Excavation
Site excavation, foundation and pad excavation, cut and fill, trenching and mass excavation for homes, commercial sites and development tracts across the San Antonio area, with excavators, dump trucks and skid steers.
Learn More
Universal City sits across the Union Pacific Railroad tracks from the main gate of Randolph Air Force Base. The 2020 count was 19,720 people on 5.7 square miles. Much of the housing dates from the late 1950s on. So digging here often starts with an old house or a cracked driveway coming out.
Global Contractors LLC is an excavation contractor working in Universal City from our yard in Pleasanton, south of San Antonio. We dig foundations and building pads, trench for water and sewer lines and grade lots for new work. We also handle demolition of older houses, garages, backyard pools and cracked slabs, and we haul the debris away. Since 2006 the company has done government and commercial sitework; call (253) 606-9497 for a free estimate.
Tell us about the job. We will get right back to you.
A developer named the tract Universal City in 1931, for the importance he hoped the neighboring airfield would have. Randolph Field opened on October 25, 1931. Pat Booker Road was built in 1935 and named a year later. It is the main street of Universal City, connecting Interstate 35 to the main gate of Randolph.
Growth took off when Headquarters, Air Training Command moved to Randolph in 1957. Rose Garden, begun in late 1957, was the first profitable housing development. Voters approved incorporation in March 1960, and the population reached 7,613 by 1970. Today's neighborhoods include Rose Garden, Coronado Village and Northview.
On a teardown-and-rebuild lot, house demolition clears the way for the new home. The utilities get disconnected first, then our excavators take the house down and the debris leaves by dump truck. If your yard has an old pool you no longer want, pool removal can be partial or full. Partial removal breaks the shell and fills it, and both kinds end with compacted backfill and a graded yard.
Below the hilly northern third of Bexar County, the Handbook of Texas lists gray to black cracking clays. Those clays have a high shrink-swell potential. They swell when they take on water and shrink as they dry out. Over the years, that movement can crack a driveway or shift a slab.
Our concrete removal work breaks out old driveways, slabs, patios and sidewalks. An excavator with a demolition attachment does the breaking, and dump trucks haul the pieces away. The company poured commercial concrete for decades, so we can tell how a slab was built before we break it. After the breakout we grade or backfill, and a concrete contractor pours anything new.
The city's permit list includes concrete flatwork: free standing slabs, patios, curbs, sidewalks and driveways. Curb cuts and street cuts need a city permit too, which can matter where a driveway meets the street. Ask Development Services whether your breakout needs one before the slab comes out. Deep footings can mean digging 16 inches or more, and that calls for a Texas 811 locate first.
Inside the city, Development Services reviews and permits all construction and development projects. The same office does the inspections and keeps the flood plain maps. Permits go through the city's online portal, after an account and, where it applies, a contractor registration. The fee schedule lists demolition as its own permit type, and swimming pools and spas are on the permit list.
Trenching for water and sewer service lines falls under the city's plumbing permit, so plan it before underground utilities work. Construction or modification in the flood plain needs its own city permit. Cibolo Creek, where the city has land for a linear park, forms the line between Bexar and Guadalupe counties. Low lots toward the creek deserve a check against the flood plain maps before fill goes in.
Before a commercial building comes down, Texas DSHS must be notified no less than 10 working days ahead. That notice is required even when no asbestos is present. A licensed asbestos inspector surveys the building, and a licensed abatement contractor removes any asbestos before we start. Bexar County is in TCEQ's Edwards Aquifer Protection Program, and TCEQ's maps show which lots fall under it.
Universal City is enclosed by Randolph and the cities of Converse, Live Oak, Selma and Schertz. Open land is scarce: a regional profile calls about 43 acres near Loop 1604 the last vacant property of that size, and in 2024 the city council approved rezoning 43 acres at Loop 1604 and Kitty Hawk Road for mixed use. Elsewhere in town, new building tends to start with something old coming out.
