Commercial excavation and site work in Durango, CO
Commercial excavation and site work in Durango handles the underground and ground-level scope every commercial project requires. We self-perform site preparation, foundations, utilities, retaining walls, stormwater systems, and demolition, which removes the coordination gaps GCs face when juggling separate subs.
8+ years operating · Certified OWTS installer · Fully insured and bonded · FMCSA-registered carrier
5.0 Star on Google
7+ Years Serving the Four Corners
Certified OWTS Installer
Site Preparation
Excavation
Underground Utilities
Septic Systems
Sewer Line Repair
Demolition
Retaining Walls
Road Construction
Land Clearing
Grading
Site work built for commercial projects in Southwest Colorado
This page is written for GCs, developers, architects, and civil engineers who are evaluating excavation subs for active commercial projects. You're not browsing. You need a sub who can handle the ground work without creating a scheduling problem, and that's exactly how we operate.
We're a site-work and underground-utility specialist. We don't do framing, finish work, or general contracting. What we do is prepare the ground: clearing, grading, excavation, underground utilities, stormwater systems, retaining walls, and demolition.
Our experienced team has been doing this work across Durango, Bayfield, Hesperus, Mancos, Cortez, Pagosa Springs, and La Plata County since 2018.
When GCs bring us in, the advantage is that we cover multiple commercial site-work phases under one subcontract. That means fewer handoffs, fewer scheduling gaps between trades, and one point of contact for the ground-level scope from start to finish. Commercial site infrastructure only moves as fast as the sub who's in the ground first, and we take that responsibility seriously.
Our commercial site work scope
We self-perform the following commercial site-work and underground-utility services:
- Site preparation and grading: mass grading, cut and fill, subgrade prep, 3D smart grade GPS-guided final grade
- Commercial excavation: hard-rock and standard excavation, deep excavation with shoring, foundation prep
- Underground utilities: water mains, sewer mains, service connections, trench excavation and backfill
- Stormwater and drainage: storm drain piping, inlet structures, manholes, detention pond excavation and grading
- Retaining walls: commercial-scale walls for grade change, slope stabilization, and site access
- Large and small scale demolition: structure removal, foundation removal, debris hauling, site clearing after demo
- Road base and access: subgrade prep for asphalt, curb and gutter, parking areas, access drives
- Commercial building foundations: excavation and site prep
Technology that lowers your survey costs: 3D smart grade
The biggest differentiator we bring to commercial site work is 3D smart grade GPS satellite technology. Most local subs still rely on grade stakes and string line, which means a surveyor is resetting stakes every week, and your project is paying for it. We use the same GPS-guided grading technology surveyors use, so we’re effectively doing the surveying work in-house while we grade.
On a typical commercial job, that shift saves roughly $90,000 in surveying costs. It’s a significant line item that disappears when you’re not paying a surveyor to drive out weekly and re-establish grade control that keeps getting knocked down by equipment.
Our crew is trained on the technology, not just handed the controls. Tighter grade control through the job tends to reduce rework and keep the grading phase on schedule.
If you’re pricing out a commercial grading scope and want to understand how this applies to your project, talk to our project team about your grading scope.
How we work with your project team
Here’s what the process looks like, from your first call to a scheduled start.
01
First contact
Reach us by phone, email, or text. We respond promptly, and that first conversation is with founder Mike Zarlingo directly.
02
Site visit
We get out to the site quickly to walk the scope and the ground conditions before we put numbers to anything.
03
Bid delivery
You get a bid structured as a fixed-cost number or a time-and-materials arrangement, depending on scope and site conditions.
04
Contract and schedule
Once you approve the bid, we lock in the schedule and sequence the work around your project timeline.
05
Work on site
Foreman Ben Keil runs the crew day to day, so the person managing the field knows your project.
06
Weekly progress invoicing
We bill at the end of each week, tied to completed work, so cost never gets ahead of you.
Commercial building foundations: excavation and site prep
Getting the foundation right on a commercial building starts with what happens before any concrete is poured. Our role is the excavation and site preparation: evaluating soil conditions in Southwest Colorado's rocky mountain terrain, excavating to the required depth, addressing shoring needs for deeper excavations, and preparing the bearing surface for footings and stem walls.
We work closely with the structural engineer and the builder so the excavated area matches structural plans before anyone shows up to form. That coordination keeps the foundation phase precise, and precision at the bottom of the hole is what keeps the rest of the build on track.
200 +
Projects Completed 
Commercial excavation in Southwest Colorado terrain
Commercial excavation in Southwest Colorado isn't the same work it is in Denver or on the Front Range. Rocky mountain soils, hard-rock formations, and high-altitude frost conditions create ground conditions that out-of-area contractors consistently underestimate. When a blade hits rock where someone expected soil, that's a change order conversation that local knowledge could have avoided.
