Questions people ask before they book

$150 per hour with a 4-hour minimum, so the smallest job is $600. That covers the machine, the operator, fuel and delivery inside our core area of Fallbrook, Bonsall, Rainbow, De Luz, Pala and Valley Center. After the first four hours you pay only for the hours used. Material, dump fees and travel outside the core area are quoted separately and approved before we start.

Loading, towing, unloading and reloading the machine takes the better part of two hours whether the job is 30 minutes or all day. The minimum keeps the hourly rate honest for everyone. Most jobs people call about, a driveway regrade, a trench, a shed pad, a patio removal, fit inside four hours anyway.

Text three or four photos of the area with something for scale and tell us what you want the ground to look like when we leave. For most jobs we reply the same day with a range of hours. For bigger grading, clearing or road work we come out and walk it with you first, at no charge, and give you one number.

Usually within the week in Fallbrook, Bonsall and Valley Center, and within two weeks in Temecula and the coast. Washouts, fire inspection deadlines and contractors waiting on a trench get moved up. Spring is the busiest season because of fire clearance; book in March if you can.

Cash, check, Zelle and Venmo on the day the work is done. For multi-day jobs we invoice at the end of each day. We do not ask for a deposit on jobs under a day.

A Bobcat T300 compact track loader, which is a tracked skid steer with about 81 horsepower and a 3,000-pound rated capacity, with buckets, a brush cutter, an auger, a hydraulic breaker and pallet forks. A mini excavator with a thumb and trenching buckets. Both ride on our trailer and come on the same trip when the job needs them.

The skid steer moves, spreads and grades material and clears brush. The excavator digs: trenches, footings, stumps, drainage. A pad or a driveway is skid steer work. A water line or a stump is excavator work. A lot of jobs use both, and you do not have to decide; describe the job and we bring the right machine or both.

The T300 needs an opening of about 7 feet. The mini excavator fits a narrower gate. If your side yard is tighter than that we either use the excavator alone, take down a fence panel for the day and put it back, or come in another way. Tell us the gate width when you text and we plan the access before the trailer leaves.

Yes, within reason. A tracked loader is built for slopes and the excavator can reach places a loader cannot stand. We walk every steep lot first and tell you plainly if part of it is beyond what the machines should be on. Most Fallbrook and Valley Center hillsides are fine.

The machines do not haul on their own, so for debris, concrete or spoil that has to leave the property we arrange a dump trailer or a roll-off through local haulers and quote it at cost before the job. Concrete goes to a recycler, green waste to a green waste facility.

Yes. We carry general liability insurance and can send a certificate before the job if your HOA, your contractor or your own peace of mind wants one.

Oscar, the owner. He has five years operating skid steers and excavators and learned on his father's equipment, in a family with more than 25 years of dirt work in and around Fallbrook. The person who quotes your job is the person in the seat.

Most of what we do needs none: pads for sheds and small structures, yard leveling, driveway grading, trenching, drainage on your own lot, patio and shed removal. Larger grading, work near a creek, and demolition of permitted structures can need a County or City permit. We tell you when a job looks like it crosses that line, and we grade to the engineered plan when it does.

Every trench and every dig starts with a DigAlert (811) locate request. It is free and takes two working days, and we will not open ground near unmarked public lines. Private lines on your property are not marked by 811, so tell us about anything you know is buried.

Fallbrook, Bonsall, Rainbow, De Luz, Pala and Valley Center with no travel charge. Temecula, Murrieta, Vista, Oceanside, San Marcos, Escondido and the Camp Pendleton area with a flat travel charge quoted before you book.

One owner-operator, Oscar, a Bobcat T300 compact track loader, a mini excavator and a trailer, based in Fallbrook. The name says what the work is: moving dirt. Pads and lot leveling, land clearing and fire breaks, trenching, driveway and road grading, drainage, concrete removal. Five years in the seat, 25 years of dirt work in the family, general liability insurance, one rate.

We are based in Fallbrook and work North San Diego County and the Temecula valley every week. Fallbrook, Bonsall, Rainbow, De Luz, Pala and Valley Center have no travel charge; Temecula, Murrieta, Vista, Oceanside, San Marcos, Escondido and the Camp Pendleton area have a flat travel charge. For a multi-day job elsewhere in Southern California, text the address and we will tell you straight whether the travel makes sense.