Earthwork in Cocoa Beach
Honest version first: there’s very little raw land left on the barrier island, so this isn’t an acreage clearing market. What we do here is drives, pads, small excavation and lot cleanup on tight platted lots. And the sand is the easiest ground we work anywhere.
in Titusville
and small excavation
to schedule
turnaround
Deep dry sand, and not much room
The barrier island is the simplest soil and the most complicated access of anywhere in the service area.
Cocoa Beach sits on the barrier island between the Atlantic and the Banana River. The ground under it is deep, well drained marine and dune sand. No spodic layer to speak of, no shallow rock, and none of the seasonal water table that dictates the calendar on the mainland. From a machine’s point of view that’s close to ideal. Ground here drains after a storm in hours rather than days.
What makes island work difficult is everything else. Lots are small and long since platted. Houses sit close to boundaries and close to each other. Getting a track loader and a trailer into a back yard often means a gate, a side setback measured in feet, and a decision about whether the driveway you’re about to drive over can take the weight.
Loose dry sand also behaves differently from the mainland flatwoods. It’ll not hold a trench wall, and it needs proper compaction under anything structural or it keeps moving. A pad on beach sand that wasn’t compacted in lifts will find its own level eventually.
The other island factor is salt. Anything we put in the ground here. Timber, fixings, base material. Is going to sit in a more corrosive environment than it would ten miles inland, and that’s worth spending a little more on rather than replacing early.
What we actually do here
- Driveway rebuilds and shell drives
- Pads for additions, sheds and equipment
- Small excavation and drain lines
- Lot cleanup on vacant platted lots
- Removing stumps and old root balls
What we do not
- Multi-acre clearing. There’s not the land for it
- Anything requiring a dune or shoreline crossing
- Work inside a public right of way
- Septic or utility connections
Worth a call, or worth someone else
It’s a small-lot market and we’d rather point you elsewhere than turn up and waste your day.
Call us for
- A driveway that has rutted, sunk or spread into the grass
- A compacted pad for an addition, shed or equipment
- Small excavation. Drain lines, footers, root balls
- A vacant lot that needs knocking back and tidying
- Stumps left behind by a tree crew
Try someone else for
- Anything inside a road right of way
- Dune, shoreline or seawall work
- Septic systems or utility connections
- Pool excavation, which is its own trade
Work like yours
Island lots are small and the sand drains fast. Most of it is drives and pads.
The ones that apply on the island
All nine are listed, but on Cocoa Beach the middle and right columns are what actually gets booked.
Ground work
Access & structure
How island jobs get priced
Per-acre rates don’t mean much on a lot measured in feet, so island work is quoted per job.
- Access decides most of itHow the machine gets to the work is the single biggest variable here. A drive we can back a trailer onto is cheap. A back yard reached through a four-foot gate is a different job and sometimes a different machine.
- Material haulShell, base rock and fill all come from mainland pits, so anything that needs material trucked over the causeway carries that haul in the number.
- Small-job minimumGetting truck, trailer and machine here and back costs the same whether the job takes two hours or two days, so very small jobs carry a minimum. We tell you the minimum when we quote.
- Combining helpsTwo neighbors on the same street, or a drive and a pad on one property, split that trip and both numbers come down.
What that means in practice: the cheapest island job is the one you plan slightly ahead and combine with something else. The most expensive is a small, urgent job in a tight back yard on its own.
Send a photo of the access as well as the work and you’ll get a firm number the same day in almost every case.
Cocoa Beach questions
Can you even get a machine onto my lot?
Usually, and it’s the first thing to work out. We need a gate or a side route wide enough for a track machine, and we need to agree what we’re driving over to get there. Send a photo of the access as well as the work. On the island that photo is the one that decides the job.
Is there any land clearing to do out here?
Very little. The island was platted long ago and there’s not much raw acreage left. Where we do clearing here it’s a single overgrown vacant lot rather than acreage, and that’s a brush cutting or mulching job measured in hours.
Does the sand cause problems?
Not for working in. It drains beautifully and there’s no seasonal water table to plan around. It matters for anything structural. Loose sand won’t hold a trench wall and it has to be compacted in lifts under a pad or a drive, or the surface keeps finding a new level.
Do you charge extra to come over the causeway?
Not as a rule. It’s about forty-five minutes from our yard, which is a normal working distance. A very small job a long way out can carry a minimum, and if that applies we tell you when we quote rather than burying it in the rate.
Other areas we cover
Titusville
Home base, and the widest range of ground conditions anywhere we work.
See Titusville →South along the coastMelbourne
South Brevard, old platted lots and canal-drained ground west of I-95.
See Melbourne →County overviewBrevard County
The three ground types across the county and what each costs to work.
See Brevard →