Land and sites
Excavating Contractors in Rosedale, IN
Got a hillside that needs cutting down, a basement hole to open, or a low field that holds water every spring? That's excavator-and-dozer work, and it's what K&H does from the first stake to the final grade.
If you're comparing excavating contractors in west central Indiana, start by asking who will actually run the machine. At K&H Excavating, it's the owner. We're a Rosedale excavating company owned by Kory Stone and based in southern Parke County, about two miles from the Vigo County line. Our excavation services cover the heavy side of earthwork: cutting and filling ground, opening basement and foundation holes, building ponds, clearing acreage, and rough-grading building sites. Every job runs on excavators and dozers. Most of our work is on farms and rural acreage, where it matters that the topsoil stays usable, the field drainage keeps working, and the gates get closed behind the trucks. To talk through a project, call or text Kory at (765) 548-3704.
When to call
Signs Your Land Needs Excavating Contractors, Not a Skid Steer
Once a job means hundreds of cubic yards, a cut deeper than you are tall, or fill that has to carry a building or a loaded truck, it needs the reach of an excavator and the push of a dozer. Waiting rarely makes earthwork cheaper. A wet corner keeps drowning out crop, a washout gets wider with every April storm, and a builder's schedule slips while the hole sits undug. If you call in summer or fall, the work gets done while the ground is dry enough to dig cleanly and pack.
- A rise or bank needs to come down, and a low spot beside it needs to come up.
- A house or barn is going in, and the builder needs a basement hole or a rough-graded site.
- Runoff cuts a gully across a field or lane every time it rains hard.
- You want a new pond, or an old one dug deeper.
- A timbered or brush-choked parcel needs to become pasture, cropland, or a building site.
- You've bought or inherited acreage and want it shaped for how you'll use it before you build or sell.
What's included
What Our Excavation Services Cover
Our excavation services are heavy earthwork on rural and commercial ground: digging, moving, shaping, and packing soil with tracked machines.
Moving and Shaping Dirt
Cut-and-fill work takes soil from where you have too much and puts it where you need it, packed in layers so it doesn't settle into a dip two winters later. The excavator digs and loads, and the dozer spreads and compacts. Topsoil comes off first and goes in its own pile, so it can go back on top when the shaping is done. Extra dirt is stockpiled, spread, or hauled off on K&H's trucks. Our general excavation page covers the details, including drainage swales.
Basement and Foundation Holes
When a builder needs a hole for a basement or a deep foundation, Kory digs to their stakes and grade and leaves working room around the walls for forms and drain tile. Spoil is set back from the edge, and topsoil and subsoil go in separate piles so the backfill stays clean. The basement excavation page walks through over-dig, sloped walls, and groundwater.
Ponds, Clearing, and Site Prep
Three of K&H's biggest kinds of work have pages of their own. Pond building runs from test holes for clay to the dam and spillway. Land clearing pulls trees out with the stumps and roots instead of grinding them off at ground level. Site preparation clears, strips, and rough-grades ground for homes and ag buildings.
What K&H Doesn't Dig
It's better to say this up front. K&H doesn't do utility or septic trenching, and it doesn't build driveways. It doesn't do skid-steer mulching, and it isn't the right fit for small backyard jobs. If your project is one of those, Kory will say so on the first call.
Local ground
The Dirt Problems We See Most in West Central Indiana
The edge of the last glacier passes within about two miles of Rosedale. The town sits on sand-and-gravel outwash, while the uplands a few miles north and east are older loam and sandy-loam till. One farm can have both. That's why Kory looks at what comes up in the first few buckets before he tells you how a cut will stand or how a fill will pack.
Old surface coal mines cover nearly a tenth of Clay County and about 7% of Vigo County. IDNR warns that mine spoil is much looser than the original ground and hard to build on, and that testing and engineering studies should come first (IDNR Abandoned Mine Problems). If your property was mined, you'll hear that before any dirt moves.
The glaciers never reached Bloomington, so its red clay sits right on limestone, and sinkhole areas cover close to 7% of Monroe County. A pond or basement there gets a closer look for soft spots and depressions before the dig starts.
Terre Haute averages about 4.7 inches of rain in each of those months, the wettest stretch of the year. Saturated clay can't be packed, and loaded machines rut a hay field. K&H books most dirt work for summer and fall and saves frozen winter ground for land clearing, when machines can reach spots they'd sink into in spring.
