About Us
Our Story
With only a truck, trailer and backhoe, Paul and Susan vandenBerg started vandenBerg Excavating in 1982. Paul’s experience of equipment and love for digging in the dirt, along with Susan’s business and bookkeeping background made them a great husband wife team.
Later incorporating in 1986, vandenBerg Excavating, Inc. has served the Grand Haven and surrounding areas with quality, honesty, and integrity for over 40 years. They have completed hundreds of new home excavations, dozens of new subdivision roads, commercial buildings, land prep, driveways, demos, etc.
When Paul passed suddenly in 2017, his youngest son James was ready to step in. Having grown up in the business, James had the knowledge and experience to continue to serve West Michigan with the same quality and sincerity that has been part of the family legacy.
James has already brought new ideas and services to the company, including a retail supply yard and local delivery service for topsoil, mulch, sand, stone and aggregate products. Being the hometown excavator and meeting the needs of the local community is an important part of who we continue to be.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is a cubic yard of topsoil, sand, stone, mulch, etc.?
If you put the material into a box, it would fill a box that measures 3’ x 3’ x 3’. We usually sell material by the cubic yard. Because it does not come pre-packaged in a 3 x 3 x 3 container, we use our equipment buckets and truck boxes to measure the products. Each employee is trained and knows how much each bucket or box will hold hand have been instructed to measure on the generous side of a quantity.
How much area will 1 cubic yard of product cover?
Mathematically one cubic foot of mulch, topsoil, sand, stone or aggregate product covers about 80 sq. feet at 4:” deep. Of course, there is usually about a 20% compaction rate over time for most materials.
Products vary, as do their moisture content, and thus their compaction rate.
How do I calculate how much product I need?
The general formula is Length x Width x Depth divided by 27. This gives you the cubic yardage for your area. Use measurements in feet. For instance, use 2.5 for a measurement of 30 inches or use .5 for a measurement of 6” deep.) If you also want to allow for compaction, add an additional 20% to your total.
Can I save money buying compared to buying mulch in bags?
Yes. 1 cubic yard of much is equal to 14 standard bags of mulch. (2 cu. Feet each). In addition, fresh locally delivered mulch is a better quality.
Why do we carry 10 yards of mulch in a truck, but only 5 yards of topsoil, sand, stone or aggregate in the same truck?
Trucks are limited as to how much weight they can carry down the road based on the weight per axle. Mulch is a much lighter product than soils or stones so we are able to carry a much larger quantity per load than the heavier products.
Why do we sometimes have to bring multiple loads in smaller trucks rather than one big truck load?
In addition to being limited to a legal per axle weight, there are other conditions that affect which truck we can use to deliver at a site. Is the site flat or sloped? Is it soft or hard packed? Is it on concrete? What is the available space for maneuverability? Are there wires or tree limbs overhead? There may be other factors based on each individual site.
Why is the ‘v’ in vandenBerg written in lower case?
Dutch tradition is that the names ‘vanden’ and ‘vander’ are surnames meaning ‘from the.’ In Dutch the name vandenBerg means ‘from the mountain’. Being as the ‘from the’ part of the name was lesser important, the Dutch did not capitalized that but instead capitalized the descriptive part of the name. So our ancestors are “from the Mountain.” Paul’s family held on to this tradition of keeping the lower case ‘v’ and we continue to maintain that tradition in the vandenBerg Excavating name.
We hired vandenBerg Excavating Inc to do some site prep for a pole barn we were having built as well as laying out gravel for a driveway to the pole barn. We found this company to exceed our expectations. I highly recommend them. They were very prompt with their service and the owner was very professional and friendly. He not only provided the service he said he would but he also gave us valuable insight into different aspects of the entire construction project that was very helpful and saved us time and money. He is very knowledgeable and does excellent work. We will definitely be using vandenBergs for all our excavating needs.