Excavation through a 900mm side gate.
Half the earthworks on established Casey blocks happens somewhere a truck cannot go. Backyard pool, shed pad behind the house, drainage down the side of a 1970s Doveton place with a meter box in the way. Plenty of operators quote that job by pricing a fence removal. We would rather get the machine through the gap, and most of the time we can.
What actually fits through what.
About 700mm with the blade off and the tracks retracted on a variable-width mini-excavator, and 800mm is the realistic everyday number for a 1.7-tonne machine. A Bobcat S70 skid steer needs about 920mm. Below 700mm we are into walk-behind Dingo territory at roughly 750mm, and below that it becomes hand tools and a wheelbarrow. The measurement that matters is the narrowest point along the whole path, including the gate post, the meter box that sticks out, and the corner where the path turns - not the gate opening itself, which is what everyone measures.
That last point costs people days. A 1000mm gate with a 60mm post rebate, a gas meter protruding 120mm at knee height six metres in, and a right-angle turn at the corner of the house is not a 1000mm access - it is an 820mm access with a turning problem. We walk the whole path with a tape at the site visit, and we have turned up to jobs other operators quoted from the gate measurement and had to walk away from.
Casey's housing stock makes this a constant. The 1970s and 80s builds through Endeavour Hills, Doveton, Hallam and Eumemmerring typically have 900-1000mm side access, which is mini-excavator territory but not skid steer. The 1990s and 2000s estates through Narre Warren South and Berwick Springs are often tighter still because the houses were pushed to the boundary. The new Clyde North and Cranbourne East estates are the worst of all - some of those blocks have 600mm between the wall and the fence, and that is genuinely a barrow job.
Getting the dirt out is the actual problem.
Getting a machine into a backyard is the easy half. Getting forty cubic metres of clay back out through the same 800mm gap is the job. On open access, an excavator loads a tipper directly and the spoil is handled once. On tight access every cubic metre gets handled two or three times: dug, relayed to a stockpile at the front, then loaded to the truck. That is where the hours and the money go, and it is why tight-access quotes look expensive against a volume that sounds small.
The tools we use to reduce that handling, roughly in order of how often they come out: a second small machine shuttling to the front, a spoil conveyor running over the fence line into a truck on the street, a Dingo with a mud bucket where even the mini cannot turn, and occasionally a crane to lift a 3-tonne machine over the house into the yard. Craning sounds dramatic and on a big enough dig it is genuinely cheaper than a week of shuttling.
On the fence question: usually not, and avoiding it is most of the skill in this work. Dropping three Colorbond panels and reinstating them is $400-$900 and involves your neighbour's fence too, which is a conversation nobody enjoys. Between a 700-800mm mini-excavator, a Dingo, a conveyor for spoil and occasionally craning a machine over, we get into most Casey backyards without touching the fence. Where the fence genuinely has to come out, we say so at the site visit and quote it as a line item rather than discovering it on the morning.
One thing tight access does not change: the rules. A trench over 1.5m still needs shoring, benching or an engineered batter under the WorkSafe Victoria Excavation Compliance Code, and it is harder to batter in a small yard, not easier. Before You Dig Australia still gets lodged. And on established blocks the services are usually older, shallower and less accurately mapped than in a new estate - see the service strike and insurance page for why that combination is the expensive one.
An 8m x 4m pool through a 900mm gate, Berwick.
Established central Berwick block, 1980s brick house, fibreglass pool going into the back corner. About 42 cubic metres of spoil. Side gate measured 940mm at the gate and 880mm at the meter box. Truck could stand on the street but nowhere closer.
Open-access equivalent: if a truck could reach the hole, this is a one-day 3-tonne dig, $4,500 all in with spoil and gate fees.
What it actually took: a 1.7-tonne machine walked in through the 880mm pinch, a Dingo shuttling spoil to a stockpile on the front lawn over a plywood track to protect the grass, and a 3-tonne loading tippers from the street. Six tipper loads at $340. Two and a half days. $7,200, with the pool builder's shell landing on day four.
The alternative we quoted alongside it: drop four fence panels, bring a 5-tonne straight in from the neighbour's vacant side, dig it in a day, reinstate the fence. $5,400 including $700 of fence work. The owner took the dearer option because the neighbour had just had a new fence built and they liked their neighbour. That is a legitimate reason and we quoted both so it was their call, not ours.
