Earthworks
price per m³.

The word covers everything that alters the ground before building. On our quotes, it is broken down into separate operations, each with its own unit of measurement:

Stripping removes the topsoil at the surface, to 20 to 30 cm in the specifications we write. It is counted per m².

Bulk excavation digs out the whole footprint to a given volume: basement, crawl space, pool, platform. It is counted per m³.

Trench excavation opens the narrow trenches that will receive the foundation footings, per m³ or per linear metre.

Service trenches bring in electricity, telephone and water, and carry away waste water; they are counted per linear metre, ducts and backfill included.

Backfill and removal settle what happens to the soil: put back around the structures and compacted, or loaded onto lorries and taken to a tip.

A quote that shows “earthworks: one amount” without this detail cannot be compared with anything. Before looking at the total, look for the volumes, the units and a sentence saying where the soil goes.

Ranges excluding VAT, rounded, recorded from our 2024-2026 quotes in Savoie and Haute-Savoie. Earthworks appears in fewer quotes than plastering or painting: we state the number of quotes for each item, and a price drawn from a single quote remains a benchmark, not an average.

Service trenches are priced separately, per linear metre, supply of ducts and pipes included:

How we counted. A single price per quote and per item, so that a project repeating the same line does not weigh more than another. Several items come back identical on two quotes written from the same specification: the range then narrows to a single price, and we prefer to say so.

Three lump sums to place a whole project. For an extension of about 35 m² on a plot needing reprofiling, setting out, stripping and trench excavation with all the soil removed were priced at around €22,000 excl. VAT (2026 quote). An extension sitting on pad footings, with stripping and demolition of a small low wall and part of a path, was priced at €5,000 excl. VAT (2025). The earthworks for an above-ground pool of 6 × 3 m, beach area and terrace included, at €6,500 excl. VAT (2026). The gap between the two extensions says the essential: the type of foundation and the volume of soil leaving the site.

The gap between €25-30 and nearly €160 per m³ does not come from the soil itself. It adds up two differences. The first is how the digging is done: a bulk excavation is carried out with a mechanical digger over a large footprint, in one go; a foundation trench is narrow, follows a precise line, and its bottom must be trimmed to the right level. The productivity is not comparable.

The second is what happens to the soil. Kept on the plot, it waits in heaps and comes back as backfill or to shape the garden. Removed, it is loaded, transported and deposited at a facility that accepts it: each lorry trip is paid for, and so is the tipping. Excavated soil also takes up more volume than in place, so more cubic metres are transported than were dug.

Hence our first reflex at the design stage: balance cut and fill on the plot when the site allows it, by setting the floor level, shaping a terrace or backfilling behind a wall. What does not leave by lorry is not billed at the tip. On a sloping site, this balance often relies on a structure that retains the soil: techniques, drainage and formalities are detailed in our retaining wall guide.

The slope. On a hillside, the machine works on a platform that must first be created, temporary banks take up space, and the difference in level is taken up as cut on one side and fill on the other. The same 30 m² of footprint does not call for the same volume on flat ground and on a hillside.

Rock. When the digger is no longer enough, a hydraulic rock breaker is needed: this is what the pool lump sum mentioned above provided for, over part of the site. Rock cannot be guessed at from the surface; the soil study flags it before the site discovers it.

Access. A narrow gate, a steeply sloping street, a landlocked plot: the size of the digger and the lorries is adapted, and the number of trips increases accordingly.

Water. A damp site means draining around the building: perimeter drains and drainage sleeves come up regularly in our quotes, and are planned from the earthworks stage rather than after the first infiltrations.

Frost. Foundations go below the depth that frost can reach, and this depends on the local climate and the altitude. Between a plot on the shore of Lac du Bourget and a chalet in a resort, the excavation does not have the same depth, or the same volume.

Renovation. Under an old barn slab, the whole floor is sometimes taken up: our quotes for slab replacement then include internal earthworks to bring the floor back to level, priced with the new floor build-up rather than on a separate line.

The soil study. In areas of medium or high exposure to clay shrink-swell, the ELAN law provides for two geotechnical studies. The seller of an unbuilt building plot provides a preliminary study (type G1), valid for 30 years; the client provides, before entering into the construction contract, a design study (type G2), valid for that project alone. According to the Ministry of Ecological Transition, these areas cover 55% of mainland France, and an updated zoning applies to contracts concluded from 1 July 2026. The exposure of a plot can be checked on the Géorisques website. Beyond the obligation, it is the design study that says at what depth to found, and therefore how much to excavate.

Buried services. Before the work, the project manager queries the “Réseaux et canalisations” online service, which lists the operators concerned, then declares the works to them (works project declaration, or DT); the earthworks contractor, for its part, sends a declaration of intent to commence works (DICT). The project manager can take care of the DT on behalf of the client.

Planning. Excavations and raisings of ground more than 2 m deep or high, covering 100 m² or more, require a prior declaration (déclaration préalable) (article R.421-23 of the planning code), unless they are necessary for carrying out a building permit. The commune's local plan (PLU) may be stricter. Our guide to the prior declaration (déclaration préalable) details the file and the timescales.

VAT. Earthworks follow the rate of the project of which they form part: 10% for improvement work on a dwelling completed more than two years ago, 20% for a new build or an extension that increases floor area by more than 10%. An excavation at €30 excl. VAT per m³ thus comes to €33 incl. VAT at 10% and €36 incl. VAT at 20%; at €160 excl. VAT, to €176 or €192 incl. VAT. The cases that tip from one rate to the other are explained in our guide to VAT on building work.

Earthworks open the structural work: its stages and full budget, from foundations to walls, are in our guide structural work: steps and prices. For an enlargement, the overall budget is in our guide house extension: prices, permits, timescales.