Services located 01
Assess & quote
Site visit, plan review and Dial Before You Dig. One clear quote covering dig, cartage and cleanup.
Licensed excavation, the Eastern Suburbs
Excavation & Earthworks Across the Eastern Suburbs
Pools, basements and site cuts across the Eastern Suburbs, from the sandstone headlands of Vaucluse, Dover Heights and Bronte to the deep sand of Bondi, Maroubra and Kensington, and the harbour slopes of Double Bay, Bellevue Hill and Rose Bay. Rock sawn clean, sand shored, tight blocks reached by crane, neighbours and heritage looked after.
Get a free quote★★★★★
4.9 from happy Sydney customers Request your free quote
No obligation, free site quote.
✓
Got it, thanks. We'll be in touch to arrange your site assessment and clear quote.
✓ Licensed operators
✓ Dial Before You Dig
✓ Fully insured work
✓ Local Sydney crew
Rock
Digs handled
Mini to 35t
Machine range
4.9★
Average rating
Free
Site quotes
What we do across the Eastern Suburbs
Excavation for every Eastern Suburbs job
Eight services across the Eastern Suburbs; each has its own page with the detail.
Excavation in the Eastern Suburbs
What's different about digging in the Eastern Suburbs
The Eastern Suburbs, in short
The Eastern Suburbs run from the harbour at Rushcutters Bay and Double Bay along the water to Watsons Bay, then down the coast through Bondi, Bronte, Clovelly and Coogee to Maroubra, Malabar and La Perouse, with Randwick, Kensington and Kingsford inland and Bondi Junction as the commercial centre. Three councils: Woollahra takes the harbour side, Waverley the middle coast, Randwick the south. It’s the most tightly held real estate in the country, with the oldest harbourside houses at Darling Point, Point Piper and Vaucluse, the interwar flats and bungalows of Bondi and Randwick, and new builds everywhere a knock-down can get approved. New South Head Road, Oxford Street, Anzac Parade and the light rail carry everything, slowly.
The houses, and what they need
The harbour side is Victorian and federation mansions on steep sandstone blocks at Darling Point, Bellevue Hill, Vaucluse and Point Piper, where the jobs are garage and basement cuts under existing houses, pools cut into rock and craned in, and knock-down rebuilds that go down as far as they go up. The coast is interwar rendered bungalows, art deco flats and 60s brick on the sand at Bondi, Bronte, Coogee and Maroubra, where pools and basements are shored digs in sand with the water table close. Randwick, Kensington and Kingsford are federation and interwar streets with heritage conservation areas and a lot of duplex and knock-down work. Bondi Junction, Randwick and Maroubra Junction have the apartment sites. The constant is that nothing has side access and everything has a neighbour a metre away.
The ground under the Eastern Suburbs
The headlands and the harbour slopes are Hawkesbury sandstone, at the surface on the cliffs from Watsons Bay to Malabar and within a metre across Vaucluse, Dover Heights, Bronte, Clovelly and the Bellevue Hill and Rose Bay slopes. Everything else is sand: the Botany sand beds, deep marine sand that runs from Bondi and Bondi Junction south through Randwick, Kensington, Kingsford and Maroubra to Botany Bay, sometimes twenty metres deep, with the water table a metre or two down and old dune shapes under the streets. Sand digs fast but stands up for nothing, so every pool, basement and trench is shored or battered and dewatered. Between the two, the old swamp and creek lines at Centennial Park, Queens Park and the Bondi flats carry peat and silt that settle. Fill turns up on the old harbour reclamation at Rushcutters Bay and Double Bay.
The councils, the neighbours, and getting to you
Woollahra, Waverley and Randwick all run heritage conservation areas across their older streets, and Woollahra’s harbour suburbs have some of the most closely guarded streetscapes in Sydney. Foreshore controls apply along the harbour and coastal hazard controls along the beaches. Rock excavation near neighbours comes with vibration limits, dilapidation reports and set working hours. Dewatering in the sand country is controlled because pumping affects the neighbours’ ground. Tree protection is firm, particularly for the Norfolk pines and figs. Cut and fill on the steep blocks is regulated with the retaining. Everything beyond set limits goes through the DA or CDC, and we dig to the approved plans. Access is New South Head Road or Oxford Street from the city and Anzac Parade from the south, then a lane, a crane, or the front room.
How it runs
First call to clean handover
Every job follows the same sequence, whether it's a single trench or a full site cut.
A trench can be a day, a basement can be weeks. Dates come with the quote, not after.
Where we work
Every Eastern Suburbs suburb we dig
The harbour slopes, the coast from Bondi to Maroubra, and Randwick inland.
