Excavation contractor, Orillia, Severn and Ramara

Excavation contractor in Orillia, Severn and Ramara

Site prep, foundation digs, trenching, driveways and grading from Orillia north to Washago and Coldwater and east to Brechin and Lagoon City. Send the form and an owner calls you back today.

★★★★★5.0from 32 Google reviews

✓Same-day callback from an owner
✓Written price after the visit, locates and permits handled
✓Owner on the machine, one crew, our own equipment

Get your free excavation quote

A few quick questions. An owner calls you back today.

Prefer to talk? Call (705) 208-7121

5.0 on Google

32 reviews, every one five stars

Same-day callback

An owner calls you back and books the site visit

Owner on the machine

One crew, our own excavators and skid steers, an owner on every job

Locates before every dig

Ontario Dig Authority locate filed before the machine arrives

Excavation in Orillia, Severn and Ramara

Excavation in Orillia, Severn and Ramara runs under three different fill by-laws. The City, Severn Township and Ramara each draw their own line for when moving soil takes a permit, and the lines sit far apart. Jobs run from basement digs on infill lots in the city to driveways and service trenches for waterfront homes near Washago, Brechin and Lagoon City. Thor files the locates and permits, digs with its own excavators, and has an owner on every job.

Site prep, foundations and services

Building a house, cottage, shop or addition? You get the lot cleared, the foundation dug to the engineer's drawings, the site services trenched in, and the grade set so water goes where it belongs.

✓Lot clearing, stump and brush removal
✓Foundation and basement excavation to the drawings
✓Site services: water, hydro, gas and drainage trenches, backfilled and compacted
✓Rough grading, imported granular and fill where the ground needs it
✓Final grading and site restoration

Driveways, drainage and land work

New driveway or entrance, a wet yard, a slope that needs terracing, a burst water line to the well? You get the machine, the operator and the paperwork in one call.

✓New driveways, entrances and culverts, entrance permit filed for you
✓Trenching for water lines, well lines and yard hydrants
✓Drainage: swales, French drains and regrading that stop the pooling
✓Retaining wall and shoreline excavation, permits coordinated
✓Demolition excavation and haul-away for full-structure tear-downs

We run our own excavators and skid steers, and we dig with the utilities located first, every time. Soil that leaves the site goes to a proper reuse or disposal site under Ontario's excess-soil rules.

We do not do hydrovac, well drilling, fence post holes, paving or concrete forming. If your job is one of those we will point you to someone who does it. If it needs a machine, an operator who owns it, and the permits handled, we are the right call.

Digging in Orillia, Severn and Ramara: what changes here

Permits and locates

Inside the City of Orillia, site alteration falls under Chapter 373 of the Municipal Code. Work is exempt only if it moves no more than 50 cubic metres of fill, changes the ground by no more than 30 centimetres, leaves every swale and ditch in place, and stays at least 1 metre off the property line. Severn's By-law 2024-67 asks for a fill permit above 100 cubic metres, about 10 truckloads, and accepts only fill from Severn or a municipality bordering it. Ramara asks for a permit for any amount of imported fill. Ontario Dig Authority (formerly Ontario One Call) marks the buried lines first. We file that and every permit.

The ground you are on

Ramara's Official Plan describes a township split between the Great Lakes Lowland and the Canadian Shield, where limestone meets granite, across the Simcoe Lowlands, the Carden Plain and the Georgian Bay Fringe. In Severn, flood mapping covers the Coldwater flood-prone area, set to the Timmins Storm in 1980, and the Severn River floodplain, mapped in 1994. A foundation dig can go from soft lowland soil to rock inside one township, so we dig a test hole at the site visit and price what we find.

The rule that shapes the job

Severn's Official Plan keeps blasting and site alteration out of the riparian zone, typically the first 30 metres of the shoreline. Minimal blasting beyond 30 metres can be allowed under Township by-laws, and all blast rock comes off the shoreline. Work in the immediate shoreline area may also need approval from Parks Canada for the Trent-Severn Waterway or from the Ministry of Natural Resources. On a Severn waterfront lot, we plan the rock work around that line before we quote.

