Excavation in Norman starts with a question about rock. Cleveland County sits on Garber Sandstone, a Permian layer 100 to 400 feet thick. In the outcrop country around Noble and east Norman it can sit close to the surface. A hole that moves quick in red clay crawls on that ledge. We bring a 30,000 pound excavator and a tracked skid steer up from Ada. Norman sits about 50 miles northwest of us, closer to 75 by road. Most of our excavation work is rural, so that drive suits full-scope jobs.
Most of our Norman calls come from acreage outside the built-up part of town. Little Axe and the country around Lake Thunderbird are where new homes go up on acreage. Those places need footing trenches, shelter pits, septic ground, and utility runs. Some want a pool hole out back, like the one we dug on a ranch job near Sulphur. Call (580) 344-7473 and tell us what you are digging and where. When a build is coming, we rough in site prep and building pads on the same trip.
Tell us about your property and we'll get back to you fast.
Norman splits in two for a digging crew. The west side is prairie and old farm ground. The east side around Lake Thunderbird holds about 6,000 acres of lakes and Cross Timbers forest. That ground hides oak root balls and old stumps right where footings want to go. A mulcher grinds the top and leaves those stumps in the dirt. We pull them out with the excavator so the trench walls stand clean. Under all of it is Garber Sandstone, the rock that holds the Garber Wellington aquifer. Wells on east Norman acreage pull water from it. So we mark the well head and its lines before the bucket moves.
Rock changes how the day goes. A pool hole or shelter pit in soft red clay moves quick. The same hole on a sandstone shelf turns into breaking and prying with the bucket. We dig to the size the footing or shelter calls for. Spoil is the other piece on acreage. A pool dig throws off a lot of dirt, and trucking it off costs real money. On most Norman acreage we spread and shape that dirt on site with the dozer. Often it fills a low spot nearby. Down in the Little River and Canadian River bottoms the ground holds water longer. We watch the forecast before we start a dig there.
Storm shelters drive a lot of the digging here. On February 26, 2023, an EF2 tornado tracked 27 miles from Goldsby through southeast Norman. It damaged 69 Norman homes and destroyed 40 of them. That day set an Oklahoma record for February tornado counts. Calls for in-ground shelters follow a storm like that. Norman requires a permit before a shelter or safe room goes in. Permit Services takes those applications at 405-366-5311. The city also asks owners to register the finished shelter with the Fire Department. Property outside the city limits goes on the Cleveland County registry instead. We dig the pit to size and set the shelter level in it.
Two more calls come before we dig. Norman counts a dig in the floodplain as development, and that needs a floodplain permit. Filling and grading count the same way. The Stormwater Division handles those at 405-329-5455. Norman flooding follows the Canadian River, the Little River, Bishop Creek, Imhoff Creek, and Brookhaven Creek. Plenty of acreage sits near one of them. The second call is OKIE811. Oklahoma law calls for the locate request at least two business days ahead. The request stays good for 14 calendar days. For grading inside the city, Development Services at 405-366-5339 can say what your lot needs. Most digs here are one piece of the broader work we do around Norman.
More about the service itself is on our Excavation page, and everything we do around town is on the Norman service-area page.
Answers specific to excavation work around Norman. Something else on your mind? Call us.
Cedar taking the pasture, a pad to build, an old house to take down, or a pond you have been thinking about for years? Call or send the form. We come look at the property with you, and the estimate is free, from the owner who runs the machines.
Tell us about your property and we'll get back to you fast.
