our West Columbia shop. We cut building pads, level low yards, and reshape wet ground so water runs off. Estimates are free anywhere in the Midlands.
Dirt Cheap digs site excavation, utility and drainage trenches, and storm drain repairs across the Midlands. Our shop sits in West Columbia, and we run full size excavators and dozers. Estimates are free.
We repair rutted, washed out and potholed driveways across the Midlands, from short residential drives to quarter mile farm lanes. Our crew cuts the ruts out, reshapes the crown and packs the surface so water leaves the drive instead of cutting into it. We also grade new lanes and replace broken concrete drives.
Full size CASE excavators, dozers and a tri axle Kenworth dump truck. Machines sized for two story houses, commercial buildings and whole lots. A mini excavator crew cannot do this work.
One contractor takes the structure down, clears the lot, fills the low spots, grades it flat and can finish with a repaired driveway, concrete or a septic system. No handoffs between companies, no waiting on a second crew.
Cleanup is part of the job, on our own trucks. The site gets cleaned as the teardown happens, so when the machines load up and leave, the lot is done.
The shop sits on Edmund Highway, so Columbia, Lexington and Cayce are minutes away. Family and woman owned. Call and you talk to our office, not a call center.
Real reviews from real demolition, excavation and site work jobs on Google.
Storm drain repair for apartment complex fixed twice, both required a large excavation. Did both jobs quickly and for a great price. Would highly recommend.
Awesome Company. Contracted them to demolish a double wide on my property. They did it quickly and cleaned up great. Even brought in fill to level the area out. Marked the septic system as required.
Stop looking. Awesome folks to deal with through and through.
A structure that needs to come down, a lot that needs clearing, a driveway that needs help, a septic system going in? Call or send the form and we will come look at the property and price the job. The estimate is free.
Tell us about the structure, lot or job and we will get right back to you.
