Kingscliff, Salt, Casuarina, Cudgen and Kings Forest

Excavation in Kingscliff and on the Tweed Coast

Luke brings his own 5.5 t class Kubota excavator, ASV posi-track and Fuso tipper to the Tweed Coast for trenching, driveway repairs, clearing and soil removal, and runs every machine himself.

Call Luke 0488 987 325 Text Luke a photo

Or send the job details online

Google 5.0 out of 5 from 2 reviews
Liability and equipment insurance held
ABN 58 346 068 875

Owner-operator: Luke quotes the job and runs the machines
Services potholed by hand before the machine digs close
Spoil to lawful tips or approved sites, with dockets
Silt fences where runoff could reach drains or creeks

Dirt Werks Kubota U55-4 excavator, ASV RT-60 posi-track and Fuso Fighter tipper parked side by side

Owner-operatorLuke, over 10 years operating machinery
Based in MurwillumbahWorking the Gold Coast to Lennox Head
Insurance heldLiability and equipment, certificate on request
Google 5.0 out of 5From 2 reviews, October 2026
ABN 58 346 068 875Registered business name DIRT WERKS

Earthmoving on the Tweed Coast, from Kingscliff to Kings Forest

Dirt Werks is Luke's earthmoving business. He's based in Murwillumbah and works the Tweed Coast: Kingscliff and Cudgen, Salt and Casuarina, and the new streets of Kings Forest. Luke quotes each job and runs the machines himself, and because the excavator, posi-track and tipper are all his, one booking can cover the dig, the levelling and the carting.

The work he offers here is the everyday kind: a trench ready for the plumber or electrician, sand or soil to go, a gravel drive to fix, or tracks and drains on the farms behind the town. Closer to the river and the border, see Tweed Heads. Further south, see Pottsville and Cabarita.

What Luke does in Kingscliff and on the Tweed Coast

Trenching for services

Trenches for water, sewer, stormwater and power conduit, dug to your trade's depth and fall. Luke digs and backfills; your licensed plumber or electrician lays and connects.

Sand, soil and rubbish removal

Loaded straight onto the Fuso tipper, about 7.5 t a load, and carted to a lawful tip or approved site with a docket.

Gravel driveway repairs

Potholed gravel drives prepped, re-sheeted, levelled with the posi-track, then watered and rolled. Sealing is done by others on the base Luke prepares.

Rural earthworks behind the coast

Access tracks, dams, creek crossings, culverts and tank installs on the farmland around Cudgen, plus trees and stumps removed at the owner's request.

Excavator and tipper hire

The Kubota, posi-track or tipper with Luke operating, for trenching, backfill, spoil removal and material deliveries.

Two kinds of ground: coastal sand and Cudgen red soil

Kingscliff sits on two different kinds of ground. Along the coast it's sand: 1997 NSW groundwater notes for the Tweed describe Quaternary dunes running from Point Danger to Cudgen Headland. A Kingscliff historical walk brochure hosted by Council says the low-lying area under much of the town was very swampy, and that mineral sands dredging between Fingal and Kingscliff, and along the beach south of Cudgen Creek, transformed much of the coastal dune country from after 1939 into the 1970s.

Inland, the Kingscliff Development Control Plan (DCP) describes a ridge line running from the Cudgen Plateau along Cudgen Road to Cudgen Creek. The Tweed Regional Museum says the plateau's red soil, a ferrosol or krasnozem, formed from basalt lava flows of the Tweed volcanic period about 23 million years ago, and that Cudgen, or Goodjing, is a Bundjalung word meaning red. The plateau is now classified State Significant Farmland.

The two behave differently. The groundwater notes say the basalt soils of the plateaus are usually well drained. They rate groundwater as highly vulnerable where the water table is less than 5 m down, under shallow, highly permeable soil on low slopes, particularly along the unconsolidated sands of the coastal foreshores. The Kingscliff DCP adds that, when it was written, a significant proportion of the town's greenfield sites were subject to 100-year flood inundation and could be filled above design flood levels. On low coastal ground a deeper dig can meet groundwater or acid sulfate soil, and both can mean extra approvals.

Digging trenches in coastal sand

Sand digs quickly but doesn't hold a steep wall the way clay can. Luke barricades open trenches, and nobody goes in the hole while the machine digs. If the plans call for a trench deeper than 1.5 m, say so when you ask for a quote. SafeWork NSW treats that as high-risk construction work: it needs a Safe Work Method Statement, and the risk of collapse must be minimised by benching, battering, shoring or written advice from a geotechnical engineer that the trench sides are safe.

