No you do not need a building permit to dig a hole. However, you should check with your local municipality for any fence height restrictions in your region. Some areas allow for a 6’ fence while others allow 7’. We will take care of contacting Ontario One Call to request a free locate for you.
Project Requirements
Please check with your local municipality or contractor for necessary requirements. The main questions would be the size of the deck, how its attached to your house and the finished height of the deck (i.e. railing and stair requirements). If the deck is 24” (or lower) above grade, usually a permit is not required. Again, please check with your local municipality for their requirements.
You, the homeowner, must provide all corner post locations. If you locate the site plan for the house it will provide the measurements for the boundaries relative to the house. We will determine all intermittent post locations.
A locate is the name given to the detection, marking and reporting of buried utility services such as natural gas pipelines, electrical services, telephone, cable TV and internet, or water and sewer connections.
It is the responsibility of the home owner to contact Ontario One Call to request this free service prior to any drilling. You can do this online or over the phone (toll-free @ 1-800-400-2255) – 24 hours a day! Depending on where you are located and what service you require, you may have to refer to your utility bill for the number of the locator in your area.Please remember that this MUST be done before you dig!
Equipment Info
We use a Bobcat® MT85 to dig fence postholes and deck footings. The equipment is designed to be compact yet powerful.
As long as the grass isn’t saturated with water, there should be no damage to your lawn.
We need a minimum of 36” wide in order to safely get our equipment through. If you don’t have that much space, we can look at alternatives like removing gates or posts and then reinstalling afterwards.
For fence postholes, we use a concrete mix on site. For deck footings, we call a concrete truck to deliver.
Project Procedures
For an average job of about 20 fence postholes or deck footings, we can be done in as little as 90 minutes.
We do what you require. If you want us to simply dig the postholes, we can do that. If you wish for us to set the posts for the fence in cement or fill the Sonotube® for your deck footings with cement and set the saddles, we can do that too!
We have augers of varying sizes; from 6” to 24” and each one can dig fence postholes or deck footings up to 48” deep.
Oxford Posthole and Excavator Service is a full service company. We specialize in precision post hole setting for your fence and deck needs.
It is recommended to wait a minimum of 36-48 hours before beginning construction, to allow for the concrete to set and harden around your fence posts or deck footings. However, upon request a quick set cement can be used which will allow construction to start within two hours of us completing the fence postholes or deck footings. There will be an additional charge for this service as the cement is more expensive.
Service Info
We provide complete services in Oxford County and surrounding area. This includes but is not limited to the city of Woodstock, the towns of Tillsonburg, Ingersoll, Norwich, Tavistock, and the townships of Zorra, South-West Oxford, and Blandford-Blenheim.
However, we have travelled as far as London, Brantford, Otterville and other regions in South Western Ontario. (Travel charges may apply in those instances)
We are fully licensed and insured through the WSIB and have private liability coverage for your protection and ours.
