Quick answer
Dig Out WNY does excavation, demolition and construction site work inside the City of Buffalo for homeowners, landlords and commercial property owners. That covers sewer lateral and utility trenches out to the street, garage and house tear-downs, footings for additions and infill homes, and drainage and grading on city lots, in neighborhoods from North Park and Black Rock to Riverside, Kaisertown and South Park.
Digging in the city is a different job from digging in a newer subdivision. In the Census Bureau's five-year estimates for 2020-2024, 61 percent of Buffalo's housing units date to 1939 or earlier, and 35 percent sit in two-unit buildings, almost even with the 36 percent in detached single-family houses. Expect a foundation that could be a century old, a sewer lateral that may never have been replaced, a side drive shared with tenants or neighbors, and the house next door close enough to plan around.
You get a contractor who plans for those conditions before the first bucket goes in. Nobody gets a price from us until we've walked the lot, so the number reflects the access, the ground and the buried lines that are actually there. We're locally owned, you reach us directly when you call, and we take residential and commercial work anywhere in the city. Call or text (716) 444-6613 to set up a time to look at the site.
What's under the city: clay, silt, limestone and fill
Buffalo is an incorporated city in Erie County, and almost all of it is mapped by the USDA soil survey as Urban land, either alone or mixed with one natural soil. Laying the City's own soil layer over its 35 official neighborhoods shows which soil that is, and it changes how a trench stands, how fast water leaves a yard and what a footing bears on.
Red lake clay. Much of Riverside, Schiller Park and Grant-Amherst is mapped as the Odessa complex, while Black Rock and Broadway Fillmore lean toward the similar Schoharie complex. Both formed in reddish, clayey lake sediment. The county survey rates them slow or very slow to pass water and notes that Odessa holds perched water high in its subsoil from December into May.
Wet silt. The most common soil in South Park, Seneca-Cazenovia and Kaisertown is the Niagara complex, silty lake deposits with a seasonal high water table over the same months. The survey adds that many homes on this unit show settling, mainly from low soil strength and frost heaving.
Shallow limestone. A band through Fillmore-Leroy, University Heights, Parkside and Delavan Grider carries Wassaic soils, with limestone 20 to 40 inches down, and Fillmore-Leroy also has Benson soils with rock at 10 to 20 inches. The survey places these soils in a limestone band across northern Erie County marked by the Onondaga limestone escarpment.
Unmapped ground. The Central neighborhood around downtown, the First Ward and Seneca Babcock are mapped mostly as plain Urban land. The surveyors didn't identify the soil under that pavement, noted that the unit takes in some landfill areas, many with several feet of fill placed over marshes and floodplains, and said careful on-site investigation is needed before reuse. North Park, by contrast, sits mainly on Cayuga soil, a clay cap over glacial till, and the West Side on silty Collamer.
Services in Buffalo
What we do in Buffalo
Inside city limits we handle sewer lateral repair and replacement, trenching for water services and buried conduit, garage tear-downs at the back of the lot, and foundation and basement excavation for additions and infill houses. We also break out worn driveways, regrade yards that pitch toward the house and build drainage for new roof and footing-drain water that has to stay out of the city sewer. The three sections below explain how the city's soils, housing and rules shape each of those jobs, and where they differ from the same work in a suburb.
Demolition & Removal
Excavation & Earthwork
Building & Foundations
Sewer, Water & Utilities
Driveways & Finish Work
Owner-paid laterals and the combined sewer
Buffalo Sewer Authority regulations treat everything from a point five feet off your foundation out to the public main as your building service sewer, and they put every cost of laying and hooking up that pipe on the owner. On a deep lot that can put the trench across the front yard, the tree lawn and into the street. Nobody may open, connect to or disturb a public sewer without a written permit, and the connection itself is made under the Authority's supervision.
The same rules want the lateral brought in below the basement floor whenever possible. In the limestone band around University Heights and Fillmore-Leroy, that pipe depth can sit below the top of the rock, so the trench plan has to account for breaking or removing stone. In the wet silt of South Park, spring groundwater can seep into an open cut, and the trench walls need more respect than a dry July dig would suggest.
Stormwater is the other catch. Existing connections to the combined sewer may keep working as they are until separate sewers are built, but the rules give no such pass to new connections that send stormwater into it. Add onto the house or build new, and the new roof and footing-drain water needs its own route, usually a yard drainage system built for the clay or silt on your block.
Tear-downs under the City's Stabilization First policy
Demolition in the city changed in 2026. After a 60-day moratorium that began in March, the City adopted a Stabilization First policy that puts saving viable buildings ahead of knocking them down. It also says the City will require redevelopment or site plans before it issues demolition permits. If you own a vacant house you want cleared, talk with the Department of Permit & Inspection Services before you commit to a plan.
The City's demolition page still lays out the basic steps. The Preservation Board reviews every demolition application, and no permit can be issued until 30 days after the application date unless it's an emergency. An asbestos survey is required, with abatement if asbestos turns up. Depending on the kind of teardown, that survey is one of up to six items the City may ask for, among them:
- a cut-off release, completed by a master plumber, confirming that sewer and water service to the address has ended
- a receipt for rodent baiting carried out in the seven days before the start date
- a copy of the demolition contract
Whether it's a garage behind the house or a full house demolition, ask which of those items your job needs. When a building comes down, its sewer lateral may also need a separate abandonment permit from Buffalo Sewer.
