Overgrown plots stripped, old concrete broken out, ground dug to level and the material carted away. Our own diggers, dumpers and tipper, our own tickets to run them, and a cleared, workable site priced as one job.
Excavation and site clearance is the work of stripping a site back to workable ground: taking off what is growing on it or standing on it, digging out what is under it, and carting the material away so the next stage can start.
It is the first thing that happens on almost every job, and the stage that tells everybody what they are really dealing with. Rock, made ground, old foundations, buried slabs and services nobody knew about turn up in the first day of a dig rather than on a drawing.
Doing it with our own machines means the site does not sit half cleared waiting for a second firm. Clearance, dig and muck away run as one operation, and the ground is handed on level and ready for the rest of the groundworks.
Overgrowth, brambles, stumps, old sheds, redundant fence lines, broken slabs and the general rubbish that accumulates on a plot left alone for a few years. Everything comes off in one go and leaves site with us.
Old drives, bases, footings, walls and hard standings broken out and loaded. Concrete and hardcore are heavy, awkward material, and they are why clearance jobs get underestimated from a photograph.
Digging a site down to a formation level that will carry what is going on it, whether that is a building, a yard, a hard standing or a garden built on a level that never existed before.
Trenches dug to line, depth and fall for below-ground work, with the sides kept safe and the arisings handled as the dig progresses rather than heaped over the run.
Spoil, arisings, green waste, concrete and rubbish loaded and taken off site as the work goes, on our own tipper. Removal is part of the job rather than something you arrange afterwards, and where the volume warrants it the muck away is staged so the site stays workable.
Cornish plots are frequently reached through a gateway, a side passage or a lane with a wall on both sides. Machines sized from garden-gate access upward, dumpers to move material out in stages, and hand digging where a machine cannot reach, so a difficult access changes the method rather than the answer.
Clearance photographs are the least glamorous and the most useful ones we take: the plot as we found it, the plot stripped, and the ground level and empty afterwards. They are the only honest way to show how much of a job happens before the interesting part starts. Every image is our own work.
Our reviews are published on Google by the people who paid for the work, which is the only kind worth reading.
Based on 4 Google reviews
Commenting as the owner of this property I can honestly say that Aaron was a pleasure to work with. Efficient, reliable, extremely hardworking, on schedule, amazing quality and just an all round lovely guy! Thank you Aaron! You can see the almost (steps leading up to the tub yet to be added as a finishing touch) finished project on the Boutique Retreats website: Kilter House, Coverack
Read more on GoogleWould definitely recommend. Our driveway was a mismatch of 3 different sections of gravel, some old concrete and a step. In two days he has completely overhauled it and it looks amazing. Very fast worker, polite and professional and reasonably priced as well. You won’t be disappointed by Michael’s team at all!
Read more on FacebookAaron laid us a wonderful patio for our back garden. From the start he was highly professional and courteous. He sat with us to discuss the best, most cost efficient options to get us exactly what we imagined. Aaron was very reliable and his after care has been exceptional ensuring he delivers the highest quality for his clients. Highly recommended!
Read more on GoogleMike and his son did a fantastic job on our sandstone patio. They provided a competitive quote and had expert knowledge. The job itself was completed to a very high standard. We are very happy with it. I highly recommend. Thank you again for the fantastic work.
Read more on FacebookReally happy with the work from Aaron Hunt Groundworks. Aaron and his team were super easy to deal with—friendly, reliable, and clearly know what they’re doing. They turned up on time, got stuck in, and made sure everything was done properly with a great finish. They kept the place tidy and checked in with us throughout the job to make sure we were happy. No fuss, no stress—just solid, professional work. Would definitely recommend them to anyone needing groundwork done. Top team!
Read more on GoogleWe had been waiting for along time for this small bit of garden to be finished…the original person we had booked just didn’t work out in the end. We booked Sunset Surfacing We are so pleased with the work and can’t wait for the summer to arrive. They were clean, tidy and professional…thank you
Read more on FacebookExtremely happy with my new patio. It wasn’t the most straight forward to lay but Aaron managed to get the finish I wanted and was completely flexible and accommodating to make it happen for our time lines. Would highly recommend.
