Quick answer
Dig Out WNY is a locally owned excavation, demolition and construction contractor working in the Village of Williamsville, NY, for homeowners, landlords and businesses. Work there includes garage and house tear-downs, drainage and sewer repairs tied to the village's sale-time sewer inspection, footings for additions, pool removals and driveway rip-outs, all planned around village permits, older lots and the Onondaga Escarpment.
A Williamsville mailing address covers far more ground than the village does. Census estimates put about 25,700 homes and apartments in the 14221 ZIP code area, and only about one in nine of them sits inside the one-square-mile village itself. Inside that line the houses are older, permits come from a different office and some buildings are protected landmarks, so a dig or a tear-down gets planned differently than it would in a newer subdivision down the road.
We work in the village for residential and commercial clients: tearing down a detached garage behind a prewar house, fixing the drainage a sewer compliance inspection flagged, digging footings for an addition on a tight lot, or filling in an old pool. We price a job only after standing on the lot, we pick up when you call, and we work out with you which permits it needs before any equipment arrives.
The village line, a limestone ledge and Ellicott Creek
Williamsville is a village, incorporated in 1850, covering about one square mile of Erie County. Most of it lies in the Town of Amherst, and its southeastern corner reaches into the Town of Cheektowaga. Main Street (Route 5), once the main road between Buffalo and Batavia, still splits the village into north and south halves, while Ellicott Creek divides east from west.
The ground changes quickly. The Onondaga Escarpment, a ridge of limestone bedrock, crosses the village just north of Main Street, right where the creek drops over Glen Falls. A state flood study of Ellicott Creek describes the corridor's glacial till as shallow to bedrock in places and notes that rock controls the creek's grade in the village, especially at the falls. Downstream, the land flattens into the Tonawanda Plain, which the same study calls relatively flat and poorly drained. The village's 2005 land inventory, drawing on county soils data, classed about 83 percent of the village as urban land or urban land complexes, meaning much of the natural soil sits under, or was disturbed by, streets, parking lots and buildings.
Water is the other constant. Low-lying parts of the village are subject to frequent flooding in late winter and early spring, and the same state study places the Cadman Drive neighborhood, upstream of the Main Street bridge, inside the mapped 1 percent annual-chance floodplain. A flood-control dam stands just upstream of Main Street.
The housing is old by suburban standards. Census estimates show more than a third of the village's roughly 2,860 homes and apartments went up before 1940, and nearly three in four before 1960, compared with about one in twelve pre-1940 homes across the wider 14221 area. Lots are modest: low-density residential lots averaged about 11,000 square feet, roughly a quarter acre, in that same inventory, with deeper lots on South Cayuga Road running back to the creek and late 19th- and early 20th-century houses on Oakgrove Drive, where the street follows the creek's curves.
Services in Williamsville
What we do in Williamsville
Most village work replaces something rather than breaking new ground. With only about 2 percent of village land vacant in its community plan inventory, the work tends to be demolition of worn-out houses and outbuildings, sewer lateral repairs on aging pipe, storm water drainage that keeps sump and downspout water out of the sanitary sewer, and excavation for additions that have to fit on an existing lot. Much of it needs a Village Building Department permit, and work on a designated landmark also goes before the Historic Preservation Commission, so we plan the paperwork alongside the digging.
Demolition & Removal
Excavation & Earthwork
Building & Foundations
Sewer, Water & Utilities
Driveways & Finish Work
Demolition permits, landmarks and the ten-day cleanup rule
Taking a structure down here starts with the Village Building Department's demolition permit, and the form covers more than houses. It lists principal buildings, accessory structures, pools and fuel tanks as separate categories. The village's written requirements include:
- a survey of the property with the building to be removed highlighted
- written confirmation that gas, electric and other utilities are shut off, with that work supervised by the Village Department of Public Works
- where required, an asbestos survey filed with the NYS Department of Labor under Industrial Code Rule 56, with a copy to the village
- any tank, above or below ground, emptied, cleaned and removed under NYS DEC rules
Once the building is down, the site has to be secured and all rubble hauled away within ten days. We schedule the trucking to meet that deadline. On a garage tear-down behind a prewar house, that can mean working a compact machine between a fence line and the house on a narrow lot and loading debris as it comes apart.
Landmarks add a step. The village has 34 designated local landmarks, and any work on one of them needs a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Commission. If your property is on that list, we build the commission's meeting calendar into the schedule before we book a demolition date.
Passing the sump pump and downspout inspection at sale
Selling a house in the village comes with a sewer check. Under Chapter 81-6(C) of the village code, the sump pump system, footing drains, yard drains and downspouts on every property must be inspected before ownership transfers. The goal is to keep storm and ground water out of the sanitary sewer, which the village runs separately from its storm sewers. A property that passes gets a Certificate of Compliance that stays valid for two years.
On older houses, downspouts and footing drains were sometimes piped straight into the sewer line, and that is the kind of connection the inspection is looking for. Where the fix is outside, it is excavation work:
- downspouts get disconnected from the old buried line and sent to a new outlet
- sump discharge gets its own buried line to a spot the inspector will accept
- yard drains get rerouted so they stop feeding the house sewer
We handle that drainage rerouting, and when a camera inspection shows the lateral itself is cracked or packed with roots, the sewer line replacement as well. The village's Department of Public Works maintains the mains and inspects connections, and a repair that has to open the street can need a Highway Work Permit on top of the plumbing permit. We confirm with the Building Department which pieces apply before we dig.
