Excavation Contractor in Bayfield, CO
Animas Excavating is a licensed and insured General Excavation Contractor serving Bayfield and eastern La Plata County. Site preparation, land clearing, grading, driveways and access roads, underground utilities, septic and OWTS installation, retaining walls, and sewer line repair.
We're based in Durango, about 20 miles west on Highway 160, and we've been building infrastructure in the Four Corners region since 2018. Estimates are free.
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
Our Construction Services
What has to happen before a builder can start
If you've closed on a raw parcel, the excavator comes before the builder, before the plumber, and before the electrician. There's nothing for them to work on yet.
The order isn't arbitrary. Clearing comes first because you can't survey or shape ground you can't see. Grading comes next because the pad, the driveway route, and the drainage all get set by the same cuts. Utilities and septic go in while the ground is still open, since trenching a finished site means tearing it up again. Finish grading comes last, once nothing else needs to be buried.
That usually looks like this:
- Land clearing, brush and stump removal, and grubbing
- Rough grading and building pad preparation
- Driveway or access road, with culverts and road base
- Underground utility trenching for water, electric, gas, and communications
- Septic or OWTS installation, or a connection to town services
- Retaining walls and slope stabilization where the ground calls for it
- Finish grading and drainage
Permitting shuffles that order sometimes. But that's the shape of it, and we run every phase with our own crews. When you're ready for the next trades, we'll point you toward builders, plumbers, and electricians who do good work out here. Our site preparation page walks through a full scope.
Underground utilities
Utilities go in while the ground is open. We trench and install water lines, electrical conduit, gas, and sewer connections, and we call in the locates first. Colorado requires an 811 notification before any dig. One scheduling detail specific to town limits: the Town of Bayfield makes the tap to its own water main, not the contractor, and the request has to go in two business days ahead. Nobody's crew should be sitting on a finished trench waiting for that. On a parcel outside town, it's a longer run from the road to the house and a different job entirely.
Driveways, access roads, and culverts
On a parcel outside town, the road often has to exist before anything else can. Equipment needs a way in. We clear the route, cut the grade, set culverts where water crosses, lay road base, and compact it. Compaction is the part people skip to save money, and it's the reason a driveway either sits still or turns into ruts you're filling with gravel every spring.
Septic system and OWTS installation in Bayfield
OWTS stands for onsite wastewater treatment system, which is what Colorado and the counties call a septic system. Properties inside Bayfield town limits generally connect to town sewer. Properties outside town limits need their own permitted system before anyone can build or occupy. Here's how the credential actually affects your project. La Plata County Public Health issues the permit and sends the inspector for a Bayfield-area system, and Mike is a licensed OWTS installer on that county's roster. It's the same office either way, which means we're not learning your county's process on your job. What goes in the ground depends on what the ground will take. We do soil analysis to determine that, not because it's a formality but because the answer decides your budget. A conventional system on cooperative soil is one number. Difficult terrain or a high water table pushes you toward an engineered design, a mounded system, or an advanced treatment unit, and that's a different number entirely. You'll know which one you're looking at before you commit to anything. Septic is also the one job where we typically ask for 50 percent down, because the materials get bought up front. Our septic system and OWTS installation page has more on how the process runs.
Land clearing and grading in Bayfield
Rough grading makes the site workable. Finish grading decides where water goes for the life of the house. Set the fall correctly and runoff leaves the building envelope on its own. Set it wrong and you find out during the first heavy spring, with water sitting against a foundation you've already paid for. Hard rock is common through the Durango area and across this part of Southwest Colorado. When we hit it, the dig slows and the number moves, because breaking rock is a different job than moving dirt. We break it mechanically with hydraulic hammers and breakers mounted on the excavator. That's the main reason we walk a site before quoting it. Rock found during the estimate is a line item you can plan around. Rock found in week three is a change order. On larger residential jobs and most commercial work, we grade with 3D smart grade GPS satellite technology instead of stakes and string line.
Sewer line repair in Bayfield
When a lateral fails along most of its length, patching it doesn't hold. The pipe has to come out.
That means going out into the street to the main, cutting the asphalt, locating the line, tapping into the main, and running new pipe all the way to the house. Then backfilling with special flow fills and special backfills, and patching what we opened: the asphalt, the sidewalk, the curb and gutter.
Most of that scope isn't plumbing. It's excavation and surface restoration, which is why it's one contract and one crew here instead of a plumber plus whoever patches the street afterward.
Mike cut his teeth in this business doing sewer line repair. Our sewer line repair page covers the full scope, and we've written up what a full sewer line repair involves phase by phase.
Commercial excavation in Bayfield and La Plata County
For developers and general contractors: site clearing and stripping, cut and fill earthwork, building pad preparation, utility trenching, stormwater management, and road base. Our wheelhouse is projects with dirt work up to about $1.5 million.
On a traditional job, a surveyor comes out and sets grade stakes with elevations written on them, plus string line and concrete stakes across the site. Equipment breaks them. The surveyor comes back and resets them. That cycle repeats week after week for the length of the project, and it's on your budget every time.
