Excess dirt removal in Northern California comes down to four choices: reuse the soil on your own property, screen it into usable material, haul it to a site that wants clean fill, or send it to a recycling yard. The right one depends on how much you have, how far it has to travel, and whether the soil is clean.
Every dig makes more dirt than the hole can take back. A house pad, a septic trench, a pond bottom, a footing excavation: the soil that comes out always takes up more room than it did in the ground, because digging loosens it. Plan on the spoils pile being bigger than you expect.
At Walberg, Inc., an owner-operated excavation contractor in Corning since 1999, the biggest headaches on dirt jobs come from nobody deciding where the soil goes until the excavator is already running.
How do you decide where the dirt goes?
Start with the pile, not the truck. Ask three things. Is the soil clean? Can any of it stay on site? Is it good enough to sell or reuse?
Here's how the options stack up.
| Option | Best when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Spread or berm on your property | Open acreage, gentle grades, no drainage conflict | Permit conditions, drainage, burying a future drainfield area |
| Screen it and reuse | Mixed soil with rock, roots, or debris | Needs enough volume to justify setting up |
| Haul to a clean fill site | Large volumes of clean soil, short haul | Tight haul windows, the receiving site's rules |
| Recycling yard | Soil mixed with concrete or asphalt chunks | Sorting before it gets accepted |
Cost sits behind every row of that table, and it moves with distance more than anything else. Trucking is billed by the load or by the hour, so a site 10 minutes from the dump and a site 45 minutes out are two different jobs. We don't quote dirt jobs from a table. Request a free estimate with the volume and the address and we'll price the haul for your actual site.
When can the dirt stay on your property?
On a rural parcel, often. A rancher off Corning Road with a few acres can usually spread spoils into a low spot or shape them into a berm without a single truck leaving the gate.
But it isn't automatic. Fill placed in a drainage path changes where water goes, and the first heavy rain will show you. Don't dump fill over the area you'd need for a future septic system or its replacement area either. If the parcel is in a flood zone or has a creek on it, call the county building department before you spread anything.
If it's going to carry weight later, as a pad or a driveway base, it has to be placed and compacted properly, not just dozed into a pile. That's a grading job, not a dumping job. Loose fill under a slab settles, and the cracks show up two winters later.
Can you screen the dirt instead of hauling it?
Sometimes this is the cheapest answer, and sometimes it isn't.
Screening runs the soil through a plant that pulls out rock, roots, and trash and leaves a finer product you can reuse for backfill, landscaping, or topdressing. Our dirt screening service does exactly that. It makes sense when you've got a big volume of dirt that's more than half usable and you'd otherwise pay to haul it away and pay again to buy material back.
When it isn't the right call: a small pile. Setting up a screening operation for a couple of truckloads costs more than just hauling it. We'd tell you that on the phone rather than sell you a job you don't need.
What about soil that isn't clean?
This is where an ordinary haul turns into a different job. Soil that smells of fuel or solvents, soil from an old shop or fuel tank location, or soil with metals above natural background levels is treated as regulated waste, not fill. It can't go to a clean fill site, and the disposal rules and costs are different.
You usually find out one of two ways. Either a test result tells you before the dig, or the operator sees stained or odorous soil mid-trench. We'd much rather have the test first. A lab sample is cheap compared to stopping a job with a truck waiting and a pile you can't move.
If you suspect a problem, read our page on contaminated soil removal. Walberg is DOSH certified and holds a CSLB license (#898860, classifications A, C-21, and C-22), and we can handle that side of the work if testing says you need it. You can check any contractor's license yourself at cslb.ca.gov.
What if the dirt is mixed with concrete or asphalt?
Demolition and excavation often go together. Pull out an old slab, an old driveway, or a road edge, and the spoils come up full of broken concrete and asphalt.
Don't send that to a clean fill site. Broken concrete and asphalt have their own outlet. We run a concrete and asphalt recycling yard, and recycled material comes back as base rock for driveways and pads. State recycling goals are tracked by CalRecycle, and construction and demolition debris is one of the materials they push to stay out of landfills.
Sort it at the source if you can. A load of clean soil and a load of clean concrete are both worth something to somebody. A load of the two mixed together is worth less than either.
Why does wet weather change the plan?
It's early November. The ground is going to get wet, and wet dirt is heavier, stickier, and a lot harder to haul.
A truck can't get into a muddy site without tearing it up, and many receiving sites slow down or shut their gates when it rains. If you have a pad or a trench job planned for winter, we'd say get the spoils off the ground before the first real storm. Leave a pile of loose soil uncovered on a slope through a wet January and some of it ends up in your neighbor's ditch, which is its own problem.
If the job can wait until the ground dries out in spring, wait. We'd wait two weeks after the last rain before running loaded trucks across a field, and so should anyone you hire.
Common questions
Where can I dump excess dirt in Tehama County?
Clean soil can go to a receiving site that accepts clean fill, or onto your own property if it won't cause drainage or setback problems. County landfills and transfer stations accept some soil but usually charge for it. Call the site first, and ask whether they take it and what they charge.
How much does it cost to haul away dirt?
It depends on how far the dirt travels, how much there is, and whether it's clean. Haul distance is the biggest swing factor. For a price tied to your site, request a free estimate from Walberg, Inc. with the volume and location.
Can I use the dirt from my excavation as fill?
Often, yes, if it's clean and free of roots, trash, and large organic material. It has to be placed in lifts and compacted if it's going under a slab or driveway. Loose spoils work for berms and low spots but not for anything that carries a load.
Do I need a permit to move dirt off my property?
It depends on the county and the amount of soil. Grading and hauling thresholds are set by the county building department, and Tehama, Butte, and Shasta counties each have their own rules. Call them before you start moving large volumes.
What happens if the soil is contaminated?
It gets tested, and if it fails it's handled as regulated waste instead of clean fill. That means separate disposal and a different cost. A sample before the dig is the cheapest way to find out.
Bottom line
Decide where the dirt is going before you start digging. If you have land, keep what you can and place it right. If you don't, get the volume and soil condition nailed down, and book the haul before the winter rains close the window.
For a project in Corning, Chico, Redding, Red Bluff, or the surrounding counties, request a free estimate and tell us how much you've got and where it sits. Walberg's excavation crews will tell you straight whether to keep it, screen it, or haul it. You can also read about our excavation work or see a few recent projects.