Excavation and Dirt Work
General excavation with trackhoes, a dozer and dump trucks: digging, grading and moving dirt and rock on homesites, farms and rural land.
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Cullman sits up on the Cumberland Plateau, and rock here is close to the surface. Soil surveys of these ridges describe sandy loam over sandstone, with bedrock often two to three feet down. That rock turns up when a pad is cut for a new house, or when a driveway base goes in. It stops a tractor and a box blade, so it takes a trackhoe with a ripper.
Precision Excavation is based in Trinity, west of Decatur, about 32 miles northwest of Cullman. Cullman is a town we travel to, and we haul our own machines down for excavation and dirt work. That covers clearing, dozer work, house pads, ponds, gravel drives, rock work, demolition and dump truck hauling. Estimates are free, so call or text (256) 303-7210 and we will come look at the ground.
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Cullman sits at about 814 feet, on the Brindley Mountain end of the plateau. These ridges carry a sandstone cap over limestone. The common ridge soil is a sandy loam that runs 20 to 40 inches deep before it hits that sandstone. Shallow rock like that shows up on almost every dirt job around town.
We pull rock out of the ground with a trackhoe and a ripper. The teeth break the seams, and the bucket lifts the pieces out. Boulders get moved to a corner of the place, stacked, or loaded and hauled off. The same work shows up in pads, drives, pond bottoms and fence lines.
Solid ledge is a different thing. Where a seam will not break, we say so and work out another plan with you. That might mean moving a pad a few feet, raising it with fill, or shifting the drive.
Cullman County leads Alabama in farm production, and ranks among the top sixty counties in the country for farm income. Poultry, cattle, sweet potatoes, nursery stock, corn and timber all come off this ground. Between the farms are ridges of oak and pine, and idle pasture that grows up fast.
Privet, honeysuckle, briars, sumac and cedar fill in first, then sweetgum and pine take the open ground. We clear wooded and overgrown land with the dozer and the trackhoe. Trees get pushed and piled, stumps and roots come out, and the trucks haul the debris off. What is left is rough graded ground you can use.
Forestry mulching is the other way to clear. A skid steer with a mulching head grinds brush and small trees in place and leaves a mulch layer behind. Storm cleanup runs alongside it, since an EF4 tornado came through downtown Cullman on April 27, 2011. Spring storms still drop trees across the county, and we pile the wood and haul it off.
Cullman keeps growing. The census counted about 18,200 people in the city in 2020, and the 2024 estimate is near 20,200. New houses go up on acreage outside the city limits, around Good Hope, Vinemont, Fairview, Holly Pond and West Point. Most of those lots need dirt work before a builder can start.
We cut and build pads for houses, barns, shops and metal buildings on that kind of ground. The footprint gets cleared, then we cut to grade or bring in fill in compacted lifts. The pad is shaped so water runs away from it instead of standing against it. Concrete, footings, slabs and permits stay with your builder and the county.
Drives out here run long, off county roads and up over ridges. We cut the base, shape a crown so water sheds, and put ditches in where the slope calls for them. Crusher run, gravel or chert goes on top, brought in by our own dump trucks. Old drives that have rutted or washed out can be regraded and topped back off.
Cullman sits on the divide between the Tennessee River and Black Warrior drainages. Water off these ridges feeds Duck River, Dorsey Creek, Eightmile Creek and Brindley Creek. The Mulberry Fork runs along the southeast edge of the county, and Smith Lake backs up in the southwest corner. Duck River Reservoir, 640 acres off US 278 east of town, is the city water supply.
We dig and shape farm ponds on private land. That covers new ponds, enlarging an old one, and cleaning out a pond that has silted in. The banks and the embankment get shaped as the dig goes. Spoil is spread on the place or hauled off, whichever suits you.
Where a pond will hold and where it will fill are two questions. Ridge soil here runs sandy over sandstone, so the watershed above the pond matters. Alabama Cooperative Extension puts the rule of thumb near 15 acres of watershed for each surface acre of pond. Sandy, wooded ground can need far more, and the county extension office will go through a site with you.
Communities and areas we serve around Cullman: Good Hope, Vinemont, South Vinemont, Fairview, Holly Pond, Baileyton, Hanceville, West Point, Garden City, Dodge City, Duck River Reservoir, Smith Lake.
Cullman ZIP codes served: 35055, 35057, 35058.
Free estimates throughout Cullman County and the surrounding area.
(256) 303-7210 General excavation with trackhoes, a dozer and dump trucks: digging, grading and moving dirt and rock on homesites, farms and rural land.
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We clear wooded lots and overgrown acreage with the dozer and trackhoe. Trees and stumps come out, the debris gets hauled off, and the ground is left rough graded.
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We mulch brush, briars and small trees in place with a skid steer mulching head. The wood ends up as a mulch layer on the ground.
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We run a crawler dozer for pushing brush, rough grading and leveling ground across North Alabama. That covers spreading fill, cutting pads, reclaiming grown-up pasture and shaping pond banks and road beds.
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We build house pads for new homes, barns, shops and metal buildings on lots across North Alabama. Fill comes in by the load, goes down in packed lifts and gets graded so water runs away from the building.
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Rock removal for house pads, driveways, ponds, pastures and fence lines across North Alabama. Trackhoes with rippers break the rock loose, and the dump trucks haul it off.
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We dig new farm ponds, enlarge old ones and clean out ponds that have silted in. The trackhoe cuts the basin, the dozer shapes the bank, and the spoil gets spread or hauled off.
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We build new gravel driveways and farm roads, and regrade old ones that have rutted or washed out. Base cut, crown shaped, ditches cut, rock hauled in and graded out.
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We tear down old houses, barns, sheds, mobile homes and concrete slabs with the trackhoe. The dump trucks haul the debris off and the ground gets leveled behind us.
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Two dump trucks move material by the load across North Alabama. Fill dirt, topsoil, gravel, crusher run and chert come in, spoil and debris go out.
Learn MoreA few of the questions we hear most around Cullman. If yours is not here, call or text and ask.
Tell us what you need done and where the property is. Call or text (256) 303-7210, or send the form and we will get back to you.
Tell us about the job. We will get right back to you.