Excavation & Site Prep in Gladstone, Oregon: 2026 Guide

Excavation and Site Prep in Gladstone, Oregon

Gladstone sits at the meeting point of the Clackamas and Willamette rivers, a small Clackamas County city squeezed between Oregon City and Milwaukie. That river-confluence location is the first thing any excavation contractor thinks about before a bucket touches the ground. A lot of Gladstone parcels carry high groundwater, old fill, and soils that hold water through the wet months. Site prep here is less about moving dirt fast and more about reading the ground correctly before you commit.

This guide walks through what excavation and site preparation actually involve for a Gladstone property, from grading and drainage to utility work and the county permits that come with it.

What Excavation Covers on a Gladstone Property

Excavation is rarely one task. On most residential and small-commercial jobs around Gladstone, it bundles together several pieces of work:

• Site grading — shaping the ground so water runs where you want it and the building pad or driveway sits level
• Drainage — French drains, curtain drains, catch basins, and tie-ins that keep water off foundations and out of crawl spaces
• Utility trenching — digging for water, sewer, power, and gas lines, then backfilling to spec
• Land clearing — removing brush, stumps, and old structures before new work begins
• Foundation and footing excavation — digging to the depth and width a structural plan calls for

For a deeper look at how these pieces are priced statewide, our excavation cost in Oregon guide breaks down the variables. The site grading cost in Oregon guide covers grading specifically.

Gladstone Soil, Drainage, and Why the River Matters

Gladstone's low elevation near two rivers means water management drives most local site work. Properties closer to the Clackamas or the Willamette can have a seasonal water table that sits within a few feet of the surface during winter. That changes how you trench, whether you need shoring, and how aggressively you have to plan drainage.

Older Gladstone neighborhoods were also built on a mix of native silt loam and decades-old fill. You do not always know what is under a lawn until you open it up. Soft spots, buried debris, and old septic features turn up regularly. A good local contractor expects this and prices a contingency rather than promising a flat number sight-unseen.

The practical takeaway: drainage is not an upsell in Gladstone, it is the core of the job. Skipping it is how you end up with a saturated building pad or a driveway that heaves every winter.

Clackamas County Permits and Erosion Control

Most ground-disturbing work in the Gladstone area triggers some level of permitting. The exact thresholds depend on whether the parcel is inside Gladstone city limits or in unincorporated Clackamas County, but the common triggers include:

• Grading permits once you disturb soil past a set area or move more than a threshold volume of material
• Erosion and sediment control measures, which Oregon DEQ and the county both care about, especially on slopes or near the rivers
• Floodplain review for parcels mapped in the FEMA flood zones along the Clackamas and Willamette
• Right-of-way permits if trenching crosses into a public street or sidewalk

Because Gladstone has so much land near mapped floodplain, the floodplain question comes up more here than in most valley towns. A contractor who works Clackamas County regularly will know which review applies before you waste time. Our Clackamas County excavation services page covers the county picture in more detail.

Call Before You Dig: 811 Locates

Every excavation job in Oregon starts with a call to 811, the state's utility locate service. State law requires it, and on older Gladstone streets it genuinely matters. Underground lines in established neighborhoods are not always where the records say they are. A locate request brings the utilities out to mark their lines before digging, which protects you from cutting a gas line or a fiber bundle and eating the repair bill.

The locate is free. The damage from skipping it is not. Reputable contractors handle the 811 call as a standard part of mobilizing.

What Excavation Costs in the Gladstone Area

Excavation pricing resists a tidy number because every site is different. Soil type, access, haul-off distance, water table, and depth all swing the total. The figures below are industry baseline ranges, not Cojo quotes, and real-world Gladstone projects often run higher once drainage and water-table conditions enter the picture.

Industry baseline ranges. Actual costs vary widely with soil, access, drainage needs, and disposal.

Work Type	Industry Baseline Range
Site grading (residential)	$1.50–$6.00 per sq ft
Utility trenching	$10–$25 per linear foot
Drainage system (French drain)	$20–$45 per linear foot
Land clearing	$1,500–$6,000 per acre
Excavation labor + machine	$125–$225 per hour

These ranges assume reasonable access and dry-season conditions. Gladstone's wet-season groundwater, tight infill lots, and disposal costs for unsuitable soil can push real totals well above the baseline. The only accurate figure comes from a site visit.

Drainage Is the Local Specialty

If there is one thing to get right on a Gladstone site, it is water. A few of the drainage details that come up here often:

• Foundation drains that carry water away from footings on parcels with a high water table
• Curtain drains uphill of a building pad to intercept groundwater before it reaches the structure
• Daylight outlets that need somewhere legal to discharge, which near the rivers means checking setbacks and floodplain rules
• Sump systems where gravity drainage is not possible on low-lying lots

Getting drainage wrong on a Gladstone property does not show up in summer. It shows up in February. That is why local experience beats a low bid from an out-of-area crew that treats every site the same.

How Gladstone Fits the Wider Service Area

Gladstone is a short hop from Oregon City, Milwaukie, and the rest of north Clackamas County, so crews serving the area are usually close. If your project pairs excavation with paving once the ground is ready, our asphalt paving cost in Oregon guide covers what comes next. For driveways that need repair rather than a full rebuild, the driveway repair options guide helps you decide.