We handle mass grading, cut and fill operations, hard-rock excavation, access road construction, and staging area prep. We know La Plata County ground, and we've worked projects in Bayfield, Hesperus, Mancos, Cortez, and Pagosa Springs. That familiarity translates into better pre-bid estimates and fewer surprises once we're on site.
Hard-rock excavation takes the right equipment and a clear read on what you're likely to hit at what depth. We factor that into every commercial bid we submit, so you're not absorbing unexpected rock costs after the contract is signed.
Storm drain components and stormwater detention
Stormwater management is a regulatory requirement on commercial sites, not an optional upgrade. We install the full storm drain scope in-house: storm piping, inlet structures, manholes, outfall structures, and detention pond excavation and grading.
Handling storm drain alongside grading and utility work matters because the sequencing between those trades is tight. When separate subs are coordinating underground work in the same area, delays compound fast. We run it as one operation, which keeps the underground phases moving on a single schedule.
Commercial retaining walls
Commercial retaining walls handle grade changes, slope stabilization, structural site access, and transitions between site elevations. They're rarely optional on commercial sites in Southwest Colorado's terrain, where grade differentials are common and erosion control is tied directly to wall performance. We build in pre-cast engineered concrete block and natural stone, depending on the structural requirements and site conditions.
Our track record on commercial retaining walls includes significant wall work as part of the Archuleta County Transit Facility in Pagosa Springs, where the walls were integrated directly into the broader site grading and excavation sequence. More on that project in the government experience section below.
Commercial large and small scale demolition
When a commercial site needs demolition before new construction begins, we handle both phases under one subcontract. Our demolition scope covers structure removal, foundation and slab removal, grading and site clearing after the demo is complete, and debris hauling. As an FMCSA-registered carrier, we manage our own hauling rather than subcontracting it out.
Keeping demolition and new site work with the same sub means the crew who tears it out knows what the finished grade needs to look like. There's no handoff between a demo sub and a grading sub, which means no coordination gap and no finger-pointing when something in the subgrade isn't right.
Commercial and government project experience
Our largest documented commercial project to date is the Archuleta County Transit Facility in Pagosa Springs. We handled a substantial portion of the excavation scope on a large public project, including significant retaining wall work integrated into the broader site-work sequence.
What set that project apart operationally was the certified payroll and Davis-Bacon compliance we handled in-house. Most excavation contractors in this region won't take government work because the reporting requirements are time-consuming. We do both the field work and the paperwork, so a GC bidding a government project doesn't have to find a separate sub for prevailing wage compliance. Our commercial wheelhouse covers most commercial site-work scopes in the Durango and Four Corners region.
To see our full range of excavation services, visit our services page.
Commercial site work FAQ
What commercial site work do you self-perform?
We self-perform site preparation and grading, commercial excavation including hard rock, underground utilities, stormwater and storm drain systems, retaining walls, demolition, and road base prep for asphalt and curb and gutter. We don’t subcontract the core ground-work scope.
What is 3D smart grade, and how does it lower project costs?
3D smart grade is GPS satellite grading technology that replaces traditional grade stakes and string line. It eliminates the weekly surveyor reset cost that stake-and-string grade work requires, and the savings on a typical commercial job are substantial. See the 3D smart grade section above for the full breakdown. Our crew is trained on the technology and uses it on all commercial grading work.
Do you handle government projects with certified payroll?
Yes. We’ve completed government work with Davis-Bacon prevailing wage requirements and handle certified payroll in-house. Most local subs avoid government projects because of the reporting burden. We don’t.
What areas do you serve for commercial work?
We serve Durango, Bayfield, Hesperus, Mancos, Cortez, Pagosa Springs, and La Plata County. We’ve completed commercial projects across the Four Corners region.
How does your bidding and pricing work?
We offer fixed-cost bids and time-and-materials contracts, depending on scope and site conditions. We bill weekly on a progress basis.
Licensed, insured, and code-compliant
We're a licensed and insured excavation contractor, fully insured and bonded. We're a certified onsite wastewater treatment system (OWTS) installer, the regulated term for septic, on the La Plata County Public Health roster. That matters on commercial sites where wastewater disposal requires permitted system design and installation. We're also an FMCSA-registered carrier.
On excavation safety, we work to OSHA Part 1926 Subpart P standards on every project. That's the federal excavation safety standard covering trench protection, shoring, and spoil placement. On commercial sites with stormwater discharge requirements, we follow EPA stormwater practice. We don't frame these as certifications. They're the baseline we operate to, because that's what commercial jobsites require.
Request a Free Estimate
Tell us about your project and we'll get back to you within two hours.
Let’s Work
Request a commercial bid
If you're putting together a commercial project in Durango or the Four Corners region and need an excavation and site-work sub who self-performs, knows the ground, and turns bids around quickly, we're ready to talk.
Address:
2942 E 4th Ave, Durango, CO 81301
Phone Number:
(970) 403-2787
Email Address:
mike@animasexcavating.com