Excavation questions Garden Grove owners actually ask
The questions below are the ones that come in by phone and form from Garden Grove, Westminster, Anaheim, Santa Ana and the rest of the service area. Each answer gives the number or the rule first, then the reason. For the full price table see the cost guide; for who issues which permit see the permits page.
Garden Grove Excavation answers these in plain words because a homeowner pricing a pool removal or a sewer line should not need a contractor on the phone to learn what the job normally costs and which permits it needs.
Money questions
How much does excavation cost per hour in Orange County?
A machine with an operator runs $200 to $350 an hour in the central county, with a mini excavator at the low end and a full-size machine with a breaker at the top. Most jobs are quoted by the task rather than the hour, and the published table on the cost guide gives the ranges for sixteen of them.
Is the first site walk free?
Yes. The licensed contractor we refer walks the property, measures the gate, probes the ground and comes back with a written quote at no charge. A camera inspection of a sewer line is a separate few hundred dollars because it takes equipment and an hour of a plumber's time.
Do you charge me anything?
No. Garden Grove Excavation never charges the property owner. The contractor pays us for the introduction. You pay the contractor, on their contract, for the work.
What is the cheapest way to get rid of an old pool?
A partial removal at $7,000 to $14,000, if the yard is going to stay a yard. It leaves the lower shell in the ground and gets recorded against the property. If an ADU or garage might ever go there, the full removal at $12,000 to $24,000 is cheaper over the life of the property because it avoids a second excavation.
How the work goes
Can an excavator fit through my side yard?
A three to four ton mini excavator needs about six feet of clear width, which most 1950s and 1960s tract side yards in Garden Grove, Westminster and Cypress have once the gate and a fence post come off. Under six feet the crew drops a fence panel or brings a smaller machine and more hours. A photo of the gate with a tape measure settles it before the quote.
What is Orangeburg pipe and do I have it?
A tar-impregnated wood fiber sewer pipe used widely in the 1950s and 1960s tracts, with a service life of about fifty years. It deforms into an oval and then collapses. If your house was built between 1950 and 1972 in Garden Grove, Westminster, Cypress or west Anaheim and the lateral has never been replaced, a camera inspection will likely find it, and the fix is replacement rather than cleaning.
Why does the quote mention groundwater?
Because in Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach and west Westminster the water table can sit within eight to twelve feet of grade in a wet winter, inside the depth of a pool deep end or a sewer trench. The pit needs a pump, the fill has to come in dry and the schedule avoids the wettest weeks. It is a priced line item from a contractor who has worked those blocks.
How long does the work take?
A pool removal is two to five working days, a garage demolition one to two, an ADU pad one to two, a sewer lateral one to three and a house demolition three to five. Permits add one to three weeks ahead of that and the DigAlert ticket needs two working days. Collapsed sewer lines get a same-week dig where the schedule allows.
What happens to the dirt and the concrete?
On a tract lot there is nowhere to spread it, so it leaves at $250 to $500 a truckload. Clean concrete goes to a recycler cheaper than mixed debris, and a contractor who separates it on site saves you money. A pool produces fifteen to thirty loads and a house thirty to sixty.
Permits, licenses and this site
Do I need a permit?
For any demolition, yes, from the city building division with an asbestos survey first. For grading, when cut or fill passes the city threshold (50 cubic yards in Garden Grove) or the work changes drainage. For a sewer lateral, a district connection inspection and a city encroachment permit for the street. The permits page lists each city's counters.
What is 811 and why does everyone mention it?
DigAlert 811 is the free California service that gets gas, electric, water and telecom lines marked before a dig. State law requires the ticket at least two working days before excavation. The contractor we refer files it on every job. Someone offering to start tomorrow without it is the tell.
What license should the contractor have?
CSLB class C-12 (earthwork and paving) or A (general engineering) for excavation and grading, C-21 for building demolition. Every license carries a $25,000 bond and workers compensation. You can check any number at the CSLB license lookup in about a minute.
Is Garden Grove Excavation a contractor?
No. It is a referral service that publishes the local price ranges and permit rules and connects you with one licensed excavation contractor who works your city. We hold no contractor license, never quote as the contractor and never hold your money. The written quote and the contract are the contractor's, on their paper.
What if I am a general contractor or a pool builder?
Send the plans or the address and the schedule. The contractor we refer bids commercial pads, utility trenches, pool digs and demolition for GCs, ADU builders and pool companies with the compaction testing and haul-off broken out, and can take repeat work on a per-job basis.
Question not here? Send it with the address
Call (714) 908-9776 or send the form below and one licensed contractor calls you back within one business day.