Clogged weeping tile or high water table in Riverview?

What to Sort Out Before You Dig in Riverview

Published price guides read in September 2026 show excavation work of this kind is priced mainly on machine time: a mini excavator with operator runs $65 to $150 per hour, and a standard excavator with operator runs $150 to $250 per hour. Few New Brunswick prices for drainage trenching specifically are published, so machine hours plus trucking and any new material are the best guide to what a quote should be built from.

Before anyone can say whether the problem is failed weeping tile, a high water table, or both, a contractor needs to look at the site. Those are different conditions with different fixes, and the judgment is made on the ground, not from a description. What drives the cost either way includes how deep the existing tile sits, how much of the perimeter needs opening, whether the spoil can stay on site or needs trucking, whether rock is encountered, and what the replacement material costs. Crushed stone runs $40 to $75 per cubic metre, with delivery $75 to $200 per load, and those figures add up quickly on a full-perimeter job.

A few things need to be in place before the machine arrives. Info-Excavation, reached through Click Before You Dig, needs a request at least three working days ahead; that locate is valid until the end date written on the request. NB Power runs its own separate underground locate service and asks for at least five business days notice; it is valid for 60 days from the date on the locate form and covers only NB Power-owned lines. Any private lines, such as wiring run to a garage or shed, are yours to find and mark. Ask the contractor to show both locate tickets before work starts. If the trench will be 1.2 m (about 4 ft) or deeper and workers need to enter it, WorkSafeNB's General Regulation 91-191 requires the walls to be shored, sloped or benched, or cut in solid rock, and any shoring must be engineer-certified. Stay back from the edge of any open trench.

For permits, Plan 360 (the Southeast Regional Service Commission) issues building permits for Riverview, and a permit may be required to tap into water and sewer mains. Check with Plan 360 before work starts to confirm what your specific job requires. If the drainage work is within 30 metres of a watercourse or wetland, measured horizontally from the top of the bank, a Watercourse and Wetland Alteration permit from the province is required before any digging, clearing or machine work begins. That permit typically goes to the landowner, and the application fee is $25 for a single alteration.

When you get quotes, ask each contractor how rock is priced if it is encountered, where the spoil goes and who pays for trucking, what replacement material is included, and whether the price covers backfill and surface restoration. Ask for a WorkSafeNB clearance certificate to confirm the contractor is registered and in good standing. Under the Construction Remedies Act, you must retain a holdback of 10% of the contract price for 60 days after substantial performance.

Start with Plan 360 to find out exactly which permits apply to your job, because that answer shapes what the contractor can do and when they can cover the work back up.