CM Excavating LLC
Lebanon, Hunterdon County
One of the calls we'd make first. Credential verified against the state registry, date shown.
A public service of The Hunterdon Scoop · Hunterdon County, New Jersey
The best excavation contractors in Hunterdon County.
Drainage, driveways, land clearing: the trade that shapes everything built after it. We checked what's checkable on every excavation contractor we could find serving the county. Every fact below names its source and the date we checked. Nobody paid to be on this page, and nobody can.
Records pulled All 10 · July 14, 2026
10 checked · 1 we'd call first
Who we'd hire
Earned, never sold. The order means something. Picks in waiting. These look like calls we'd make, but their credentials run through a
registry we haven't finished pulling directly, and nothing gets a stamp here secondhand:
- Greg Beavers Septic & Excavating (Beavers Septic Service) (High Bridge) — One of the calls we'd make first, pending the credential pull.
- Hendrickson Excavating (Flemington / Stockton area) — One of the calls we'd make first, pending the credential pull.
Why trust this page
We pull credentials from the official registries ourselves and print the date next to every status — excavation, driveway, drainage, and land-clearing work tied to a residential home improvement contract over $500 requires active NJ Home Improvement Contractor (HIC) registration, issued and tracked by the NJ Division of Consumer Affairs. Verify at https://newjersey.mylicense.com/verification/ or https://www.njconsumeraffairs.gov/hic/Pages/verification.aspx — search by business name or registration number (format: 13VH#######). Note this is a registration (insurance + consumer-law compliance), not a trade exam. Septic-specific work has no separate statewide license in NJ; it runs through the local municipal Board of Health under NJDEP standards (N.J.A.C. 7:9A), so confirm local permit history with the town rather than a state registry for that piece.. Picks are editorial judgment on the checkable record: years in the trade, complaint patterns, review consistency, real presence in the county. No company paid to be listed, none can pay to become a pick, and when a pick has a weak spot we print it. Here are the full rules.
Every excavation contractor we checked
Excavation & site work is a genuinely deep local category in Hunterdon — at least 8-10 real, address-verifiable operators headquartered in the county (Flemington, Lebanon, High Bridge, Hampton, Clinton, Frenchtown), which is more supply than thinner trades in this county tend to show. Most are small owner-operator outfits that blend excavation with septic work or landscaping rather than pure excavation specialists, so "who does what" needs to be read carefully per job. Review data is thin and scattered across HomeAdvisor/Angi rather than concentrated on Google or BBB, and license numbers are rarely posted on company websites — expect to verify HIC registration directly with the state rather than trusting a badge on a site. No obvious lead-gen shell infestation was found in-county, though one out-of-state operator (TrenchEx, Bucks County PA) markets into Hunterdon and should be held to the same NJ HIC verification standard as local firms.| Company & services | Based in | NJ HIC # | Registry status | BBB | Reviews (as reported) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A & S Paving & Excavating LLC Driveway excavation & paving (asphalt) · Walkways · Parking lots · General excavating · Paving repair | Flemington In county | Not posted on site — unverified, check NJ DCA HIC lookup before hiring | … Pending check | Not checked | |
| Lee's Light Excavating and Rental Light excavation & grading · Septic system repair · Drainage & French drains · Driveway/roadway repair · Land/lane clearing · Pool clearing/filling/grading · Equipment rental with operator | Hampton In county | Not posted on site — unverified | … Pending check | Not checked | |
| Greg Beavers Septic & Excavating (Beavers Septic Service) Septic system installation, repair, inspection, upgrades · Distribution box & pump replacement · Sewer camera inspection · General excavation & grading · Trenching · Drainage & stormwater · Stone driveway rejuvenation · Retaining walls | High Bridge In county | Not posted on site — unverified | … Pending check | Not checked | |
| CM Excavating LLC Excavation · Land clearing · Land grading · Site preparation · Foundation work · Trenching · Driveway prep · Drainage · Demolition cleanup | Lebanon In county | 13VH13270300 | ✓ Active · 2026-07-14 | Not checked | 4.8 (Angi) |
| Badger Earthworks Excavating (foundations, trenches, soil work) · Grading & drainage · Land clearing (trees, stumps, brush) · Retaining walls | Lebanon In county | Not posted on site — unverified | … Pending check | Not checked | |
