Excavation and land clearing in Windham, Maine.
The comprehensive plan notes that most new homes have gone up in the rural Farm and Farm Residential zones on lots of 80,000 and 60,000 square feet. Each one starts with clearing, a foundation hole, a driveway and a septic excavation.
We run our own excavation equipment, so one crew handles the sequence: land clearing, foundation and site excavation, drainage trenching and retention pond work.
Erosion control is the first thing installed
Windham's Surface Water Protection Ordinance, adopted in 2002 as Chapter 142 of the Land Use Ordinance, extends erosion and sedimentation controls to every watershed in town. Site plan and subdivision review both require an erosion control plan, and the town's construction guidance points to the Maine Erosion and Sediment Control BMP manual and the Maine Stormwater Management Design Manual.
The town also strongly encourages hiring contractors certified by the Maine DEP in erosion control. On a Windham job, silt fence, stabilized entrances and a plan to seed or mulch exposed ground go in before the first stump comes out, and stockpiles are kept away from ditches and streams.
Clearing near water and in the woods
Inside the 250-foot shoreland zone, Maine limits tree removal to 40 percent of the volume of trees four inches and larger in any ten-year period. Beyond the buffer, cleared openings are capped at 25 percent of the lot or 10,000 square feet, whichever is greater. Work that moves soil next to a great pond, river or stream can also require a permit under the Natural Resources Protection Act.
Windham has left timber harvesting rules to the state, and the Maine Forest Service enforces harvesting standards in the shoreland zone. Clearing a house site is a separate matter from a timber harvest, and the code enforcement office is the starting point for either.
Digging in sand, silt and ledge
The ground itself changes across town. Hinckley and Windsor outwash sands dig easily but slough in open trenches. Scantic and other glaciomarine silts hold water and turn soft when disturbed. Lyman soils, which NRCS describes as shallow over bedrock, can put ledge within reach of a foundation or trench.
Test pits before a foundation or septic layout is finalized show which of those conditions a lot actually has. Trench walls in the outwash sands are cut back or shored, and on the wetter silts the work is timed for drier weeks so equipment does not rut the site.
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 Windham, Maine.
Excavation & Land Clearing in nearby towns
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Excavation & Land Clearing in Windham? Let's talk.
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Mon–Sat 7:00am – 5:00pm · Based in Cumberland, Maine