Quick answer
Dig Out WNY provides excavation, demolition and construction services in West Seneca, NY, for homeowners, builders and businesses throughout the town. The work covers sewer lateral replacement, garage and house tear-downs, footings and basements for additions, yard drainage and driveway rip-outs. Each job is planned around the town's slow-draining soils, its creek floodplains and its Code Enforcement permit process.
West Seneca has no village inside its borders, so building and demolition permits all come from one place: the Code Enforcement Office at Town Hall on Union Road. The ground is less simple. Four major creeks cut across the town, running roughly east to west, and most of the soil between them drains slowly. Those two facts decide how long a trench can stay open, where the spoil pile goes and whether a job should wait for a drier stretch of weeks.
Dig Out WNY is locally owned and works for homeowners, contractors building new and owners of commercial property from the city-line streets out to the borders with Elma and Orchard Park. We answer our own phone, and we come out to look at the lot before giving you a number, because a lot beside Buffalo Creek and a lot on the heavier clay near the town's south edge behave nothing alike. Tell us what you want dug, removed or built through the contact page and we'll set up a visit.
Creek floodplains, slow-draining soil and 1960s homes
West Seneca is a town in Erie County with no incorporated village, and it grew out of two old hamlets: Ebenezer, around Seneca Street and Union Road, and Gardenville, at Union Road and Clinton Street. Subdivisions spread in the 1960s and '70s off Clinton Street, Seneca Creek Road, Center Road, Seneca Street, East & West Road and Reserve Road. The town's 2005 comprehensive plan notes that most residential lots are under an acre, which matters when a dump truck and an excavator have to fit beside the house next door.
The housing stock tells you what is buried. Census estimates for 2020 to 2024 count about 21,150 housing units in the town, 57 percent of them built before 1970 and only about 12 percent built in 2000 or later. The median home dates to the 1960s, so a house still on its original sewer lateral is likely running on pipe more than fifty years old.
Water shapes the rest. Cazenovia Creek winds through the west-central part of town, roughly along Seneca Street. Buffalo Creek runs just south of Clinton Street, Cayuga Creek follows part of the northern line, and Smoke Creek curls around the southwest corner. Land beside all four, and beside Ebenezer Brook, is mapped as floodplain, and nearly everything west of the Thruway and north of the rail line sits inside it. Farther east, Cazenovia Creek has carved steep, in places sheer, banks.
Between the creeks, NRCS soil maps show silty lake-plain soils such as Niagara silt loam across much of the middle and north, with Remsen silty clay loam more common toward the south. Remsen formed in clayey till derived mostly from finely bedded shale; its subsoil is silty clay or clay, with a weighted clay content of 45 to 60 percent, and it passes water very slowly. That same plan describes most of the town's soils as potentially hydric and warns of drainage problems across much of the town.
Services in West Seneca
What we do in West Seneca
Four of our services line up closely with West Seneca's older lots and wet ground. Laterals that are half a century old are what our sewer work is built around: excavating to the failure and laying new pipe. Worn-out houses, sheds and outbuildings come down through demolition, or a smaller garage tear-down, with the hole filled and graded afterward. And because so much of the town holds water, storm water drainage covers French drains, downspout lines and regrading that sends runoff toward the street or a ditch instead of the basement. Commercial lots get the same work on a larger scale.
Demolition & Removal
Excavation & Earthwork
Building & Foundations
Sewer, Water & Utilities
Driveways & Finish Work
Sewer laterals where Town and County districts meet
Who you deal with on a lateral job depends on where the house sits. The Town Engineering Department inspects and maintains the town's sanitary sewer system, and the 2005 comprehensive plan puts most of the town in town-run sewer districts. Almost the entire northern third, above the Aurora Expressway, falls in Erie County Sewer District No. 1, and part of the southwest corner, south of Ridge Road and west of Orchard Park Road, is in District No. 3.
Groundwater getting into pipes is a long-running problem here. A New York State DEC consent order tied to sanitary sewer overflows in town Sewer Districts 5 and 13 has the town relining mains with cured-in-place pipe. A cracked or root-packed lateral in wet soil does the same thing on a smaller scale.
A lateral replacement in this ground usually runs in this order:
- Run a sewer camera first to pin down the crack, belly or root mass before the ground is opened.
- Trace the lateral's route, since 811 locates often skip private laterals.
- Open the trench and pump out water that seeps in from the silt and clay.
- Lay new pipe on bedding at a steady fall to the connection.
- Backfill in thin compacted lifts, because a loosely filled trench keeps settling long after the crew leaves.
One town rule comes before all of it: sewer work has to be done by a plumber or sewer contractor holding a West Seneca license, so check your contractor's name against the town's list before anyone starts.
Tear-downs and fill on sub-acre lots
With most residential lots under an acre, a garage tear-down or a full house demolition here is as much about access as about machinery. The excavator, the truck and the debris pile all need room, and the neighbor's driveway, fence and trees are often a few feet away. Swing radius and truck path are the first things we look at when we walk the lot.
The permit comes first. Code Enforcement is plain about it: any building demolished in whole or in part needs a demolition permit from the Code Enforcement Officer, and some cases call for a professional engineer to oversee the work. Gas and electric service get shut off and disconnected by the utilities beforehand, and the sewer lateral is capped so dirt and debris can't wash into the main.
