Quick answer
Dig Out WNY digs, demolishes and builds in Cheektowaga, NY, for homeowners, landlords and businesses. On the town's post-war housing, about half of it built in the 1950s and '60s, typical jobs are detached garage tear-downs, driveway rip-outs, sewer lateral replacement, yard drainage and foundation digs for additions. Commercial lots get site excavation, grading and utility trenching ahead of construction.
About half of the homes in Cheektowaga went up between 1950 and 1969, according to U.S. Census estimates, and the 1950s alone produced more than a quarter of the town's housing. On a house that age the work tends to land in the same few places: a garage with a heaved slab, a driveway that has cracked through, a sewer lateral that has run to the street for six decades, and a backyard that stays wet into May. Those jobs, plus foundations, additions and new builds, are what we do here.
We work throughout the town, including the Village of Sloan and the Cheektowaga part of Depew, for homeowners, landlords and businesses. Before we price anything we walk the site, because the soil map here is a patchwork of lake-laid clay and silt, glacial till, and clay sitting on till, and the ground decides how a dig goes. We answer our own phone, so when you call or text us you get a straight answer about your lot, not a call center.
What's under Cheektowaga: lake clay, creeks and 1950s tracts
Cheektowaga is a town in Erie County, a first-ring suburb directly east of Buffalo that covers a little under 30 square miles. The Village of Sloan lies inside it, and the Village of Depew is split by the town line with Lancaster. Nearly 9 in 10 parcels are residential, and the Town's comprehensive plan ties many of those neighborhoods to post-war development, on street layouts that run from post-war grids to the winding subdivisions built later. Population peaked at 113,844 in 1970. Census figures show only about 4 percent of today's housing was built after 1999.
The ground is nearly level, and much of it formed on the beds of old glacial lakes. The largest single soil unit NRCS maps in the town is Urban land-Odessa complex: pavement and buildings mixed with Odessa soil, which formed in clayey lake-laid sediment. Under about 9 inches of silt loam, Odessa turns to silty clay, and the Erie County soil survey gives it a perched seasonal high water table in the upper subsoil from December through May, slow to very slow permeability, and bedrock at 5 feet or more. The survey also notes that some older buildings on it show signs of settling. Churchville soils (clay over glacial till), Niagara silt loam and Ovid silt loam are the next most common. Oddly, Cheektowaga fine sandy loam, the soil series that carries the town's name, covers only about half a percent of it.
The plan lists four creeks in the town, Cayuga, Scajaquada, Ellicott and Slate Bottom, along with 100-year and 500-year floodplain zones and a mix of federal and state regulated wetlands in the system. Buffalo Niagara International Airport sits in the northeast part of town along Genesee Street. CSX's Frontier Yard runs north of Broadway and Norfolk Southern's Bison Yard sits south of it, while two petroleum pipelines, the Buckeye line and Enbridge Line 10, run through the town as well.
Services in Cheektowaga
What we do in Cheektowaga
A 60-year-old Cheektowaga property tends to need the same short list of work, and it matches what we do. We take down detached garages, sheds, porches and whole houses through our demolition and garage tear-down services, and we dig out and replace failing laterals as part of our sewer work. For families adding space instead of moving, we excavate and build the foundations for home additions. On commercial parcels, whether that's Walden Avenue, Union Road or a side street off Harlem Road, we handle the excavation, grading and utility trenching that come before the building. The three sections below explain how this town's ground and rules shape that work.
Demolition & Removal
Excavation & Earthwork
Building & Foundations
Sewer, Water & Utilities
Driveways & Finish Work
Old detached garages and cracked driveways
If your lot has a detached garage built alongside a 1950s or '60s house, there's a fair chance the slab has cracked and the framing has rotted where it meets the concrete. Taking the building down is the quick part. The care goes into the rest: a driveway barely wider than a truck, a fence or a neighbor's garage near the property line, and an old power feed or gas line to the building that the 811 locate won't mark, because private lines past the meter belong to you.
Permits can be simpler here than people expect. The Town's building and plumbing fee schedule lists demolition of a residential accessory structure under 450 square feet as needing no permit, while a house or commercial building does need one. A one-car garage usually falls under that line; a big two-car garage can go over it, so measure the footprint and confirm with the Building Department first.
A tear-down pairs well with a driveway rip-out, since the garage slab, the apron and the old driveway can all come out in one mobilization. On Odessa clay the base under the new driveway matters more than the surface. That silty clay holds a perched water table through spring and is prone to frost heave, so soft spots get dug out and the stone goes back in compacted lifts.
Sewer laterals, two sewer districts and I&I checks
The Town's Sanitary Sewer Department maintains the main line in the street; the lateral from your house to that main is yours to operate and maintain. When a 1950s lateral cracks, sags or fills with roots, the repair falls to the owner. The Town's fee schedule lists exterior sewer repair as its own permit item, in the same plumbing section as drain tile and sump pump work.
Who runs the sewer your lateral empties into depends on where you live. The comprehensive plan places the northern and southwestern parts of town in the Town's own consolidated sewer district and the southeast part in Erie County Sewer District No. 1, with all of it pumped to Buffalo for treatment. The Town's Sewer Department maintains 263 miles of sanitary sewer, nine lift stations and a main pumping station.
An open-cut lateral replacement runs a trench from the foundation to the main, most often through clay. The new pipe is bedded in stone, pitched toward the main, and the trench is refilled a layer at a time with each layer compacted, so the yard above doesn't settle into a ditch by next spring. If you're selling, note that the fee schedule also lists an Inflow & Infiltration inspection and a time-of-sale inspection. Clear water from downspouts or a sump pump entering the sanitary line is exactly what I&I work is meant to find. Our sewer line replacement page covers the trench work step by step.