Rock by Glen Falls, water on the creek flats
Where your lot sits in the village changes what the bucket finds. Close to the escarpment, limestone can come up shallower than a basement or pool dig needs to go, and rock that shows up halfway through an excavation changes the equipment, the schedule and where the spoils end up. On the walk-through we look at the grade, any exposed ledge and the neighboring foundations, and we may suggest a test hole so a footing or pool estimate accounts for rock before it surprises anyone.
Along Ellicott Creek the problem flips to water. Low ground near the creek floods in late winter and spring, and the village has its own Floodplain Development Permit application for work in the floodplain. There we plan excavations for the drier months, keep a pump on site and backfill in compacted lifts so the soil doesn't settle the next time it saturates.
Lot size shapes everything in between. With low-density residential lots averaging around 11,000 square feet, there can be little room to stockpile dirt, so we plan truck loads and staging before the first scoop. That applies to pool removals too: the demolition permit lists pools as their own category, so filling in an old in-ground pool starts with the same paperwork as taking down a garage.
Who signs off on digging inside the village line
Inside the village, permits come from the Village of Williamsville Building Department at 5565 Main Street, not the Town of Amherst. It handles building, demolition, driveway, pool, plumbing and floodplain development permits, and work on a designated landmark also needs Historic Preservation Commission approval. The village's Department of Public Works maintains the storm and sanitary sewers and supervises utility shut-offs on demolitions. Outside the village line, the surrounding town's building department takes over; our Amherst and Cheektowaga pages cover those offices. Any excavation also starts with an 811 utility locate request before anyone digs. Requirements and fees change, so confirm with the Village of Williamsville Building Department what your project needs while the plans can still change.
Questions & answers
Questions from Williamsville homeowners
Do I need a village permit to tear down a garage in Williamsville?
Yes. The village's demolition permit covers accessory structures such as detached garages, not just houses. The application needs a property survey marking the building, written proof that utilities are shut off where that applies, and, where required, an asbestos survey filed with the state Department of Labor, with a copy to the village. After the tear-down, all debris has to be off the lot within ten days. We handle the garage demolition itself and can walk you through what the form asks for.
What does the Williamsville sewer compliance inspection check before a sale?
It checks whether storm and ground water can get into the sanitary sewer. Under village code Chapter 81-6(C), the sump pump system, footing drains, yard drains and downspouts must be inspected before any transfer of ownership. A passing property receives a Certificate of Compliance that stays valid for two years from the date it's issued. If something fails, the fix often means rerouting a downspout or sump line outside the house, which is excavation work we do.
My address says Williamsville. Am I actually in the village?
Not necessarily. The 14221 ZIP code area holds roughly 25,700 homes and apartments by Census estimate, and only about 2,860 of them are inside the village. The rest are in surrounding towns, and their permits come from that town's building department. Your property tax bills or the village's online map will show which side of the line you're on. If you're outside it, our Amherst service page or Cheektowaga page is the better guide.
Why do some digs here run into limestone and others don't?
Because the Onondaga Escarpment, a limestone ridge, runs across the village just north of Main Street. A state flood study of Ellicott Creek found the glacial till along the corridor is shallow to bedrock in places, and rock sets the grade of Ellicott Creek at Glen Falls. Lots on or near that ledge can hit rock within basement or pool depth. Depth varies from one lot to the next, so when a job is close to the escarpment we suggest digging a test hole before pricing the full excavation.
Can a designated landmark in the village be altered or torn down?
Only with the Historic Preservation Commission's approval, on top of the usual permits. The village has 34 designated local landmarks, including the Williamsville Water Mill and the Village Meeting House, and any work on a landmark or landmark site needs a Certificate of Appropriateness. The application asks for a written scope of work, material samples or product numbers, and color photos of the site. It has to reach the Building Department before the commission's meeting deadline, so we don't schedule equipment until the decision is in hand.
Does Ellicott Creek flooding change how you dig near the water?
Yes. Low-lying ground along the creek is subject to frequent flooding in late winter and early spring, and a state flood study places the Cadman Drive neighborhood, upstream of the Main Street bridge, inside the 1 percent annual-chance floodplain. Work there may need the village's Floodplain Development Permit on top of the usual building permit. We schedule creek-side excavation for drier months, keep water pumped out of open trenches and compact backfill in lifts so it holds when the ground saturates again.
Service areas
Other towns we serve
The same crew and the same approach across Erie and Niagara counties.
Sources and further reading
- Village of Williamsville: Building Permits and Sewer Compliance Inspection (opens in a new tab)
- Village of Williamsville: Demolition Permit Application and Requirements (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
- Village of Williamsville: Village History (opens in a new tab)
- Village of Williamsville: Department of Public Works (opens in a new tab)
- NYS DEC: Resilient New York Flood Mitigation Initiative, Ellicott Creek Final Report (2021) (opens in a new tab)
- US Census Bureau: ACS 2020-2024 Year Structure Built, Williamsville village and ZIP 14221 (opens in a new tab)
- Village of Williamsville Community Plan and Final Generic EIS (2015, PDF) (opens in a new tab)
Have a Williamsville job that needs a site walk?
Call or text (716) 444-6613 with your street and the project, from a pool fill-in to a new footing. We'll look at the lot and go over which village permits likely apply.