Excavation & land clearing in Standish, Maine.
Much of Standish is still forest. The comprehensive plan counts about 30,000 acres, roughly 70 percent of the town, as capable of growing commercial timber, and rural lots have been large: the 2006 plan listed a three-acre minimum in the Rural and Rural Residential districts. Building a house on one of those lots starts with clearing a driveway, a house pad, a leach field and some yard out of standing woods.
We run our own excavation equipment, so one crew handles the clearing, foundation and site excavation, drainage trenching and rough grading on the same job.
Permits that start with the first tree
Clearing near water is regulated before a single stump comes out. Within Maine's 250-foot shoreland zone, no more than 40 percent of the volume of trees four inches or larger may be cut in any ten-year period, and the buffer beside a great pond allows no openings in the canopy larger than 250 square feet. Along the Saco, the Saco River Corridor Commission regulates significant earthmoving, grading and filling within 500 feet of the river.
Away from the water, the trigger is size. Maine DEP's construction general permit applies when a project disturbs one acre or more. A driveway, house site, septic area and lawn on a big Standish lot can pass that mark, so the clearing limits are drawn on the plan before the work starts.
Ground conditions across town
The comprehensive plan names the town's least buildable soils: the northwest corner along the Baldwin line from Adams Pond through Tucker Brook, pockets north of Little Watchic Pond, southwest of Duck Pond and northwest of Rich Mill Pond, and the Sticky River corridor. The plan's ratings weigh slope, drainage and depth to bedrock or the water table, so ground in those areas calls for drainage trenching and careful staging.
Elsewhere the plan describes porous sand and gravel around the lakes and occasional gravel pits in larger till deposits. Sandy sites excavate easily but need silt fence and quick stabilization, since the plan also warns that erosion from building sites and driveways carries phosphorus into Standish's lakes.
The Portland Water District keeps more than 2,500 acres undeveloped for watershed protection and owns most of the Otter Ponds area, which lies over a high-yield aquifer fed by Sebago Lake. The comprehensive plan asks that the District be notified of sand and gravel extraction applications, a reminder of how closely digging and drinking water are tied together in this town.
Land Clearing · Site Work · Trenching
How we handle excavation & land clearing
We run our own excavation equipment, which means one crew takes your project from raw ground to ready: land clearing, foundation and site excavation, drainage trenching, and retention pond mowing and trenching for commercial properties.
See the full excavation & land clearing service page or everything we do in Standish, Maine.
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Free Estimates
Excavation & Land Clearing in Standish? Let's talk.
Tell us about your property and we will walk it with you — free estimates, straight answers, stonework guaranteed to hold its lines.
Mon–Sat 7:00am – 5:00pm · Based in Cumberland, Maine