Excavation in Chicago: Permits, 811 and What's Underground

Excavation in Chicago starts with a phone call, not a shovel. Before anyone digs, even in your own yard, 811 Chicago (DIGGER) has to be notified so the utilities can mark their lines. Then the depth of the hole, how close it is to a building or the street, and who is doing the work decide which permits apply.

Here is the short version, in the order it should happen:

1. Call 811 Chicago and wait the required business days for locates.
2. Check the depth and location against the City's permit rules.
3. Hire a licensed general contractor. Digging is one of the jobs owners can't do under their own exemption.
4. Check the public way. Dumpsters, spoil piles and trucks in the street or alley need their own permit.
5. Dig by hand or vacuum near marked lines, and know what you're looking at before you go deeper.

The rest of this guide covers each step and points to a deeper article.

What counts as excavation on a Chicago property?

Excavation covers more than a backhoe and a big hole. On a typical Chicago lot it can mean:

• Digging down beside a foundation wall to repair it or waterproof it. See foundation repair in Chicago.
• Lowering a basement floor or building a new entrance. See digging out a Chicago basement.
• Footings for a porch, a garage, an addition or stairs.
• Trenches for water, sewer, gas or drainage lines.
• Clearing and grading a lot after a house demolition.
• Pulling out old foundations, tanks or buried debris.

All of it falls under the same basic rules: call before you dig, check the permit threshold, use a licensed contractor, and keep the hole out of the public way unless a permit says otherwise. The details depend on the depth and on how close you are to a building or the street.

Do you have to call 811 before digging in Chicago?

Yes. Chicago's one call system is 811 Chicago (DIGGER), run by the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT). It's a free, 24 hour service inside city limits. All non-emergency excavation or penetration requires at least two business days of notice, not counting Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. You call 312-744-7000 or file a ticket online. The wait exists because the Illinois Underground Utility Facilities Damage Prevention Act requires it, so that utilities can mark their facilities in the public way and on private property (City of Chicago).

Two points owners often miss:

• It applies to homeowners. The call applies to private property, and it applies to you digging your own yard (City of Chicago).
• Chicago and the rest of Illinois use different systems. State law names JULIE, Inc. as the statewide one call notice system. Chicago uses 811 Chicago, and JULIE serves the rest of Illinois (Illinois law). If your job is in the suburbs, the call goes to JULIE. If it's inside city limits, it goes to DIGGER.

The state law also tells excavators to give notice not less than 2 days and not more than 10 days before starting, to pre-mark the dig area, and to use hand or vacuum excavation within the tolerance zone around marked lines (Illinois law). Ask your contractor which window they're working to, and don't dig the day your ticket expires.

For the whole process, including what the ticket tells you, see 811 Chicago for homeowners and how to read your 811 ticket. If someone suggests skipping the call, read how Chicago dig jobs go wrong without 811 first.

Do you need a permit to excavate in Chicago?

It depends on depth and location. According to the City's permit pages, you don't need a building permit for grading or excavation no deeper than 5 feet below grade on private property, or no deeper than 10 feet if it isn't within 5 feet horizontally of an existing structure or the public way (City of Chicago). Past those numbers, a permit is in play.

A few things sit on top of that:

• A stormwater plan can apply. A Stormwater Management Plan may be required when excavation disturbs 15,000 square feet or more, or when new or reconfigured impervious surface is 7,500 square feet or more (City of Chicago).
• Deeper digs mean drawings. The City's Standard Plan Review program covers foundations and excavation not more than 12 feet deep, and it requires an architect to prepare the drawings, with submission through the City's E-Plan system (City of Chicago). Below that range, the project is a different kind of review.
• "No permit" is not "no rules." Work done under an exemption still has to comply with all the construction codes (City of Chicago).
• "No permit" is not "no 811." The call is a separate requirement.
• Hazard overlays still apply. Asbestos notification, lead safe work and dust control apply regardless of the exemptions (City of Chicago).

Because these thresholds are volatile, check with the Department of Buildings before you count on them. We lay out the depth rules question by question in do you need a permit to excavate in Chicago.

Who is allowed to dig, and can you do it yourself?

The City doesn't leave this to the owner. An individual without a general contractor license cannot perform or oversee work that needs a demolition permit or an excavation notice (City of Chicago). A City general contractor license is required for most building construction, alteration, repair and demolition work, including work that is exempt from needing a building permit (City of Chicago).

The one exception owners know about, the one that lets some people work on their own primary residence, specifically does not include excavation or demolition (City of Chicago). So the usual homeowner shortcut doesn't cover digging.

In practice, that means a licensed general contractor is your digger, your permit holder and your 811 caller. If somebody offers to do the work cash and "no permit", ask for their City license number and verify it on the Department of Buildings' lookup before anything else.

Only one general contractor is allowed on a project at a time (City of Chicago). If your project has a mason, a plumber and an excavator, the structure of who answers to whom matters. Ask about it at the estimate.

