Excavation, septic systems and sand and gravel across Northwest Michigan — the same family since 1939.

01 1939

The first generation put the name on the truck

Gray's Excavating has served Northwest Michigan since 1939. Not since a rebrand, not since a franchise was bought — since 1939, under the same family name, working the same sandy ground between Lake Ann and the bay. Three generations have now run the machines. That is the whole pitch, and it is the only thing in this trade that cannot be bought in.

What it buys you as a customer is boring and valuable: somebody who has already dug on your road, already knows how the water sits on that side of the hill, and is still going to be in the phone book when the drainfield needs looking at in fifteen years.

02 Dirt, sand and stone

We dig it, and we can bring it to you

Most excavators can only take material away. Gray's hauls as well as digs, so a job that needs three loads of sand under a slab, a load of screened topsoil over a finished lot, or gravel for a two-track does not turn into three phone calls and two invoices from three companies.

In this line Sand and gravel · Top soil · Digging · Bulldozing · Grading

Need a load of sand or topsoil? Call 231-342-2566

03 Underground

Septic systems, and hooking up to city sewer and water

A septic system is the one thing on a property that nobody thinks about until the day it stops working, and then it is the only thing anybody is thinking about. Gray's installs complete systems — tank, distribution box and drainfield — and does the excavation and backfill around them, on new builds and on replacements where an old field has finally given up.

Where a property can be brought onto municipal service instead, we do the city sewer and water hookups: the trench from the house to the main, the connection, and the ground put back the way it was found.

In this line Septic systems · City sewer and water hookups

Septic trouble? Call 231-342-2566

04 Getting in and getting clear

Land clearing, stumps, driveways and road building

Before anything gets built, something has to come out and something has to be driven on. Gray's clears lots, pulls and removes stumps rather than burying them where they will settle, and builds the road or driveway that the concrete truck is going to need long before the concrete truck turns up.

Residential or commercial, the sequence is the same and the equipment is already ours — clear, grub, cut the grade, build the base, and shape it so the water runs off the drive instead of down it.

In this line Land clearing · Tree stump removal · Road building · Driveways · Residential excavation · Commercial excavation

Clearing a lot this season? Call 231-342-2566

05 Winter

Snow plowing and snow removal

The same machines that move dirt for eight months move snow for the other four. Plowing keeps a drive or a lot open; removal takes the piles away when there is nowhere left to push them, which in this part of Michigan is a real problem by February and not a hypothetical one.

In this line Snow plowing · Snow removal

Line up plowing before the first snow — 231-342-2566

06 Third generation

How we work

We listen first, lay out what the options actually are, tell you what each one costs and what each one gets you — and then leave the decision alone. It is your ground and your money. Our suppliers are held to the same standard we hold ourselves to, which is how the price stays sensible without the quality moving.

And because we are twenty minutes from most of the work: we can be at your project in minutes, not next week.