If you own an older commercial building on Pat Booker Road or Kitty Hawk Road, commercial demolition clears the lot. Then site preparation builds the new pad, with select fill placed and compacted in lifts. On one of the few open tracts left, land clearing may come first. Spoils and debris leave by dump truck hauling, and fill dirt comes in the same way.
Pat Booker Road and Kitty Hawk Road are the main thoroughfares for the city and the base. Olympia Hills golf course opened in March 2000, and Northeast Lakeview College's permanent campus in fall 2008. We come up from our yard in Pleasanton, about 42 miles away in a straight line. US 281 runs north from Pleasanton to Loop 1604, which enters Universal City and meets Pat Booker Road.
Communities and areas we serve around Universal City: Rose Garden, Coronado Village, Northview, Olympia Hills, Pat Booker Road (SH 218), Kitty Hawk Road, Universal City Boulevard, Loop 1604, I-35, Cibolo Creek.
Universal City ZIP codes served: 78148.
Free estimates throughout Bexar County and the surrounding area.
(253) 606-9497 Site excavation, foundation and pad excavation, cut and fill, trenching and mass excavation for homes, commercial sites and development tracts across the San Antonio area, with excavators, dump trucks and skid steers.
Learn More
Mechanical demolition for houses, garages, barns, commercial buildings, slabs and pools. We take the structure down, haul the debris off and grade the lot.
Learn More
Residential demolition for houses, mobile homes, garages, barns and sheds. We take it down, load the debris out and leave the lot graded.
Learn More
Commercial and industrial demolition for retail buildings, warehouses, metal buildings, restaurants and strip centers. We take the structure down, haul the debris off and leave the site graded.
Learn More
Swimming pool demolition in San Antonio, partial fill in or full removal. We take out the shell, the deck and the equipment, then backfill the hole and grade the yard.
Learn More
Concrete removal for driveways, slabs, patios, sidewalks, parking lots and old foundations. We break it out with the excavator, haul it off and level the ground back.
Learn More
Land clearing services for lots, acreage and ranch land around San Antonio. We clear brush, mesquite, cedar, trees and stumps with excavators, skid steers and a forestry mulcher.
Learn More
Forestry mulching grinds cedar, mesquite and brush into mulch right where it stands. The chips stay on the ground as cover, so nothing leaves the property.
Learn More
Underbrushing clears cedar and brush out from under the trees you want to keep. The canopy stays, and everything cut is ground into mulch on the spot.
Learn More
Right-of-way clearing opens utility, pipeline, road and drainage easements through brush, cedar and trees. The mulcher grinds the corridor in place, and the excavators pull stumps where a line or a road goes in.
Learn More
Mesquite grubbing pulls each tree out with its root crown, so it is much less likely to sprout back. We grub pasture and fence lines around San Antonio with excavators, skid steers and dump trucks.
Learn More
Site preparation for builders, developers and commercial property owners around San Antonio. We clear and grub, cut and fill to the plan, build pads and set the final grade.
Learn More
Dirt work across San Antonio and about 50 miles around the city. We level and grade land, bring in fill dirt, build pads and fix low spots that hold water.
Learn More
Underground utility installation around San Antonio: water mains, water lines, sanitary sewer lines, storm drains and culverts. We trench, bed the pipe, backfill in lifts and leave the ground at grade.
Learn More
Pond construction across San Antonio and the ranch country around it. We dig stock tanks, ranch ponds and detention ponds, build the dam and cut the spillway.
Learn More
Dump truck services across San Antonio and about 50 miles around the city. We haul spoils and debris off jobs and deliver fill dirt, caliche, base and gravel by the load.
Learn MoreA few of the questions we hear most around Universal City. If yours is not here, call and ask.
Tell us where the property is and what needs to happen: a lot cleared, a slab out, a pad built. Call (253) 606-9497 or send the form, and we will line up a time to come look.
Tell us about the job. We will get right back to you.