Rochester Dirt Work does excavation and dirt work for lots and homes across the Rochester area — Rochester itself and the farm towns around it in Olmsted, Dodge, and Goodhue counties. Most jobs start the same way: a raw lot, a wet yard, a driveway that's turned to ruts, or a pad that needs to be ready before a building can go up. If it needs digging, moving, or leveling, that's our work.
It usually runs in order. First an excavating contractor in Rochester digs it — foundations, basements, ponds, and trenches. Then grading and drainage shapes the ground so water runs off instead of sitting. A lot that drains right is a lot that stays solid.
Next comes the surface you live on. gravel driveway installation gives you a drive that holds up through mud season and freeze-thaw. A building pad gets cut, filled, and packed tight so the crew that follows us starts on flat, solid ground. Out here that means acreage lanes, farmyard aprons, and pads for the shop or pole barn you've been planning.
We work the whole area — Rochester, Stewartville, and Kasson, and out to Byron, Chatfield, Pine Island, Dodge Center, and Zumbrota. The full list is on our excavation service areas page. Acreage lots, farm places, and in-town yards all get the same treatment: we come look in person first.
Not sure what yours will run? Start with the calculator below — it prices grading, driveways, excavation, pads, and fill off the same numbers we bid from. Then call (612) 260-8779 or send the form and we'll come give you a free written estimate, confirmed in writing before any work starts.
Dirt work is priced three ways around Rochester — by the square foot for grading and driveways, by the cubic yard for digging, and by the job for building pads. Here are the ranges we bid from, and a calculator built on the same numbers.
Finish grading — lawn-ready, topsoil in place — runs $0.50–$1.25 per sq ft. Rough grading and regrading, where we shape slope and drainage, runs $1.00–$2.25 per sq ft. A quarter acre (10,890 sq ft) at finish rates lands around $5,450–$13,600. Every grading job carries a $750 floor, because the machine has to get there either way.
A new gravel driveway with a proper base runs $1.75–$4.50 per sq ft — the top half of the national range, because a Minnesota driveway needs a deeper base to stand up to frost. A top-up refresh of an existing drive runs $0.75–$1.50 per sq ft. A typical 12×100 ft country drive (1,200 sq ft) in standard crushed gravel lands around $2,100–$5,400. The floor is $1,200.
Digging prices by the cubic yard at $50–$150 per cu yd for the jobs homeowners actually hire — a machine, an operator, and a truck showing up for your lot. The floor is $1,500. If dirt leaves the property, haul-off adds $300–$600 per load. A basement dig of about 200 cu yd with the spoil kept on site lands around $10,000–$30,000, which matches the published range for basement excavation.
Pads price by the job, by size. A small pad for a garage or shed runs $1,500–$3,500. A house pad runs $2,500–$5,600. A large pad or full site prep with the driveway roughed in runs $3,800–$6,700. Those bands sit right on the published site-prep range of $1,300–$5,600, average $3,800.
Fill dirt, delivered and spread, runs $20–$50 per cu yd. Screened topsoil runs $40–$85 per cu yd — the material itself costs more before it ever leaves the pit. The floor is $500, which is about a 10-yard minimum once delivery is figured in.
Where these numbers come from. Published national cost guides — Angi, HomeAdvisor, and HomeGuide project data, with Lawn Love, LawnGuru, and SiteXReady's Midwest prevailing-wage model for the small-job and rural rates — read against Minnesota frost-depth practice. They're planning ranges, not a quote: your final price is confirmed in writing after an in-person look, before any work starts.
A word about materials. These ranges are figured on standard crushed gravel — the Class 5 style stone most country driveways around here are built on. Materials are not all the same, and neither is the work that puts them down. Recycled crushed concrete costs less a ton and makes a fine farm drive; washed decorative stone can cost several times more before it ever leaves the pit; and the pit that's 10 miles away beats the pit that's 40 on every single load, because trucking is part of every yard you buy. Fill dirt, screened topsoil, and clean sand all price different because they are different. That's why two driveways the same size can price thousands apart, and why the exact stone, depth, and price get confirmed at the in-person estimate, in writing, before any work starts.
A quarter acre is 10,890 sq ft. Full-acre rural grading is quoted in person — the per-foot price drops at that scale.
Length × width. A 12×100 ft country drive is 1,200 sq ft.
A basement dig runs about 200 cu yd. Foundation and footing digs price the same way, by the yard.
Pads assume a workable site — topsoil stripped, pad built up and compacted in lifts.
Free — no obligation. Your calculator numbers ride along with the request.
Your estimate is attached automatically. Add your info and tell us about the project — the lot, what needs digging or grading, anything we should know before we come out. Prefer to talk? Call (612) 260-8779.
Real scopes, real numbers. Every project below is priced off the same rate card as the calculator above, so pick a card, then run your own lot through it.