Bellevue HillBondiBondi BeachBondi JunctionBronteCentennial ParkChifleyClovellyCoogeeDarling PointDouble BayDover HeightsEastgardensEdgecliffHillsdaleKensingtonKingsfordLa PerouseLittle BayMalabarMaroubraMatravilleNorth BondiPaddingtonPagewoodPhillip BayPoint PiperQueens ParkRandwickRose BaySouth CoogeeTamaramaVaucluseWatsons BayWaverleyWoollahra
Nearby areas we also cover
City & South SydneyNorth Shore
Eastern Suburbs
Excavation across the Eastern Suburbs
From the sandstone headlands of Vaucluse and Bronte to the deep sand of Bondi, Randwick and Maroubra, and the harbour slopes of Double Bay and Rose Bay.
See all Sydney areas →Recent work
Sites we've dug
Penrith Site cut
Castle Hill Pool dig
Ryde Basement
Liverpool Civil
“Very easy to deal with.
Excellent communication” Priya, Penrith
Excellent communication” Priya, Penrith
“Left the site spotless.” Dave, Castle Hill
“Would definitely recommend them!” Marcus, Ryde
“Great job thanks so much.” Lauren, Liverpool
“Very easy to deal with. Excellent communication” Priya, Penrith “Left the site spotless.” Dave, Castle Hill “Would definitely recommend them!” Marcus, Ryde “Great job thanks so much.” Lauren, Liverpool
“Very easy to deal with. Excellent communication” Priya, Penrith “Left the site spotless.” Dave, Castle Hill “Would definitely recommend them!” Marcus, Ryde “Great job thanks so much.” Lauren, Liverpool
Excavation in Eastern Suburbs, answered
How much does excavation cost in Eastern Suburbs?
It depends on the volume of material, the ground (the headlands and harbour slopes are hawkesbury sandstone and the flats are deep botany sand), access for the machine and how far spoil has to be carted. Every job gets a written quote after a site look, with the dig, cartage and cleanup spelled out, so you know what’s included before anything starts.
Do I need council approval before you dig in Eastern Suburbs?
Usually, if the excavation is part of a build. Cut and fill beyond set limits, work near boundaries and anything on a lot with a flood, bushfire or heritage overlay needs approval as part of the DA or CDC. We work to the approved plans; check with your certifier before the dig is booked.
How long does an excavation job take in Eastern Suburbs?
A trench, pool dig or single pad is a day or two; a knock-down site cut or a basement runs longer and depends on volume, ground and weather. Dates come with the quote, not after.
Is there rock in Eastern Suburbs?
Yes. the headlands and harbour slopes are Hawkesbury sandstone and the flats are deep Botany sand. On the headlands and the harbour slopes sandstone is at or near the surface, so pools, basements and garage cuts are rock jobs from the start: sawn at the boundaries, broken in the middle, carted as rock. It’s in the quote from the site look.
Can you dig a pool in the sand at Eastern Suburbs?
Yes, it’s the standard beachside pool. Sand walls don’t stand, so the dig is shored with trench sheets or battered, the water table is pumped from a sump to the council’s dewatering rules, and the shell goes in fast once the hole’s at level.
Can you cut a garage or basement under my existing Eastern Suburbs house?
Yes, it’s a common harbour-slope job. The rock is sawn at the house footing line and the boundaries and broken out in stages to the engineer’s underpinning and shoring sequence, so the house above and the neighbour’s house stay where they are.
Will pumping water out of my Eastern Suburbs dig affect the neighbours?
It can, which is why the councils control it. Dewatering in the sand country is planned from the geotech, kept to the approved rate, and monitored so the neighbours’ ground doesn’t settle. We flag it at the site look and price it in.
There’s no way to get a machine into my Eastern Suburbs backyard. Can you still dig?
Yes. Mini machines are craned over the house or walked through it, and spoil comes out the same way in bins or by conveyor. Slower than a side-gate job and priced for it, but it’s how most Eastern Suburbs backyards get dug.
What happens next
Tell us the job. We'll size it up.
✓ Tell us the suburb, the access and what needs digging
✓ We'll come out and look before quoting anything
✓ You'll get a written quote with what's included spelled out
✓ The machine's matched to your access, not whatever's free
✓ Clear on spoil, cartage and cleanup before we start
✓ No obligation, no pressure
Free quote
Ready to get your dig underway?
Tell us about the job. We'll look at the site before quoting, so you know what's included before anything starts.
✓ Written quote after a proper site look
✓ Free quote after a proper site assessment
✓
Request received. We'll be in touch to arrange your site assessment and clear quote.