Excavation contractor, Buckhorn and Trent Lakes

Excavation contractor in Buckhorn and Trent Lakes

Site prep, foundation digs, trenching, driveways and grading on Municipal roads, County roads and private lanes across Trent Lakes. 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 Buckhorn and Trent Lakes

An excavation contractor in Trent Lakes plans the access before the dig: which of the three road types the lot is on, what that road will carry in spring, and how close the rock sits. Driveways off Municipal roads, entrances onto County Roads 36 and 507 and lanes on private roads each answer to a different office. Around Buckhorn the limestone runs only a couple of metres thick over older rock, so the written price after the site visit already counts it.

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 Buckhorn and Trent Lakes: what changes here

Permits and locates

Every dig starts with a utility locate through the Ontario Dig Authority (formerly Ontario One Call), at least five business days ahead. Trent Lakes has three kinds of road, Municipal, County and Fire Routes, and the Municipality takes entrance permits for Municipal roads only, through Public Works under Policy AD-30. An entrance onto a County road such as 36, 37, 49 or 507 goes to the County of Peterborough, and a provincial highway entrance goes to the Ministry of Transportation. Work inside the Municipal right-of-way also takes a Road Occupancy Permit, applied for at least 15 days ahead.

The ground you are on

Limestone sits right under the surface around Buckhorn. The Ontario Geological Survey records the old Buckhorn Quarries, 1.5 kilometres northwest of the village, cut into Gull River Formation limestone about 2 metres thick. The County Official Plan describes the shorelands here as vegetated shorelines with thin soils over bedrock. For a foundation or a service trench, that means checking for rock before the quote. We probe at the site visit and price any rock work up front.

The rule that shapes the job

Spring load restrictions. During spring break-up, Trent Lakes limits Municipal roads to five tonnes per axle, and vehicles over the limit take other routes. The signs generally go up between March 1 and April 30 and come down when the road base has firmed. We schedule machine moves and fill deliveries around the posted dates, so a spring start does not stall at the end of your road.

Communities we cover from here

BuckhornLakehurstNogies CreekCatchacomaCrystal LakeAlpine VillageBuckhorn Lake EstatesPirates GlenOak Shores EstatesPigeon LakeBig Bald LakeLower Buckhorn LakeSandy Lake

How excavation in Buckhorn and Trent Lakes 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 Buckhorn and Trent Lakes: your questions answered

My cottage is on a private road. Who approves the entrance?

Trent Lakes takes entrance permits for Municipal roads only, and some roads in the municipality are private roads it does not own or maintain. We confirm who owns your road at the site visit and deal with the right party, whether that is Public Works, the County or your road association.

Do I need the County for an entrance on County Road 36 or 507?

Yes. Entrances onto County roads, including 36, 37, 49 and 507, take an entrance permit from the County of Peterborough, and the County also reviews new construction beside its roads. We file it for you.

Can you dig near the lake?

Yes, with the approvals in hand first. On Pigeon, Little Bald, Big Bald, Upper and Lower Buckhorn and Lovesick Lakes, Parks Canada permits anything on the lake bed. On other lakes, the Municipality lists a Public Lands Act permit for shoreline alteration, fill on the shoreline and retaining walls. We sort out which applies before we quote.

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 Buckhorn and Trent Lakes

Excavation in Buckhorn and Trent Lakes

Site prep, foundations and services

Driveways, drainage and land work

Digging in Buckhorn and Trent Lakes: 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 Buckhorn and Trent Lakes works, in four steps

Our equipment, on site

What our customers say

Excavation in Buckhorn and Trent Lakes: your questions answered

Other areas and services

Excavation in other towns

Other work near Buckhorn and Trent Lakes

Ready to break ground, Buckhorn and Trent Lakes?

Services

Service areas

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