| Hendrickson Excavating Septic systems (new & repair) · Equine arenas · Water gardens · Gravel driveways · Drainage & grading · Foundations · Propane tank removal · General excavating | Flemington / Stockton area In county | — | … Pending check | Not checked | 5.0 · 41 reviews (HomeAdvisor) |
| CSM Services LLC Demolition · Excavation · Grading · Concrete & utility installation · Sewer & water line work · Hazardous waste / oil tank removal | Clinton In county | Not posted on site — unverified | … Pending check | Not checked | |
| Trevor's Landscaping, LLC Excavation · Landscape design & build · Backyard/outdoor living construction | Frenchtown In county | Not posted on site — unverified | … Pending check | Not checked | 4.4 (HomeAdvisor) |
| Outlaw Excavation, LLC Soil backfilling & compaction · Earthmoving/regrading · Excavation · Land grading · Land clearing | Lebanon In county | Not posted on site — unverified | … Pending check | Not checked | |
| TrenchEx Contractors LLC Foundation excavation · Drainage system excavation · Site preparation · Utility trenching · Land clearing (wooded lots, brush) | Bucks County, PA (serves Hunterdon NJ) | Not posted on site — unverified; confirm NJ HIC registration specifically (PA licensing does not cover NJ jobs) | … Pending check | Not checked |
Registry status comes straight from the state's verification system on the date shown, and you can rerun any number there yourself in about two minutes. Review scores are what the named platforms report and we have not audited them. BBB grades as of July 2026. "Based in" is the registered address city, which sometimes differs from where a company says it operates. An active registration is the floor, not an endorsement; the picks we would actually call are above.
What it costs
Raw excavation runs about $4-$8 per square foot in NJ as of 2026 (homewyse.com cost data). Full driveway installs, which bundle excavation with base and surface: asphalt $5-8/sq ft, concrete $7-13/sq ft, pavers $10-30/sq ft, tar-and-chip $3-7/sq ft (2026 NJ contractor pricing pages, randysealcoatingandstriping.com).
Before you hire
- Get the NJ HIC registration number and check it live at the state's HIC verification site before signing anything — a name on a truck door is not proof of registration, and several local sites here don't post their number at all.
- Ask who is pulling the permit and whether utility markouts (call 811) happen before digging starts — hitting a gas or electric line on a rural Hunterdon lot is the single most common and most expensive excavation mistake.
- If the job touches a septic system, confirm the contractor is coordinating with your local municipal Board of Health — NJ has no statewide septic installer license, so oversight runs through the town, and skipping that step can void a permit or resale disclosure.
- Get soil and drainage conditions in writing before the quote is final — Hunterdon's mix of rock ledge, clay, and high water table in low-lying areas can turn a flat-rate driveway or foundation dig into a change-order nightmare if the contractor didn't test first.
- Ask specifically what happens to spoil (excavated dirt/rock) — hauling it off-site costs real money and some contractors quote low by planning to leave it piled on your property unless you ask upfront.
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Questions neighbors actually ask
Do I need a licensed contractor for excavation work in Hunterdon County?
Yes, for most residential jobs. Any home improvement contract over $500 in New Jersey requires the contractor to carry an active NJ Home Improvement Contractor (HIC) registration — this covers driveways, drainage, grading, and land clearing tied to a residential property. It's a registration, not a licensing exam, but it does require insurance and following consumer protection rules. Purely commercial or agricultural site work may fall outside HIC.
Does the excavation contractor also need a septic license?
New Jersey doesn't have a single statewide septic installer license. Septic work is governed by state standards (N.J.A.C. 7:9A) but enforced locally through your municipal Board of Health, which issues the actual permit. So the real check isn't a state license number — it's whether the contractor is used to pulling permits through your specific town's health department.
What does an excavation or driveway job typically cost in NJ right now?
Raw excavation (clearing and prepping the ground) runs roughly $4 to $8 per square foot as of 2026. A full driveway installation, which includes excavation plus base and surface material, runs about $5-8/sq ft for asphalt, $7-13/sq ft for concrete, and $10-30/sq ft for pavers — get a written per-square-foot breakdown so you can see how much of the quote is excavation versus finish material.
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