Why K&H
Why Landowners Choose K&H Excavating Over Other Excavation Contractors
Earthworks contractors come in every size, from outfits that bid county road jobs to a guy with a skid steer. K&H sits in between on purpose.
Kory Stone walks your ground, writes the estimate, runs the excavator or dozer, and does the walk-around at the end. You aren't passing instructions through a foreman. If a plan needs to change halfway through a cut, the person making the call is already in the seat.
K&H is built around tracked excavators for digging and loading and dozers for pushing, spreading, and packing. That's the equipment for moving hundreds of yards, cutting below grade, and building fill that holds up under a building or a loaded grain truck.
Kory prices your job in person, on your ground, and it costs you nothing. Calls and texts are answered Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and texts sent after hours get a reply too.
Kory's family has farmed cattle and hay in Parke County, so he looks at earthwork the way a farmer does. He thinks about where the water goes after the job, which gates the cattle use, and which lane the trucks can cross without rutting it. The Indiana Professional Licensing Agency's list of licensed professions doesn't include an excavating or general contractor board. Rather than a license number, ask any contractor for proof of liability insurance before the machines show up. Read Kory's story and how K&H runs a job.
How it works
How a K&H Excavation Job Works
Step 1 — Kory Walks the Job With You
On the first visit, Kory traces where the dirt has to come from and where it has to go. He looks at the soil, the slope, where water runs now, and how machines and trucks can get in without tearing up a lane or a hay field. He'll ask what the ground is for, since a building site and a pasture get shaped differently. You get a written estimate after the walk-through.
Step 2 — Locates, Stakes, and an Access Plan
Indiana law requires a locate request to Indiana 811 at least two full working days before digging, and Kory places it. Grade stakes go in for the cuts and fills, along with the spot for the topsoil stockpile. You agree on the gate, the travel path, and any fences, tile outlets, or trees that stay untouched. If an acre or more will be disturbed, or the work sits in a floodway, a permit is likely. The landowner or permit holder files it, and Kory will tell you on the walk-through what your job probably needs.
Step 3 — Topsoil Off, Then the Heavy Work
Topsoil comes off first and goes in its own pile, because it's the thinnest and most valuable layer on the property. Then the excavator cuts and loads, and the dozer spreads and packs fill in thin layers. Spoil and equipment stay at least 2 feet back from the edge of any open excavation, OSHA's minimum where no retaining device is used. If you want to know how the day went, text Kory; he'd rather answer a question mid-job than after it.
Step 4 — Rough Grade and Topsoil Back
The dozer brings the ground to rough grade so water drains the way it was planned. Saved topsoil goes back on top, extra dirt is spread or hauled away, and bare ground is left smooth and ready for seed.
Step 5 — The Final Walk-Around with Kory
Before K&H leaves, you and Kory go over the grades, where water will run in the next storm, and the path the machines used. Anything you want touched up gets handled before the equipment loads out.
How we quote
How Much Does Excavation Work Cost in West Central Indiana?
K&H prices excavation after Kory walks the ground, because earthwork cost follows how much dirt moves, how far it goes, and how hard the site is to work. National cost guides publish per-yard figures that can't account for your soil or your access, so we price from the walk-through instead. You'll have a number for your job before any dirt moves.
K&H takes cash, check, and credit card. If you'd like to talk about other payment options, bring it up when Kory quotes the job.
What changes the price
- Volume. A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet, so lowering a 100-by-100-foot area by 1 foot moves about 370 cubic yards (10,000 ÷ 27, simple arithmetic).
- Soil. Dense till, wet ground, rock, and mine spoil each dig, load, and pack differently.
- Where the dirt goes. Spreading it on site costs less than trucking it off.
- Access. Timber, soft bottoms, and long walks for the machines add hours.
- Distance from Rosedale. Jobs out toward Lafayette, Bloomington, or Indianapolis add trucking for the equipment.
- Erosion control and permit requirements on sites that disturb an acre or more.
Quoted separately
- Clearing trees and stumps before the dig (land clearing)
- Tearing out old slabs, foundations, or outbuildings (demolition)
- Utility or septic trenching and driveways, which K&H doesn't offer
Related work
Often Paired With Our Excavation Services
Earthwork tends to come in sets. These are the jobs that most often follow one another.
General Excavation
Once the trees are out or the old building is down, the ground still has to be cut, filled, and shaped to drain. Kory will give you a realistic timeline on the walk-through, since volume, soil, and weather set the pace. See general excavation for cut, fill, and hauling.
