Messina Plumbing & Mechanical
Grading · Driveways · Drainage · Land clearing

Got a dirt job? Joe already owns the backhoe.

The same machine and the same operator that lay our sewer lines are available for the rest of your dirt work. Grading, driveways, drainage, clearing, footings, and hauling, done by someone who reads the ground for a living, not a rented machine with a stranger on it.

Call (417) 987-8740 Text a photo of the site
Messina backhoe moving earth on a Springfield job site
The backhoe that shows up when you call.

"Joe did a great job. He put a lot of care and expertise in to the project. My yard is on a hill so that brought on many challenges. Through it all joe did not give up."

Catrina · Google review

What the backhoe does

  • Site grading and leveling: getting a pad, yard, or building site to the grade it needs, so water runs where you want it and the surface sits right.
  • Gravel driveways: new drives cut and rocked, tired ones regraded and crowned so they shed water instead of holding potholes.
  • Land and brush clearing: opening up a lot, a fence line, or a building spot, and hauling off what comes out.
  • Drainage and water problems: French drains, culverts, swales, and regrading for the yard that floods or the water coming at the house.
  • Footings and pads: digging for shops, sheds, additions, and slabs, dug to the depth and dimension the build calls for.
  • Trenching: runs for water, electric sleeves, and other utilities, cut clean and to depth.
  • Dirt work and hauling: backfill, fill dirt, spoil and debris hauled off, stumps and loose rock cleared.

It is the same shop and the same standard as the plumbing work. One number to call, a licensed and insured operator, and a machine that is maintained because it is ours.

Before any digging, anywhere: utilities get located first. Missouri's 811 locate service marks buried gas, power, and phone lines at no cost, and no bucket touches the ground before the locates are in. That rule protects your property and everyone on site.

Our ground in the Ozarks

This is limestone country. One spot digs like a garden and the next hits rock two feet down, and slope changes everything about how water moves and how a pad or a drive has to be cut. That is why nobody serious quotes dirt work sight unseen. Joe looks at the site, reads the ground and the fall, and gives you a real number before anything starts.

What moves the price

How much you're movingCubic yards, square footage, and how far the dirt has to travel are the bones of any dirt-work number.
What's in the wayRock, roots, stumps, and existing structures all change the machine time.
Access and slopeA tight, steep, or soft site is slower and harder on the machine than open flat ground.
Hauling and materialWhether spoil leaves the site, and whether gravel, fill, or rock comes in, moves the total.
Every dirt job is its own job. There is no honest flat rate for earthmoving because no two sites are the same. Joe walks it, tells you straight what it takes, and prices it before the backhoe rolls.

"Joe did a great job. He put a lot of care and expertise in to the project. My yard is on a hill so that brought on many challenges. Through it all joe did not give up."

Catrina · Google review

Common questions

Do you take on jobs that aren't plumbing at all?
Yes. The backhoe earns its keep on plenty of work that has nothing to do with pipe: driveways, grading, clearing, drainage, footings, and hauling. If it moves dirt, ask.
Can you fix the spot in my yard that always floods?
Usually. Standing water is almost always a grade or a drainage problem, and both are fixable with the right cut, a French drain, or a culvert. Joe looks at where the water comes from and where it needs to go, then solves it at the source.
Are you licensed and insured for this work?
Yes. You get a licensed, insured operator and a maintained machine, not a rental with a stranger on it. If something is under the ground, we locate it first and dig it right.
How do I get a price?
Call or text the shop and send a photo of the site if you can. For anything beyond the simplest job, Joe comes and looks before quoting, because that is the only way to give you a number that holds.

Burst pipe? No hot water? Sewage backup?

Call now, day or night (417) 987-8740 Text us a photo →
While you wait: 1 · Shut off the main water valve, usually at the meter or where the line enters the house 2 · Open the lowest faucet to relieve the pressure 3 · Move what you can out from under the leak
Also from the same shop
Water & Sewer ExcavationThe plumbing side of what we dig.New ConstructionSite utilities for new builds.24/7 EmergencyWater where it shouldn't be? Call.
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