Excavation Contractors in Allentown, PA

Excavation contractors in Allentown work on some of the most changeable ground in Pennsylvania. Under much of Lehigh County is limestone bedrock, and the soil that weathers out of it is the Duffield series, a silt loam over silty clay loam that the USDA describes from a type location in this county. The soil is usually well drained, but depth to bedrock in that series runs anywhere from 4 to 10 feet, which is the difference between a basement dug in a day with a bucket and one that needs a hammer. We price every job after looking at the site, not from a map.

Why water matters more here than most places

Limestone dissolves. Over time that leaves voids and soft pockets, and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection lists the Lehigh Valley among the regions where sinkholes are a stormwater concern. Its guidance warns against sending concentrated runoff into sinkholes and treats new development that adds water to one as a modification. Allentown has seen what that looks like. In December 2011 a sinkhole roughly 30 by 40 feet opened in the 300 block of North 10th Street and displaced seven families; the city's public works director noted at the time that limestone is subject to sinkholes and that a water line break may have been involved. In 1993 a large sinkhole damaged the Corporate Center on North 7th Street, which was later demolished.

That history shapes how we work. Downspout and surface water gets carried away from new foundations instead of being left to pond. Trench backfill is compacted so it does not become a channel. Leaking water and sewer laterals get fixed instead of patched over. And if a dig opens a void, we stop and talk with you before backfilling.

Buried lines and the one-call law

Pennsylvania's one-call law requires anyone excavating to notify PA One Call, by dialing 811, no fewer than 3 and no more than 10 business days before the work starts, and that includes homeowners digging on their own property. We place that request for every job and wait for the marks. Private lines the utilities do not mark, such as a lamp post feed, an irrigation line or a line to a detached garage, are something we ask you about at the estimate.

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Allentown streets and permits

Work that opens the surface of a City of Allentown street or alley needs a permit from the Department of Public Works. Under Chapter 545 of the city code, the application is due at least three work days before excavating except in emergencies, the cut must be an open cut backfilled with approved crushed aggregate and compacted, the permittee carries at least $300,000 in liability insurance, and the patch is the permittee's responsibility for a year. Sewer and water lateral replacements that reach the street fall under these rules, and we build the permit into the schedule. State highways, such as the numbered routes through the suburbs, are PennDOT's, and a driveway or drainage change on one needs a PennDOT highway occupancy permit.

Weather and timing

Allentown averages about 33 inches of snow a season, its January average temperature is 30.1 degrees, and the 1991 to 2020 normals put yearly precipitation at 47.36 inches. Frozen ground adds machine time, and saturated clay loam smears instead of compacting. We can dig through much of the winter, but grading and finish work go better from spring through fall, and we tell you if the weather is likely to change the plan.

What a typical residential excavation includes

• A site walk, measurements and a written, line-item quote
• The PA One Call request and any city or township permits the work needs
• Protecting driveways, lawns and trees along the access route
• Digging to the depth and size on the plan, with the spoil sorted for reuse or hauling
• Compacted backfill and rough grading that sends water away from buildings
• Hauling and clean-up, with topsoil set aside for finish grading

Allentown is home base, and we work across Lehigh County and into Northampton County: Bethlehem, Emmaus, Whitehall, the Macungies, South and North Whitehall, Salisbury, Upper and Lower Saucon, Catasauqua, Coplay, Northampton, Nazareth, Bath, Hellertown, Coopersburg, Fountain Hill, Slatington and Easton. Each borough and township issues its own permits, many have their own stormwater rules, and the ground ranges from limestone valley floor to the slopes of South Mountain and the slate belt to the north. The town pages below cover what is different about each one.