Move The Dirt.
Fix The Drainage.
Grading, excavation, retaining wall and hardscape removal, land clearing and pool removal in Hercules · from the waterfront neighborhoods to the hillside lots backing onto open space.
The Houses Are Young.
The Ground Isn’t Behaving.
Hercules is not a teardown town. Much of the housing went up from the 1980s onward as planned subdivisions · the waterfront-side neighborhoods, the streets above Refugio Valley, the newer pockets off Sycamore and John Muir Parkway. Those houses are sound and worth keeping. Nobody calls us to knock them over.
What they call about is the ground around them. Planned communities were cut and filled to a grade set thirty or forty years ago, and thirty or forty years of rain has opinions about that. Water pools against the slab. The lawn drains toward the house instead of away. The original retaining wall is bowing and its replacement needs a wider bench cut. The yard was never usable because it sits on a 15% slope.
Add the Refinery Corridor on one side and open space on the other and you get a second category: vegetation management and defensible space where lots back onto undeveloped hillside, plus clearing along the industrial edge.
So our Hercules work is excavation and site work more than demolition. Cut, fill, drain, clear, pull the concrete, set the grade.
Excavation Services
HerculesWhat We Most Often Do Here
Ranked by how often the phone actually rings for it in this city.
Grading & Drainage Correction
Re-grading yards that fall the wrong way, cutting level usable space out of a slope, setting drainage away from the foundation, prepping pads.
Grading & leveling → #2 RequestRetaining Wall & Hardscape Removal
Failing keystone and block walls, cracked stamped patios, pool decks, planter walls and steps demolished and hauled · step one of a backyard rebuild.
Concrete removal → #3 RequestLand Clearing & Defensible Space
Brush, overgrowth, dead fuel and volunteer trees cleared where lots meet open space, plus the industrial edge and undeveloped parcels.
Land clearing → CommonDriveway & Concrete Removal
Long subdivision driveways, aprons, walkways and RV pads removed ahead of a repour or widening. Concrete recycled as inert material.
Driveway removal → CommonPool Removal & Backfill
Partial or full removal with compacted backfill. On the larger hillside lots the pool comes out as part of a whole-backyard regrade.
Pool removal → By The DayBobcat & Excavator Work
Operated equipment for trenching, spoil handling, material moves, rough grading and access work · with an operator who has run this ground.
Bobcat & excavator services →Moving Dirt Is Permitted Work
At Lower Thresholds Than You Think
Homeowners assume grading is landscaping. It stops being landscaping fast. Contra Costa County’s published thresholds are the regional benchmark:
- Excavation · permit required more than 5 feet deep or more than 200 cubic yards.
- Fill · required for fill supporting a structure, more than 3 feet deep, or more than 200 cubic yards.
- Big jobs notify the block · grading of 1,000 cubic yards or more triggers neighbor notification.
- Engineering, not sketches · three sets of plans stamped by a licensed California Civil Engineer or Architect, plus two copies of a geotechnical report.
- Trench depth is its own permit · Cal/OSHA requires one for any trench or excavation 5 feet or deeper that a person enters.
- Some cities are stricter. Lafayette, Moraga and Orinda drop the threshold to 50 cubic yards · which is why nobody should assume.
Hercules is an incorporated city, so grading and demolition permits come from the City, and its thresholds and fees may differ from the County’s. We confirm the City of Hercules’ current thresholds, submittal list and inspection sequence before we quote. The numbers above are the County benchmark · published and verifiable, not a claim about Hercules. Permit guide →
Under California Government Code §4216.2 an excavator must notify 811 / USA North at least 2 working days and not more than 14 calendar days before excavating. The ticket is valid 28 days. In subdivisions this dense, with gas, electric, communications and irrigation sharing an easement, that’s not a formality. We ticket every dig.
“My House Is From 1992, So None Of That Applies”
It applies. Two facts, because this comes up on nearly every Hercules estimate involving a structure.
BAAQMD Regulation 11, Rule 2 requires notification for any plan to demolish a load-supporting structural member · regardless of asbestos content, age or size. A 1994 detached garage is covered. There is no new-construction carve-out. Notification runs 10 working days before start, reducible to 72 hours for dwellings of four or fewer units with an added fee, and the dates you file are confirmed dates, not an estimated window · failing to revise them by 11:59 PM of the stated start date can itself be a violation.
Post-1980 construction is far less likely to contain asbestos than the pre-1978 stock in Richmond or El Cerrito, and that genuinely lowers risk here. It does not make it zero. Suspect materials · HVAC ducting, acoustic ceiling material, acoustic plaster · still get tested if they’ll be disturbed. Anything entirely wood, glass, rubber or metal needs no testing at all. We test what needs testing and don’t sell you surveys you don’t need.
For reference: the renovation notification threshold is 100 sq ft, 100 linear ft or 35 cubic ft of friable asbestos-containing material, and Cal/OSHA requires any employer doing asbestos work of 100 sq ft or more to register and give 24 hours’ notice.
Five Steps From Slope To Finished Grade
Site Walk & Volume Take-Off
We measure the cut and the fill and put a cubic-yard number on it. That number decides whether you need a grading permit and an engineer · and it’s what every honest excavation bid is built on.
Permits & Engineering
Where thresholds are crossed we coordinate the stamped plans and geotechnical report and confirm current City of Hercules requirements before you sign. Structure coming down? The air district notification goes in the same package.
