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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Florence sits on a plateau above the Tennessee River, around 600 feet above sea level. The uplands across Lauderdale County weathered out of cherty limestone. That is why so many lots here turn up chert gravel and rock a few feet down. Rock like that stops a post hole digger cold, and it can hold up a builder.
Precision Excavation is based in Trinity, west of Decatur, and Florence is about 36 miles west of us. We travel there for excavation and dirt work: digging, grading and moving dirt with trackhoes, a dozer and dump trucks. We also handle land clearing, house pads, farm ponds, gravel driveways, rock work, demolition and haul-off. Estimates are free, so call or text (256) 303-7210.
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Most of Lauderdale County sits in the Highland Rim, the upland country north of the river. Alabama Extension describes those upland soils as weathered from cherty limestone. On top you get a gravelly silt loam, and under it gravelly clay. Down in the river valley the ground turns to red clay with a silt loam surface.
That mix is why rock shows up in the middle of a job here. A pad cut finds a ledge, a pond bottom finds chert, or a fence line will not take a post. Our trackhoes carry rippers to pull rock out of the ground, and the dump trucks haul the boulders off.
Ripping works on broken and layered rock, which covers most of what we run into here. Solid bedrock ledge is a different job that takes other methods. We tell you which one you have after we look at the ground.
Oak and pine grow well on Lauderdale County's limestone soils. Under them the understory fills in fast. Chinese privet is the common one, and Alabama Extension calls it a serious problem for landowners across the state. It forms dense thickets in bottomland woods and along fence rows.
There are two ways to take that out. Full clearing puts the dozer and the trackhoe on it. Trees get pushed and piled, stumps and roots come out, and the debris hauls off in the dump trucks. That is the route when a house, a barn or a shop building is going in.
Forestry mulching is the other route. A skid steer with a mulching head grinds brush and small trees in place and leaves a mulch layer. Alabama Extension notes those mulchers handle dense privet stands well. It also notes privet resprouts from stumps and roots, so expect regrowth to need attention later.
Building has picked up in Lauderdale County. Census Bureau building permit counts show 167 new private housing units authorized in 2024 and 316 in 2025. Some of that goes up inside Florence and some on land out in the county. Either way, the dirt work comes before the builder.
A house pad starts with clearing the footprint. Then we cut to grade or build the spot up with fill in compacted lifts. The pad gets shaped so water runs away from it, and the ground around it gets rough-graded. On rocky lots the ripper comes out first.
Driveways on rural land here run a long way back from the road. We cut the base, shape a crown so water sheds, and ditch the sides. Then the surface goes on: crusher run, gravel or chert. Chert comes off the limestone here and is a common driveway surface in this part of the state.
Lauderdale County is wrapped by the Tennessee River along its southern and western edges. Three TVA lakes touch the county: Pickwick, Wilson and Wheeler. Florence sits on Pickwick Lake, with the harbor and marina down at McFarland Park. Cypress Creek runs through town and Shoal Creek comes down past St. Florian.
That water shapes the dirt work here. Florence averages about 57 inches of rain a year, and the creek bottoms hold it. Soft ground slows a machine down, so we plan the approach and the haul route around the wet spots.
We dig and shape farm ponds on private land around Florence. That covers new ponds, enlarging or reshaping an old one, and cleaning out a pond that has silted in. The bank and the embankment get shaped, and the spoil is spread on site or hauled off. NRCS and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System publish pond guidance worth reading before you dig.
Communities and areas we serve around Florence: Cloverdale, Underwood-Petersville, St. Florian, Killen, Center Star, Green Hill, Zip City, Oakland, Elgin, Wood Avenue Historic District, Cox Creek Parkway, McFarland Park.
Florence ZIP codes served: 35630, 35631, 35632, 35633, 35634.
Free estimates throughout Lauderdale 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 Florence. 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.