Excavation Contractors in Chattanooga, TN

Excavation contractors in Chattanooga have to know two very different landscapes. The city spreads across 142 square miles of land between the southwestern Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians and the foot of Walden's Ridge, with downtown at about 676 feet and Lookout Mountain and Signal Mountain looming far above. We prepare building sites, grade hillsides, fix drainage, dig septic and sewer lines, clear lots and remove old concrete and small structures across Hamilton County and the North Georgia towns next door.

On the mountains: sandstone close to the surface

Signal Mountain sits on the south end of Walden's Ridge, part of the Cumberland Plateau, and Lookout Mountain is capped with sandstone. Plateau soils such as the Hartsells series, which the USDA maps across the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia, formed from acid sandstone and reach bedrock at 20 to 40 inches. That means footings, septic lines and pools on the mountains often run into rock quickly. We price rock separately and look at outcrops on the visit.

In the valleys: clay over limestone

Below the mountains, the valleys of Hamilton County and northwest Georgia carry red clay soils like Dewey and Fullerton, both weathered from limestone. Dewey is deep red clay with some sinks and depressions; Fullerton carries 10 to 45 percent chert in individual layers. Clay needs thin, compacted lifts. Chert needs to be kept away from pipe.

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Water is the constant

Chattanooga's 1991 to 2020 normals list 55 inches of precipitation a year at the airport, and just 3.6 inches of snow. That rain comes off steep ridges fast. The city's worst flood, in 1867, crested at 58 feet and inundated the city, and TVA designed its reservoir system with Chattanooga as a major priority. Today, the flooding most homeowners deal with is smaller: water running off the lot above into a crawlspace, or a yard that never dries. Grading and drainage are a big share of our work.

Old neighborhoods, new subdivisions

Highland Park's homes were mostly built between 1900 and 1930, St. Elmo's Victorian houses sit at the foot of Lookout Mountain, and Ferger Place and Fort Wood are on the National Register. Newer growth runs out toward Ooltewah, Collegedale and the Georgia line. Older houses mean clay laterals and settled grading; newer ones mean cut-and-fill lots with drainage problems that show up a few years in.

Sinkholes in the valleys

Tennessee and Georgia both sit in the karst belt that runs through the southern Appalachians, and Tennessee is listed among the states with the most sinkhole damage. New collapses are often triggered when people change how water drains: ditching, pipeline trenches, ponds and concentrated runoff from roofs and driveways. That is why every drain and swale we build ends at a real outlet, never in a depression.

Before we dig

• A visit to see slope, rock, access and drainage
• A written, itemized quote
• Utility locates and any permits for your address
• Erosion control before grading
• Excavation, with topsoil kept separate
• Compacted backfill and a grade that drains
• Hauling and cleanup

We work across Chattanooga and Hamilton County and into Catoosa and Walker counties in Georgia. On top, Signal Mountain, Walden and the two Lookout Mountain towns sit on sandstone plateau ground. In the valleys, East Ridge, Red Bank, Hixson, Middle Valley and Soddy-Daisy run along the river and the base of Walden's Ridge, while Ooltewah, Collegedale, Apison and Harrison spread east toward Chickamauga Lake and White Oak Mountain. South of the state line, Rossville, Fort Oglethorpe, Ringgold and Chickamauga bring Georgia rules and their own creeks and ridges. Each town page lays out what is different there.