FAQ — Asked at the tailgate, answered in the log

Questions, in the order people actually ask them

Is this site a contractor?

No. It is a guide and connection service. It publishes the explanations and planning prices, takes a structured request, and connects that request with a vetted local cutting contractor. The contractor — a separate business — confirms availability, visits or reviews the site, and quotes and performs the work. Anything on this site phrased otherwise would be wrong, and you will not find it phrased otherwise.

How much will my job cost?

Start with the ledger and Cut Planner: they produce an itemized planning range from printed rates. A quote — a single accountable number — comes from the contractor after seeing the site or clear photos, measurements, thickness, and reinforcement. If a quote lands far outside the planning range, ask which assumption differs; there is always an assumption, and naming it is the whole conversation.

Why is there a minimum charge for a ten-minute hole?

Because the hole is ten minutes of a visit that includes travel, setup, anchoring, water and slurry control, cleanup, and disposal. The mobilization minimum ($450–$650 planning range) is that visit, priced honestly. Batching several holes or cuts into one visit is the reliable way to beat it.

Can you core through rebar? Should you?

A diamond barrel can cut rebar, slowly. Whether it should depends on the rebar's job: cutting one bar in a lightly reinforced slab-on-grade is often acceptable with the owner's or engineer's agreement; cutting structural steel in a beam, column, or above-grade slab without engineering direction is not. Scanning plus a conversation comes first; the saw is last.

What if my slab is post-tensioned?

Then cutting waits for a scan. Tendons are mapped and marked, cuts are laid out clear, and structural PT work needs the engineer of record's written direction. See the scanning log. The planner refuses PT numbers for the same reason.

Do I need to call Dig Safe for slab cutting inside my house?

Interior slab cutting is not excavation, so Dig Safe is not triggered by the saw itself. Any digging — trenches outside, pits, septic work, any earth moved with equipment — requires notice to Dig Safe at least 72 hours before, excluding weekends and legal holidays, under Massachusetts law (MGL c. 82). And remember: Dig Safe marks utility-owned lines; private lines (your septic line, well line, propane run) are the owner's to locate by records and probing.

What about permits?

Structural openings — egress openings in foundation walls, new doors in load-bearing walls — generally fall under the project's building permit from the town building department (Littleton's, for Littleton sites). Non-structural coring and slab work typically needs no standalone permit. Curb and roadway work can need DPW permission. The contractor should be able to say, per scope, what applies; “we never pull permits” is not an answer.

How loud, dusty, and messy is it, really?

Cutting is loud — hearing protection on site, and a courtesy heads-up to neighbors is normal practice. Dust is controlled wet: visible dust at a wet cut means the water is wrong and the job should pause. Mess is slurry, and slurry is contained and vacuumed, not hosed into your yard or the street. Interior work adds containment plastic and finish protection, priced as the ledger's interior charge.

Can cutting happen in winter?

Yes, with winter discipline: water management against freezing, slurry picked up before it sheets into ice, shortened days for exterior green-cutting windows, and heated enclosures for some interior work. Deep-winter exterior jobs can carry a scheduling premium in practice — one more planning-range conversation, not a surprise line.

Who patches, backfills, and repairs?

Whoever the written scope says. Cutting, removal, backfill, patching, and finish are separate scopes that are often split between the cutting contractor, the trade that needed the hole, and the GC or owner. The failure mode is assuming; the fix is the scope page's one-page list, agreed before the visit.

How fast can someone come out?

Availability is confirmed per request — this site does not publish response-time promises it cannot keep. Scanning, permits, Dig Safe notice (72 hours where it applies), and green-cutting windows set the real critical path on most jobs; the saw itself is rarely the bottleneck.