Be the excavator builders call first, and the one homeowners find when the yard floods.
Excavation work arrives two ways. A builder needs a basement dug the week the lot is staked, and a homeowner just found water in the basement or a septic system backing up. The first is repeat work won on reliable dates and bids from plans; the second is a one-off won by answering first and showing up with the right machine. We build excavation contractors a website, phone line and CRM that handle both without hiring a second office person.
- “excavation contractor near me”
- “land clearing near me”
- “septic system installation cost”
- “french drain installation”
- “sewer line replacement excavation”
- “driveway grading and gravel”
- “basement excavation for new construction”
- “who do I call to dig a trench for electric”
Builders bid you from plans; homeowners find you when the ground gives them a reason
Builders and general contractors send drawings: a site plan, a grading plan, the foundation sheet. They want a per-lot price for stripping topsoil, cut and fill, the basement or crawl dig, backfill and rough grade, sometimes the water and sewer taps too. What they want even more is a date they can trust, because the footing crew, the lumber drop and the concrete pump are all scheduled off your dig. Homeowners come with problems instead of plans: a wet basement every time it rains, a drainfield the health department failed during a sale, a sewer lateral the plumber says collapsed, a lot full of brush in the way of a pole barn. Plumbers, pool builders, landscapers and fence companies sub out digging and want hourly terms.
None of that can be priced from a sentence on a form. You need to see the soil, the access for a trailer, where the spoils can go and what the locate marks show. A shared marketplace lead gives you an address and a line of text, and the fee is owed either way: Angi's annual report for 2025 says a single homeowner request can produce multiple leads and that pros pay for matches whether or not they get the job. For work that needs a site visit before anyone can quote it, that is paying to be one of several trucks in the driveway. The hourly-rate shoppers who call from the same platforms are the other half of the problem: they compare a number, not a crew.
Ground conditions set the calendar. In the north, frozen ground stops most digging, the spring thaw brings drainage calls, and several states post seasonal road weight restrictions that limit what you can haul for weeks. Rain turns a graded pad into a pond overnight. In the South and the West the season runs longer, with heat and summer storms in the way instead. Every dig starts with a locate request to 811 and a wait for marks, and the ticket has a legal start date and an expiration, so a job that slips needs a refresh before the bucket goes in. Scheduling means lining up the machine, the operator, the marks and the weather. The excavator who owns the builder relationships, the search results and the phone number stays booked through all of it. The one renting leads fills gaps at whatever price the week allows.
A site that lets a builder send plans and a homeowner send a photo
Two visitors with two needs. The builder wants to see your machines, know you are insured and send drawings for a price. The homeowner wants to know you fix their problem and what happens next. The site has to serve both from the first screen on a phone.
Site prep and grading for builders
What you take on per lot (strip, cut and fill, basement or crawl dig, backfill, rough and finish grade, driveway base), the drawings you need to bid, and a plan upload that goes straight to your estimator. Builders are repeat customers, and this is the page they forward to the superintendent.
Septic system installation page
The soil evaluation, the health department permit, the tank and drainfield install and the inspection before backfill, in your county's order. Homeowners replacing a failed system are anxious and often on a deadline from a sale or a notice, and they want the sequence explained.
Drainage and wet yard page
French drains, downspout lines, swales, catch basins and regrading away from the foundation, with photos of standing water and what fixed it. This is where the spring rains send people.
Sewer and water line replacement page
How you work with the homeowner's plumber, what the locate marks mean, the trench, the inspection and how the lawn and driveway get put back. Plumbers who read it start sending you the digs their mini cannot handle.
Land clearing and driveways
Lot clearing, stumps, grubbing, gravel drives and culverts, priced by the job after a visit. Say what you haul away, what gets chipped or burned where that is allowed, and what the customer will see when you leave.
Equipment and hourly work page
Your machines by class, what an hourly rate includes (operator, fuel, the float in and out), your minimum, and when you quote the whole job instead. It answers the how-much-per-hour call without anyone picking up.
Service area pages with ground notes
One page per county or town you work, with what digging there is like: clay, sand, ledge, water table, the permit office and the septic authority. Real notes outrank a list of town names.
Catch the builder's dig date and the homeowner's flooded yard on the same line
In the cab you cannot hear the phone, and the builder who gets voicemail calls the next excavator on the list. The AI receptionist answers under your company name, separates a builder's scheduling call from a homeowner's problem, collects the address, the access and what is going in the ground, and books the site visit. A sewage backup or a collapsed sewer line rings you directly.
