Who This Guide Is For
Homeowners putting in a shed, garage, carport or workshop; anyone replacing or extending a driveway; landscapers who need a pad prepared before they take over; and builders who want a small pad done properly without tying up their own crew.
This is not a scaled-down house site cut. If you are building a house pad, our site cut page covers that work. If you are digging for an extension, the footings and pier side of it is a different job again — see extension site cuts.
What a Pad Actually Needs
The goal is not a flat patch of dirt. It is a prepared subgrade that will hold a level, carry the load and not move once concrete is on it. On a typical job that means:
- Set out the area from the slab dimensions, with extra all round so the concreter can set formwork
- Strip the topsoil and organics. Grass, roots and garden soil all decompose and settle. Nothing structural sits on them
- Cut to the design level, allowing for slab thickness and any subbase specified
- Compact the subgrade and deal with soft spots rather than covering them up
- Place and compact crushed rock where the design calls for it
- Set the falls so surface water runs away from the structure and away from your house, not toward either
The single most common failure on DIY pads is skipping the strip. Topsoil left under a slab is organic material that will keep breaking down and settling, and the slab cracks along the line where the fill was deepest.
Shed and Garage Pads
Kit sheds and garages come with engineering that assumes a properly prepared base. Bolt-down brackets, column footings and edge thickenings all have to land where the drawings say, which means the pad level and extent are not negotiable once the slab is designed.
Two site conditions change the job considerably. The first is reactive clay, which most of Melbourne's west sits on — slabs on clay need designed reinforcement and edge details, and the earthworks have to deliver a consistent subgrade rather than a mix of cut and loose fill across the footprint.
The second is a sloping yard. Cutting a shed pad into a slope creates a face at the back, and that face needs either a batter with room behind it or a retaining wall. It also concentrates water along the high side, so a drain behind the wall is usually part of the job. This is the detail people forget until the first big storm pushes water under the shed door.
Cut versus fill matters here too. A pad that is mostly cut into natural ground is solid. A pad built up with fill needs that fill placed and compacted in layers, which takes longer and is worth doing properly — the same logic as on a full house pad, covered in cut to fill vs import fill.
Driveways and Boxing Out
Boxing out means excavating the driveway profile to the depth the pavement design needs — the finished surface thickness plus the subbase under it, measured down from your final level. There is no universal number, because a driveway that will carry a caravan, boat trailer or work ute needs more than one that will only see a small car.
Things that reliably complicate a driveway dig:
- Existing concrete or pavers that have to be broken out and carted as rubble, which is a separate material stream from soil
- Tree roots, particularly under an established front yard, where cutting them may not be permitted if the tree is protected
- Buried services running from the street to the house — water, gas, power, telecommunications, and whatever a previous owner installed themselves. Lodge a Before You Dig enquiry first; our service locating guide explains what those plans do and do not show
- Soft or wet subgrade that will not proof roll and needs excavating deeper and replacing
- Volume — people underestimate this badly. A long driveway boxed out to a couple of hundred millimetres produces a genuinely large pile of spoil
That last point is why driveway jobs almost always need truck work rather than a skip bin. Running our own tippers means the spoil goes as we dig instead of sitting on your front lawn for a week.
Nobody has ever regretted stripping the topsoil properly. Plenty of people regret the crack that runs the length of their new slab.
Crossovers and the Council Bit
A crossover — the vehicle crossing between the road and your property boundary — is the part of the job that is not really yours. It sits in the road reserve, which means council sets the rules.
What that usually involves: consent or a permit before the work starts, council-specified dimensions and materials, a particular treatment where it meets the kerb, and sometimes an inspection or a bond. Works in the road reserve can also trigger traffic management requirements, and the nature strip has to be reinstated afterwards. Requirements differ between Melton, Wyndham, Hume, Brimbank and everyone else, so confirm with your own council rather than copying what a neighbour did. Our notes on permits across Melbourne councils give a sense of how much this varies.