Basement Excavation
A new house on acreage usually means a basement or deep foundation, and the builder needs the hole ready on their schedule. Kory digs to the builder's stakes and leaves room to work. See basement excavation with over-dig and sloped walls.
Pond Building
Machines already on your property for a building site can dig a pond on the same trip, and the pond's spoil can become the fill you need somewhere else. See pond building on farms and acreage.
More in Excavation: Site Excavation · Basement Excavation
Where we work
Excavation Work Across the Wabash Valley, West Central Indiana, and Eastern Illinois
K&H works out of Rosedale in southern Parke County. Excavation within about 50 miles is everyday work, and larger jobs go out to about 75 miles, including eastern Illinois. The 50-mile core takes in Parke, Vigo, Clay, Vermillion, Putnam, and Montgomery counties and most of Fountain. Lafayette is a run up US-41 to I-74 at Veedersburg, then north on IN-25. Terre Haute is close enough to reach on county roads, down Rosedale Road onto Fruitridge Avenue and the city's east side. Bloomington jobs head down IN-59 through Brazil and east on IN-46 through Spencer, and Indianapolis is US-41 to Rockville, then US-36 east through Bainbridge and Danville.
The ground changes along those drives. The till plain of Montgomery and Tippecanoe counties is mostly Wisconsin-age glacial till. Vigo and Clay carry a lot of wind-blown loess, along with a lot of old mine ground. Monroe County is limestone with little glacial cover at all.
Looking for excavating contractors in Terre Haute or someone to dig near Lafayette? We serve Rosedale, Terre Haute, Bloomington, Lafayette, and Indianapolis. See all of K&H's excavation services.
Not sure if your property is in range? Call or text Kory at (765) 548-3704.
Questions
Excavation FAQ
What's the difference between excavating contractors and earthmoving contractors?
Mostly the wording; both dig, move, and shape soil. "Excavating" leans toward digging below grade, like basements, ponds, and cuts, while "earthmoving" leans toward pushing and spreading big volumes. K&H does both, with excavators and dozers — no skid steers.
Does Indiana license excavating contractors?
The Indiana Professional Licensing Agency's list of regulated professions has no board for excavating or general contractors, so there's no state license record to look a contractor up in. Some cities and counties run their own contractor registrations, so your local building office can tell you whether one applies. What matters more is proof of liability insurance and a contractor who calls 811 before digging. Ask for an insurance certificate before work starts.
Do you do trenching, septic systems, or driveways?
No. K&H doesn't dig utility or septic trenches and doesn't build driveways. Kory would rather tell you that on the first call than take a job that isn't his.
How do I compare excavation contractors?
Ask who will run the machine on your job, what equipment they'll bring, and who places the 811 locate request. Ask how they handle topsoil and where the extra dirt goes. At K&H, the answers are Kory on every job, excavators and dozers, and topsoil stripped and saved. Free on-site estimates mean getting a second number costs you nothing.
When is the best time of year for excavation?
Summer and fall, when the ground is dry enough to dig cleanly and pack fill. April and May are the wettest months at Terre Haute, about 4.7 inches each, and saturated clay won't compact. Winter is clearing and demolition season for K&H, since frozen ground carries machines into places they'd bog down in spring. A mild winter sometimes allows dirt work if the ground stays open.
Who calls 811 before digging?
Indiana law requires a locate request to Indiana 811 at least two full working days, and no more than 10 calendar days, before digging starts. Kory places the request for K&H jobs. Point out any private lines you know about, like power to a barn or a water line to a stock tank, so Kory knows where they run too.
Do I need a permit for excavation work?
It depends on the job. IDEM's construction stormwater permit applies when an acre or more of ground is disturbed, and work in the floodway of a stream draining a square mile or more needs an IDNR permit. Kory flags the likely ones during the site walk, and the landowner or permit holder files them.
Ask Kory About My Project
Still have a question about excavation work? Call or text Kory at (765) 548-3704.
Call or text
Ask Kory about excavation
(765) 548-3704Calls and texts answered Monday to Saturday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Text a few photos of the property and Kory can give you a head start before the site walk.
Get a free estimateFree estimate
Let's Move the Dirt Your Plans Depend On
Tell Kory what you're building, draining, or digging. He'll come walk it, tell you plainly whether it's K&H work, and give you a free estimate. Reach him through our contact page, or call or text directly.
