FAQs
Excavation, septic, demolition, retaining walls, and haulage. Whatever you’re planning across Muskoka, Simcoe County or Parry Sound, you’ll have questions before you book a contractor. The answers below cover what most homeowners, cottagers, builders and businesses ask us before a job starts.
General Construction Questions
These are the questions we hear from first-time callers. Homeowners, cottage owners, builders and buinesses trying to figure out who Gunners is, what we cover, and whether we’re a fit for their site. If you’re new to working with an excavation contractor in Ontario, start here.
Gunners specializes in heavy site work: excavation, site preparation, demolition, septic system installation, armour stone and boulder retaining walls, and trucking and aggregate delivery. We work on new builds, cottage projects and teardowns across Muskoka, Simcoe County and Parry Sound.
Our home base is Waubaushene in Tay Township, and we work daily across Midland, Penetanguishene, Orillia, Collingwood, Gravenhurst, Mac Tier and the surrounding Muskoka, Simcoe County and Parry Sound communities. If you're within roughly a 90-minute drive of 2483 Hodgins Road, we can usually dispatch crew and equipment without extra travel surcharges.
We do work directly for homeowners and cottage owners, work for builders as a subcontractor and work for local businesses and campgrounds.
Every job is run by a main point of contact from quote to final grade. For haulage, you get a quote for the load when you call, and we plan your delivery around your schedule, with next-day delivery available in most cases if needed. For septic systems and larger site work projects, we do a site visit and provide you with an estimate before scheduling the work. Communication is key and we let you know immediately if scheduling or cost needs to change for any reason. Before leaving the job, we ensure you are happy.
Gunners Excavating & Haulage has been in business operating out of Waubaushene, Ontario since 2011. However, the operators and drivers for Gunners have been in the business for decades. The business has grown from local haulage and small residential excavation into a full site-services contractor serving the Muskoka, Simcoe County and Parry Sound markets.
Yes. We carry $5 million commercial general liability insurance, WSIB coverage on every operator, and septic installer certification under Ontario Building Code Part 8. Certificates of insurance and WSIB clearance are available on request before any job starts.
Yes. We can share references on request: homeowners, cottage owners, and general contractors we've worked with across Muskoka, Simcoe County and Parry Sound.
For septic systems, we design and build as licensed designers for OBC Part 8 septic permit packages. For new-build excavation and site work, we work from the builder's plans or site plan. If your project needs a designer or engineer, we can connect you with local professionals we trust, or work with them as part of our services for you.
Project Process Questions
Once you’re past the basics, the next round of questions is about how a job actually runs: timeline, permits, change orders, communication. Here’s how Gunners typically handles each step from the first site visit through final cleanup.
It depends entirely on scope. A driveway grading is one to two days. A basement excavation runs two to five days. A full septic installation is two to seven days plus inspection windows. A teardown and prep job for a new build can run two to four weeks. Once we know the scope and size of the work you want done, you'll get a schedule in writing before we mobilize.
For septic installations, yes. We pull the septic permit and coordinate the inspections. For demolition, excavation and site prep, the permits are normally pulled by the homeowner or builder; we coordinate utility locates and Conservation Authority approvals where they apply. We'll tell you exactly what's needed before we start.
Yes, but in writing. If we hit something you didn't plan for (bigger rock, a higher water table, a buried oil tank, a grade change you want), we stop, document what's changed, give you a new estimate for the additional work and/or added time to the schedule, and only continue after you sign off in writing. No verbal change orders, no surprise invoices at the end.
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Three things. Realistic schedules built from real weather and soil data, not optimistic ones. A daily morning huddle between the operator and the project lead. And reserved equipment, so your excavator or float isn't getting pulled to another job mid-week. If the weather or permit delay pushes us, you'll know immediately, so you don’t show up to a quiet site without knowing the reason.
For most septic and site work, we come to the site before providing an estimate. We walk the lot with you and look at access for trucks, soil and rock, drainage patterns, setbacks, and any Conservation Authority or shoreline considerations. You'll get a written quote within three to five business days that lists scope, equipment, materials, schedule window, price (either fixed or unit-rate where appropriate) and exclusions. Once you give us the go ahead, we put you in our schedule and give you an approximate start date.
Daily while we're on site, by text or call from the lead operator. Usually a quick end-of-day status with photos. Weekly written summaries on longer jobs (two weeks or more). And immediate calls if anything changes the schedule or price. Homeowners who aren't on site every day tell us this is the part they value most.
We stop and call you right away to discuss possible solutions. Most surprises are predictable: unmarked utilities, rock shelves, water tables, fill from old septics. Because we've worked this region for years, we usually have a plan ready when we call.
Technical and Safety Questions
Excavation, demolition and haulage carry real risk to property, neighbours, utilities, and the crew. Here’s how Gunners handles safety, quality, warranties, and the rules every Ontario contractor is expected to follow.
Every job starts with a site-specific safety plan: Ontario One Call locates, hazard assessment and traffic control where needed. Operators are certified on their equipment and appropriate PPE is worn. We track every incident and near-miss internally and review them monthly.
For excavation we shoot grade by laser, not by eye. For septics we verify percolation rates. Final QA is a senior operator walking the site before we demobilize.
Twelve months on workmanship from the date of substantial completion, covering settlement, grading defects, and septic performance issues caused by installation. Manufacturer warranties on materials (filter fabric, geogrid, segmental wall units, septic tanks, treatment units) are passed through to you from the manufacturer. We come back and fix workmanship issues at no cost during the warranty window.
Our $5M commercial general liability insurance covers damage caused by our equipment or crew: driveways, fencing, landscaping, structures, neighbouring property. Report it the same day so we can document and remediate quickly. In most cases we repair it ourselves rather than route through insurance, because it's faster for you and protects the long-term relationship.
Yes. Operators carry the licenses required for the equipment they run and our septic crew works under a licensed installer. We don't put new operators on equipment unattended; they are supervised while they train to operate on their own. Every job has someone with real experience on it.
Where it makes sense, yes. We use locally-sourced aggregate to reduce haul distance; and we install tertiary-treatment septic systems (Waterloo Biofilter, Ecoflo) for sensitive shoreline lots where Conservation Authorities require enhanced effluent quality. We won't pretend a heavy-equipment job is carbon-neutral, but we do what we can, where we can.
We follow Ontario Building Code requirements and septic systems are designed and installed to OBC Part 8, with the local authority having jurisdiction conducting inspections. Shoreline and floodplain work is coordinated with the relevant Conservation Authority (NVCA, LSRCA or Severn Sound) before we break ground.
For about 90% of the work, no. Gunners runs its own excavators, dump trucks and floats, with our own crew on every piece. For specialty scopes (surveyors, blasting where rock requires it, arborists) or when we need extra manpower for hauling, we bring in vetted local subs we've worked with for years.