Read more on GoogleYou find out what you are building onA cleared, stripped site is the only honest basis for pricing everything that comes after it. Surprises found now are cheaper than surprises found under a slab.
One firm, one mobilisationThe clearance, the dig, the loading and the removal happen with the same team and the same machines, so nothing waits for a second contractor with a lorry.
The material actually leavesRemoval is priced into the job, so you are not left with a heap of spoil and hardcore in the corner of the plot.
Access stops being a reason not to do the jobA narrow gateway changes the machine and the method, not whether the work happens.
The site is handed on readyLevel, workable ground the next stage can start on, whether that next stage is ours or somebody else's.
The postcode, roughly what needs to come off or come out, and photographs of the site and the way into it. The access photograph matters more than the site one.
One of the owners walks it, works out the machine size the access allows, judges the volume of material and checks for services, boundaries and anything that has to be protected.
A written quote for the whole job: clearance, dig, loading, removal and disposal, with the conditions that would change it stated up front.
Machines, dumpers and the tipper on site together, material loaded as it comes out, and the ground taken down to the level agreed.
Site left level and tidy, boundaries intact, and the material gone rather than stacked out of sight.
Where the material goes is a legal question as well as a practical one. Under section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, everyone who produces, holds, carries or disposes of controlled waste owes a duty of care: waste may only be passed to someone authorised to receive it, and it must be described in writing when it changes hands. That is why removal and disposal are written into the quote rather than left as your problem.
Any machine size, ticketed. Aaron holds CPCS 360 Excavator Above 10 Tonnes and Mike holds CPCS 360 Excavator Below 10 Tonnes, and both hold dumper tickets, so the machine is chosen for the access rather than for what happens to be free.
Plant we own, not plant we wait for. Diggers, dumpers and a tipper of our own, which is why a clearance and the dig behind it happen in the same visit.
Domestic and commercial. Gardens and driveways through to yards, tracks, hard standings and developer site preparation.
HW Contractors is owned and run by Aaron Hunt and Mike Wherry, and both of them are on site with the machines. Aaron has 10 years in the trade and holds the ticket for excavators above 10 tonnes. Mike has 30 years and holds the ticket below it. Forty years of combined experience, a team of three, and no machine size that needs somebody else brought in to operate it.
The access decides the machine, and the machine decides the method. Get out and look at the gateway first and there is almost no site in Cornwall you cannot clear properly.Aaron Hunt, co-owner of HW Contractors
40 years of combined experience, Aaron 10 and Mike 30
CPCS 360 excavator tickets above and below 10 tonnes, plus dumper tickets
Our own diggers, dumpers and tipper
Fully insured (public liability and full business insurance)
Clearance work takes us to the tightest ground on the patch. St Ives and Falmouth bring the narrow streets and the shared access, Truro and Newquay the larger plots and commercial site preparation, and Helston the gardens and yards that have quietly filled up over twenty years.
Porthleven, Mullion, Penzance, Camborne and Redruth are all inside the same working week.
This work is priced as a job, not as a machine. You are buying cleared, level ground with the material gone, and that is what the quote covers. We do not publish rates, because volume, access and what is under the surface move the price more than area does. After a free site visit you get a quote setting out:
If what you want is the machine and an operator by the day instead of a finished job, that is mini digger hire.
The full below-ground package in site order, from the strip through to the base under the finished surface.
Groundworks
Trenches dug to depth, inspected and poured, once the site is stripped and level.
Foundations and footings
Land drains, soakaways and channel drainage, put in while the ground is already open.
Drainage installationSend the postcode, a photograph of the site and a photograph of the way in, and one of the owners will come out, work out the machine and put the whole job in writing. Free site visit, no obligation.
Call us on 07886 070245·Get a free quote online
Porthleven, Cornwall
Phone: 07886 070245
Email: info@hwcontractors.co.uk
Hours: Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm
Last updated: 22 September 2026