811 & Utility Locate
Ticket filed at least two working days ahead, marks verified on the ground, hand-potholing where anything is close. Irrigation and low-voltage lines that 811 doesn’t mark get located separately · those are the ones that get hit.
Erosion & Storm Protection
Inlet protection, silt fence and stabilized entry before the first bucket. Sites disturbing more than an acre also need a SWPPP and a Notice of Intent. We plan around the forecast.
Cut, Fill, Finish Grade
Material cut, hauled or balanced on site, fill placed in lifts and compacted · tested and reported where it supports a structure. Drainage set away from the house, inspection called, closeout package delivered.
What Site Work Runs Here
Working ranges for the excavation, grading and removal work we do most here. Your written estimate is fixed after the site walk.
| Job | Typical Range | What Moves The Number |
|---|---|---|
| Residential grading, typical yard | $770 to $3,000 | Slope, volume, drainage, access |
| Grading by area / hour | $0.08 to $2.00 / sq ft · $40 to $180 / hr | Machine, soil, balance vs export |
| Foundation / pad prep | $1,000 to $6,700 | Cut depth, compaction, engineering |
| Driveway grading | $1,000 to $5,125 | Length, slope, base material |
| Excavation | $60 to $200 / cubic yard | Depth, access, rock, export |
| Fill dirt · topsoil import | $6 to $17 / cy · $11 to $53 / cy | Material quality, haul distance |
| Land clearing, light-moderate | $1,200 to $4,500 / acre | Density, slope, tree count |
| Land clearing, heavy | $4,500 to $8,000 / acre | Mature growth, stumps, terrain |
| Tree removal · stump | $400 to $1,200 ea · $100 to $400 | Size, proximity to structures |
| Concrete / retaining wall | $3 to $8 / sq ft | Rebar +$1-$3/sq ft; dump $90-$160/ton |
| Driveway removal, 200-600 sq ft | $1,200 to $4,500 | Thickness, slope, tonnage |
Export. If the cut can’t be balanced on site, every cubic yard gets trucked off and tipped · the single biggest swing in a hillside grading number. We take off the volume on the first visit and tell you whether the job balances or exports. A bid that doesn’t say which one it assumes isn’t a bid.
Working The North End Every Week
Hercules is a short run up the I-80 corridor from our yard in El Sobrante.
See All Service AreasWhat Hercules Clients Say
Water ran toward the back slab every winter since we bought the house. They cut a swale, re-graded the rear yard, and the last two storms did nothing. Should have called four years ago.
Old block retaining wall was bowing and the yard behind it was unusable. They took the wall out, cut a level bench and hauled everything. Marked out the utilities properly before digging.
Our lot backs to open space and the brush had gotten out of hand. They cleared it, chipped what they could and hauled the rest. Straight quote, no upsell on a survey a 1990s house didn’t need.
Hercules Site Work Questions
Do I need a grading permit to level my Hercules backyard?
It depends on volume and depth. Contra Costa County’s thresholds · the regional benchmark · are a permit for excavation deeper than 5 feet or over 200 cubic yards, and for fill supporting a structure, deeper than 3 feet, or over 200 cubic yards. Jobs of 1,000 cubic yards or more trigger neighbor notification. Hercules is an incorporated city with its own building department, so we confirm the City’s current thresholds before quoting. Either way we take off the cubic yardage first, so you know which side of the line you’re on.
My house was built in the 1990s. Do I still need the air district notification?
Yes, if you’re removing a load-supporting structural member. BAAQMD Regulation 11, Rule 2 applies regardless of asbestos content, age or size · no exemption for newer construction. Notification is due 10 working days before start, reducible to 72 hours for dwellings of four or fewer units with an added fee. This surprises Hercules owners more than anyone else we work with: a newer house means less asbestos risk, not fewer filings.
How much notice do you need before digging?
Two working days minimum, because that’s what California law requires: notify 811 / USA North at least 2 working days and not more than 14 calendar days before excavating. The ticket is valid 28 days. In Hercules subdivisions the easements are crowded · gas, electric, communications, irrigation · so we verify marks on the ground and hand-pothole anything close.
Can you clear the slope behind my house for defensible space?
Yes. Clearing brush, dead fuel and volunteer growth where lots back onto open space is regular work, and light-to-moderate clearing runs $1,200-$4,500 per acre depending on density and slope. Where a fire agency or the city specifies clearance distances, we confirm it directly and work to that spec rather than guessing. Land clearing details →
Where does the excavated soil go, and does it count toward recycling?
Depends on whether the job balances. If cut and fill roughly match, the material stays on site and you save the export cost entirely. If not, it’s trucked to a permitted receiving site as a cubic-yard line item. On paper, excavated soil and land-clearing debris are excluded from the C&D diversion calculation · the 65% statewide minimum covers concrete, wood and metal, which we sort and receipt separately. Our recycling documentation →
Can you take out a pool and regrade the whole yard in one job?
That’s the most efficient way to do it, and on the larger hillside lots it’s how most of these run. The pool comes out, the deck and failing retaining walls go with it, the hole is backfilled and compacted, and the yard is regraded to one drainage plan instead of three. One mobilization, one permit package, one scope. If anything structural goes over that footprint later, the shell comes out completely and we place certified engineered fill. Pool removal details →
Get The Grade Right In Hercules
Send the address and a few photos of the slope, the wall or the drainage problem. We’ll walk it, take off the volume, and put a fixed number on paper.
Legacy Demolitions LLC · 4533 Appian Way, El Sobrante, CA 94803 · CA License #1122603 · Serving Hercules, CA