Backfilling

For most jobs in Vernon and the surrounding area, the material depends on the task.

• For around foundations, we use free-draining gravel like 3/4″ crush or drain rock right against the wall to handle water, then often use the native soil we dug out for the rest of the fill, provided it’s good quality and not full of clay.
• For trenches, we’ll use sand or fine gravel as bedding for the pipe, then fill the rest with native soil.
• For driveways or under slabs, it’s always a compactable granular base, like pit run or 3/4″ road crush.

Yes, absolutely. Backfilling is critical after a septic tank is installed. It secures the tank in place, preventing it from shifting or “floating” out of the ground when the soil gets saturated. More importantly, it protects the tank from being crushed by the weight of the soil or anything driving over it. We use specific materials like sand or pea gravel around the tank itself to ensure it’s supported evenly without damaging the shell.

When you say backfilling for a driveway, you’re usually talking about the sub-base, which is the foundation for your asphalt or concrete. For a standard residential driveway in a place like Chase, you’re looking at a minimum of 8 to 12 inches of compacted gravel base. If the ground is soft clay or you plan on parking heavy vehicles like a motorhome on it, you might go deeper, up to 18 inches.

We ensure every job is compacted to the highest standard using our experience and professional equipment. For projects that require official documentation, like commercial buildings or subdivisions, a geotechnical engineer is required to perform a certified compaction test. While we don’t perform the certification ourselves, we work alongside local engineers all the time to make sure our work meets or exceeds the specified density.

Definitely. With all the waterfront property in Sicamous, erosion control is a big deal. Proper backfilling and final grading are your first line of defense. By building up areas with the right material (sometimes a mix of soil and rock) and grading the land so water flows away from your foundation and off your property in a controlled way, you can prevent water from washing your yard into the lake.

It depends on the size of the job. For a typical house foundation, once the foundation is waterproofed and ready, we can usually complete the backfill in 1 to 2 days. Smaller jobs, like a water line trench, can be done in just a few hours. The biggest factors affecting the timeline are site access and weather.

Yes. An “engineered backfill” just means we follow a specific set of instructions from a geotechnical engineer. The plans will tell us exactly what material to use, how deep each layer (or “lift”) should be, and to what density it needs to be compacted. We’re well-equipped and experienced in following engineered plans to the letter.

Proper drainage is the most important part of a backfill job, especially around a foundation. We ensure it by:

• Installing weeping tile (perforated drain pipe) at the base of the footing.
• Placing a layer of clear drain rock against the foundation wall to allow water to flow freely down to the weeping tile.
• Creating a positive grade, sloping the final surface away from the house at a minimum of a 2% slope to keep surface water from pooling against the walls.

100%. All our work meets or exceeds the requirements of the BC Building Code. We understand the local ground conditions and work closely with municipal building inspectors throughout the process to ensure everything from drainage to final grade passes inspection the first time.

Yes, and it’s the most efficient way to do it. We can handle the entire job from the initial excavation to the final backfill and grading. Using one crew saves you the headache of coordinating between different contractors and ensures a smooth, continuous workflow

Yes, and it’s a specialty of ours. A retaining wall is only as good as the backfill behind it. We always install a proper drainage zone with clear gravel and filter cloth right behind the wall, and we compact the structural fill in thin lifts to prevent settlement and reduce pressure on the wall.

The cost can vary quite a bit. It really depends on three main things:

1. Volume of material: How many cubic metres of fill are needed.
2. Type of material: Sand is cheaper than specialized drain rock or engineered fill.
3. Site access and complexity: Tight spots that require more labor or smaller machines can increase the cost.

The best approach is to have us come out to the site. We can give you a free, detailed quote with no obligation.

We’re very careful with this.

• Wet Conditions: We avoid backfilling with overly saturated soil because it turns to mud and can’t be compacted. This can lead to massive settling later on. We’ll either wait for the material to dry or import dry, granular fill.
• Frozen Conditions: We never backfill with frozen ground. It’s against the building code for a reason. When the frozen chunks eventually thaw, they leave large voids, and the ground will sink significantly. Winter work has to be done carefully, usually by importing thawed material.

Absolutely. We guarantee our workmanship. We ensure every job is done to professional standards and meets code. If you have a problem like excessive settling that’s a direct result of our work, we’ll come back and make it right. Our reputation in the community is built on doing the job properly.