What sets the cost of excavation and dirt removal in Ottawa.
Excavation and dirt removal in Ottawa are priced on the site, not the size of the hole, which is why two trenches the same length can be quoted far apart. Access, soil, depth, the volume and kind of spoil, buried lines and backfill all move the number, and several of those are fixed by rule rather than by the contractor. Past 1.2 metres deep, Ontario's construction regulation makes the walls slope or be supported, and in soft soil a slope takes three metres of width for every metre of depth. And at the City of Ottawa's Trail Waste Facility in 2026, clean soil is $81.90 a tonne while a load mixing garbage with recyclables is $345.40. What is in the pile matters as much as how big it is.
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(613) 852-4059Access decides the machine, and the machine decides the day.
On most city lots, getting a machine to the dig takes more planning than the digging. A driveway at the street takes whatever machine the job needs. A backyard behind a narrow side yard may mean a smaller machine, more trips and more hand work.
Space around the hole matters as much as the way in. Section 233 of Ontario Regulation 213/91 requires a level area at least one metre wide from the top edge of every excavation wall, kept clear of equipment, excavated soil, rock and material.
On a tight lot the obvious place for the spoil pile is right beside the hole, and that is the one place it cannot go. So the soil gets loaded and hauled as it comes out rather than stockpiled and moved once. The extra handling shows up on the quote.
About a third of Ottawa may sit on sensitive clay.
Ottawa's ground varies from one part of the city to the next, and one soil in it has a local name. Sensitive marine clay, left by the Champlain Sea and better known locally as Leda clay, loses strength when it is disturbed. A City of Ottawa Planning Committee report from 2017 estimated that approximately 34 per cent of land in Ottawa has the potential to contain sensitive marine clays, rising to about 57 per cent of vacant land inside the urban boundary.
The regulation sorts soil into four types, and the clay matters because of where it lands. Type 4 is described as soft to very soft, very sensitive, and significantly reduced in natural strength upon disturbance, running or flowing unless it is supported. Type 3 includes any previously excavated soil, which covers the backfill around most existing foundations. And when a dig passes through more than one type, section 227 classifies the whole excavation as the worst one present.
A regional map says what is likely under a neighbourhood, never what is under one lot. Our excavation page covers the east Ottawa clay in more detail, including the national research site for it in Gloucester.
Past 1.2 metres, the hole gets wider or braced.
Under section 234 of the regulation, an excavation less than 1.2 metres deep needs no support system. Past that, the walls are supported or sloped, and the slope depends on the soil type.
In Type 1 or Type 2 soil the walls are cut back at one vertical to one horizontal, down to within 1.2 metres of the bottom. In Type 3 the same one-to-one slope runs all the way from the bottom. In Type 4 it is one vertical to three horizontal. Do the arithmetic on a two metre deep trench in Type 4 soil sloped from its base: each wall reaches six metres back from the bottom edge. All of that soil comes out.
Next to a house or a neighbour's garage there is no room to slope, so the walls are supported instead. Section 235 requires an engineered system for a trench deeper than six metres or wider than 3.6 metres. And under section 229, where a dig may affect the stability of an adjacent building, an engineer specifies the precautions in writing. For basement and foundation excavation, that is often the line people do not expect.
Spoil is weight, and weight is the disposal bill.
Everything dug out that does not go back in has to go somewhere, and the cost of that turns on what it is. The City of Ottawa's 2026 rate table for the Trail Waste Facility shows the spread plainly. Soil, meaning top soil, sand and sod, is $81.90 a tonne with a $20.50 minimum under 250 kg. Fill, meaning asphalt, masonry and concrete without rebar, is $144 a tonne. Trees and stumps are $314 a tonne. A load of mixed garbage and recyclable materials is $345.40 a tonne.
The soil rate has two conditions: the load must be free of waste, and anything over 5 tonnes needs pre-approval through 3-1-1. Land clearing is billed separately, since stumps and trees over 20 cm in diameter are charged at the stump rate.
Those are the rates for a resident hauling their own load. The same City page states that the landfill does not accept commercial garbage, so a contractor's disposal route and cost are part of that contractor's quote, and worth asking about by name.
Provincial law points the same way. Ontario's excess soil regulation, O. Reg. 406/19, adds reuse planning for projects over 2,000 cubic metres, far beyond a backyard, and the Province lists restrictions on landfilling soils from January 1, 2027.
Clean fill, dirty fill, and the rebar problem.
The cheapest load is one kind of material. Sod and soil can share a stream. Broken concrete from an old walkway is fill only while it is free of waste including metal, so a slab with rebar in it has to be separated. Roots and stumps are their own category again.
Deciding the streams before digging starts costs nothing, while a mixed pile costs labour to separate or lands in the dearest category. The same logic for drywall, lumber and appliances is in our renovation waste guide.
Locates are free, but they take days.
Every dig starts with an Ontario One Call locate request, and the Act makes both the request and the utility marking free. What it costs is time: five business days per utility on a standard request, which moves the start date rather than the price.
Private lines are the exception that does cost money. A gas line out to a barbecue or pool heater, or power to a shed or garage, is not marked by the free service, and Enbridge Gas notes that a private locator charges for it. The full process, and what each paint colour means, is in our guide to Ontario One Call locates.
Backfill and grading finish the job.