Our machines are guided to grade by GPS satellite, using the same equipment the surveyors use. No stakes to break, no return trips to bill. On the commercial jobs we take, Mike estimates that removes roughly $90,000 in surveying costs from a project. On residential work it shows up as accuracy and fewer days on site.
We also take government and CDOT work. Certified payroll and Davis-Bacon wage documentation are the reason a lot of contractors won't bid those jobs, and they're not a reason we won't.
Completed work is on our projects page, and our commercial construction page covers capability in more depth.
The first question about your Bayfield parcel
Before anything else, find out whether your property sits inside Bayfield town limits or outside them. The answer changes almost everything about your project. Inside town limits, your building permit goes through the Town of Bayfield Building Division, and the Town asks for a minimum of 20 business days to review it. Resubmittals extend that. You’re likely connecting to town water and sewer rather than putting in your own.
Outside town limits, you’re in unincorporated La Plata County. Different permit office, different requirements, and you’ll generally need a well and a permitted septic system before anyone can occupy the house. People who don’t sort this out early lose weeks to it. It’s the first thing we check when you call, and it’s usually a two-minute answer once we know the parcel. Mike Zarlingo founded the company and his family has been in the Four Corners since 1939.
How we price it, and why we talk about cost early
Free estimate, no obligation. Call, text, or email, and we start with a short exploration call to work out whether we're the right fit for what you're doing.
If we are, we come look at the parcel, pull your plans, talk to the permitting offices, and put a written bid in your inbox. Known scope gets a fixed cost, so you have a hard number to plan against. Genuinely uncertain ground conditions get a time and materials contract, and we tell you exactly where the uncertainty sits rather than padding a number to cover it.
Once we start, we invoice weekly for the work completed that week. You're never waiting until the end to find out what it came to.
We push the cost conversation to the front for a reason. We've watched buyers add up clearing, grading, utilities, a septic system, and a driveway, look at the bottom of the spreadsheet, and sell the land instead of building on it. That's a bad way to find out. Real numbers early leave you room to phase the work, adjust the plan, or walk away before you've spent anything.
Frequently asked questions about excavation in Bayfield, CO
Do I need a permit for excavation work in Bayfield?
Depends which side of the town line you’re on. Inside town limits, the Town of Bayfield Building Division permits and inspects, and the permit has to be in hand before work starts. Outside town limits, unincorporated La Plata County requirements apply instead. Septic needs its own permit from La Plata County Public Health either way. Tell us the parcel and we’ll tell you which office you’re dealing with.
Do I need a septic system on a parcel near Bayfield?
If it isn’t connected to town sewer, yes, and it has to be permitted before anyone occupies the house. La Plata County Public Health reviews the application and issues the permit. Mike is a licensed installer on that county’s roster. We do soil analysis on site first, because what the ground will support decides both the system design and the cost.
What does it cost to get a raw parcel ready to build near Bayfield?
It depends on what the land needs, and the variables are knowable. Acreage and vegetation to clear, how far utilities have to run, whether you’re on town services or putting in a septic system, what the driveway takes, and whether there’s hard rock. Any one of those can move the number more than people expect. That’s what the site visit is for, and the estimate is free.
How long does site work take?
Scope drives it more than anything. Clearing and rough grading a straightforward lot is a different timeline than full infrastructure with utilities, a septic system, and an access road. Inside town limits, add the Town’s 20 business day permit review before ground even breaks. We’ll give you the schedule with the bid.
Do you build driveways and access roads out here?
Yes. Clearing the route, cutting grade, culvert installation, road base, and compaction. On rural parcels it’s usually first, because equipment needs a way in before anything else starts.
Do you install retaining walls in the Bayfield area?
Yes, in pre-cast engineered concrete block and in natural stone, depending on what the site needs and what you want it to look like.
Do you do both residential and commercial excavation in Bayfield?
Yes. Residential runs from clearing a single lot to full infrastructure on raw land. Commercial covers site work, pad prep, utilities, and drainage on projects with dirt work up to about $1.5 million, including public jobs with certified payroll requirements.
Working with us
More than seven years in the Four Corners, over 200 completed projects, a 5.0 rating on Google, an A+ rating with the BBB with zero complaints, and fully insured and bonded. Our crew is local and homegrown. Mike takes first contact on every project, which is why the first conversation tends to be about what your parcel needs rather than what we'd like to sell you.
There's more on the crew on our about us page, and the full range of work is on our excavation services page. For work closer to town, see our residential construction page.
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Let’s Work
Get a Free Estimate for Your Bayfield Project
Tell us where the parcel is and what you're trying to build. We'll walk it, tell you what it needs, and put a written bid in your inbox.
Serving Bayfield, Durango, Hesperus, Mancos, Cortez, Pagosa Springs, and the Four Corners region.
Address:
2942 E 4th Ave, Durango, CO 81301
2942 E 4th Ave, Durango, CO 81301
Phone Number:
(970) 403-2787
(970) 403-2787
Email Address:
mike@animasexcavating.com
mike@animasexcavating.com