Building in Dutch John comes with a short window. At about 6,454 feet, the ground stays cold and snowy well into spring, and the town averages around 44 inches of snow a year. That means the excavation has to be planned ahead, scheduled for the warm months, and done right the first time so your foundation crew isn’t waiting on a second trip.
We start with your plans and a look at the lot, then call Blue Stakes so buried lines get marked before any bucket hits the ground. From there we strip topsoil, dig to the depth your plans and the building office call for, stockpile good material for backfill, and haul off what can’t stay. Once the walls are up, we come back to backfill and compact so your new space sits on stable ground.
We plan around the elevation, the snow, and the short building season that come with digging in Dutch John.
We bring excavators, loaders, dump trucks, and compaction gear sized for home sites and small commercial pads.
We'll tell you what we expect from your ground, your timing, and your budget before anything gets dug.
We keep spoil piles neat, protect your existing house and yard, and leave the site ready for the next trade.
Dutch John started in 1957 as a Bureau of Reclamation town built to house the crews working on Flaming Gorge Dam. A lot of the homes here date back to those early years, and many owners are now adding garages, bedrooms, sunrooms, and shops onto houses that were built for a construction workforce. Digging next to an older foundation takes some care. We expose what’s there, keep our cuts clean along the existing wall, and talk with you and your builder about how the new footing ties in.
New construction is part of the picture too. Since the townsite was privatized in 1998 and the town incorporated in 2016, private owners have been building and improving lots on their own terms. Whether it’s an addition or a new home, the excavation is the step that sets up everything after it.
Most of our excavation work falls into a handful of common jobs. Here’s what we dig for on residential and light commercial properties:
If your project isn’t on that list, ask anyway. If the work involves moving dirt to a set depth and grade, there’s a good chance we can handle it.
Dutch John is a long haul north on US-191, so we don’t treat it like a job down the street. We plan trips out ahead of time and group excavation work with other projects in the area when we can. That keeps travel reasonable and gives you a firm date to plan your concrete and framing crews around. The earlier you reach out, the easier it is to land on a date that works for everyone.
Footing depth follows local code and what the Daggett County building office approves on your plans, and we dig to that number. What we watch for on site is the ground itself. Rocky layers take more time and a different approach, and soft or wet spots at the bottom of a cut need to be dealt with before concrete goes in. We’ll tell you what we’re seeing as we go, so there are no surprises when the inspector or your foundation crew shows up.
Elevation is the other piece. The top of your foundation needs to sit high enough that the finished ground can slope away from it on every side. Once the walls are in, finish grading around your foundation sets that slope so snowmelt runs away from the house instead of soaking in along the walls.
Once the foundation is poured and the walls are up, we come back to backfill in layers and compact as we go. That step matters more than most people think, because loose fill settles and pulls the ground toward the house. Most new builds also need water, sewer, or power brought in, and utility prep for new construction can be lined up while we’re already on site. Grouping that work into the same trip saves you a second round of travel and keeps the lot from sitting open longer than it has to.
We also pay attention to what the backfill is made of. Clean, workable soil goes back against the wall, while big rock and organic topsoil stay out of the fill so they don’t cause settling down the road.
With snow on the ground for a good part of the year, most digging in Dutch John happens from late spring through fall. Frozen ground slows everything down and can add cost, so we’ll be straight with you about what’s realistic. If your lot still has brush or old debris on it, clearing the lot before the dig can be scheduled first so we start on a clean site. Call us during the winter to get on the list for the next building season, and we’ll help you sort out the order of work. A little planning over the winter months usually means your dig happens right when the ground is ready instead of weeks later.
We look over your lot and plans, check access from the street, and note anything that could slow the dig.
You get a free written quote covering excavation, hauling, backfill, and when we can plan the trip out.
We call in locates, dig to plan depth, sort the material, and leave clean footing cuts for your crew.
We check depths and cuts with you, then line up backfill and compaction once your walls are in.
