Dig outs and backfill in Ellensburg and Kittitas County

This is the earthwork wrapped around a foundation, and it is where a build quietly goes right or wrong. Dig the hole too tight and the form crew cannot work. Dig it too wide and you are paying to haul, store and bring back dirt that did not need to move. Backfill it loose and the slab over the top settles two winters later.

We cut basements, crawlspaces and footing trenches to the plan, with the spoils stockpiled where they will not be in the way of the next trade and will not slide back into the hole. Where the soil at bearing is organic, soft or wet, we over-excavate and replace it with structural fill rather than pretend it will hold.

Backfill is its own piece of work. We bring it back in lifts and compact each one, keep drain rock and the drain line where the plan puts them, and leave a rough grade that sheds water away from the wall rather than into it. If a slab or a drive is going over that backfill later, the compaction is the only thing standing between you and a crack down the middle of it.

We also do the awkward version: digging around an existing building, by an in-service septic or next to utilities that have to stay live. That work goes slower on purpose.