Dirt moving in Fallbrook costs $150 per hour with a 4-hour minimum, operator and fuel included. In a four-hour minimum the Bobcat T300 moves and places roughly 40 to 60 tons of dirt, DG or base rock on normal ground; a full day covers most residential cut-and-fill or imported-fill jobs. Trucks for bringing material in or hauling it out are arranged separately and quoted before we start.
The name of the business is the job. Dirt moving is everything that happens between a pile of material and the place it needs to be: cutting a high spot and filling a low one, spreading the ten loads of fill a pad needs, moving a stockpile the last contractor left in the wrong corner, laying DG on a path or base rock on a driveway, loading dump trucks with spoil that has to leave, and backfilling a foundation or a wall after the inspection.
The T300 is the right size for it. Big enough to move real tonnage in a morning, small enough to work a residential lot without taking out the landscaping, and on tracks so it keeps moving on the slopes and soft ground that stop a wheeled machine. The mini excavator joins it when there is a bank to cut, boulders to pull out of the fill, or a truck to load from a hole.
We move dirt on the property. For dirt that has to arrive or leave, we work with local trucking: we tell you the yards, order the trucks or let you order them, and have the machine ready when they land so you are not paying for a loader waiting on a truck or a truck waiting on a loader.
What is included
- ✓Cut and fill on the lot: high spots cut, low spots filled, fill placed in lifts and track-rolled
- ✓Spreading delivered fill dirt, DG, base rock, gravel, drain rock or topsoil
- ✓Moving stockpiles, spoil and debris piles to where they belong
- ✓Loading dump trucks and trailers for export, from the pile or from a cut
- ✓Backfill of foundations, retaining walls and utility trenches after inspection
- ✓Rough leveling of the finished material so the next trade starts on grade
Typical hours and cost
Everything is $150 per hour with a 4-hour minimum. Here is what the common versions of this job usually take.
| Typical job | Hours | At $150 per hour |
|---|---|---|
| Spread 20 tons of DG or base rock delivered to a driveway | 4 | $600 |
| Move a 30-yard stockpile across the property and rough-level it | 4 | $600 |
| Backfill a foundation or a retaining wall after inspection | 4 | $600 |
| Load 5 dump truck loads of spoil for export | 4 to 6 | $600 to $900 |
| Cut and fill 100 cubic yards on a sloped lot | 6 to 10 | $900 to $1,500 |
| Place and track-roll 10 loads of imported fill for a pad | 8 to 12 | $1,200 to $1,800 |
Hours are typical ranges for normal ground and access. Rock, roots, steep slopes and tight gates add time. Material, haul-off and dump fees are quoted separately. 4-hour minimum applies.
The equipment
- Bobcat T300 compact track loader with a general-purpose bucket for moving and spreading, a tooth bucket for digging into a pile or a bank, and pallet forks for sacks and supersacks.
- Mini excavator for cutting banks, pulling boulders out of the fill and loading trucks from below grade.
- Local trucking for import and export, scheduled around the machine so neither sits idle.
Dirt Moving in Fallbrook and North County
Fallbrook, Bonsall and Valley Center move a lot of dirt because nothing is flat. Almost every pad is a cut-and-fill job, almost every driveway needs base, and the decomposed granite that comes out of one cut is good fill for the next one. When a lot has to import, clean fill and base rock come from material yards in Fallbrook, Bonsall and the Temecula valley and generally run $15 to $45 a ton delivered depending on the product.
Export costs more than import. Hauling spoil to a landfill or a recycler means a truck, a dump fee and a loader to fill it, which is why we try to use the dirt on the property first: a berm, a raised bed, a leveled low corner, a driveway shoulder. When it truly has to go, we size the trucks to the pile so you are not paying for half-empty loads.