Footings on rock, red clay, soft silt or unmapped ground
What a new footing bears on depends on the block. In the Wassaic band the survey calls the limestone a solid foundation for large buildings, yet rock 20 to 40 inches down means a full basement for an addition or infill house may involve rock work. Settle that with a test hole before the plans are final, not after the excavator is on site.
On the red clay of Riverside and Black Rock, water moves through the ground slowly, so footing drains, a clean stone bed and a real outlet for that water go a long way toward keeping a basement dry. In the Niagara silt of South Park and Kaisertown, the survey's note about settling and frost heaving is the reason to dig down to firm, undisturbed soil and return backfill in compacted lifts instead of dumping it back in the hole.
Downtown and in the First Ward, where the map shows mostly pavement and buildings, test pits come first because the soil survey never logged what lies underneath. Infill lots bring one more city rule. Reusing the old lateral for a new house is allowed only if Buffalo Sewer inspects that pipe and it passes every requirement, so budget time for the check when a new home replaces a demolished one.
City Hall permits, Buffalo Sewer and 811 locates
Inside city limits, building and demolition permits come from the City's Department of Permit & Inspection Services at 65 Niagara Square, not from a town building department. Opening, connecting to or abandoning a public sewer connection also needs Buffalo Sewer Authority approval. Before breaking ground, the contractor calls in an 811 ticket with UDig NY. State rules put that call between 10 working days and two full working days ahead of the dig. Member utilities mark only their own lines, so private runs such as a feed to a detached garage or a yard light circuit won't be marked. Requirements shift, and the City's demolition policy changed in 2026, so confirm what your project needs with the Department of Permit & Inspection Services before you schedule the work.
Questions & answers
Questions from Buffalo homeowners
Is there limestone under houses in University Heights and Fillmore-Leroy?
In places, yes. The USDA soil layer the City publishes shows Wassaic soils in parts of Fillmore-Leroy, University Heights, Parkside and Delavan Grider, and the county soil survey puts limestone 20 to 40 inches below the surface in those soils. Fillmore-Leroy also has Benson soils, with rock at 10 to 20 inches. It matters less for a patio or a shallow drain line. It matters a great deal for a full basement, a new foundation or a sewer lateral set below the basement floor, because those digs can reach rock. Knowing that before the price is set avoids surprises.
Why does the ground stay soggy until May in South Park and Kaisertown?
Mostly because of the soil. Much of South Park, Kaisertown and Seneca-Cazenovia is mapped as Niagara silt. The county soil survey describes groundwater rising into that soil's upper layers each December and staying until May, and it rates the silt as passing water only moderately slowly. Snowmelt and spring rain have nowhere quick to go. When that water ends up against the house, the usual fix is grading the surface away from the foundation and giving roof water a separate route, which is drainage work we do.
Can I still get a vacant house torn down in Buffalo after the 2026 changes?
It's still possible, but the City has said it will want a plan for what comes next. Its Stabilization First policy puts stabilizing viable buildings ahead of demolition and says redevelopment or site plans will be required before demolition permits are issued. The City's demolition page still lists a Preservation Board referral, a 30-day wait except in emergencies, an asbestos survey and, depending on the job, a master plumber's sewer and water cut-off form. Start with the Department of Permit & Inspection Services, then bring us in for the teardown itself.
Can the back house on my Buffalo lot share the front house's sewer line?
Sometimes. Buffalo Sewer Authority rules call for a separate building sewer for every building, with one exception: when a building stands behind another on an interior lot and no private sewer can reach it through an alley, court, yard or driveway, the front building's sewer may be extended to the rear one. Check with Buffalo Sewer on whether your lot qualifies. If the rear building needs its own line, the trench typically runs along the side yard or the drive, and that is utility trenching we handle.
What's under the pavement downtown and in the First Ward?
Nobody can say for sure until someone digs. Soil maps show most of the Central neighborhood, the First Ward and Seneca Babcock as plain Urban land, and the county soil survey says it wasn't practical to examine the soils under that pavement. It also notes that some landfills are included in that mapping, many with several feet of fill placed over marshes and floodplains. For a commercial foundation, a new parking area or fresh utility runs, start with test pits or borings so the design matches what is really in the ground.
Do you also work in the towns right outside the city line?
Yes. Besides the city, we work in towns across Erie and Niagara counties, including city neighbors such as Cheektowaga, Tonawanda and West Seneca. Permits there come from each town's own building department rather than City Hall, so the paperwork changes once you cross the line. The digging, grading and demolition work stays the same, and so does the site walk before we give you a number.
Service areas
Other towns we serve
The same crew and the same approach across Erie and Niagara counties.
Sources and further reading
- U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2020-2024 5-year DP04 housing characteristics, Buffalo city (opens in a new tab)
- Open Data Buffalo: USDA Soil Survey layer for the City of Buffalo (opens in a new tab)
- USDA Soil Conservation Service: Soil Survey of Erie County, New York (1986) (opens in a new tab)
- City of Buffalo Permit & Inspection Services: Demolition (opens in a new tab)
- City of Buffalo: Demolition Diversion and Stabilization First Policy Overview (opens in a new tab)
- Buffalo Sewer Authority Sewer Use Regulations, Part 10075 (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
- UDig NY (811): location requests and private lines (opens in a new tab)
Get your city lot walked before it's priced
Send the address, the neighborhood and a line about what has to come out or go in. Call or text (716) 444-6613 and we'll come look at the property.