Spring water tables, flat yards and four creeks
Flat ground over clay drains slowly. The county survey says water perches on Odessa's clayey subsoil from December through May, which is why a Cheektowaga backyard can stay spongy long after the snow is gone. Water that can't sink into the clay has little reason to move sideways on a 0 to 3 percent slope, so it sits.
The fixes are physical. Regrade so the ground falls away from the foundation, carry downspouts and sump discharge through solid pipe to daylight or an approved outlet, and add a French drain or catch basin where a low spot has no exit. Our storm water drainage work covers all of it. Keep that clear water out of the sanitary lateral: the Sewer Department runs a program to remove exactly that kind of inflow, and in this town the storm sewers are run by the Highway Department, which also takes calls about curb drains and bubbler problems.
On lots near Cayuga, Scajaquada, Ellicott or Slate Bottom creek, check for mapped floodplain or wetland before you plan fill, a pond or a new structure. The comprehensive plan notes both federal and state regulated wetlands and 100-year and 500-year floodplain zones in the town, and development in those areas is regulated at the federal, state and town level.
Who to call in Cheektowaga before the digging starts
Building and demolition permits run through the Town of Cheektowaga Building Department at 275 Alexander Avenue, which handles project planning, construction permitting and code compliance. If your address is in the Village of Sloan or the Cheektowaga part of Depew, ask first which office issues your permit. Sanitary sewer questions go to the Town's Sanitary Sewer Department, which maintains the mains only, leaving the lateral to the owner; storm sewer and street drainage questions go to the Highway Department.
The state's underground-facilities rule (16 NYCRR Part 753) covers tear-downs, not just digging. Your 811 request to UDig NY, the Upstate center once called Dig Safely New York, must go in at least two working days before work starts, not counting the filing day, and never more than ten. Tearing down a building adds a step: at least seven working days out, a pre-demolition conference has to be requested through that same center with every operator whose lines are at or near the site. Permit lists change, so confirm current requirements with the Cheektowaga Building Department before scheduling.
Questions & answers
Questions from Cheektowaga homeowners
Does a small garage demolition in Cheektowaga need a Town permit?
It depends on the garage's size. The Town's building and plumbing fee schedule lists demolition of a residential accessory structure under 450 square feet as not requiring a permit, while residential and commercial demolitions each carry a permit per structure. A one-car garage usually lands under that threshold; a larger two-car garage may not. Measure the outside footprint, then confirm with the Cheektowaga Building Department, since schedules get updated. Either way, the 811 locate still has to happen before the slab and footings come out.
Is the sewer lateral my responsibility or the Town of Cheektowaga's?
The lateral is yours. The Town's Sanitary Sewer Department says it maintains only the main sewer line in the street, and the homeowner or resident is responsible for operating and maintaining the lateral pipe from the house to that main. Roots, a collapsed section or a belly in the lateral are the owner's repair. For backups during heavy rain, the Department points owners to backflow protection such as sewer check valves or gate valves, which the Town says a plumber can install.
Is my Cheektowaga street in the Town sewer district or Erie County's?
The answer changes from one end of the town to the other. The Town's comprehensive plan says the northern and southwestern parts of Cheektowaga operate under the Town's own consolidated sewer district, while the southeast part is served by Erie County Sewer District No. 1. All of the wastewater is pumped to the City of Buffalo for treatment. If you're planning a new connection or a lateral replacement, confirm your district with the Town before anything is dug.
Why does my Cheektowaga backyard stay soggy until late spring?
Because the clay underneath holds the water near the surface. The most common soil unit mapped in the town is Urban land-Odessa complex, and the Erie County soil survey gives Odessa soil a perched seasonal high water table in the upper subsoil from December through May, with slow to very slow permeability. On land this flat the water has nowhere to soak in and little slope to follow. Regrading, solid downspout lines, and a French drain or catch basin that gives the low spot an outlet are the usual fixes.
Are there pipelines or power lines to watch for when digging in Cheektowaga?
Yes, and they're one more reason the 811 call is never optional. The Town's comprehensive plan notes two major petroleum pipelines crossing the town, the Buckeye line and Enbridge Line 10, and high-voltage transmission lines running north to south along the I-90 corridor. Buried gas, water and electric service lines are common on residential lots too. Under the state's one-call rule the request goes in a minimum of two working days ahead, and the marks need to be on the ground before the first bucket.
What does the Town require before a commercial site project in Cheektowaga?
It usually starts with a meeting. The Town's permit schedule lists a pre-project meeting to identify land use and zoning constraints and a pre-development meeting with the Cheektowaga Business Assistance Team, with a completed Development Review Application, Part One of an Environmental Assessment Form and a property survey listed as submittals. Stormwater plan (SWPPP) review and state environmental review (SEQR) may also apply. Once plans are approved, our site work covers the excavation, grading, utility trenching and parking-lot base.
Service areas
Other towns we serve
The same crew and the same approach across Erie and Niagara counties.
Sources and further reading
- Town of Cheektowaga Building Department (opens in a new tab)
- Town of Cheektowaga Sanitary Sewer Department: lateral ownership, storm vs. sanitary sewers (opens in a new tab)
- Town of Cheektowaga Building & Plumbing Department permit and fee schedule (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
- Town of Cheektowaga Comprehensive Plan, adopted (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
- U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2020-2024 5-year: Year Structure Built, Cheektowaga town (opens in a new tab)
- USDA Soil Survey of Erie County, New York (1986) (opens in a new tab)
- UDig NY (formerly Dig Safely New York): 16 NYCRR Part 753 notice rules (opens in a new tab)
Get a Cheektowaga site walk on the calendar
Tell us the address and the project by phone or text at (716) 444-6613, and we'll set a time to look at the ground before pricing anything.