Excavation contractor, Pickering and Ajax

Excavation contractor in Pickering and Ajax

Foundations and service runs on rural Pickering lots from Claremont to Kinsale, and driveway widenings and additions in Ajax and south Pickering. Send the form and an owner calls you back today.

Get my free quote
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 Pickering and Ajax

Excavation in Pickering runs under the City's Fill and Topsoil Disturbance By-law 6060/02, which requires a permit for almost any grading and adds landform limits on Oak Ridges Moraine lots around Claremont. North of Seaton the work is often a new house or barn, a long laneway or a service trench; in Ajax and south Pickering, a driveway widening or an addition. An owner runs it start to finish on our own machines, and the Ontario Dig Authority (formerly Ontario One Call) locate is booked first.

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 Pickering and Ajax: what changes here

Permits and locates

Pickering's by-law makes a permit the rule for removing topsoil, placing fill or grading, with exemptions that include moving no more than 20 cubic metres on a lot in any three consecutive months. Only clean fill may be placed, and nothing goes onto a provincially significant wetland. In Ajax, a driveway can be widened on private property to the zoning maximum without an application, and an apron widening keeps 1 metre from small municipal trees, 2 metres from trees 20 centimetres or wider, and 3 metres from a hydrant. We file what each job needs.

The ground you are on

TRCA describes the South Slope of the Moraine, through the middle of rural Pickering, as drumlins of glacial till cut by sharp valleys where fast streams carved through. That till is an unsorted mix of clay, silt, sand, gravel and boulders. Boulders slow a dig and valley edges limit where a machine can sit. We probe the ground at the site visit and price the boulder work and access up front.

The rule that shapes the job

On Moraine lands mapped as Landform Category 1 or 2, Pickering's by-law keeps steep slopes, kames, kettles, ravines and ridges in their natural form, and caps the disturbed share of a site's net developable area at 25 percent in Category 1 and 50 percent in Category 2. On a Claremont-area lot, the house, driveway and septic bed all fit inside that footprint. We map it before the design is fixed.

Communities we cover from here

PickeringAjaxPickering VillageClaremontGreenwoodBroughamWhitevaleBalsamKinsaleCherrywoodGreen River

How excavation in Pickering and Ajax 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 Pickering and Ajax: your questions answered

How much fill can I move in Pickering without a permit?

Up to 20 cubic metres on a lot in any three consecutive months, under the City's Fill and Topsoil Disturbance By-law. More than that, or any grading on Moraine landform lands, takes a permit. We file it.

Can I widen my driveway in Ajax?

Yes, on private property up to the zoning maximum for your zone without an application, and the apron too if it clears the Town's setbacks from trees, utilities, transit stops and hydrants. Wider than zoning allows needs a minor variance. We build to the limit.

Will I hit boulders digging a foundation near Brougham?

It is likely on the South Slope. TRCA describes the till there as an unsorted mix running up to boulders. We check at the site visit and price the extra breaking and hauling before we start.

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 Cobourg and Port Hope→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 Newmarket, Aurora and King→Excavationin Bradford West Gwillimbury→Excavationin Huntsville and Lake of Bays→Excavation, every areaThe service page→

Other work near Pickering and Ajax

Septic installationin Beaverton, Cannington and Sunderland→Landscapingin Beaverton, Cannington and Sunderland→Shoreline restorationon Lake Simcoe, east shore→Septic installationin Port Perry and Scugog→Landscapingin Port Perry and Scugog→Shoreline restorationon Lake Scugog→Septic installationin Bowmanville, Newcastle and Clarington→Landscapingin Bowmanville, Newcastle and Clarington→Septic installationin Uxbridge→Landscapingin Uxbridge→Landscapingin Oshawa, Whitby and Brooklin→Septic installationin Oshawa, Whitby and Brooklin→Septic installationin Pickering and Ajax→Landscapingin Pickering and Ajax→Demolitionin Port Perry and Scugog→Demolitionin Beaverton, Cannington and Sunderland→Demolitionin Uxbridge→Demolitionin Bowmanville, Newcastle and Clarington→Demolitionin Oshawa, Whitby and Brooklin→Demolitionin Pickering and Ajax→Every area we coverMap and full list→

Ready to break ground, Pickering and Ajax?

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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