Excavation Contractor in Pegram, TN

Excavation for New Houses and Buildings in Pegram

Over a century ago, Pegram was a train depot between Charlotte and Nashville. The stop was called Pegram Station, after local settler and plantation owner George Scott Pegram. The name was later shortened, and today the town covers 7.25 square miles. The 2020 census counted 2,072 people here.

Much of our excavation comes through builders and commercial contractors. On a new house or commercial building in Pegram, the dig covers foundations and basements plus a level pad. Inside the town limits, the footing inspection has to be approved before the concrete is poured. We dig footings to the plan, so the trench is ready when the inspector comes to look.

The Montgomery Bell Tunnel, at the Narrows of the Harpeth, is a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. In the early 1800s, Bell's workers cut it through about 200 yards of solid rock. Where a dig near Pegram runs into rock, we change the plan to fit the ground. After the dig, site prep and grading puts a slope on the yard that sends rain away from the foundation.

Land Clearing on Pegram Lots Near the Harpeth River

In Cheatham County, the Harpeth winds back and forth, and the South Harpeth joins it a few miles in. Native American peoples, such as those of the Mound Bottom settlement, lived along this river first. In 1847, a newspaper called the springs and water there "the most desirable fishing ground in middle Tennessee." Today the town is home to Pegram Park, the Little Red Caboose and canoe and kayak outfitters on the river.

Trees come out before a house pad or a driveway can go in. Land clearing takes the trees, brush and stumps off a lot or acreage. A thumb on the excavator pulls each stump, and cleanup leaves the site ready to build on. We also clear along roadsides and lot lines.

On ground you want to keep shaded, forestry mulching chews up the undergrowth, saplings and brush where they stand. The state's construction stormwater permit kicks in at one acre or more of cleared, graded or dug ground. On a lot that drains toward the river or a creek, we plan erosion control along with the clearing.

Grading and Excavation Permits in Pegram and Cheatham County

Pegram incorporated as a town on February 1, 1972, and it has its own building rules. Inside the town limits, permits go through the Pegram Building Inspector at Town Hall on Highway 70 East. The town code has its own excavation and grading chapter. A town permit covers site preparation that needs grading, excavation or blasting.

A new house application carries proof that the Cheatham County development tax and adequate facilities tax were paid. A perk test from the Environmental Office goes with it where one applies, and so does a flood plan. The town's packet says those applications are normally processed within five business days.

Outside the town limits, Cheatham County Building and Codes in Ashland City covers the unincorporated county. The county's grading permit is about runoff. You need one when the new grade changes how much water flows onto or off another person's land.

Filling or digging only what a foundation needs does not require the county grading permit. Other permits can still apply, and septic permits come separately from the state.

Gravel Driveways, Utility Trenches and Demolition in Pegram

A driveway onto a state highway has to be approved by the county and the state. The Pegram Building Inspector gets a copy of that approval. Property that fronts a state route needs a driveway permit from the Tennessee Department of Transportation. A drive onto a town street goes through the town's street entrance permit.

Our gravel driveways and access roads serve new houses and construction sites. The company's roots are in building roads for a timber company's log trucks.

Water taps and service in Pegram go through the Second South Cheatham Utility District. Some lots in town tie into the town sewer, and others need a perk test for septic. Our underground utility trenches carry electrical conduit, water lines, and sewer or septic pipe, with backfill after. We clear and dig for a septic system, and the system itself is a licensed installer's job.

Inside the town limits, tearing down a structure also takes a permit from the building inspector. Our demolition work takes down old houses, sheds, barns and other outbuildings, then we load out what comes down. Tennessee 811 needs word of digging or demolition between 3 and 10 working days ahead of time. Once a house is down and the spot is clear, we regrade the lot to suit the new build.