Foothills County

Heritage Pointe Excavation on Calgary's South Edge

Heritage Pointe is a hamlet of Foothills County on the County's northern boundary with the City of Calgary, close to Deerfoot Trail and Macleod Trail and reached by Dunbow Road. Unlike most country property around Calgary, it runs on piped communal water and wastewater from a private utility, so its excavation work is about service lines, not septic fields. We dig for new homes and additions, repair and replace water and sewer services, and daylight buried lines along residential streets.

Large estate homes with stone accents along a curving paved road, with mature landscaping and open country beyond.

At a Glance

Municipality: Foothills County
From our downtown office: About 30 minutes south, near Deerfoot Trail
Typical servicing: Communal piped water and wastewater
Postal prefixes: T1S

(825) 475-5548

Lots, Homes and Sites in Heritage Pointe

Heritage Pointe is a planned golf-course community: a Foothills County plan addendum records a golf course and a man-made pond within the hamlet. Homes sit on serviced lots along residential streets rather than on open acreages, and that changes how we work. Space for spoil is limited, neighbours' landscaping and driveways are close, and every truck in and out uses a residential road. For a new home or a large addition we plan the basement dig, the stockpile and the haul-off together so the lot is never buried in its own spoil, and we protect the street edge and adjoining yards before the first bucket goes in.

Water and sewer come from a private franchise utility. A 2021 Foothills County plan addendum records the utility's obligation to serve with piped water and wastewater under its franchise agreement, the wastewater treatment plant serving the hamlet has roughly 870 residential and commercial connections, and the County's 2017 Municipal Development Plan lists Heritage Pointe among its hamlets with communal wastewater. For a homeowner, a leaking water service, a sagging sewer line or a new-build connection is a trench between the house and the utility's connection, dug to the depth, bedding and inspection the utility requires. Where the owner's line ends and the utility's begins is the utility's call, so we confirm it before we quote.

Because water, sewer, gas, power and telecom lines share the same front yards, much of the work on a built-out street is careful digging around what is already buried. Utility-owned lines are marked through a locate request, and no machine may dig inside the 1 m strip on each side of a mark until the line there has been uncovered, either by hand or with a non-destructive technique its owner agrees to. Hydrovac daylighting does that quickly and leaves a clean, open hole to inspect. Behind the house, the other regular jobs are weeping tile repairs, foundation drainage digs, and rebuilding backfill that has settled against a foundation wall.

Ground, Water and Frost

The Heritage Pointe plan addendum describes the land it covers as draining into Pine Creek, and the hamlet holds a golf course and a man-made pond, so surface water here has somewhere it is meant to go. Excavation and regrading should not change that path. When we backfill a foundation or rebuild a yard, the finished grade carries water away from the house and toward the existing drainage, and sump or weeping tile discharge goes only where the County and the utility allow it; we never assume foundation drainage can be tied into a sanitary service. Beyond that addendum we have no verified terrain or soil data for the hamlet, so we do not generalise one.

Service trenches run deep because water lines are laid to stay below frost. Normal frost depth in Calgary, next door, has been reported by City staff as about 2 m (7 ft), and the City recorded 2.4 m (8 ft) in the hard winter of 2019; the utility sets the actual minimum cover. That puts service trenches beyond 1.5 m, the depth past which the OHS Code wants the walls sloped back or shored before a worker steps in, and once a trench passes 3 m its shoring has to follow a professional engineer's design. In a narrow side yard a trench box beats a wide cut-back, and where a neighbour's foundation could be affected, the OHS Code requires engineered support first.

Neighbourhood Notes

Dunbow Road access

The County's plan addendum names Dunbow Road as the access to Heritage Pointe. Floats, dump trucks and concrete trucks for a dig come in this way, so loads are scheduled to keep residential streets clear.

Deerfoot and Macleod Trail

The hamlet is close to both Deerfoot Trail and Highway 2A (Macleod Trail). It is about 34 km by road from our downtown office, roughly half an hour, so machines and pipe bedding arrive without a long haul.

The Calgary boundary

Heritage Pointe sits on Foothills County's northern boundary with Calgary. City of Calgary servicing specifications and contractor requirements stop at that line; the County's permits and the utility's rules apply here.