The projects below are representative of the work we do around Rochester — the kind of jobs, the way they're priced, and what homeowners tell us after. Verified customer projects replace these examples as jobs close.
Rebuilt a rutted 1,200 sq ft farm lane outside Kasson — dug out the soft spots, laid a deep base for frost, crowned it so water sheds to the sides, and finished it in Class 5 gravel.
Final price: $3,600
"Every spring the lane turned to soup and the delivery trucks stopped even trying. They dug out the bad spots instead of just spreading new rock on top, built the base up deep, and crowned it. This spring the water ran off the sides like it's supposed to."
Prepped an acreage lot outside Byron for a new shop — stripped the topsoil, built the pad up with fill, compacted it in lifts, and rough-graded the driveway line in.
Final price: $4,400
"We've owned this ground a long time and finally decided to build the shop. They came out, walked it with us, and put the whole thing in writing. The pad was cut, filled, and packed tight, and our builder started on flat ground right on schedule. No surprises."
Regraded about 3,000 sq ft of yard in Stewartville that held water after every rain — shaped it to fall away from the house, cut a shallow swale to the street ditch, and finish-graded it seed-ready.
Final price: $2,400
"The back yard stayed soggy for days and the mower left ruts every single time. They regraded it so it falls away from the house and cut a swale I can mow right over. It dried out after the next rain and it has stayed dry."
Dug the foundation and basement for a new home build outside Chatfield — about 190 cu yd out, footings dug below frost depth, spoil spread and rough-graded on the lot.
Final price: $16,500
"Our builder gave us the names of two excavators and we called both. These folks walked the lot, showed us the yardage math, and wrote the price down. The hole was dug to the lines, the footings were below frost, and the builder never had to wait on them."
Dug a farm pond on acreage outside Zumbrota — shaped the banks so they hold, set the overflow, and spread the spoil across a low field instead of leaving a pile.
Final price: $8,900
"We'd talked about a pond for years. They helped us pick the spot where the ground already wanted to hold water, dug it, and shaped the banks so the kids can actually get to the edge. The dirt went to fill the low corner of the field. Two jobs in one."
Cut and filled a sloping acreage lot near Pine Island for a pole barn — about 85 cu yd moved on site, the pad area leveled, and the extra dirt used to build up the low end instead of hauling it off.
Final price: $6,800
"Another outfit quoted me hauling half the hill away. These folks showed me how to use the dirt right on my own lot and save the trucking. The lot's level, the barn crew is happy, and I kept the money."
Foundations, basements, ponds, and trenches — digging priced by the cubic yard, with the spoil spread on your lot or hauled off, your call.
Finish grading that leaves a yard lawn-ready, and rough grading that shapes slope so water runs off instead of sitting.
New gravel driveways built on a deep base for Minnesota frost, and top-up refreshes that bring a tired drive back.
Building pads cut, filled, and packed tight — a flat, solid start for a house, garage, shop, or pole barn.
Swales, regrading, and driveway culverts that move lot water where it should go — away from the house and the drive.
Stump grinding, pond digging, and light demolition and hauling — the finishing jobs that turn a rough lot into a usable one.
Most lots need the same three steps in the same order. The digging comes first — foundation and basement excavation, a pond, a trench line. Then the ground gets shaped: grades set so water sheds, low spots filled, the pad packed in lifts. Last comes the surface — the driveway, the finish grade, the seed-ready yard.
We do the whole run with our own machines, so the steps fit together. The crew that digs your foundation is the crew that grades around it, and the pad we build is the pad your builder measures. Southeast Minnesota ground helps nobody who rushes it — rolling farm country, heavy soil in the low spots, and frost that goes deep. We build for all three.
You call or send the form. We come out and look at the lot in person — dirt work can't be priced honest off a photo. You get a free written estimate with the scope and the price in plain terms.
On the day, the machines show up when we said they would. We dig, grade, and haul in the order we talked through, and we keep the site passable while we work. When the last pass is done, we walk the lot with you and check the grades together before we call it finished.
No. The visit and the written estimate are free. Dirt work turns on what's actually in the ground, so we look in person before we put a number in writing.
Deep enough for Minnesota frost — around here frost runs deep, and a thin base over frost-susceptible soil heaves and ruts. We dig out soft spots and build the base up in compacted lifts.
Yes, and it's cheaper when it does. Spoil spread and graded on site is part of the dig. Hauling it off runs $300–$600 a load, and only if you want it gone.
We dig the hole, trench, and backfill for septic work. The system itself — pumping, repair, and installation — is handled through our septic services; ask us and we'll point you right.
More answers are on our Excavation FAQ page.
Ready when you are — call (612) 260-8779 or send the form, and we'll come look at your lot and put the price in writing.
