Where Short Excavating Works
Owner-operated excavation across a roughly 120-mile range out of Fort Wayne, the full residential and commercial roster close to home, contracted commercial and industrial sitework at the edges.
A 120-mile reach from Fort Wayne
Short Excavating is based in Fort Wayne, Indiana and works within roughly a 120-mile radius, which carries us across northern Indiana and into parts of Ohio and Michigan. Wherever the project sits in that range, you get the same owner-operated standard: the owner on the job, the work checked as it goes in, and a real number before we start.
What we take on does shift with distance, and we would rather be straight about that than pretend otherwise. Close to Fort Wayne, LaGrange County and down through Hamilton County, we do the full range for homeowners and contractors both: forestry mulching, land clearing, driveway installation, French drains and drainage, site prep and grading, demolition and site utilities.
Farther out, the counties past about a two-hour drive, along with all of our Ohio coverage, we focus on contracted commercial and industrial sitework: commercial excavation, site development, heavy earthwork, large scale excavation, commercial and industrial site utilities, storm water management and commercial demolition. Mobilizing equipment that far is a real commitment, so it belongs on projects with a defined scope and schedule. Each county page below says exactly which applies.
Find your county.
The center of our range.
Short Excavating runs out of Fort Wayne, the hub of a roughly 120-mile range that reaches across northern Indiana and into Ohio and Michigan.
One owner, the same standard across the whole range
A 120-mile service range is wide for an owner-operated excavator, and it is deliberate. The owner would rather travel for the right job than hand work off to a crew just to stay close to home. What changes with distance is not the standard of the work, it is which jobs make sense to take.
Near the shop that means everything: gravel driveways, drainage and French drains, forestry mulching and clearing, site prep, demolition and utilities, for homeowners and contractors alike. Out at the edge of the range it means commercial and industrial sitework, where equipment mobilizes once and stays for a defined scope. A homeowner three hours out deserves someone local for a driveway, and we will say so.
If your town is not on a county page, it does not necessarily mean we cannot help. The lists cover the main communities, but the range is a radius, not a fixed list. Call the owner with your location and your project, and he will tell you straight whether it is a fit.
Indiana, Ohio and Michigan, one standard of work
Short Excavating’s home base is Fort Wayne, and the bulk of our residential and light commercial work is across northern Indiana, the rural stretches of LaGrange County close to the shop, and down into the fast-growing Hamilton County communities on the Indianapolis ring. That is the ground where the owner can be on your property the same morning you call, which is what a driveway, a wet yard or a cleared lot actually needs.
The rest of the range is built for commercial and industrial sitework. That covers Boone, Hendricks, Hancock and Porter counties in Indiana, all of our Ohio coverage in Delaware County north of Columbus, Livingston and Oakland counties in the Detroit metro, and McHenry County in Illinois. On those projects the owner loads the equipment and mobilizes for a contracted scope: site development, mass earthwork, underground utilities, storm water and demolition, on a schedule a general contractor can build around.
One thing does not change anywhere in the range: you are never passed around. There is no office that books the job, a salesperson who quotes it, and a crew who shows up not knowing what was promised. The owner is the one constant from the first phone call through the final grade, whether the site is twenty minutes away or three hours out.
Questions, answered.
If yours isn’t here, just call the owner and ask.
How far do you travel for a job?
Roughly 120 miles out of Fort Wayne, which covers northern Indiana and parts of Ohio, Michigan and Illinois. Within about two hours we do the full residential and commercial range. Past that we take contracted commercial and industrial sitework.
Which states do you work in?
Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois, within the service range. Every county we cover has its own page.
Do you do residential work everywhere you list?
No, and we would rather say so plainly. Residential jobs like driveways and yard drainage need someone who can get there quickly, so we keep those to the counties within about two hours of Fort Wayne. Farther out, including all of our Ohio coverage, we focus on commercial and industrial projects.
Do you handle large commercial jobs across the whole area?
Yes. Commercial excavation, site development, heavy earthwork, large scale excavation, commercial and industrial utilities, storm water and demolition are available across the entire service range, in every county listed.
Do you charge more for jobs farther out?
Travel and mobilization factor into a job farther from Fort Wayne. The owner is straight about that when he gives you the number, no surprises later.
My town is not listed, can you still help?
Probably, if it is within the range. The county pages list the main towns, but call the owner with your location and the type of project and he will tell you straight.
Not sure if you’re in range? Just ask.
The county pages and the map are a guide, not a hard boundary. The service range is a radius out of Fort Wayne, so a town that is not listed on a county page may still be well within reach. The fastest way to know is to call the owner, tell him where the project is and what it involves, and let him give you a straight answer about whether it is a fit and what it would take to get out there.
What distance changes is the kind of work that makes sense, not the standard of it. Close to the shop the owner takes everything from a homeowner’s washed-out driveway to a full site development. At the far edge of the range the equipment mobilizes for contracted commercial and industrial scopes, where it is on site for the duration of the job. Either way the same person walks the site, runs the machines and answers for the grade, and travel is priced into the number up front rather than added to it later.
Tell the owner where your project is.
One call, straight answers, and a real number for the job.
Talk To Short Excavating Inc
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