Plenty of jobs do not need an excavator and a dump truck. They need one operator, a compact machine and the right attachment for half a day. Bringing more iron than the job requires costs you money on the mobilization and tears up ground that was fine before we got there.
A skid steer or compact track loader goes where the big machine cannot — through a gate, between a house and a property line, around an established septic field, into a back yard that has one way in. Tracked machines spread their weight out, so on soft or finished ground they leave far less behind than tires or a heavy machine would.
Smoothing a yard before seed or sod, leveling a shed or shop pad, fixing the low spot that collects water every spring, feathering a driveway into a garage apron. Finish grading is an operator skill more than a machine one, and it is the difference between a lawn that drains and a lawn that puddles.
Gravel, bark, topsoil, rock, dirt from one end of the property to the other. If you have had material dumped at the road and need it spread where you actually want it, that is a couple of hours of machine time instead of a weekend with a wheelbarrow.
Blackberry, brush, small trees and overgrown fence lines, cut and mulched in place with a cutter head. For anything bigger — timber, stumps, real acreage — see land clearing, which is a different machine and a different day.
Fence posts, deck footings, sign posts and gate posts drilled to depth with an auger, which in our ground beats a hand digger by a wide margin. Footings that carry a structure go below the twenty-four inch frost line Kootenai County builds to — tell us what the hole is for and we will drill it right.
Long driveways, shop yards and small commercial lots, pushed and stacked where the melt will not run back across what we just cleared. We take on a limited number of seasonal properties and prefer to look at the layout before the first storm rather than during it.
If your ground is soft, wet or freshly finished, say so when you call. Track machines are gentle compared to the alternatives, but no machine is weightless, and the right answer some weeks is to wait three days rather than leave you with ruts to fix.
Before we quote, we want to know how we get in. Gate width, overhead wires, a septic field or drain lines we should stay off, soft ground, slope, and whether the trailer can turn around anywhere near the work. Most residential jobs are straightforward; the ones that go badly are the ones where nobody checked the gate.
Small work prices by the hour with a minimum that covers getting the machine there and back. Anything with a defined scope — a pad, a yard, a driveway — we would rather quote as a job so you know the number before we start. Either way you get it in writing, and the estimate is free.
Frost depth referenced here comes from Kootenai County’s adopted International Residential Code climatic design criteria. Post and footing depth requirements for permitted structures are set by your plan and the permitting jurisdiction.
Less than you would think, and less than a wheeled machine or a loaded truck. Tracks spread the weight over a much larger footprint. That said, saturated ground marks up no matter what is on it — if the yard is soaked we will tell you it is worth waiting a few days.
Compact machines fit through most standard gates and side yards, but the exact width matters, so measure the narrowest point and tell us when you call. Overhead wires, low branches and soft ground on the way in are worth mentioning too.
Both, depending on the work. Odds and ends price hourly with a minimum that covers hauling the machine out and back. Anything with a clear scope — grade this pad, spread that gravel, clear that fence line — we quote as a job so there is no meter running.
Yes, and it is one of the most common calls we get. A pile of gravel or bark at the end of the driveway becomes a spread, graded surface in a fraction of the time it would take by hand. Tell us roughly how many yards are sitting there.
We take on a limited number of seasonal properties — long driveways, shop yards, small lots. Because we cap it, the list fills before the snow flies. Ask early, and ask us to look at the layout first so we stack the snow where the melt will not run back across the drive.
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