What goes back in the hole is a cost decision too. Whether the soil that came out can go back depends on what it is and what it goes around. Anything imported to replace it is bought, delivered and placed, and weeping tile replacement, a drainage fix or a new footing each set their own requirement. Then the ground is graded back. A quote that does not say what the backfill is and who supplies it has left out a line.
What a real quote should spell out.
An excavation quote worth comparing answers the questions on this page: how the machine gets in, what soil is assumed and what changes if the dig finds softer, whether the walls are sloped or supported, how much spoil leaves and where it goes, and what goes back in the hole.
Ours is given after we see the site, because access, depth and soil set the number more than square footage does. You get the figure before the machine arrives, and it does not move unless the scope does. We do not publish a price list. The pricing page explains how our junk removal quotes are built and shows two other Ottawa companies' published figures, the nearest published benchmark for the hauling half of a dirt removal job.
What moves an excavation quote, and why.
Rules and rates from O. Reg. 213/91, the City of Ottawa and the Province of Ontario, read on 2026-09-12, and linked at the foot of this page.
| What changes | Why it moves the cost | Where that comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Access to the dig | A narrow side yard can mean a smaller machine, more trips and more hand work. | Spoil cannot sit within one metre of the edge, O. Reg. 213/91 s. 233(1). |
| Soil type | Soft, sensitive or previously dug soil needs flatter slopes or support, and the worst type present governs. | O. Reg. 213/91 ss. 226 and 227. The City estimates about 34 per cent of Ottawa land may contain sensitive marine clay. |
| Depth past 1.2 metres | Walls sloped or supported. In Type 4 soil every metre of depth takes three metres of width. | O. Reg. 213/91 s. 234(2). |
| Digging beside a building | An engineer specifies the precautions in writing before the dig goes ahead. | O. Reg. 213/91 s. 229. Engineered support for a trench past 6 m deep or 3.6 m wide, s. 235(2). |
| Soil, sand and sod | The cheapest disposal line, if it is free of waste. Over 5 tonnes needs pre-approval through 3-1-1. | City of Ottawa 2026 rate: $81.90 a tonne, $20.50 minimum under 250 kg. |
| Concrete, brick and asphalt | Fill, but only with no rebar or other waste in it. | City of Ottawa 2026 rate: $144 a tonne. |
| Stumps and land clearing | Charged as trees and stumps, not as soil. | City of Ottawa 2026 rate: $314 a tonne. |
| A mixed pile | Garbage mixed with recyclables lands in the most expensive category. | City of Ottawa 2026 rate: $345.40 a tonne. The landfill takes no commercial garbage. |
| Utility and private locates | Utility locates are free and take five business days. Private lines need a paid private locator. | Locate Act ss. 5.1(4), 6(3) and 6(7). Enbridge Gas on private locates. |
It depends on the weight, what the material is, and how hard it is to reach, so there is no single figure. The public benchmark is the City of Ottawa's 2026 rate at the Trail Waste Facility: soil, sand and sod at $81.90 a tonne with a $20.50 minimum under 250 kg, against $345.40 a tonne for mixed garbage and recyclables. Those rates apply to residents; the City landfill does not accept commercial garbage, so a contractor's quote carries its own disposal cost. We quote after seeing the site and do not publish a price list.
As a resident, yes, at the City's soil rate of $81.90 a tonne in 2026, with a $20.50 minimum for a load under 250 kg. The soil must be free of waste, and quantities over 5 tonnes must be pre-approved by contacting 3-1-1 first. Concrete, brick and asphalt without rebar go in as fill at $144 a tonne, and stumps are charged separately at $314 a tonne.
It can. Ontario's construction regulation describes the softest soil type as very sensitive and significantly weaker once disturbed, and it requires walls in that soil to slope at one vertical to three horizontal past 1.2 metres, or be supported. A City of Ottawa report from 2017 estimated about 34 per cent of land in Ottawa has the potential to contain sensitive marine clay. Whether a particular lot does is a question for a soil report, not a map.
Because the rules change at that depth. Under section 234 of Ontario Regulation 213/91, an excavation under 1.2 metres needs no support system. Deeper than that, the walls are sloped back or held with a support system, and in the softest soil type a slope takes three metres of width for every metre of depth. More width means more soil out, more soil to dispose of or put back, and on a tight lot, often shoring instead.
Not directly. The Act says the Corporation cannot charge an excavator to submit a locate request and member utilities cannot charge to mark their lines. It adds time instead, five business days per utility on a standard request. Private lines, like a gas line to a pool heater or power to a garage, need a private locator, and Enbridge Gas notes that service carries a charge.
Three things help. Clear the access route and the ground around the dig before the machine arrives. Decide before digging what goes back in the hole and what leaves, so clean soil is not mixed with concrete, roots or debris. And tell whoever quotes about private lines, old slabs and anything you know is buried, because every one of those found on the day turns into time.
Sources
- City of Ottawa, Rates for the Trail Waste Facility Landfill read 2026-09-12
- City of Ottawa, Planning Committee report, Tree Planting in Sensitive Marine Clay Soils, 2017 read 2026-09-12
- Government of Ontario, O. Reg. 213/91, Construction Projects read 2026-09-12
- Government of Ontario, Handling excess soil read 2026-09-12
- Government of Ontario, Ontario Underground Infrastructure Notification System Act, 2012 read 2026-09-12
- Enbridge Gas, Safe Digging for Homeowners read 2026-09-12
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