Excavation Midland
Dig to the Finished Lot, Not the Hole
On a Midland build, the Town approves the grades before anyone digs. The excavation is how the site gets there, and the deposit says whether it did.
Site Preparation & Development
Clearing, excavation, grading, drainage, driveways, well and septic, under one team.
See the service →Excavation in Midland is usually thought of as a machine and a hole. The Town of Midland thinks of it as the first step toward a set of finished grades it has already approved on paper. Its Engineering Development Design Standards require an engineered lot grading plan for infill lots in urban, settlement and rural areas, for waterfront and shoreline lots, and for additions and accessory buildings, and that plan fixes both the depth of the dig and the shape of the ground when the job is done.
That changes what a good excavation looks like in Midland, Ontario. Hitting the plan's footing elevation matters. So does leaving the lot in a state where the finished grading can meet the Town's numbers, because a $5,000 lot grading deposit is waiting on it.
We are A&R Design Build, and site preparation is part of how we build: clearing, excavation, grading, drainage and driveways, with the well and septic where a lot needs them. This page is about the numbers a Midland dig is working toward.
Excavation Midland Lots Start With an Engineered Plan
Section 11.2 of the Town's standards lists the lots that need engineered lot grading, and the list is wide. Lots in a subdivision, assumed or not. Infill lots in urban areas, settlement areas and rural areas. Every waterfront and shoreline lot. House additions and accessory buildings too. For a new house in Midland, assume there will be one.
The plan is prepared and certified by a Professional Engineer, an Ontario Land Surveyor or a Certified Engineering Technologist, and one certified digital copy accompanies the building permit application in Cloudpermit. The Town reviews it for approval before the permit is issued.
What makes it an excavation document is section 11.7.2. Builders' site grading plans have to show underside of footing elevations and top of foundation wall elevations. Where footings or walls step to more than one level, every level is shown, and where engineered fill is used, its level is shown as well. In other words, the bottom of the hole has an approved elevation before the hole exists. On a sloped Midland lot with a walkout or a stepped footing, that can mean several approved elevations, and each one is a target the excavator has to hit.
The Grades a Midland Excavation Works Toward
The same standards set the shape of the finished ground. Excavation and backfill are what create it, so these are the figures we dig and stockpile around on a Midland site:
- Next to the house: grass slopes of no less than 2% and no more than 5%, falling away from the building.
- Everywhere else on grass: between 2% and 33%.
- At the foundation: proposed ground at the house and its corners at least 0.15 m below the top of the foundation wall.
- Room to work: a minimum table distance of 5.0 m at the rear of the house, and 0.6 m along one side where zoning permits.
- Swales: 150 mm to 200 mm deep, with side slopes no steeper than 3:1.
- Driveways: between 2.0% and 7.0%, and never a reverse slope that sends water back toward the garage.
Each of those figures is set by how deep the house sits. Dig the footing too deep and the top of wall drops with it; the ground then has to come down to stay 0.15 m below the wall, and on a tight lot the 2% to 5% slope away from the house may no longer reach the swale. That is why the excavation is checked against the plan's elevations, not against how the hole looks.
In Midland, Water Leaves the Lot on the Surface
A detail in Midland's standards that shapes the whole site plan: roof leaders may not be connected directly to the Town's sewers, and neither may foundation drains. Leaders discharge to concrete splash pads in landscaped areas and are directed to side yard swales. A sump pump discharges the same way. The standards also say grading may not increase discharge to adjacent lands, and residential lots may not drain into parkland without the Engineering Department's approval.
So every drop that lands on a Midland house leaves on the surface, across ground the excavation crew shaped. The swales have to be where the plan puts them, at the depth it gives, and the sump discharge point has to land on a splash pad that drains toward a swale rather than a neighbour. Get the rough grade right during excavation and backfill, and the finished landscaping only has to dress it.
Retaining walls are the other place grading turns into structure. Where the grade separation exceeds 1 m in height, the Town requires the wall to be designed by a Professional Engineer, built of a material the Engineering Department accepts, and covered by a permit with its own design drawings. On a sloped Midland lot it is often cheaper to shape the excavation so a wall stays under that line, or to let a walkout foundation take the grade change instead.
Before the First Bucket on a Midland Site
Some of the most important excavation work in Midland happens at a desk.
