Frequently Asked Questions

Few New Brunswick prices are published. Machine time is the best-published price: national and Atlantic guides read in September 2026 put a mini excavator with operator at about $65 to $150 an hour and a standard machine at about $150 to $250, with trucking, gravel and rock on top. Rock, access, haul distance and season move the price most, so compare written quotes that say how each of those is handled.

A national guide read in September 2026 put a whole-house foundation dig at about $7,500 to $30,000. No published New Brunswick figure, and no published range for an addition-sized dig, was found. Ask each quote how it prices rock, how far the spoil is trucked, and whether backfill after the inspection is included.

Some quote rock as a fixed extra, some by the hour, and some leave it out until they hit it. No public source says how deep rock sits under any New Brunswick town, so ask every quote how rock is handled before you sign. One national guide put a hydraulic breaker on an excavator at about $200 to $300 an hour.

We found no provincial licence for excavation contractors or excavator operators doing residential digging. That does not mean nothing is regulated: WorkSafeNB's Regulation 91-191 sets the trench and excavation rules employers must follow, blasting needs a certified blaster, septic systems need a provincially licensed installer, and digging a well for someone else needs a well contractor's permit.

Ask for a clearance certificate from WorkSafeNB, which shows whether an employer is registered and in good standing. Coverage is mandatory for employers with three or more workers at any time during the year, and WorkSafeNB warns that a customer can be held responsible for the premiums of a business that is not registered. Get a written quote that names the locates, rock, trucking, backfill and clean-up.

New Brunswick's Construction Remedies Act requires an owner to retain a holdback of 10% of the contract price, kept for 60 days after the certificate of substantial performance is signed or the declaration is made. Talk to a lawyer about how it applies to your contract. New Brunswick has no Builders' Lien Act; the Construction Remedies Act is the law.

Under the Direct Sellers Act, a purchaser may cancel a direct sales contract (house-to-house selling) within ten days after being given a copy of it. The Act does not apply where the price is $100 or less. Read the Act or get advice for the details of your situation.

Book two separate requests. Info-Excavation, reached through Click Before You Dig, needs 3 working days' notice and its locate stays valid until the end date of the work on the request. NB Power runs its own free locate service: request it at least five business days before digging; that locate is valid for 60 days and covers only NB Power-owned lines.

You do. NB Power only checks for its own underground power lines and says you are responsible for everything else, including wires you may have run to a pool, garage or shed. Tell your excavator about every private line, drain or tank you know about before the machine arrives.

Stop work, get everyone away from the area, and call emergency services from a safe distance. Do not try to fix, cover or move the damaged line yourself.

Often, yes, and it depends on where you are and what the dig is for. A building permit comes from your local building department or Regional Service Commission; Quispamsis requires a site work permit for clearing or preparing a lot for development; water and sewer connections need a permit in several towns; and any ground disturbance within 30 metres of a watercourse or wetland needs a provincial WAWA permit. Check with your municipality before digging.

After the inspection. Regulation 2021-2 under the Building Code Administration Act calls for an inspection on completion of the footings and foundations, before any backfilling starts. Book it with your building department and do not let the backfill start until it has passed.

A Watercourse and Wetland Alteration permit is required for work within 30 metres of a watercourse or wetland, including clearing land, operating heavy machinery, disturbing ground and moving fill. The landowner usually applies; a single alteration costs $25. The 30 metres is measured from the top of the bank, in the field.

No. In New Brunswick a septic system is installed by a provincially licensed installer, who applies for the approval ($150) and waits for a provincial inspector's approval before starting. An excavator can dig test pits, the tank hole or the field when the licensed installer arranges it, and the system must be inspected before it is covered.

It depends on the town. In Fredericton, new water and sewer services are installed by the City's Water & Sewer Division and the owner pays once the work is done. Saint John requires a permit for new, renewal or repair water and sewer installations, and Quispamsis charges a $750 residential connection fee each for water and sewer. Ask your municipality who digs which side.

Only with the right permit. New Brunswick's Water Well Regulation says anyone who digs a well on land they do not own needs a well contractor's permit, and the province says new wells must be built by a licensed well contractor.

Under WorkSafeNB's Regulation 91-191, a trench or excavation 1.2 m (about 4 ft) or deeper that a worker has to enter must be shored, braced or caged, cut in solid rock, or sloped or benched. Shoring must be certified as adequate by an engineer. Excavated material has to stay at least 1.2 m back from the edge.

No. Stay out of the trench and look from a safe distance back from the edge. If you have concerns about the work, talk to the contractor before anyone goes in.