Common questions about excavation and site work

Parksville Excavating answers the 10 questions below on locates, permits, shoring, disposal and how we build your quote. Every figure is current for the Regional District of Nanaimo and the Oceanside coast as of September 2026.

How long does a BC 1 Call locate take?

BC 1 Call members mark their lines within three working days, at no charge. We file it before every dig and we don't start until it's back.

When does a trench need shoring?

Past the depth WorkSafeBC sets, we slope, bench or shore the sides before anyone goes in. We decide which from what the cut shows.

Does a building permit have to be in hand before digging starts?

The Regional District won't let any stage of the project start until the building permit is in hand, and that includes our part. Qualicum Beach's building bylaw names excavation directly in the work a permit covers.

Can fill be brought onto ALR land?

Placing fill or removing soil in the Agricultural Land Reserve needs a Notice of Intent to the Agricultural Land Commission, with a $150 fee, filed at least 60 days ahead. Around a fifth of Electoral Area F sits in the ALR.

Where does the spoil go?

The Regional District's Church Road Transfer Station takes wood waste at $275 per tonne and yard waste at $60. Clean soil and land-clearing debris are not accepted there, so those loads go to private soil-receiving sites.

Does the time of year change the schedule?

Most of our rain falls between October and March, so we size a drain for the wet half of the year, not the average. We can hold deep cuts and driveway builds to a date more easily in the drier months.

What happens on a site visit?

We walk the property and establish access, slope, where services run and where the spoil can go. It takes about fifteen minutes, and we build the quote from what we find.

How is a quote structured?

We quote machine time, the trip to bring the machine in, trucking, materials and disposal as separate lines, so a change to one of them stays visible.

Do you work on acreages as well as building lots?

We take on both. On acreages through Coombs, Errington and Nanoose Bay, we deal with farmland rules and depth to bedrock. On building lots along the coastal strip, it's usually just access and spoil.

Do you supply materials, or is that separate?

We supply pit run for structure, crush on top, drain rock and geotextile, and quote them as their own line — priced by the load and the haul distance rather than folded into machine time.

Related: What site work costs · Permits and BC 1 Call · About Parksville Excavating