Recent work · 2025 — 2024
Twelve jobs across eastern Connecticut and western Rhode Island.
Foundations, septic, drainage, retaining walls, site prep. Each one tied to the town it ran in and the service it falls under — so you can read sideways to the work that's most like yours.
Foundation cut into granite ledge
New residential foundation, 38×52 footprint
Granite ledge surfaced two feet shallower than the prelim soil report called for. We brought the rock hammer in for three days and re-set the footings against ledge rather than over-blasting — saved the homeowner a $14k change order.
NDDH-permitted septic install on a failing system
1,250-gal tank, 4-bed leaching field, NDDH inspection
Old steel tank had been failing for two seasons. NDDH approved the new layout on a tight side-yard perc; the leaching trenches threaded between the well radius and the property line. Final cover and seed in five working days.
Commercial pad with NPU coordination
Site prep, water/sewer tie-ins, parking lot subbase
Norwich Public Utilities had the water tap scheduled three weeks behind the foundation cut. We staged the excavation in reverse so the building pad was ready the morning NPU showed up — no idle weeks billing the GC.
Stormwater basin retrofit on Route 12
Catch-basin replacement, retention regrade, outlet armoring
The Lisbon Landing-era basin behind the lot was undersized for the new pavement plan. Rebuilt the inlet, regraded the retention berm, and rip-rapped the outlet so the discharge hit the wetland buffer at code velocity.
Selective land clearing for a 4-acre subdivision
Tree removal, stump grinding, root mat strip, erosion controls
Owner kept the perimeter hedgerow as a visual buffer to the abutting farm. We took the interior in two passes — feller-buncher first, then root-mat strip — with silt fence and check dams set before the first cut.
Quinebaug-side retaining wall
120-ft segmental wall, geogrid reinforcement, base drain
Backyard sloped 11 ft toward the Quinebaug. Set a segmental block wall with three lifts of geogrid into the cut, ran a base drain to daylight downslope, and re-graded the yard above so the homeowner finally had a useable flat.
Equipment-barn pad on a 12-acre farm
60×80 pad, French drain, gravel access road
Sited the pad on the only high ground that wasn't hayfield, so the farmer didn't lose a cutting. French drain on the uphill side caught the spring runoff and kept the barn slab dry through April.
French drain on a wet-cellar 1830s farmhouse
Footing-depth perimeter drain, sump discharge to daylight
Stone foundation with no drainage from the 1830s. Hand-dug the corners around the cellar bulkhead, set the perforated pipe at footing depth, and ran the discharge 60 ft to daylight in the hayfield below the house.
300-ft driveway re-cut through Jewett City
Demo + regrade + processed gravel base, asphalt-ready
Old driveway crowned wrong and dumped runoff toward the garage. Stripped the surface, re-cut the centerline for a proper 2% crown, set a culvert at the road entrance, and finished with 8 inches of processed gravel.
Mill-era home foundation underpinning
Underpin existing footings + cellar floor pour
1890s mill-worker house with footings that had crept an inch in the last century. Underpinned in alternating bays so the structure stayed loaded, poured a new cellar slab, and the homeowner finished the basement the next year.
Half-acre pond excavation
8-ft depth, clay-lined, overflow weir, riparian buffer
Owner wanted a recreational pond on a back lot. RIDEM-style buffer left at the upstream wetland, clay liner trucked in from a Connecticut source, overflow weir cut to the seasonal drainage with rip-rap armoring.
Emergency leach-field repair in a snowstorm
Failed leach field, distribution box replacement, partial trench rebuild
Surfacing effluent in February. Frost was 22 inches deep. Tarped the work area overnight to keep it workable, swapped the distribution box, rebuilt two of the four trenches, and the homeowner had hot water back by Sunday.
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