Excavation Contractor in Kettleby and North King Township

We are OCM Excavation & Construction, a family-run excavation contractor based in Richmond Hill and running jobs across Kettleby since 2008. Kettleby is a small place on a big landscape — a heritage village inside the Oak Ridges Moraine, with estate lots, horse paddocks, gravel side roads, and wells and septics under almost every property. That changes how we approach excavation work in Kettleby compared to a subdivision lot in the south GTA. Call us on 416-317-3090 if you want a contractor who already knows what that means.

Why excavation in Kettleby needs local knowledge

Kettleby sits inside the Township of King, on land covered by the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan and the Greenbelt overlay. Both of those planning regimes restrict how much you can disturb, where fill can go, and how stormwater has to be handled. Almost every excavation job in Kettleby touches at least one of them.

A few things we keep in front of mind on every Kettleby file:

• Township of King governance. Grading and fill in Kettleby fall under King’s Site Alteration By-law 2021-039, with submissions through the King CityView portal. The Township directs applicants to contact Development Engineering for cubic-metre thresholds — we work it out before the excavator shows up, not after.
• LSRCA jurisdiction, not TRCA. North King Township drains north to Lake Simcoe via the East Holland River system, so Kettleby properties typically fall under the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority. That is a different permitting desk than southern King, Vaughan or Richmond Hill — and the buffers and review timelines are different too.
• ORM and Greenbelt overlays. On Oak Ridges Moraine land, permeable cover, headwater feature setbacks and natural cover all come into the conversation. We plan dig footprints and fill placement around those rules instead of fighting them at inspection.
• Heritage village character. Kettleby’s village core is genuinely old — 19th-century stone and frame buildings, narrow road allowances, mature trees framing the street. Equipment access and vibration matter here in a way they do not on a fresh subdivision.
• Wells and septics everywhere. There is no municipal water or sewer in Kettleby. Every property runs on a drilled well and a septic field, and we plan our excavation routes, stockpile locations and trench lines accordingly.
• No private-tree DBH bylaw in King. Unlike Vaughan, Toronto or Markham, King Township does not regulate single private trees by diameter. Woodland removals still go through York Region’s forestry rules, and ORM natural cover provisions still apply, but for a typical Kettleby backyard you are not pulling a per-tree permit.

Where we work around Kettleby

We are regularly on jobs through the Kettleby village core, along the side roads heading toward Pottageville and Snowball, and on the estate and equestrian properties that fill the concessions between Kettleby and the 400. Many of these lots are one to ten acres, set well back from the road, with long driveways, board fencing and barns. The work looks closer to rural site preparation than to a typical city backyard dig, and we equip and price it that way.

Excavation services we provide in Kettleby

• Foundation excavation for new builds, additions, garages and detached coach houses on Kettleby estate lots.
• Pool excavation on rural properties — including spoil management when there is no neighbour-side access and everything has to come out the front.
• Septic excavation — new tile beds, septic replacements, tank pump-outs and field repairs, coordinated around the well location.
• Drainage and trenching — French drains, weeping tile, swales, culvert replacements at driveway entrances, and stormwater routing on sloped ORM lots.
• Mini-excavator work for low-impact digs on ORM-sensitive ground, tight equestrian yards, and heritage village frontages where a full-size machine is too much.
• Land grading and site preparation for paddocks, riding rings, outbuildings, driveways and laneway extensions.
• Equestrian property work — paddock drainage, manure-pad bases, sand-ring sub-grade prep, run-in shelter pads.

How we run a Kettleby excavation job

1. Site walk and pre-survey. We map out the well, septic tank and tile bed locations, existing grades, mature trees, and access route for the excavator and trucks.
2. ORM and Greenbelt pre-check. Before we cost the job, we confirm whether the property sits on Oak Ridges Moraine or Greenbelt land and what that means for the proposed footprint.
3. LSRCA review where it applies. If the work is near a watercourse, wetland or regulated feature, we flag it for Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority review early — that timeline drives the rest of the schedule.
4. King Township Site Alteration 2021-039. Where the volume of cut and fill triggers the by-law, we handle the CityView submission and the back-and-forth with Development Engineering.
5. Ontario One Call locates. Standard on every job, plus we mark wells and septic components ourselves so the operator sees them from the cab.
6. Excavation, hauling, backfill, final grade. Clean compaction, clean restoration, debris off site.

What we have learned working in Kettleby

A few patterns we see again and again on Kettleby properties:

• ORM ground does not forgive impermeable surfaces. Permeable driveway and patio designs save grief at permit stage and play nicely with the way water actually moves on a moraine lot.
• Village pace is real. Kettleby’s heritage core deserves a tidy site, narrow swing radius, and crews that do not run the machine at 6:30 a.m. We respect that.
• Old farm fields convert in stages. Many Kettleby estate lots used to be agricultural ground. Compacted plow pans, buried fencerow debris and abandoned drain tile still turn up under excavator buckets.
• Plan around the well first. Once you know where the well casing is and where the septic field sits, the rest of the site plan almost designs itself.

If you are weighing options across north King, it is worth reading our pages for the surrounding communities too — King City, Nobleton and Schomberg all share the King Township rules but each one has its own quirks. Our broader excavation services across the GTA page lays out the full scope.

Kettleby excavation FAQ

Do I need a Site Alteration permit for excavation work in Kettleby?

Often, yes. Grading, filling and earth-moving in King Township are governed by Site Alteration By-law 2021-039, with submissions through the King CityView portal. The Township does not publish a single cubic-metre threshold publicly and directs applicants to Development Engineering. We work through that early in the job so the by-law side is sorted before excavation starts.

Is Kettleby under TRCA or LSRCA?

North King Township, including Kettleby, generally falls under the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority, because the land drains north to Lake Simcoe through the East Holland River system. Southern King is TRCA. If your property is near a stream, wetland or other regulated feature, we confirm jurisdiction with the authority before submitting anything.

Can you work around an existing well and septic without disturbing them?

Yes — that is normal for almost every job in Kettleby. We locate the well casing, septic tank and tile bed before mobilizing, mark them on site, and plan equipment routes, spoil piles and trench lines to keep clear of them. Where a septic needs replacement, we coordinate it as part of the same dig instead of two separate site disturbances.

Does King Township have a tree bylaw I need to worry about on a Kettleby property?

King Township does not regulate single private trees by diameter the way Toronto, Vaughan or Markham do. Woodland tree removal is regulated through York Region’s forestry rules, and natural cover provisions still apply on Oak Ridges Moraine land. For a typical backyard excavation in Kettleby, you are usually not pulling a per-tree permit — but it is worth checking each site rather than assuming.

If you want a contractor who can walk a Kettleby property and tell you what the dig will actually look like — ORM, LSRCA, septic, heritage, and all — call us at 416-317-3090.

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