· by Rick Kosta
Getting three quotes for earthmoving is the easy part. Working out whether those three quotes are actually comparable is where most people come unstuck. The numbers usually sit on different assumptions, different exclusions and very different machinery, so the cheapest figure on the page is often just the one with the most left out of it.
Kosta & Sons has been running excavation and earthmoving work around Melbourne for more than 13 years, and the jobs that run smoothly are almost always the ones where the questions got asked before the contract was signed. Here is the checklist we would use ourselves if we were the ones doing the hiring.
Pin down the scope before you ask for a price
A contractor cannot quote accurately on a vague description, and you cannot compare quotes that were priced on different scopes. Before you ring anyone, write down what you know: the size of the area, the depth you need, what has to be removed, whether spoil is staying on site or going off it, and what access looks like. If you have engineering drawings or a soil report, have them ready to send.
Then make sure every contractor is quoting the same thing. If one has allowed for cartage and tip fees and another has not, the gap between them is not a saving, it is a bill you will pay later. Ask each one directly what they have assumed about spoil disposal, rock, service locations and reinstatement.
Check the credentials, not the claims
Licensing and certification
Verify that the contractor is licensed and certified to carry out excavation work in Victoria, and that their operators hold the tickets for the machines they will actually be running. A licensed contractor is working to recognised industry standards, and certification from a reputable body shows a level of competence you can point to rather than take on faith. Ask for the documents. A contractor who does the right thing will not be offended.
Insurance cover
Confirm the contractor carries comprehensive insurance, including public liability for property damage and injury, and workers compensation for their crew. Request the certificates of currency and check the dates, not just that a policy exists. Excavation carries real risk, and if something goes wrong on an uninsured job, the exposure lands on you. This is the single item most worth being stubborn about.
Safety and environmental practice
Ask how the contractor handles site safety and what they do about environmental controls. Underground services, unstable ground, sediment running off into stormwater and dust affecting neighbours are all ordinary parts of the job that need a plan rather than improvisation. A contractor who can explain their process without hesitating has one. A contractor who waves it off does not.
Match the experience to your site
Experience in general is not the same as experience with your kind of job. A contractor who spends their week on open greenfield subdivisions is not automatically the right pick for a tight inner-suburban block with a shared driveway and a neighbour's fence a metre off the dig line. Ask what similar work they have done recently, in similar ground, at a similar scale.
Local knowledge counts for more than people expect. Melbourne blocks vary enormously, and a contractor who has worked across the northern and western suburbs will already know how the reactive clay behaves, where rock tends to turn up and how council and asset owner requirements play out in practice. That knowledge turns into fewer surprises and fewer variations.
Look at the machinery, and at how it gets to you
Machinery condition is a fair proxy for how a business is run. Well-maintained, current equipment breaks down less, which is the difference between a job finishing on schedule and a crew standing around waiting for a float. Ask about the age of the fleet, the maintenance schedule and what happens if a machine goes down mid-job.
Just as important is whether the contractor has the right size machine for your access. Oversized gear that cannot get through the side of a house is useless, and undersized gear turns a two-day dig into a week. Contractors who also run their own hire fleet usually have more options to draw on, which is worth knowing when you are weighing up the case for hiring plant and machinery on your own account.
Read the quote line by line
What a proper quote itemises
A detailed quote should break out labour, machine time, cartage, tip and disposal fees, mobilisation and any allowances or provisional sums. It should also spell out what is excluded. Exclusions are not a red flag on their own, but silent exclusions are. If you cannot tell from the document what you are buying, ask for it in writing before you go further.
How variations get handled
Excavation turns up surprises. Rock, buried footings, contaminated fill and old services are all common enough that the question is not whether a variation might arise but how it will be priced and approved when it does. Get the hourly or daily rate for extra machine time agreed up front, and get it in writing that no variation proceeds without your sign-off. Also check payment terms, deposits and the payment schedule before you commit.
Check references and recent work
Ask for references from recent clients and, where possible, a look at completed jobs. Read the online reviews as well, but weigh the detailed ones more heavily than the star average. What you are listening for is how the contractor behaved when something went wrong, because that is the part that predicts your experience. Builders and site supervisors who have worked alongside them are often the most useful people to ask.
Timelines, availability and communication
Get a realistic schedule for each stage of the work, not just a finish date. A contractor who commits to an unrealistic timeline is either guessing or planning to leave your site to chase another one. Ask how their current workload sits against your start date, and what happens if wet weather pushes things out.
Then judge how they communicate. Do they return calls, answer questions clearly and put things in writing? Earthmoving sits at the front of a build, so delays and misunderstandings there flow through every trade that follows. A contractor who is easy to reach when they are quoting is usually easy to reach when the job is running.
Warning signs worth walking away from
- A price well below the others with no explanation of why
- Reluctance to provide licence details or certificates of currency
- A verbal quote only, or a one-line total with no breakdown
- A large cash deposit requested before any work starts
- No questions asked about access, soil or services before pricing
- Vague answers about who will actually be on site
Where to go from here
Work through this list with each contractor and the right choice usually becomes obvious well before price does. It helps to understand the groundwork itself as well, so you can follow what is being quoted: our guide to what site preparation actually involves walks through the sequence step by step.
If you are comparing contractors for a Melbourne job, look through the full range of excavation services we offer and then call Rick on 0456 614 439 for a straight answer and a free quote. We are based in Tullamarine and open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.
Ready to act on this? Explore our excavation and earthmoving services, or learn more about plant and machinery hire.