Street, alley and sidewalk: the permit people forget

Many Chicago lots have no room for a spoil pile or a dumpster on the property. Using the public way (street, alley, sidewalk, parkway), including scaffolding, material storage and dumpsters, needs a separate permit from CDOT. Structures in the public way generally need a public way use permit from the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP), and trees or plants in the public way need a forestry permit from Streets and Sanitation (City of Chicago).

If you're digging next to a sidewalk or the alley, or if the truck can only sit on the street, ask your contractor which of those apply and who is pulling them. A dumpster in the alley with no permit is a ticket waiting for a neighbor to call it in.

What's underground on a Chicago lot?

Marked lines are only part of the picture. Here is what we commonly run into on city lots (these are patterns, not a guarantee for your address):

• Water service and sewer connections to the street or alley.
• Gas and electric service lines to the building.
• Old foundation walls, footings, cisterns, tanks or buried debris from earlier structures.
• Drain tile or old drainage runs.
• Roots from the street tree.

The 811 locate is about utility facilities. It does not tell you what an old owner buried. That is why state law calls for pre-marking and for hand or vacuum excavation near marked lines. Our article on hydro excavation in Chicago explains why a vacuum truck is the safer way to open ground near live lines.

When does a foundation problem mean digging outside?

Not every cracked foundation needs a trench. Interior repairs, patching and drainage fixes can resolve some problems without going outside. But when the problem is on the exterior face of the wall, water pushing in against it or a failing footing, the work usually means digging down beside the foundation.

That's where all of this guide's rules arrive at once: the 811 ticket, the depth check, the licensed contractor, and often the neighbor. The decision about when to dig outside versus when to leave the ground alone is one a contractor should explain, not just quote. Read foundation repair in Chicago: when to dig outside for the signs and the questions to ask. For stone and brick foundation walls specifically, see brick and stone foundation wall repair.

If the settling is showing up as cracks in the brick above, our piece on stair step cracks in brick explains when the wall is telling you the foundation moved.

A note on structural work: the City's structural repairs in many cases call for plans prepared by an Illinois architect or structural engineer (City of Chicago). Foundation repair is not usually a drawing free job. Ask your contractor whether engineered drawings are needed for your scope, and don't treat "we've always done it that way" as an answer.

Digging out a basement

Lowering a basement floor or adding a lower level is the deepest and most expensive kind of excavation most owners will consider. It involves underpinning or new footings, shoring, drainage, and a permit path that depends on depth and on what the building above is doing.

We won't quote a price here, because it depends on depth, soil, access and what the structure above needs. We do cover what triggers the work and the permit in digging out a Chicago basement: what it takes. If your reason for digging is a basement apartment or a garden unit, check with the Department of Buildings and a zoning professional first.

Digging next to a neighbor's wall

Many Chicago buildings sit tight to the lot line. A trench next to a neighbor's wall, or a footing that approaches a shared property line, creates risks that a permit page doesn't answer.

We can't point to a verified City rule on neighbor wall distances, so this is a "check with the Department of Buildings" topic. The practical approach: have a licensed surveyor confirm the line, look at the neighbor's foundation before any digging starts, and document its condition with photos. If a wall is shared or the work gets within a few feet of it, ask a structural engineer about shoring. Our article digging next to a neighbor's wall: lot line risks covers the questions.

For attached buildings, the neighbor and party wall questions also show up when demolishing. See demolishing an attached building.

Winter digging and the frost line

Frozen ground slows excavation, changes how soil behaves and affects when footings can be poured. We cover that in digging in a Chicago winter.

On depth, be careful with the number you hear. The City's 2011 porch guidelines say footing bottoms should be at least 42 inches below grade, but that guide cites older code chapters, so treat the figure as 2011 era and verify it against the current code (City of Chicago). We don't state a frost line number as City law here. See how deep the frost line is in Chicago for what we can and can't say.

What drives the cost of excavation?

We don't quote dollar amounts for digging because the bill moves with the job. The drivers:

• Depth and volume of soil removed and hauled away.
• Access. A tight gangway or alley with no machine room means hand digging or small equipment.
• What's underground. Utilities, old foundations and debris.
• Shoring and support for the building and for neighbors.
• Permits, drawings and the public way. An architect or engineer, the CDOT permit and a dumpster in the alley.
• Water. Groundwater and drainage solutions.
• Restoration. Backfill, grading, concrete and landscaping.

For repair specific cost drivers, see what drives the foundation repair bill.

Where to start

Start with the call, not the quote. Decide what you're trying to fix or build. Find the depth and distance from the nearest building and the public way. Then talk to a licensed general contractor who will tell you which permits, drawings and calls apply, and put them in the contract.

Akats is a licensed and insured Illinois contractor with excavation, demolition, masonry and concrete crews in-house, so the person who digs, the person who rebuilds the wall and the person who handles the City paperwork are on the same team. We work in English and Spanish. See our excavation and foundation service page for how a job runs.

Planning a dig or looking at a foundation problem? Request a free estimate or call 312-339-9627. If a City notice has already landed, start with our Chicago building violation guide.

Common questions

This article explains general rules and common situations in Chicago. It is not legal advice, and City rules change. For a specific property, check with the Chicago Department of Buildings or a licensed professional.