Excavation Contractors in Buffalo, NY

Excavation contractors in Buffalo city neighborhoods spend most of their time on narrow lots between closely spaced houses. The city covers about 40 square miles of land and grew to 580,132 people in 1950, when it was the 15th-largest city in the country. The 2020 census counted 278,349 residents, up 6.5 percent from 2010, the first gain in decades. That leaves a large stock of older homes and a growing number of owners investing in them.

Old housing, old pipes

With so much of the city built before 1950, many homes still drain through original clay or cast iron laterals. Roots, settling and age break them. A camera inspection usually tells us whether a spot repair will do or the whole line needs replacing. Either way, the trench goes below frost, the backfill is compacted, and the surface is restored.

East Side, West Side

Main Street divides the city's East and West sides. The West Side was generally developed earlier and is more affluent; the East Side has more vacant lots and older structures. Garage and structure removal, lot clearing and drainage work are common on both sides, along with laterals and footings for porches and additions.

Flat ground, four waterways

Buffalo is generally flat at about 600 feet, with rises only in University Heights and the Fruit Belt. The Niagara River, the Buffalo River and Creek, Scajaquada Creek and the Black Rock Canal all run inside city limits. Flat lots near any of them are slow to drain and can carry floodplain limits.

Olmsted parks

The park and parkway system designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, completed in 1876, is regarded as the oldest in the country. Delaware Park alone covers 350 acres. Homes along the parkways often have mature street trees whose roots find old laterals; we work around them carefully.

Winter

The airport averages 95.4 inches of snow a year and a January mean of 25.5 degrees. Lines go below frost, and we plan urgent winter digs around snow piles and frozen ground.

Vacant lots and infill

Decades of population loss left many city lots empty. As the city grows again, infill homes, garages and gardens go up on those lots. Old foundations, basement rubble and buried debris often sit just under the grass. We dig test holes where history suggests it, haul what cannot be reused and compact the subgrade before anything new is built.

Common city jobs

• Lateral and water service replacement
• Garage and porch demolition
• Downspout lines and yard drains
• Footings for additions and porches

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