Excavation services and land clearing in Qualicum Beach
Parksville Excavating provides excavation services and land clearing in Qualicum Beach. Water here comes entirely from two deep well fields rather than from any surface source, so we treat well setbacks as part of the dig plan. Building Bylaw No. 903, 2024 names excavation directly in the work a permit covers, and the Town's protected tree threshold is 30 centimetres at breast height.
Qualicum Beach runs its own rules and its own water, and both of them touch a dig. We quote a job here against the Town's bylaws, not the Regional District's, and that changes real numbers on the quote.
What is under the town
The Town sits on Aquifer 217, confined glacial sand and gravel in the Quadra Sand unit, moderate productivity and moderate vulnerability, covering about 35.4 square kilometres. There's a layer of till between the surface and the water-bearing sand, so a shallow hole and a deep one here run into completely different material.
Supply comes from the River well field with the Berwick field brought in for peak summer demand, feeding three reservoirs and four pressure zones through more than 100 kilometres of pipe. There's plenty of buried town pipe under Qualicum Beach, so we put as much care into the locate as into the dig.
The Town's own rules
Building Bylaw No. 903, 2024 lists construction, alteration, excavation, reconstruction, demolition, removal and relocation as work a permit covers, and it sets a specific limit on fill: material placed on a parcel must not exceed a surface slope of one vertical to two horizontal unless a professional engineer certifies it.
Trees are governed by Tree Protection Bylaw No. 725, 2023. A protected tree is 30 centimetres in diameter at breast height or more, the application fee is $100 and is non-refundable, each tree removed is replaced with two or $1,000 per tree in lieu, and the security is $700 per replacement tree. Those thresholds are lower than Parksville's, so a lot that would clear freely a few kilometres away needs a permit here.
Local conditions
Lot sizes in the older parts of town leave little room to stockpile, so your spoil usually leaves the site as the cut proceeds rather than sitting until the backfill goes in. On those lots we bring the truck in alongside the machine and load straight out of the bucket. That keeps your working area clear, keeps the neighbours' driveways free, and means we are not shifting the same pile twice.
People also ask
Does a tree permit apply on a building lot?
The 30 centimetre threshold applies regardless of what is being built, so the tree position is checked at the same time as the building permit rather than after clearing has started.
Are the Town's rules the same as the Regional District's?
No. Inside the Town boundary Qualicum Beach administers its own building and tree bylaws. Outside it, the Regional District of Nanaimo's bylaws apply, and the thresholds differ.
Related: Land clearing and site prep · Permits and BC 1 Call · Ground conditions on Oceanside
Site work we do here
- Land clearing and site prepBrush, stump and topsoil removal, building envelope stripped to grade, and a compacted pad ready for forms. Permit position checked before the machine arrives.
- Foundation digs and backfillFootings dug to the depth on the drawings, benched where the walls are deep, then backfilled and compacted in lifts once the wall has cured.
- Drainage and perimeter drainsPerimeter drain, filter cloth and drain rock at the footing, tied into a sump or a daylight outlet that keeps running through the wet months.
- Driveways and parking padsSubgrade cut, geotextile where the ground is soft, then pit run and crush placed in compacted lifts to a crown that sheds water.