Practical obstacles in the nature strip are common: service pits, water meters, stormwater inlets, street trees with protection zones, and pram ramps. Any of them can shift where a crossover is allowed to go, which is a much cheaper conversation to have before the design than after the kerb is cut.
On new estate lots there is a twist. The crossover is often already installed and bonded, and damaging it with a loaded truck becomes someone's bill — usually the builder's, sometimes yours. Protecting it is part of running the job properly.
Access and Protecting the Yard
Back yard work means getting a machine past everything you already own. Machine size gets matched to the narrowest point on the route, including overhead clearance under eaves, pergolas and low wires — our tight access guide goes into how that choice is made on constrained sites.
Before the machine arrives, it helps to have thought about the fence panel that may need to come out and go back, where irrigation lines and garden lighting run, whether there is a septic system, tank or pool in the way, and which route across the lawn you are willing to sacrifice. Boarding out a track protects turf and pavers, and it is much easier to organise in advance than to repair afterwards.
Why Small Jobs Price the Way They Do
The thing that surprises people about small excavation work is that halving the size does not halve the cost. Getting a machine and a truck to your address is a fixed exercise — float on, travel, set up, pack up, float off — and that happens whether the machine digs for three hours or eight.
The practical consequence is that bundling pays. If you have a shed pad, a driveway to box out, a bit of levelling and some spoil to remove, quoting them as one visit spreads the mobilisation across all of it. It is also worth asking whether spoil removal is included or a separate line, because on small pads the cartage can be a decent share of the job.
When to Call a Contractor
- Once you have the shed or garage slab drawings, since they set the pad extent and level
- Before applying for a crossover, so the dig and the council requirements line up
- If your yard slopes and you are not sure whether you need retaining behind the pad
- When you have several small jobs that could be done in one visit
- If a concreter has asked for a prepared pad and you would rather it be right the first time
We turn up with our own machines and tippers across Melton, Caroline Springs, Werribee, Tarneit, Craigieburn and greater Melbourne — no hire yard, no separate operator to organise. See earthmoving in Melton for local jobs. English, Arabic or Turkish on site if that helps.
FAQs
Do I need a permit for a shed slab in Victoria?
It depends on the size of the structure, your council and any planning overlays on the property. Small garden sheds often fall under an exemption while larger sheds, garages and anything with a habitable use generally need a building permit, and an engineered slab design with it. Check with your council or building surveyor before the pad is dug, because the design sets the excavation depth.
How deep does a driveway need to be excavated?
It comes from the pavement design rather than a rule of thumb. The excavation has to accommodate the finished surface thickness plus the subbase beneath it, measured down from the final level you want to end up at. A driveway that will carry a caravan or a work ute needs more depth than a single car, and soft subgrade needs more again.
Do I need council approval for a new crossover?
Generally yes. A vehicle crossing sits in the road reserve, so councils normally require consent or a permit before it is built, and they specify dimensions, materials and how it ties into the kerb. Some also require a bond or an inspection. Requirements vary between councils, so confirm with yours before anyone cuts the kerb.
Can you get a machine through my side gate?
Often yes. Machine size is matched to the narrowest point of the route, and a small excavator gets through gaps that surprise people. Send a photo and a measurement of the tightest spot, including any overhead obstruction like eaves, a pergola or low wires, and we will tell you what fits before we arrive.
How much bigger than the slab does the pad need to be?
The excavated area needs to extend past the slab footprint so the concreter has room to set formwork and work around the edges. Your concreter or builder will nominate how much, and it is worth asking them before the dig rather than after, because widening a pad later means bringing the machine back.
Is it cheaper to bundle a shed pad with other earthworks?
Almost always. Getting a machine and a truck to your property is a fixed cost whether it works for three hours or a full day, so combining a shed pad with a driveway box-out, a spoil run or trenching in the same visit spreads that cost across more work. If you have several small jobs in mind, quote them together.