Before the bucket goes in, Luke checks the Before You Dig plans and potholes by hand to find services near the line. Private lines on your block, such as irrigation or a power run to a shed, usually aren't on those plans, so mark what you know on a photo. Silt fences go in where runoff could carry sand into a street drain or Cudgen Creek.

Black corrugated drainage pipe laid in a freshly dug trench, with an excavator bucket alongside

Before you dig on low-lying coastal land

Check	What the official sources say	Who to ask
Acid sulfate soils	Common along the Tweed Coast. Written approval is needed in most cases before they're disturbed, and Council's minor-works plan doesn't cover digs that may disturb groundwater or need dewatering.	Tweed Shire Council, 02 6670 2400
Groundwater	Tweed's DCP 2025 asks for a groundwater investigation for earthworks in areas of high groundwater vulnerability, and a dewatering management plan where groundwater is likely to be intercepted.	Your engineer or certifier, and Council
Flood levels and fill	Habitable floors must sit above the flood planning level. Ask Council for the current level for your lot before you design. Filling land needs development consent in most cases, so check before any fill comes in.	Council's Flooding and Stormwater Engineer, 02 6670 2400
Driveway crossovers	A driveway built in the road reserve (the verge) needs Section 138 approval under the Roads Act 1993 before work starts.	Tweed Shire Council
Near creeks and the estuary	Exempt earthworks must be at least 40 m from natural water and must not send sediment onto neighbouring land. Beachfront and estuary lots may sit in a mapped coastal management area.	NSW Planning Portal, and Council
Trees	On non-rural land, Tweed DCP 2025 (in force since 1 June 2026) lets vegetation within 5 m of an existing lawful house on the same block be cleared without a permit, but not large trees (40 cm or more in diameter), preferred koala food trees, hollow-bearing trees, threatened species or trees on the Significant Tree Register. On rural land, clearing native vegetation may need approval under the Local Land Services Act 2013.	Tweed Shire Council, 02 6670 2400

General information as at October 2026, from the sources listed below. Rules change, so Council, your certifier or your engineer confirms what applies to your block.

Kings Forest: the new estate

Kings Forest is the large new estate on the Tweed Coast. Council's page puts it about 20 km south of the Queensland border, with Tweed Coast Road as the main access, and an approved concept plan, since modified, for 4,500 dwellings. The first project application, approved in August 2013, included bulk earthworks across the site. That land forming is the developer's civil work, not a job for one excavator.

Luke's part is the small jobs: a short trench ready for the plumber or electrician, a load of spoil to go, or gravel and road base brought in. Send the gate or side-access width with your photos and he'll tell you which machine fits.

Got a job in Kingscliff or on the Tweed Coast?

Text Luke a wide photo, the gate or side access, and the exact spot, with your suburb. He'll quote from that, or from a quick site look if the job needs it.

Call 0488 987 325 Send the job details

Kingscliff and Tweed Coast questions

Where does the sand go?

Onto the tipper, about 7.5 t a load, then to a lawful tip or an approved site, with a docket. It can't just be dropped on another block: Tweed Council says filling land needs development consent in most cases, and material dug from low-lying coastal ground may be acid sulfate soil, which has its own rules. Sand that can stay on your site within your approvals is one less load. More on soil removal.

Can you work in a tight lot beside the neighbours' fences?

It depends on the narrowest point. Measure the gate or side access at its narrowest and send a photo with the tape in shot, plus anything overhead, because Luke keeps at least 3 m clear of power lines. Point out fences, tanks and pipes near the work so he can plan around them.

Do I need council approval to dig on a low-lying block?

Often, yes. Tweed Shire Council says acid sulfate soils are common along the Tweed Coast and asks you to ring 02 6670 2400 before work starts to check what approvals apply. If the dig could reach groundwater or need pumping out, expect a site-specific management plan rather than Council's standard minor-works one. The council approval guide has more.

Do you do farm work around Cudgen?

Yes. The Kubota digs, the posi-track shapes and levels, and the tipper brings gravel in or carts spoil out, so one operator can cut a farm track, lay a culvert and re-sheet the gravel in the same booking. Clearing native vegetation on rural land may need approval under the Local Land Services Act, and work in a creek or within 40 m of its bank may need a controlled activity approval, so check both before work starts. See land clearing and rural earthworks.

Can you fix a potholed gravel driveway?

Yes. Luke preps the base, tips fresh gravel through the tailgate and levels it with the posi-track, then it's watered and rolled. Sealing is done by others. If the work reaches the verge, Tweed Council requires Section 138 approval before any driveway work in the road reserve starts, so sort that out with Council first. See driveway repairs.

Service areas