Excavation, In-House
An In-House Excavation Contractor in Utah
We’re a Park City design studio, and we run our own excavation crews across Summit, Wasatch, and Salt Lake counties, earthwork shaped by 20+ years of preparing ground on the Wasatch Front, where slope, soil, and water decide what a property can hold.
Excavation is the part of a landscape no one sees and everything depends on. The grade, the drainage, the base under the patio, the footing under the wall, they’re all decided in the dirt, before anything visible goes in.
Most landscape firms subcontract the earthwork and hope the schedule lines up. We don’t. Excavation is ours, which means the team preparing the ground is accountable for everything built on top of it.
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What We Excavate
Excavation runs underneath nearly every Prime project, and we handle the full range in-house.
Site grading
Shaping the lot so it drains, sits, and builds correctly
Drainage excavation
French drains, dry wells, and the systems that move water
Foundation and footing prep
For retaining walls, outdoor kitchens, and structures
Hardscape base preparation
Excavating and compacting under patios, walkways, and drives
Pool and water-feature excavation
Digging and shaping for installation
Trenching
For irrigation, utilities, drainage, and lighting
Cut and fill
Terracing slopes and creating usable, buildable ground
Rough and finish grading
From clearing the site to setting final grade for planting
Every Property Is Different
Walk the site with us and we will tell you what it needs.
Each one read off the site itself, slope, soil, and water, not run to a generic plan.
Equipment and Crews
Earthwork in the Wasatch is its own discipline, and our crews run the equipment for it, excavators, skid steers, loaders, and compaction gear, operated by foremen who have shaped ground on this terrain for two decades.
The advantage isn’t just the machines. It’s that the same operators who grade the site understand what’s being built on it. They know how deep the frost line runs, how a particular soil behaves when it’s wet, and how to set a grade that drains water away from the home rather than toward it. The equipment moves the earth. Knowing the ground is what makes the grade right.
A Site Preparation Project, Start to Finish
Site work follows the same path every time. We walk the property and read how it sits, drains, and slopes. We clear what needs clearing and establish access. We excavate and rough-grade to the design, cuts, fills, and the shaping that turns the lot into buildable ground. We trench and install the drainage and utilities that have to go in before anything is built. We prepare and compact the bases for the hardscape and structures above. Then we set finish grade for planting and lawn.
Because the earthwork, the build, and the planting all happen under one roof, each stage is set up correctly for the one that follows, no surprises, no rework, no waiting.
Featured Designs
Work shaped by place.
Old Ranch Road.
Stone terraces designed for mountain runoff and winter durability.
The North Bench House.
Terraced stonework shaped for steep mountain grades.
Mountain Majesty Manor.
Built for mountain winters and year-round living.
Where We Work
Park City, Heber, Midway, Salt Lake County, Summit County, Wasatch County, and select projects across the Wasatch Front. The ground is different on either side of the divide, different soil, different frost depth, different drainage, and the earthwork changes with it.
The studio is built for one region, and the crews know its ground intimately.
Why It Matters That Excavation Is Ours
When excavation is subcontracted, it’s the seam where projects go wrong, a grade that doesn’t match the design, a base that wasn’t compacted, a schedule that slips while two companies wait on each other. Holding it in-house closes that seam.
Because our crews handle the earthwork, the grading is coordinated with the design from the site study on, the base under your patio is built by the same studio accountable for the finished surface, and there are no scheduling gaps between clearing the site and building on it. When something underground needs to change mid-build, the people who can change it are already on site. That’s the whole case for owning the dirt: the property holds together because the foundation and the finish were never handed between strangers.
questions you may have
Frequently asked questions
Do you offer excavation on its own, or only as part of a build?
Excavation is most often part of a Prime design-build project, where it’s coordinated with everything above it. Depending on the scope and the property, we may take on standalone site work as well, talk to us about what you need.
Why does it matter whether excavation is in-house?
Because it’s the seam where subcontracted projects fail. When the same studio grades the site and builds on it, the grade matches the design, the base is built by the people accountable for the finish, and there are no scheduling gaps or finger-pointing between companies.
How does grading affect drainage?
Almost entirely. The grade decides where water goes, toward the home and hardscape, or away from them. Setting grade so the property sheds water and snowmelt correctly is one of the main reasons we read the site before we touch it.
Do you handle drainage and utilities during excavation?
Yes. Trenching and installing drainage, irrigation lines, and utilities happen during the earthwork, before anything is built over them. Doing it in the right sequence is one of the advantages of holding excavation in-house.
How deep do you excavate for frost in this climate?
It depends on the application and the local frost depth, which is significant in the mountains. Footings, certain bases, and utility lines are set below the freeze line so they don’t heave or split, one of the things our crews account for because they know the terrain.
Start a Conversation
Every build starts in the dirt, and with a conversation about how your property sits, slopes, and drains.
We grade, prepare, build, and look after the work, earthwork and everything above it under one roof. The same team carries it from the first site walk to every winter that follows.