The point of showing both: keeping the fence intact was an $1,800 decision on that block ($7,200 against $5,400), and the tight access itself added $2,700 over the $4,500 an open-access dig would have cost. Both of those are your numbers to weigh with the figures in front of you, not ours. Full rates are on the pricing guide, the method detail is on pool excavation, and Berwick covers the local soil and access pattern.
What tight access costs, and what to measure first.
Expect 30-60% on top of an open-access price for the same volume, and occasionally double if the spoil has to be barrowed. The extra is not a surcharge, it is genuine hours - a 1.7-tonne machine moves roughly a third of what a 5-tonne moves per hour, and if a truck cannot reach the hole then every cubic metre gets handled twice or three times. A pool dig that is $4,500 with a driveway you can back a truck down becomes $6,500-$8,500 through a 900mm side gate. We quote the method, not a percentage, so you can see exactly where the hours go.
And yes, you can excavate a pool in a small backyard in Casey. It is a big part of what we do on established blocks in Berwick, Hampton Park and Endeavour Hills. The method changes rather than the outcome: a 1.7 or 3-tonne machine in the hole, spoil relayed to the front of the block by a second small machine or a conveyor, and a tipper loaded from the driveway. It takes two to three days instead of one and the spoil handling is the cost. The important part is coordination - the dig lands three to five days before the shell arrives, and on a tight block there is nowhere to store spoil, so the trucks have to be booked to the hour.
Before you call anyone: four measurements and one photo. The narrowest point of the access path in millimetres, not 'about a metre'. The height clearance if there is an eave, a pergola or a low branch over the path. Whether there is a step, a retaining wall or a soft lawn the machine has to cross. And where a truck can legally stand on the street. Then a photo of the path from the street looking in. With those five things we can quote a tight-access job over the phone to within about 10% before we even visit.
If you are still deciding which machine the job wants at all, the bobcat versus excavator comparison is the place to start, and foundation excavation covers the other job type that is almost always tight-access on an established block.
Casey suburbs we cover.
Tight access questions.
What is the narrowest gap you can get an excavator through?
About 700mm with the blade off and the tracks retracted on a variable-width mini-excavator, and 800mm is the realistic everyday number for a 1.7-tonne machine. A Bobcat S70 skid steer needs about 920mm. Below 700mm we are into walk-behind Dingo territory at roughly 750mm, and below that it becomes hand tools and a wheelbarrow. The measurement that matters is the narrowest point along the whole path, including the gate post, the meter box that sticks out, and the corner where the path turns - not the gate opening itself, which is what everyone measures.
How much more does tight access excavation cost in Casey?
Expect 30-60% on top of an open-access price for the same volume, and occasionally double if the spoil has to be barrowed. The extra is not a surcharge, it is genuine hours - a 1.7-tonne machine moves roughly a third of what a 5-tonne moves per hour, and if a truck cannot reach the hole then every cubic metre gets handled twice or three times. A pool dig that is $4,500 with a driveway you can back a truck down becomes $6,500-$8,500 through a 900mm side gate. We quote the method, not a percentage, so you can see exactly where the hours go.
Do you have to remove my fence for a backyard excavation?
Usually not, and avoiding it is most of the skill in this work. Dropping three Colorbond panels and reinstating them is $400-$900 and involves your neighbour's fence too, which is a conversation nobody enjoys. Between a 700-800mm mini-excavator, a Dingo, a conveyor for spoil and occasionally craning a machine over, we get into most Casey backyards without touching the fence. Where the fence genuinely has to come out, we say so at the site visit and quote it as a line item rather than discovering it on the morning.
Can you excavate a pool in a small backyard in Casey?
Yes, and it is a big part of what we do on established blocks in Berwick, Hampton Park and Endeavour Hills. The method changes rather than the outcome: a 1.7 or 3-tonne machine in the hole, spoil relayed to the front of the block by a second small machine or a conveyor, and a tipper loaded from the driveway. It takes two to three days instead of one and the spoil handling is the cost. The important part is coordination - the dig lands three to five days before the shell arrives, and on a tight block there is nowhere to store spoil, so the trucks have to be booked to the hour.
What should I check before booking tight access excavation?
Four measurements and one photo. The narrowest point of the access path in millimetres, not 'about a metre'. The height clearance if there is an eave, a pergola or a low branch over the path. Whether there is a step, a retaining wall or a soft lawn the machine has to cross. And where a truck can legally stand on the street. Then a photo of the path from the street looking in. With those five things we can quote a tight-access job over the phone to within about 10% before we even visit.
Measure your gate, then call.
Narrowest point in millimetres and a photo from the street is all I need for a real number.