Excavation work comes from two buyers: the developer's project manager, who owns the schedule on a site, and the general contractor's estimator, who prices it. You find them through permits and lot sales, which tell you site work starts in weeks. You win with a bid written after a site visit that has unit prices (per cubic yard, per hour, per load) and a plain list of what's excluded. Below is how to find the projects, what to send, and a sample bid whose numbers add up.

The bid is different from a concrete or demolition bid because the cost depends on things nobody can see from the street: soil, groundwater, access and where the dirt goes. That's why the site visit and the exclusions list are the center of this page. For the concrete side, see how to get customers for a concrete contractor.

Who buys excavation and when

Three buyers. A developer or builder doing lots or a subdivision, usually represented by a project manager. A general contractor who subs out site work, represented by an estimator or project manager. An owner (a business building a warehouse or a school district) who hires a GC first and never talks to you. Spend your effort on the first two. Site work comes early, so the window is short: a project that's permitted today needs a site contractor within weeks, not months.

Permits and lot sales as triggers

Two public signals beat any directory. A grading, site or building permit issued by the city or county, which most jurisdictions list online by address and applicant. A lot or parcel sale recorded at the county, where a buyer with a new LLC name usually means a build is coming. Both give you the developer's name and often the contractor on the permit. If a GC is already listed, you sell to the GC's estimator. If only the owner is listed, you go to the owner and ask who's bidding the site work. Also watch for rezoning approvals on the city's meeting agendas, since they come months before permits.

Set a weekly 30-minute routine: search new permits, copy five projects into a sheet (address, applicant, type, date, who the GC is), and email two. Rocketship can do the list-building from the other side. Describe the buyer (general contractors and developers with active permits in your county), see 25 by name, and it emails them from your own Gmail and follows up. For more on this step, how to find general contractors to sell to and finding new businesses in your area explain the sources.

The site visit and the exclusions list

Never price from an address alone. Walk the site, with the project manager if they'll come. Photograph the surface, look for existing trees, fences and neighbors close to the line, ask where the dirt goes, ask whether a geotechnical report exists, and find out how a loaded truck will get in and out. Confirm that someone has called 811, the national call-before-you-dig number, before digging begins; in most places it's the law to do so, and your exclusions list should say who does it.

The exclusions list protects you and, honestly, helps the buyer compare bids. Common exclusions: rock or unsuitable soil beyond what the report shows; dewatering; contaminated material; removal of existing utilities; permits and inspection fees; erosion control beyond the silt fence; survey staking. State each one and what you'll do if it appears ("rock is $85 per cubic yard, approved in writing before we proceed").

A bid with unit prices a developer can compare

Illustrative example for a 12-lot subdivision. Prices are made up to show the layout; use your own costs.

  • Mobilization and demobilization: $3,500, lump sum.
  • Cut and fill, 3,200 cubic yards at $9.50 per cubic yard: $30,400.
  • Haul-off of surplus soil, 1,100 cubic yards, 55 loads at 20 cubic yards each, at $185 a load: $10,175.
  • Utility trenching, 900 linear feet at $22 per foot: $19,800.
  • Total: $63,875.

Then the hourly rates for changes: excavator with operator, $165 an hour; tandem dump truck with driver, $115 an hour; four-hour minimum. Add the exclusions and a validity date: "valid 30 days; material prices adjust after that." A project manager reading this can compare it line for line with another bid. A lump sum can't be compared, so it gets thrown out or beaten on price alone. Our post on following up on a quote has wording for after you send it.

A first email to a project manager, with a sample

Subject: Site work for the Larch Street lots (permit issued Oct 6)

Hi Brandon, I saw the grading permit for the 12-lot Larch Street plat was issued on October 6. Cascade Site Works does excavation and utilities for small developments around Spokane. If you haven't awarded the site package, I'd like to walk the site this week and send you a bid by Friday, with unit prices and a list of exclusions so it's easy to compare. I can meet you on site Tuesday or Wednesday morning. If someone else handles site work, tell me who and I'll write to them.

Paul Hendricks, Cascade Site Works, paul@cascadesite.example, 2204 N Division St, Spokane, WA 99207. Reply "stop" to end these emails.

The email names the permit and the date, offers a site visit and a deadline, and says "unit prices" up front. Cold email is fine in the US if the From and subject are honest and the message has your physical address and an opt-out (CAN-SPAM).

Following up before the pre-construction meeting

Developers hold a pre-construction meeting once the GC and main trades are chosen. Your target is to be in the conversation before it. Send the bid, then follow up on day 3 ("any questions on the exclusions?"), day 7 ("do you need a revised number for the schedule?") and day 14 (a call to the project manager). If you hear "we went another way," ask for the winning price range and the reason, then ask to be on the list for the next phase. Our estimate follow-up for contractors post gives the wording for the first week.

Getting repeat work

Developers rarely build once. At the end of the job, send a short note: what you finished, anything you found that the next phase should know (soft spots, drainage), and your rates. Ask for the next plat's timeline. Add every project manager to a list you contact twice a year. A relationship with a good project manager at one developer is worth more than ten cold emails. Related trade pages: demolition contracts and commercial flooring contracts work the same way, with different bid lines.

Finding developers and GCs with active permits, and writing to them every week, is repetitive work. Rocketship finds the buyers, emails them from your own Gmail, follows up, and books the meeting on its own. Plans that get you customers start at $24.99 a month (Launch), and both Launch and Frontier start with a 7-day free trial, card required. Answering your existing number works on Launch, with call minutes bought as you go ($15 for 50), and a dedicated line is $5 a month. See the AI workers.