Driveway Earthwork
Driveway Excavation & Gravel Driveway Installation
Princeton Excavation digs out failed asphalt and gravel driveways and rebuilds what's underneath: geotextile fabric, dense-graded aggregate compacted in lifts, and a pitch that sheds water. We finish it as a gravel driveway or hand it off base-ready to your paving contractor.
How the rebuild works
A driveway fails from the bottom, so that's where we work. We call in the NJ One Call 811 markout before any cutting starts.
Full-Depth Dig-Out
We cut out the failed surface and the soft subgrade under it, not just the top few inches. Spoils get loaded into our 7-yard dump truck and hauled off the same day.
A Base Built in Lifts
Geotextile fabric over the subgrade, then dense-graded aggregate placed and compacted in lifts. Laser grade control holds the depth and slope across the whole run.
Pitch That Sheds Water
We set crown and pitch so rain runs off the driveway instead of into your garage or down the middle of it. Standing water is what kills driveways.
Why driveways fail early
Cracked asphalt and rutted gravel are symptoms. The cause is almost always underneath: a thin base, no fabric, or subgrade that was never compacted. Resurfacing over a bad base buys a couple of years. Rebuilding the base fixes it. That's the part we do, and our 5-6 ton excavator and dump truck are sized exactly for a residential drive.
Where we work
From there you have two finishes. We build gravel driveways as a complete product — compacted quarry process over the base, graded to shed water. Or, if you're paving, we hand your asphalt contractor a compacted, laser-graded base ready for the paver. We also cut in extensions, widen tight approaches, and rebuild aprons where the driveway meets the road.
How a job goes
From the first call to a clean handover
1. Site Walk
We come look at the property by appointment, check the access and any constraints, and go over your plans or what you have in mind.
2. Marking & Layout
We set the layout on the ground with laser accuracy. Depths, lines, and elevations are marked before anything gets dug.
3. The Work
We bring the right machine for the access, lay ground protection where it's needed, and keep the mess around lawns, trees, and hardscape to a minimum.
4. Clean Handover
You're left with a site that's ready to go and a yard that's still in one piece, set up for whatever's next.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. We do the excavation and base work, then coordinate directly with your paving contractor so they pave right behind us. Gravel driveways we build start to finish ourselves.
Compacted subgrade, geotextile fabric to keep the stone from pumping into the soil, then dense-graded aggregate — crusher run or QP — placed and compacted in lifts rather than dumped in one pass. Depth depends on your soil and what's parking on it.
Yes. We cut the extension in, build the base to match the existing depth, and tie the grades together so the new section doesn't settle away from the old one.
Service Areas
- Princeton· Mercer County
- Hopewell Township· Mercer County
- Montgomery & Skillman· Somerset County
- West Windsor· Mercer County
- Lawrence Township· Mercer County
- Pennington· Mercer County
- Robbinsville· Mercer County
- Hamilton Township· Mercer County
- Plainsboro· Middlesex County
- Cranbury· Middlesex County
- South Brunswick· Middlesex County
- Hillsborough· Somerset County
- Ewing· Mercer County
Princeton, Hopewell Township, Montgomery & Skillman, and surrounding Mercer and Somerset County, NJ.
Driveway past saving? Let's look at what's under it.
Owner-operated and by appointment. Tell us about your project and we'll walk the site with you.