Excavation cost in San Bernardino, CA
Del Rosa Excavation publishes these ranges so you know what a fair quote looks like before anyone walks your yard. They are what licensed contractors in San Bernardino County quote inside for residential and small commercial work in 2026.
Excavation price table
| Job | Typical range | What moves the price |
|---|---|---|
| Machine and operator, hourly | $185 to $325/hr | Mini excavator at the low end. A full size machine with a breaker on cobble is the top. |
| Mobilization, equipment in and out | $300 to $850 | Once per job. Low end from a yard in Rialto or Colton, top end for a lowboy up Highway 18 or two trailer moves. |
| ADU pad and footing excavation | $4,000 to $11,000 | A flat pad behind a 6 foot gate sits low. Slope, a 4 foot gate or a compaction report for the engineer pushes it up. |
| House or garage pad, rough grade and compaction | $4,500 to $14,000 | Cut and fill volume sets it. A hillside keyway and a soils report add the most. |
| New pool excavation, dig only | $3,000 to $8,500 | Open access and sandy ground is a two day dig. Cobble under the foothills and a side gate add a breaker and every load out the front. |
| Pool removal, partial fill in | $7,000 to $14,000 | Pool size and deck. Holes punched in the shell, the deck broken into it and the fill compacted in lifts. |
| Pool removal, full with engineered backfill | $14,000 to $30,000 | The whole shell comes out and goes to the dump, then imported fill compacted with a report so you can build on it later. |
| Sewer lateral replacement, open trench | $4,500 to $12,000 | Run length and depth. Clay or Orangeburg out to a main 8 feet down in the street costs more than 4 feet in the yard, and the street cut is its own permit. |
| Septic tank and leach field, installed | $15,000 to $32,000 | Perc rate sets the leach line footage. A slow perc on a sloped lot means more line and more trenching. |
| Seepage pit system or engineered alternative | $22,000 to $45,000 | Soil that fails the perc test. Pit depth, granite under the pit and the engineer who designs around it drive the number. |
| Perc test and septic site evaluation | $1,500 to $3,500 | Engineer or REHS fees and how many test holes the county wants. |
| Utility trench, per linear foot | $25 to $70 | Depth and ground. Hand digging inside 24 inches of a marked line and patching concrete add to the foot price. |
| Drainage swale or French drain, per linear foot | $35 to $95 | Depth and the gravel and pipe spec, plus whether the outlet reaches the street or a drywell. |
| Driveway cut and base rock | $3,000 to $9,500 | Length and grade. Base thickness and a curb cut permit from the city move it. |
| Slab, shed or garage demolition and haul-off | $2,500 to $12,000 | Slab thickness and rebar set the breaker hours. Dump fees are the other half. |
| Lot clearing and fire break, per acre | $1,800 to $6,500 | Brush density and slope. Chipping on site is cheaper than hauling it out. |
| Spoil export, per truckload | $175 to $400 | Haul distance and whether the load is clean fill a grader wants or mixed dirt the dump charges for. |
| Emergency dig for a broken water or sewer line | $1,500 to $5,000 | After hours rates and depth, plus how fast the leak gets found. |
Ranges are for typical residential jobs and include machine time and labor. City or county permit fees, soils reports and engineering are usually separate lines.
What pushes a job up or down its range
Rock. The foothill side of the valley, from Devore and Verdemont to Alta Loma and Highland, sits on alluvial fans full of cobble and boulders. A breaker day can add $1,500 to $2,600 to a job. The sandy valley floor in Fontana, Rialto and south San Bernardino digs fast.
Access. A tract backyard behind a 4 or 5 foot gate means a mini excavator and a skid steer, more trips and more hours. An open lot or an alley lets a bigger machine work.
Where the dirt goes. Spoil that spreads on your own lot costs nothing extra. Spoil that leaves costs $175 to $400 a truckload, and a pool dig can be 8 to 12 loads.
Slope and engineering. Hillside pads need a keyway, compaction testing and often a soils report. Mountain septic often needs seepage pits after a slow perc test.
Depth. Once a trench a worker enters reaches 5 feet, Cal/OSHA Title 8 section 1541.1 wants a trench shield, shoring or sloped walls, a ladder within 25 feet and the spoil pile set back 2 feet from the edge. A deep sewer lateral or a septic tank hole carries that gear and the slower pace that goes with it.
Season. Mountain work bunches into spring through fall, and the county rainy season, October 15 to April 15, puts erosion control on the plan for any grading in that window.
How to get a quote that holds
- 1
Measure the access
Gate width, overhead wires and where a truck can park. Text photos.
- 2
Ask for a site walk
A contractor who digs a test hole or probes the ground quotes rock once.
- 3
Get the quote in lines
Mobilization, machine time or job price, haul off, permits, restoration.
- 4
Check the license
Class A or C-12 for excavation, C-42 for sewer and septic, at the CSLB lookup.
- 5
Confirm DigAlert and permits
Who files them and when, before the start date.
Useful references: the CSLB license lookup, DigAlert for the two working day notice, the State Water Board septic policy and San Bernardino County Building and Safety for unincorporated parcels.
Cost questions
How much does excavation cost per hour in San Bernardino?
A machine with an operator runs $185 to $325 an hour. A mini excavator sits at the low end; a full size excavator with a breaker sits at the top. Mobilization of $300 to $850 is usually added once per job.
How much does excavation cost per cubic yard?
Residential digs often work out to roughly $40 to $120 per cubic yard including haul off, but most contractors here price by the job or the hour because access and rock vary so much. Ask for the job price.
Why did my quote come in above the range?
Usually one of three things: rock that needs a breaker, a tight access that forces compact machines and more trips, or a lot of spoil to haul. Ask the contractor which line moved, and compare it to the table here.
Are permits included in these prices?
Contractor permit handling is usually in the quote, but city or county permit fees, soils reports, engineering and septic design are often separate lines. Ask for them to be listed.
Does insurance ever pay for excavation?
Homeowners policies sometimes cover sudden water damage, and a service line endorsement can cover a broken sewer or water line. Planned work like a pool or ADU is never covered.
Turn a range into a written quote
One licensed contractor walks the site and puts the exact number on paper.