Communities we cover from here

OrilliaWashagoColdwaterMarchmontBass LakeSevern FallsArdtreaFessertonAtherleyUptergroveBrechinLagoon CityLongford MillsSebright

How excavation in Orillia, Severn and Ramara works, in four steps

Tell us what you need

Fill in the form or call. We call back the same business day and book the site visit.

An owner walks your property

We look at access, grades, the water table and what is under the surface, and hand you a written price. No dispatcher, no salesperson.

Locates and permits

We file the Ontario Dig Authority locate at least five business days before we dig, and any entrance, conservation or building permit the job needs.

Dig, grade, restore

The crew shows up when we said. We dig to the plan, backfill and compact, set the grade, and leave the site clean.

Our equipment, on site

Thor Construction excavator on a Kawartha Lakes site

Thor Construction excavator clearing a lot

Thor Construction crew and equipment on a rural site

What our customers say

★★★★★5.0from 32 Google reviews

★★★★★

“As a custom home builder, we love contracting Thor Construction Company for all of our demolition, excavation and septic work. They are easy to work with, have great equipment and know what they are doing. Our clients are always very happy with them.”

Ethan Bender

Custom home builder · Google review

★★★★★

“Hired Thor for complete site services including bringing utilities into my new build and digging for foundation. Once the build was complete they came back and finish landscaped the property and we couldn't be happier. Strongly recommend!”

Robert Bell

New build, site services · Google review

★★★★★

“Thor Construction Company came in and trenched all new water lines for us when our well line burst. They installed new yard hydrants for us as well. We are so grateful they came in and fixed our water line problem promptly and professionally.”

MDL

Rural property, water lines · Google review

Excavation in Orillia, Severn and Ramara: your questions answered

Do I need a permit for a new driveway in Ramara?

Yes, for any driveway built, relocated or altered on a Township road allowance. The entrance gets staked, the Township checks the location and sets the culvert size, and it inspects during and after installation. County Roads 169, 44 and 47 take a County of Simcoe permit, and Highway 12 an MTO permit. We file whichever applies.

How much fill can go in without a permit in Orillia?

Up to 50 cubic metres, as long as the grade changes by no more than 30 centimetres, no swale or ditch moves, and the work stays 1 metre off the property line. Past any of those, the City's site alteration permit applies, and we file it.

Why does Severn care where the fill comes from?

By-law 2024-67 accepts only fill from Severn or a municipality that borders it, caps placement at 250 cubic metres a day, and limits the hours fill can go down. We plan the haul around all three.

What excavation work do you do?

Site preparation and foundation digs, lot clearing and grading, trenching and backfill for services and water lines, driveways and entrances, drainage, and the excavation side of demolition and septic jobs.

What do you not do?

Hydrovac, well drilling, fence post holes, paving and concrete forming. We will tell you straight and point you to someone who does.

Do you handle the utility locates?

Yes. Ontario law requires a locate request before any digging. We file it with Ontario Dig Authority (formerly Ontario One Call) at least five business days ahead, and we do not dig until the marks are down.

How do you price excavation?

One written price after the site visit for a defined job. If the job is open-ended, we agree the rate and the estimate up front and you see the hours.

How soon can you start?

Small jobs often inside two weeks in season. Anything with permits waits on the permit, which we manage and keep you posted on.

What happens to the soil you dig out?

Reused on site where the grade needs it, otherwise hauled to a proper reuse or disposal site. Ontario's excess-soil regulation applies once soil leaves a property, and we handle that paperwork.

Excavation contractor in Orillia, Severn and Ramara

Excavation in Orillia, Severn and Ramara

Site prep, foundations and services

Driveways, drainage and land work

Digging in Orillia, Severn and Ramara: what changes here

Permits and locates

The ground you are on

The rule that shapes the job

Communities we cover from here

How excavation in Orillia, Severn and Ramara works, in four steps

Our equipment, on site

What our customers say

Excavation in Orillia, Severn and Ramara: your questions answered

Other areas and services

Excavation in other towns

Other work near Orillia, Severn and Ramara

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Services

Service areas

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