Excavation & Earthworks Shalvey

Shalvey digs are clay rather than rock, so cost comes down to volume, how much fill and compaction the pad needs, access down the side, and cartage. Every job gets a written quote after a site look, with the dig, fill, cartage and cleanup spelled out.

Usually, if the excavation is part of a build. Cut and fill beyond set limits, work near boundaries and anything on a flood-affected lot needs approval as part of the DA or CDC. We work to the approved plans; check with your certifier before the dig is booked.

A trench, pool dig or single pad is a day or two; a duplex site cut with a basement runs longer and depends on volume, fill and weather. Dates come with the quote, not after.

Rarely. Reactive shale clay on flat ground, low toward Ropes Creek. Shale bands turn up and are ripped rather than broken. Real rock work is a North Shore and Eastern Suburbs problem, not a Blacktown one.

Yes, and around Blacktown it's the most common job. The old house down, slab and footings out, the block stripped, and two pads cut and compacted to the engineer's spec, with the basement dug if the design has one.

Reactive clay. It swells in wet winters and shrinks in dry summers, and anything poured on loose or uncompacted fill moves with it. A pad cut and filled in compacted layers to spec is what stops the new slab doing the same thing.

Yes, and it changes the job. Blocks on the creek flats and across the low north carry a flood planning level that sets the floor height, which often means filling up rather than cutting down, with the fill placed in layers and certified. The site look and your approved plans decide it before the quote.

Yes. Blacktown council is one of the easier ones for granny flats, and the 60s and 70s blocks have the room. A mini excavator through the side access, the pad cut level and compacted, and the service trenches run at the same time.