When the time comes to do your first project on your farm that involves excavating something, there's no need to feel overwhelmed. Excavation may not be in your wheelhouse, but good planning and plenty of research can help you ensure the process goes smoothly. Here are some excavation tips for first-timers.

1. Plan extra time

Often, excavation is just the first step of a construction project. If you're new at such things, you may not be aware of just how many unforeseen situations could crop up during the excavation process. So make sure to leave plenty of extra time in the schedule. If you plan a tight timeline and schedule the next step of the process to start as soon as possible without leaving any spare time in between, you could run into trouble if, for example, wet weather makes the excavation take longer than expected. 

2. Have somewhere to put the dirt

When excavating, you'll end up with huge amounts of fill dirt as a byproduct. Before you start, make sure to think about where the dirt will go. If you have any areas in your yard that need filling in, reserve some of them for that. Or if you want to use the soil for another project such as building berms along the edge of your property, you can have the soil dumped there. 

For any extra soil, you'll need to either find someone else who needs topsoil and have them cart it away (try advertising it as free fill dirt in local classifieds), or pay someone to haul it away. And if it's not leaving your property immediately, make sure you have a designated spot to stack the soil that's in a spot where it won't cause problems (not on the lawn, for instance).

3. Hire professionals

For any important excavation projects, especially if you don't have a lot of experience, you'll need to hire professionals to do the excavating work. Professionals know not only how to get the project done in an efficient and timely manner, but also how to deal with any potential hazards (such as sandy soil that can collapse if not shored up during excavation). Plus, professionals know exactly what equipment to bring and they have access to it already, making the whole process simpler.

An excavation project doesn't have to be daunting, even if you don't have any experience with this type of project in the past. Get in touch with a local excavation company like Price Excavating to discuss your first excavation project.