Excavation and Dirt Work
General excavation with trackhoes, a dozer and dump trucks: digging, grading and moving dirt and rock on homesites, farms and rural land.
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Ground around Athens can be hard to work. You buy a few acres off a county road, and the rock starts a foot down. A lot grows up in privet and sweetgum until nobody can get across it. An old drive washes out every spring and the gravel ends up in the ditch.
Precision Excavation is an excavation and dirt work company based in Trinity, west of Decatur. Athens is a short drive north for us, across the river. We clear overgrown lots, cut house pads, dig ponds and grade drives with trackhoes, a dozer and dump trucks. Call or text (256) 303-7210 for a free estimate.
Tell us about the job. We will get right back to you.
Limestone County is named for the rock under it. This part of the Tennessee Valley sits on the Highland Rim, a run of limestone valleys and low uplands. Soil maps here are full of the Decatur series, a deep red clay weathered out of that limestone. It farms well and it drains well.
Depth to rock is the part that changes. It can be six feet on one side of a lot and a foot on the other. Ridges, thin spots and creek breaks push limestone and chert close to the surface. Our trackhoes carry rippers, so pulling rock out of the ground is part of the job here.
Red clay works differently wet and dry. Wet winters and springs make it slick and slow, and late summer bakes it hard. We plan the approach around that, and we bring the machines in on our own lowboy trailer. Around here most people call the excavator a trackhoe, and we use both words.
The 2020 census counted 103,570 people in Limestone County, about 25 percent more than in 2010. Estimates put the county near 123,000 by 2025. Huntsville annexed land on the Limestone County side for the Mazda Toyota plant near Greenbrier. Building has pushed out from there ever since.
That growth shows up around East Limestone, Capshaw, Coxey and Piney Chapel. Row crop and pasture ground turns into homesites. A new house there needs the footprint cleared and a pad cut or built up in compacted lifts. Water has to grade away from the pad before anybody pours anything.
Most of those places sit off a county road with a long approach. We cut the base, shape a crown and cut ditches so a driveway sheds water instead of holding it. Our dump trucks bring the crusher run, gravel or chert. The dozer takes care of rough grading around the house once the pad is set.
Limestone County has been farm country since cotton took over as its cash crop in the 1820s. Open fields and pasture still run right up to the county roads. The Elk River and Swan Creek drain the county toward the Tennessee River. Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge sits on the river along the south edge.
Farm ground brings its own dirt jobs. Pasture grows up in cedar, sweetgum and privet when it sits a few years. A dozer pushes that back and levels the old ruts. Where the big trees stay, a mulching head grinds the understory in place.
Ponds are common out here, and old ones silt in over time. We dig new farm ponds, reshape banks and clean out ponds that have filled. The Alabama Cooperative Extension System and NRCS publish guidance on siting farm ponds, and it is worth reading first. Rock turns up in pond digs the same as it does everywhere else in the county.
Limestone County has a long storm history. On April 3, 1974, two F5 tornadoes hit Tanner within half an hour, and 50 people were killed. The April 27, 2011 outbreak sent an EF5 through the same area and killed four in the county. In December 2024 a smaller tornado tore up the courthouse square in downtown Athens.
Storms leave downed hardwoods, split trees and piles of limbs. We push it into piles with the dozer and load it out with the trackhoe. Fields and pasture get rough after a storm, and the dozer smooths them back.
Old structures come down the same way. We take down small houses, barns, sheds, mobile homes and outbuildings and load the debris out. You and the utility company disconnect the utilities first. Check with the City of Athens or Limestone County on permits before a date is set.
Communities and areas we serve around Athens: Courthouse Square, Athens State University, Robert Beaty Historic District, East Limestone, Piney Chapel, Swan Creek Greenway, Tanner, Elkmont, Capshaw, Coxey, Belle Mina, Mooresville.
Athens ZIP codes served: 35611, 35613, 35614.
Free estimates throughout Limestone County and the surrounding area.
(256) 303-7210 General excavation with trackhoes, a dozer and dump trucks: digging, grading and moving dirt and rock on homesites, farms and rural land.
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We clear wooded lots and overgrown acreage with the dozer and trackhoe. Trees and stumps come out, the debris gets hauled off, and the ground is left rough graded.
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We mulch brush, briars and small trees in place with a skid steer mulching head. The wood ends up as a mulch layer on the ground.
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We run a crawler dozer for pushing brush, rough grading and leveling ground across North Alabama. That covers spreading fill, cutting pads, reclaiming grown-up pasture and shaping pond banks and road beds.
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We build house pads for new homes, barns, shops and metal buildings on lots across North Alabama. Fill comes in by the load, goes down in packed lifts and gets graded so water runs away from the building.
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Rock removal for house pads, driveways, ponds, pastures and fence lines across North Alabama. Trackhoes with rippers break the rock loose, and the dump trucks haul it off.
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We dig new farm ponds, enlarge old ones and clean out ponds that have silted in. The trackhoe cuts the basin, the dozer shapes the bank, and the spoil gets spread or hauled off.
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We build new gravel driveways and farm roads, and regrade old ones that have rutted or washed out. Base cut, crown shaped, ditches cut, rock hauled in and graded out.
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We tear down old houses, barns, sheds, mobile homes and concrete slabs with the trackhoe. The dump trucks haul the debris off and the ground gets leveled behind us.
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Two dump trucks move material by the load across North Alabama. Fill dirt, topsoil, gravel, crusher run and chert come in, spoil and debris go out.
Learn MoreA few of the questions we hear most around Athens. If yours is not here, call or text and ask.
Tell us what you need done and where the property is. Call or text (256) 303-7210, or send the form and we will get back to you.
Tell us about the job. We will get right back to you.