Excavation & Site Prep in Lakeside, Oregon: 2026 Guide

Excavation & Site Prep in Lakeside, Oregon

Coastal site work is a different animal, and Lakeside is a textbook example. Sitting between Tenmile Lakes and the Oregon Dunes, the ground here is sandy, the water table is high, and sensitive wetlands and waterways are never far away. Lake homes, vacation properties, and small businesses all need grading, drainage, and base prep before anything gets built or paved, and on the coast that work has to account for water that comes from above and below.

Cojo Excavation & Asphalt handles site prep across Lakeside and the surrounding Coos County coast from its Willamette Valley base. Excavation is the foundation of nearly everything else, and coastal conditions make it especially worth doing right.

What Excavation Costs in Lakeside

Excavation is harder to chart than paving because every site is different. Soil type, the water table, haul-off distance, access, and the volume of material moved all swing the cost, and coastal sand often means more base import than inland jobs. The ranges below are industry baselines. Actual costs in the current market frequently run higher, and a coastal location can add to that.

Industry baseline ranges shown below. Actual costs vary widely and are often higher based on soil, water table, volume, access, haul-off, and scope.

Service	Industry Baseline Range
Site grading (per sq ft)	$0.50–$2.00
Excavation / digging (per cubic yard)	$50–$200
Utility trenching (per linear foot)	$10–$30
Land clearing (per acre)	$1,500–$6,000
Drainage / French drain (per LF)	$25–$60

These baselines move quickly with conditions. A high water table, unstable sand, or environmental constraints can push real costs well above the range. For deeper breakdowns, see our excavation cost in Oregon and site grading cost in Oregon guides.

Sandy Soils and the High Water Table

The defining excavation challenge in Lakeside is water and sand. Coastal soils drain fast but provide little structural stability on their own, and the high water table near Tenmile Lakes means you often hit groundwater not far down. Building anything stable on this ground usually requires excavating unstable sand and importing engineered base, sometimes deeper than an inland job would need.

Drainage is the other half of the picture. On a coastal lot you have to manage surface water shedding off structures and groundwater pushing up from below. Good site prep grades the land to move water away, installs French drains or culverts where needed, and accounts for a water table that rises through the wet season. On many Lakeside jobs the water management plan is the real work.

Coos County Permits and Coastal Environmental Rules

Excavation on the coast carries a heavier regulatory layer than inland, because of the sensitive habitat:

• Grading permits generally trigger above threshold volumes or disturbed areas.
• Erosion and sediment control rules apply on most disturbance work to keep silt out of Tenmile Lakes and coastal waters.
• Wetland and waterway setbacks can apply on lots near the lakes, dunes, or wetlands, and these reviews are stricter than typical inland rules.
• Stormwater management can apply when new impervious surface is created.

We work through the applicable county and environmental requirements as part of the job, which matters a great deal on the coast.

Always Call 811 Before Digging

Oregon law requires marking underground utilities through 811 before any excavation. On coastal properties this matters because buried power, water, septic, and other lines are often undocumented, and the high water table can complicate exposed utilities. We file the locate request and wait for the marks before equipment touches the ground. It is not optional and it is genuinely important.

Excavation Sets Up Everything Else

Site prep is the first step in most larger projects. A driveway is only as good as the sub-base under it, so excavation and drainage set up the asphalt paving in Lakeside that follows. Proper drainage often prevents the very driveway repair problems that bring coastal property owners to us. Doing the dirt work right the first time is almost always cheaper than fixing failures later.

Why Hire a Local Excavation Contractor

Coastal excavation rewards local knowledge above almost anything. A contractor who understands sandy soils, a high water table, coastal drainage, and the stricter environmental permit picture will save you from expensive surprises. We do site prep across the Coos County coast, and we bring the equipment and water-management experience that Lakeside sites demand.