Excavation contractor, Cobourg and Port Hope

Excavation contractor in Cobourg and Port Hope

Site prep, foundation digs, driveways, trenching and grading from Port Hope and Welcome to Cobourg, Baltimore and Grafton. Send the form and an owner calls you back today.

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Call (705) 208-7121
★★★★★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
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 Cobourg and Port Hope

Excavation in Cobourg and Port Hope carries a step specific to Port Hope: in the urban area, digs are checked for historic low-level radioactive waste before and during the work. Most jobs here are foundations and service trenches on infill lots in both towns, and driveways and grading on rural properties around Welcome, Garden Hill and Baltimore. Thor digs with its own excavators, files the permits and locates, 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 Cobourg and Port Hope: what changes here

Permits and locates

Port Hope asks for a site alteration and fill permit for any project that dumps, removes or alters fill grades, with a truck haul route, Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority confirmation, a Certificate of Clean Fill, a survey, a grade plan and erosion and mud controls. A new driveway onto a Port Hope road takes a municipal entrance permit, County roads go to Northumberland County, and provincial highways to the MTO. Cobourg infill work can need road cut or occupancy permits. Locates go to Ontario Dig Authority (formerly Ontario One Call). We file it all.

The ground you are on

The Ganaraska River runs through the middle of Port Hope. On March 21, 1980, rain on frozen ground sent it to 421 cubic metres per second, flooding about 66 acres of downtown up to 1.5 metres deep, and the channel was later widened and deepened over roughly 1,000 metres. Low ground near the river and the creeks holds water, so a dig there starts with where the water goes and where the spoil sits.

The rule that shapes the job

In urban Port Hope, projects that need a building permit are referred automatically by the Municipality to Canadian Nuclear Laboratories under its Construction Monitoring Program. CNL investigates the site and runs preliminary radiological monitoring, monitors the excavation if needed, and removes any soil carrying historic low-level radioactive waste at no cost to the owner. We build that step into the schedule from the first call.

Communities we cover from here

CobourgPort HopeWelcomeCantonGarden HillCampbellcroftElizabethvillePerrytownOsacaWesleyvillePort BritainBaltimoreGrafton

How excavation in Cobourg and Port Hope works, in four steps

1
Tell us what you need
Fill in the form or call. We call back the same business day and book the site visit.
2
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.
3
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.
4
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

★★★★★

“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 Cobourg and Port Hope: your questions answered

Who issues a driveway entrance permit in Port Hope?

The Municipality for a driveway onto a municipal road, with a survey or site plan, a copy of the deed and a sketch of the entrance. Driveways onto County roads go to Northumberland County, and onto provincial highways to the Ministry of Transportation. We file whichever applies.

What does Cobourg ask for on an infill foundation?

Its Engineering Department asks for a lot grading plan with the building permit, as-built foundation drawings, and a lot grading certificate at the end, and it holds a lot grading security that is refunded after inspection. We dig to the approved grades.

Does the Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority get involved?

Near watercourses, floodplains, valley slopes, wetlands and the Lake Ontario shoreline, yes. Site grading and placing or removing fill in its regulated area can take its permit, and Port Hope's fill permit asks for its confirmation. We check its property map first.

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.

Other areas and services

Every page has the local permit office, the ground and the rules for that area.

Excavation in other towns

Excavationin Lindsay and Kawartha Lakes→Excavationin Bobcaygeon and Fenelon Falls→Excavationin Peterborough and the Kawarthas→Excavationin Haliburton and Minden→Excavationin Buckhorn and Trent Lakes→Excavationin Coboconk, Norland and Kinmount→Excavationin Omemee, Bethany and Pontypool→Excavationin Lakefield, Bridgenorth and Ennismore→Excavationin Millbrook and Cavan Monaghan→Excavationin Apsley and North Kawartha→Excavationin Wilberforce and Highlands East→Excavationin Beaverton, Cannington and Sunderland→Excavationin Port Perry and Scugog→Excavationin Orillia, Severn and Ramara→Excavationin Georgina, Sutton and Keswick→Excavationin Mount Albert and East Gwillimbury→Excavationin Oro-Medonte→Excavationin Markham→Excavationin Barrie and South Simcoe→Excavationin Warsaw and Douro-Dummer→Excavationin Keene and Otonabee-South Monaghan→Excavationin Bewdley, Gores Landing and Rice Lake→Excavationin Bowmanville, Newcastle and Clarington→Excavationin Norwood and Havelock→Excavationin Uxbridge→Excavationin Campbellford and Trent Hills→Excavationin Oshawa, Whitby and Brooklin→Excavationin Stouffville→Excavationin Gravenhurst and Bracebridge→Excavationin Pickering and Ajax→Excavationin Newmarket, Aurora and King→Excavationin Bradford West Gwillimbury→Excavationin Huntsville and Lake of Bays→Excavation, every areaThe service page→

Other work near Cobourg and Port Hope

Septic installationin Cobourg and Port Hope→Landscapingin Cobourg and Port Hope→Septic installationin Bewdley, Gores Landing and Rice Lake→Landscapingin Bewdley, Gores Landing and Rice Lake→Shoreline restorationon Rice Lake→Septic installationin Campbellford and Trent Hills→Landscapingin Campbellford and Trent Hills→Demolitionin Campbellford and Trent Hills→Demolitionin Bewdley, Gores Landing and Rice Lake→Demolitionin Cobourg and Port Hope→Shoreline restorationon the Trent River→Every area we coverMap and full list→

Ready to break ground, Cobourg and Port Hope?

Send the form and an owner calls you back today. Or call now and talk to the person who will dig the job.

Call (705) 208-7121
Get your free excavation quote
A few quick questions. An owner calls you back today.
Prefer to talk? Call (705) 208-7121
Thor Construction Company
Bobcaygeon, Ontario · Serving Central Ontario, north of the GTA
  • (705) 208-7121
  • jp@thorconstruction.ca
  • Bobcaygeon, Ontario

Services

Septic installation

Excavation

Landscaping

Hardscaping

Shoreline restoration

Demolition

Service areas

Bobcaygeon and Fenelon Falls

Lindsay and south Kawartha Lakes

Buckhorn and Trent Lakes

Peterborough and the Kawarthas

Haliburton and Minden

Orillia, Severn and Ramara

Barrie and South Simcoe

Muskoka: Gravenhurst, Bracebridge and Huntsville

Cobourg, Port Hope and Northumberland

Durham: Oshawa, Whitby, Pickering, Ajax, Clarington, Uxbridge and Port Perry

York: Markham, Stouffville, Newmarket, Aurora, King and Georgina

All service areas

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