How is rock removed from a sewer trench in Saint John?

Rock in a Saint John Sewer Trench

When a sewer trench hits rock in Saint John, the contractor may break it with a hydraulic breaker mounted on an excavator and haul the broken material off site. Published price guides from September 2026 put hydraulic breaker work at $200 to $300 per hour, with larger machines running higher, on top of the excavator's own time at $150 to $250 per hour for a standard machine. Few New Brunswick prices are published, so those ranges are the best available starting point, not a firm local figure.

What moves the cost is how much rock is in the trench, how hard and fractured it is, how deep the trench runs, and how far the spoil has to travel to a disposal site. A shallow rock shelf that clears quickly is a different job from continuous ledge running the full length of a sewer run. Haul distance and the number of truck loads matter too, and those are judged on site, not from a quote sheet. If the rock is too confined or too hard for a breaker, blasting may come up; blasting must be carried out by a blaster who holds a certificate of qualification, and you should ask the City of Saint John whether any municipal rules apply before that option goes forward.

For a sewer trench in Saint John, the City requires a Water and Sewerage Permit Package for all new, renewal or repair water, sanitary or storm sewer installations, and it also lists a Street Excavation permit, so ask whether your trench needs it. Ask the City's permit office which permits apply to your specific connection and whether any inspection is required before the trench is backfilled. Under WorkSafeNB's General Regulation 91-191, a trench 1.2 m (about 4 ft) or deeper that workers enter must be shored, sloped or benched, or cut in solid rock, and any shoring must be certified as adequate by an engineer. Excavated material stays at least 1.2 m from the edge of the trench. Before any digging starts, the contractor must determine the location of underground utilities; Info-Excavation, reached through Click Before You Dig, needs three working days' notice, and NB Power runs its own separate underground locate service requiring at least five business days' notice, valid for 60 days from the date on its locate form and covering only NB Power-owned lines.

A fair quote for this work names the machine and breaker rates separately, states how rock is priced (hourly or by volume), identifies where the spoil goes and who pays trucking, and confirms which permits the contractor will pull. Ask for a WorkSafeNB clearance certificate before work starts, and hold back 10% of the contract price under the Construction Remedies Act for 60 days after substantial performance.

One question to settle in writing: who is responsible for locating and marking any private lines, drains or fuel lines the owner or a past owner installed, and what the plan is if the breaker hits something unmarked underground. Contractors listed in the New Brunswick Construction Network directory can receive your project details through the request form on this page.