Post Hole Digging in Simcoe County

We are based in Barrie, which sits almost exactly in the middle of Simcoe County, and that is deliberate. We can be in Orillia, Wasaga Beach, Alliston or Bradford inside an hour, which is why we can serve the whole county with one crew rather than pretending to cover it from somewhere else.

Ten years of digging across the county means we have hit most of what it can throw at an auger, and it throws a lot. The county is not one place geologically, and a contractor who digs everything the same way is guessing somewhere.

One county, four kinds of ground

Simcoe County runs from Georgian Bay down to the edge of the GTA, and the ground changes completely across that span. In practice we are dealing with four situations.

Clay through Barrie, Innisfil, Essa and much of the south. Heavy, holds water, heaves hard through a freeze and thaw, augers cleanly and holds a hole open well. This is the ground that most demands full 42 inch depth.

Sandy loam through the middle of the county, around Midhurst and the County Road 27 corridor. Drains well, cuts easily, less heave, but shifts under load and wants a form in promptly on a poured pier.

Sand along the Georgian Bay shoreline, Wasaga Beach most of all. Easy digging, almost no frost problem and very little lateral hold, so the concrete collar is doing the whole job.

Stony and mixed till through the higher ground, the Oro Moraine, parts of Oro-Medonte and the west toward Clearview. Cobbles and boulders in the profile, slow going, and the one place where a hole occasionally has to move a foot to get past something we cannot go through.

What we do, everywhere we go

• Post hole digging, fence posts to 42 inches where the ground allows, set in high quality concrete, aligned and plumb
• Deck piers and footings, to 48 inches, customer supplied sonotubes set and poured
• Fence construction, wood, composite and chain link, gates included
• Deck construction, footings, framing, decking, railings and stairs
• Holiday lighting, designed, installed, maintained through the season and taken down after

Residential and commercial, homeowners and contractors. Fully insured, every day from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm.

Every municipality sets its own fence rules

There is no single Simcoe County fence by-law. Height limits, corner lot sight triangles and pool enclosure requirements are set by each city, town and township, and they do not match.

Barrie, Orillia, Wasaga Beach, Collingwood, Innisfil, Bradford West Gwillimbury, New Tecumseth, Essa, Springwater, Oro-Medonte, Clearview, Adjala-Tosorontio, Tay, Tiny, Midland, Penetanguishene and Ramara each run their own. Newmarket, Aurora and Georgina are York Region, with their own again.

Whichever one you are in, the rule is the same: confirm your height and setbacks with your municipality before the line is set, and remember that a pool enclosure almost always needs a permit even where a plain fence does not.