How AI reception worksA CRM that schedules machines, operators and locate tickets together
An excavation job has more moving parts than a service call: a bid from plans or a walk, a locate ticket with a legal start date, a machine that has to be floated in, an operator, trucking, material, inspections, and a bill that may be hourly tickets plus loads plus a lump sum. We build the CRM around the dig.
Equipment and operator board
Every machine and every operator on one calendar, with float moves and the job each is on, so a builder's dig date is promised against what is actually free rather than a guess made from the cab.
Locate ticket tracking
Ticket number, request date, legal start date and expiration on the job, with a reminder to refresh when the schedule slips. Nobody digs on expired marks.
Bids by unit, by the hour or lump sum
Line items in cubic yards, feet of trench, loads, tons of stone and machine hours, with exclusions written in (rock, dewatering, unsuitable soils, compaction testing), so a change order has a basis the builder already agreed to.
Hourly and haul tickets signed in the field
The operator closes the day on a phone: hours per machine, loads in and out, material delivered, signed by the super. The ticket is on the invoice before the truck is washed.
Builder accounts by subdivision and lot
A builder with a dozen lots sees each as its own job under one account, with the plan set, the per-lot price, the draw schedule and retainage, and a statement that lines up with their pay application.
Permits and inspections
Septic permit, soil evaluation, erosion control, right-of-way and inspection dates logged on the job, with the inspector's sign-off photographed before backfill.
Change orders for what the ground hides
When the bucket hits ledge, an old tank or groundwater, the operator photographs it, the office writes the change order from your rate sheet, and the customer approves it by text before the machine sits another hour.
Job costing by machine hour
Fuel, operator wages, trucking, dump fees and material against each job's billing, so you learn which kinds of work and which builders pay and which quietly cost you.
Stay in front of builders between lots and homeowners between rains
Your best customers are the builders, plumbers and pool companies who need digging every month, and the fastest way to lose them is silence. Homeowners rarely need you twice, but they know neighbors with wet yards. A short, useful message in the right week keeps both, with consent and without pestering.
| When | Campaign | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Late winter | Spring start dates for builders | Builders set spring schedules before the ground thaws. A note listing the weeks you have machines open, with a reminder to send plans early, puts you on the calendar ahead of the rush. |
| Spring thaw | Wet yard and drainage note | When the snow melts or the spring rains run, homeowners with water in the basement go looking. A message to past customers and unsigned drainage bids, with a photo of a fix, catches them that week. |
| Where road limits apply | Frost law reminder | In states with seasonal road weight restrictions, tell builders and contractors what you can and cannot haul during the restricted weeks and when they lift, so they plan deliveries with you instead of around you. |
| Summer | Septic and pool dig season | Septic replacements follow home sales and inspections, and pool builders are digging. A note to realtors, plumbers and pool companies about your lead time keeps the referrals coming. |
| Early fall | Grading and drainage before the freeze | Builders want lots graded and seeded before winter, and homeowners want water moved away from the foundation before the ground hardens. One message covers both. |
| Quarterly | Builder account check-in | A short note to each builder account with what you did for them this quarter, your crew's availability and one question: what is starting next. It is the cheapest sales call you will make. |
Excavation, answered.
Can the receptionist handle a builder calling for a dig date?
Yes. It recognizes a builder account, collects the subdivision, the lot and the date they need, checks the schedule you keep in the CRM, and either holds a slot or promises your callback within the window you set. The super gets a text confirming what was taken down.
Does the CRM know about locate tickets?
It does. Each job carries the ticket number, the request date, the legal start date and the expiration, and it warns you before a job's marks run out. The request itself still goes through your state's 811 center.
We bid some work hourly and some by the job. Can one system handle both?
Yes. A job can carry a lump-sum bid, unit prices, hourly tickets or all three, and the invoice shows each the way the customer expects: a per-lot price for the builder, hours and loads for the plumber's trench.
Should the website list our hourly rates?
That is your call. Many excavators publish what an hourly rate includes and the minimum, without the number, and let the page explain when by-the-job pricing is fairer. If you publish a rate, keep it current; a stale rate costs you the argument on site.
Do we have to stop buying leads from Angi or Thumbtack?
No. Keep what is paying off while your own site and builder relationships grow. The CRM marks each signed job with its source, so you will see which platform jobs were worth the fee and cut the ones that were not.
What each piece has to do for a excavation company.
Built for excavation. Owned by you.
Get a free system quote: we look at your site, your Google profile, how your calls get answered and what you spend on leads, then put what we'd build and what it costs in writing.
Get a free system quote