The short answer
Small utility or pool digs start from about $2,000 with access, a known depth, and a spoil plan. Commercial work is bid from the drawings or as time and materials once quantities are real.
The excavator hour is the easy part to see. Trucks, dump fees, and unsuitable material under the grass are the part that changes the invoice.
Haul is its own number
Spoil that stays on the lot costs less than spoil that leaves. Import costs more again, because you are paying for material and the truck. Both should be lines, with tickets.
Distance to a dump that will take wet clay or mixed debris is a Gulf Coast problem. A site in Houma, Chalmette, or the beach towns can burn the day on the road. We price the route, not a generic truck.
- Cut depth and quantity.
- Spoil stays, or spoil leaves.
- Import, if the hole or the pad has to come back up.
- Backfill in lifts when someone builds on it.
Ground that changes the day
Clay holds water and sticks to the bucket. Sand and shell move until the cut hits groundwater. Infill lots hide concrete, trash, and old fill. Any of those can be an allowance or a unit price. They should not be a surprise you discover in the invoice with no note in the quote.
Locates come before the dig. Private irrigation still needs a walk.
Dirt work and the finish grade
Digging the hole is dirt work. Shaping the pad so it drains and hits tolerance is grading. Many jobs need both. The quote should show the handoff: open trench for a plumber, or compacted subgrade for a pour.
Small grading on top of our fill starts from about $1,500 when it is only a re-slope. Do not assume it is inside the dig price unless the line is there.