- Locates. The Ontario Dig Authority asks for a locate request at least 5 business days before you dig. It is free and required by law, and it is how buried infrastructure gets marked by its owners before an excavator goes near it.
- A rural driveway. Midland's standards require an entrance approval permit for every rural driveway, and an entrance culvert unless the driveway sits at a ditch high point. New culverts are a minimum of 450 mm in diameter and no longer than 18.0 m.
- A wellhead area. Midland's Zoning By-law carries Wellhead Protection Area overlay zones. Inside a WHPA-A area, residential fuel storage over 250 litres is prohibited, which matters if a buried or basement oil tank was ever part of the plan. We check the overlay before the design settles on a fuel.
- Excess soil. Where a Midland project goes through the Town's engineering submissions, the standards ask the project's Qualified Person to assess excess soil under Ontario Regulation 406/19. Knowing early where surplus material will go keeps trucks moving.
Getting the Midland Deposit Back
Midland's fee by-law, 2026-2, sets the lot grading deposit at $5,000 per lot unless a development agreement says otherwise. The Town's Lot Grading page explains when it comes back: once the grading is complete, the Town inspects, and if the building permit can be closed, the deposit is returned.
That inspection looks at the finished lot, but almost everything it checks was decided during excavation and backfill: how deep the house sits, where the spoil went, whether the swales were cut where the plan shows them, whether the driveway falls the right way. Fixing those things after the sod is down means redoing finished work. Doing them in the right order during the dig does not.
How We Run Site Work on a Midland Build
Site preparation is one of the twelve steps in how we build, and it sits with the same team as the rest of the house. Rene Ouellet Jr., our owner, oversees site preparation, excavation and foundations himself.
Walk it and read the plan
We visit the lot, then work from the engineered grading plan's footing and wall elevations so the house is set at the height the Town approved.
Clear, locate, access
Locates requested ahead, trees kept where they matter, and on a rural lot the entrance permit and culvert in place so trucks have a way in.
Excavate, and blast if needed
We dig to the footing elevation, and our site preparation includes blasting where rock is in the way.
Backfill to the finished lot
Rough grades, swales and driveway slope shaped to the plan, with well and septic where the lot is on private services, so final grading and the Town's inspection go cleanly.
Who Is Doing the Digging
We are A&R Design Build, building in Central Ontario since 1973 with more than 1,500 homes and cottages completed. We are based in Innisfil, Midland is one of the towns our site names in our service area, and we are a member of the Midland, Penetanguishene & District Builders' Association. We are not a stand-alone excavation contractor: we prepare sites for the homes and cottages we build, so the dig, the foundation and the house answer to one team and one schedule.
If you are weighing a Midland lot you have not bought yet, a site visit before the purchase is the cheapest grading advice there is.
Midland Excavation Questions
Do I need a lot grading plan before excavating in Midland?
For a new house, yes. The Town of Midland's standards require engineered lot grading for infill, rural and waterfront lots, among others. The plan is certified by a Professional Engineer, Ontario Land Surveyor or CET and approved before the building permit issues.
How deep should the excavation be?
As deep as the approved plan says. Builders' grading plans in Midland must show the underside of footing and top of foundation wall elevations, every level where footings step, and engineered fill where used. The dig is set to those numbers.
When do I get the $5,000 grading deposit back?
The Town inspects once grading is complete, and returns the deposit if the building permit can be closed. The amount comes from Midland's fee by-law 2026-2.
Can my sump pump connect to the Town sewer?
No. Midland's standards say foundation drains and roof leaders may not connect directly to Town sewers. Sumps and leaders discharge to concrete splash pads in landscaped areas, directed to side yard swales.
Do I need a permit for a retaining wall?
If the grade separation is more than 1 m, yes. The Town requires an engineered design, a permit and separate retaining wall drawings.
Do you do excavation on its own in Midland?
We prepare sites for the homes and cottages we build. Excavation, grading, drainage, driveways, well and septic are part of that scope, handled by the same team that builds the house.
Keep Exploring
What Site Preparation Actually Involves
Access, clearing, grading, well, septic and drainage, in order.
Read the post →
Building on a Sloped Lot
What a slope changes about the foundation, drainage and dirt.
Read the post →Preparing a Lot in Midland?
Send us the address and any grading plan or survey you have. We will walk it and tell you plainly what the site work involves. We reply within two business days.