Town rules for building permit holders also reach the street: dirt, mud and stones left on the road get cleaned up at the end of each day, and the general contractor or utility company answers for any sidewalk that settles or manhole that has to be moved. A tear-down trucks out a lot of material, so plan on the same care. Once the slab and footings are out, the hole gets clean fill compacted in layers, then topsoil, and the last grading pass pitches runoff toward the street rather than the yard next door. Seed or hydroseed finishes the lot.
Footings, basements and yard drainage in slow clay
The Remsen soils mapped toward the south end of town have a clay subsoil that is firm, plastic and sticky, and water moves through it very slowly. That makes for heavy digging and poor backfill when it's wet, and it means water that runs into a footing trench tends to stay there.
The town's inspection list reflects that. A footing trench is inspected before concrete, and all water has to be out of it first. Cellar walls are inspected with stone around the outside and the walls tarred, and a foundation location survey is required before framing. For foundation and basement work, or the footings under a home addition, we build pumping time and drainage stone into the plan instead of hoping for a dry week.
Yards have the same problem at the surface. On lots near Cazenovia or Buffalo Creek, look at the FEMA flood map first, because the town's flood damage prevention law requires a floodplain development permit for work in a mapped flood hazard area, and the 2005 comprehensive plan names the Town Engineer as the official who grants it. Everywhere else, yard drainage usually means a French drain in fabric and stone, downspouts piped out to daylight or an approved storm connection, and a regrade that carries water off the lot.
Permits, sewer contacts and 811 in West Seneca
Building, demolition and plumbing permits are handled by the Town of West Seneca Code Enforcement Office at Town Hall, 1250 Union Road, Room 210, and its inspections need a day's notice. The town requires plumbing and sewer work to be done by a plumber or sewer contractor holding a town license. Public sanitary sewers in the town districts are maintained by the Town Engineering Department; north of the Aurora Expressway, your street is likely in Erie County Sewer District No. 1 instead. Before any digging, file an 811 locate request. UDig NY, the one-call center, points out that private lines such as sewer laterals, water services and sump lines may not be marked. Fees, forms and timelines change, so confirm them with West Seneca Code Enforcement before work starts.
Questions & answers
Questions from West Seneca homeowners
Who issues building and demolition permits in West Seneca?
The Town of West Seneca Code Enforcement Office does, from Town Hall on Union Road. Because the town has no village inside it, there is no second building department to sort out. Taking down all or part of a building needs a demolition permit from the Code Enforcement Officer, and some cases require a professional engineer to oversee the work. Inspections need a day's notice, so build that into the schedule.
Is my house on a town sewer or an Erie County sewer district?
It depends on which part of town you're in. According to the town's 2005 comprehensive plan, most of the town is in town sewer districts that the Engineering Department maintains, almost the entire northern third above the Aurora Expressway is in Erie County Sewer District No. 1, and part of the southwest corner is in District No. 3. The Engineering Department can confirm which one covers your street before a lateral job is planned.
Can any contractor replace a sewer lateral in West Seneca?
No. The Code Enforcement Office requires all plumbing and sewer work in town to be done by a plumber or sewer contractor who holds a West Seneca license, and it posts the current list. The same office schedules the sewer inspection, which needs a day's notice. Ask whoever you hire how the permit and inspection will be handled on your job, and check the name against the town's list before the trench is opened.
My yard backs onto Cazenovia Creek. Can I still put on an addition?
It may be possible, but the flood map decides the first steps. Land next to Cazenovia, Buffalo, Cayuga and Smoke Creeks and Ebenezer Brook is mapped as floodplain, and the town's 2005 comprehensive plan says work inside a FEMA special flood hazard area requires a floodplain development permit, which the Town Engineer grants or denies. That process can dictate how high the new lowest floor has to sit, so settle it before any excavation is scheduled.
Why does water stand in West Seneca yards after a spring thaw?
Mostly because of the soil. The town's 2005 comprehensive plan describes most of its soils as potentially hydric, a class linked to long wet spells and ponding, and the Remsen soils mapped toward the south end pass water through their clay subsoil very slowly. Ground that is still frozen near the surface makes it worse in early spring. The usual fixes are grading that pushes water away from the house, a French drain, and downspouts piped away from soil that is already full.
Does the 811 locate cover my sewer lateral and sump line?
Not reliably. UDig NY, the 811 one-call center, lists sewer laterals, water services and sump pump lines among the private lines that utilities may not mark, because they belong to the property owner. On an older lot, the only way to know where those pipes run is to trace them. Finding them with a camera or careful hand digging is part of planning the excavation, not something to leave to the utility locator.
Service areas
Other towns we serve
The same crew and the same approach across Erie and Niagara counties.
Sources and further reading
- Town of West Seneca: Code Enforcement (permits, inspections, demolition) (opens in a new tab)
- Town of West Seneca: Plumbing Inspections (sewer contractor requirement) (opens in a new tab)
- Town of West Seneca: Engineering Department (sanitary sewer system) (opens in a new tab)
- Town of West Seneca Comprehensive Plan (2005, amended 2006) (opens in a new tab)
- US Census Bureau ACS 2020-2024: Year Structure Built, West Seneca town (opens in a new tab)
- USDA NRCS Official Soil Series Description: Remsen (opens in a new tab)
- UDig NY: Private vs. public utility lines (opens in a new tab)
Talk through your West Seneca job with us
Call or text (716) 444-6613. Give us the street and the job, and we'll look over the lot, the drainage and the sewer setup before quoting it.