Pine Creek drainage

The addendum area drains into Pine Creek. Sediment from a stripped lot or an uncovered stockpile ends up downstream after a storm, so silt control goes on the downhill side before earthwork starts.

The golf course and pond

A golf course and a man-made pond sit within the hamlet. Work on lots near them needs extra care with stockpiles, runoff and machine access across finished turf and landscaping.

Utility-served lots

Homes connect to the communal water and wastewater systems. When a service fails, we locate and daylight it, excavate to the break with the right protection for the depth, and leave the pipe exposed for the plumber and the utility's inspection.

Newer parcels

The 2021 addendum covers a parcel the utility is obligated to serve with piped water and wastewater. On a new-build lot, we confirm where the services enter the property before the basement is staked.

Permits and Locates in Heritage Pointe

Authority having jurisdiction: Foothills County

Heritage Pointe is in Foothills County, and the County is the permit authority: its building permits page states that no construction, including foundation or excavation work, may take place unless a permit has been issued. For service line work the utility sets its own connection, inspection and restoration requirements, so we confirm them with the utility before we dig. On a built-out street, marks for utility-owned lines come from a locate request to Utility Safety Partners, placed three full working days ahead at minimum, and a stalled job has to have them refreshed within 30 calendar days or sooner if the report says so. The owner's portion of a water or sewer service is typically customer-owned and not marked by the utility locate, so we plan a private locate or hand exposure for it.

The Excavation Work Heritage Pointe Calls For Most

Deep Utility Trenching (Water, Sewer & Storm)

Shored, bedded trenches for water, sanitary and storm service lines.

Hydrovac & Non-Destructive Daylighting

Non-destructive digging to expose buried lines before any machine gets close.

Deep Basement Excavation

Full and walkout basement digs for new custom homes on open lots and acreages.

Foundation Backfilling & Perimeter Grading

Compacted backfill against new foundations and a perimeter grade that sheds water.

French Drain & Weeping Tile Excavation

Digs to the footing, new perforated tile in clear stone, and yard French drains.

Emergency Utility Leak Dig-Outs

Priority dig-outs that expose broken water and sewer lines for the repair crew.

Every service we offer

Close to Heritage Pointe

De Winton

A Foothills County hamlet in acreage country on the Highway 552 corridor.

Southeast Calgary

Inglewood and Ramsay infills, the largest industrial belt and newer deep-south suburbs.

Okotoks

A Sheep River valley town south of Calgary, growing onto land annexed from the county.

Excavation in Heritage Pointe: Questions

Does a Heritage Pointe home need a septic system?

No. Heritage Pointe is served by piped communal water and wastewater from a private franchise utility, as Foothills County's planning documents record, so homes connect to a sewer service rather than a septic tank and field. That is the main difference between Heritage Pointe and most acreage country around Calgary. The excavation that matters here is the service trench: the water and sewer lines between the house and the utility's connection, their bedding and cover, and compacted backfill over them. Confirm your lot's servicing with the utility before planning anything that would need a private system.

Who fixes a broken water or sewer service line in Heritage Pointe?

It depends on where the break is. The utility is responsible for its own system, and the homeowner is typically responsible for the line on their side of the utility's connection; the utility can tell you exactly where that point is on your lot. On the owner's side, we locate and expose the line, dig down to the damage with the right protection for the depth, and leave the pipe exposed for the plumber to repair and the inspector to see. Then we bed and backfill the trench in compacted lifts and restore the surface we disturbed.

Is Heritage Pointe under Calgary's rules or Foothills County's?

Foothills County's. Heritage Pointe is a hamlet of the County on its northern boundary with Calgary, so building and excavation permits come from Foothills County, not the City. The County's building permits page is explicit that no construction, including foundation or excavation work, may start until a permit has been issued. The City of Calgary's servicing specifications and contractor lists do not govern a Heritage Pointe service connection; the private utility's requirements do. We confirm both the County permit and the utility's conditions before we book locates and machines.

Digging in Heritage Pointe?

Call or send the details. Aspen Excavating works from downtown Calgary, and we will look at the site and the access before we price it.

(825) 475-5548 Send the Details