Dirt FX Excavating & Demolition

Dirt FX Excavating & Demolition Dirt FX is Mesa's trusted excavation contractor delivering precision demolition, site preparation, and excavation services—on time and on budget.

A misconception worth clearing up.Scottsdale's Native Plant Ordinance is not a north Scottsdale rule. It applies city wi...
09/09/2026

A misconception worth clearing up.

Scottsdale's Native Plant Ordinance is not a north Scottsdale rule. It applies city wide.

People assume protected plants are a foothills issue, something that only matters up against the McDowells. They are not. If a qualifying native tree or cactus is on your lot, it is protected whether you are on a hillside acre or a flat infill parcel in the middle of town.

The overlay rules and the plant rules are two separate systems. Being outside one does not put you outside the other.

More tomorrow on what actually qualifies.

The last two posts covered how to find out whether Scottsdale's ESL rules touch your lot.Here is the limit on all of it....
09/08/2026

The last two posts covered how to find out whether Scottsdale's ESL rules touch your lot.

Here is the limit on all of it.

A map is not a survey. The City's own mapping tools say the information is general purpose and should be verified in the field.

That is fine when you are orienting yourself. It stops being fine when a machine is about to work near a boundary. Close enough on a screen can be several feet on the ground, and several feet is the difference between a clean job and a restoration order.

When work gets near a line, we want it surveyed and we want the City's confirmation in writing.

That is the sort of thing that gets sorted out before anyone starts.

Yesterday: you cannot tell from your zip code whether Scottsdale's ESL rules apply to your lot.Here is where to actually...
09/07/2026

Yesterday: you cannot tell from your zip code whether Scottsdale's ESL rules apply to your lot.

Here is where to actually look.

Start with the City's Property Information Request using your address or your parcel number. Then the Parcel Information Map and the ESL Landforms Map. Then the recorded plat and your title report, which is usually where a NAOS easement turns up.

Four sources, not one. They answer different questions, and none of them is complete on its own.

Tomorrow: the one thing none of them can do.

Here is a question we get in Scottsdale that has no quick answer. Does the Environmentally Sensitive Lands overlay apply...
09/06/2026

Here is a question we get in Scottsdale that has no quick answer. Does the Environmentally Sensitive Lands overlay apply to my property?

Your zip code will not tell you. There is no zip code that defines the boundary, and using one as a shortcut is exactly how people get surprised.

It goes further than that. Two lots with the same zoning and nearly the same size can carry different requirements, because the mapped landform and the calculated slope are different.

It is a parcel question. Not a neighborhood question.

Tomorrow: where to actually look.

Working next to a protected area is mostly a planning problem, not a digging problem. Before anything starts, we want to...
09/05/2026

Working next to a protected area is mostly a planning problem, not a digging problem. Before anything starts, we want to know where the line actually sits, where the machine enters and turns, where spoil goes, and where material gets staged. All of it outside the boundary.

Tight lots make that harder. It is still solvable, and it is a lot cheaper to solve on paper than in the field.

If you have a Scottsdale project near a NAOS boundary and you want it looked at before you commit to anything, call or text 480.571.1046.

DirtFX. Excavation and demolition, ten plus years working Scottsdale and the East Valley.

If NAOS gets disturbed, putting it back is not a landscaping job.Scottsdale expects restoration to match the density and...
09/04/2026

If NAOS gets disturbed, putting it back is not a landscaping job.

Scottsdale expects restoration to match the density and species composition of the undisturbed desert next to it. That can mean small plants installed by hand rather than nursery stock dropped in with a machine. It can mean temporary irrigation until things take hold. And it gets inspected.

You are not filling a hole. You are rebuilding a piece of desert to a standard, and then proving that you did.

Which is why the cheaper answer is almost always to not disturb it in the first place.

Tomorrow: how we work around the line.

Third helpful post on Scottsdale NAOS.Most people assume the rule only stops construction. It does not.Non native landsc...
09/03/2026

Third helpful post on Scottsdale NAOS.

Most people assume the rule only stops construction. It does not.

Non native landscaping is not appropriate inside NAOS. Neither is decomposed granite. Neither is mulch.

So the homeowner who decides to tidy up the back of the lot, pull out the scrubby looking stuff, and lay down some clean gravel has not improved anything in the City's eyes. They have disturbed protected desert.

Natural state means natural. It does not mean neat.

Tomorrow: what it takes to put it back.

Yesterday we covered Scottsdale NAOS: land you own that has to stay in its natural state.Here is the part that catches p...
09/02/2026

Yesterday we covered Scottsdale NAOS: land you own that has to stay in its natural state.

Here is the part that catches people.

The rule is not about what you leave behind. It is about disturbing the ground at all.

An excavator track across the corner of it. A spoil pile parked there for a week. A turnaround because the driveway was too tight to swing the machine. A trench cut through on the way to somewhere else.

Nothing permanent remains in any of those. All of them are disturbance.

That is why the access route gets planned before the machine ever comes off the trailer.

Tomorrow: the part that surprises homeowners most.

Scottsdale has a category of land you can own and still not be allowed to touch.It is called Natural Area Open Space, or...
09/01/2026

Scottsdale has a category of land you can own and still not be allowed to touch.

It is called Natural Area Open Space, or NAOS. If your lot carries one, that area stays in its natural desert state permanently. No grading. No filling. No clearing. No wall, no pool, no barbecue.

You still own it. You are still responsible for maintaining it. You just cannot develop it.

And it is not a narrow strip along a fence line. NAOS areas carry minimum size and width requirements, so when a lot has one, it is usually a real piece of the property.

More on this tomorrow.- https://dirtfx.com/scottsdale/

08/14/2026

The work speaks for itself. 👊
DirtFX provides professional demolition, excavation, grading, land clearing, concrete removal, utility trenching, and complete site preparation for residential and commercial projects throughout Arizona.
From the first bucket in the ground to the final grade, we have the equipment and experience to get it done right.
Planning an upcoming project? DirtFX offers FREE on-site estimates with accurate pricing and no surprises.
📲 Call or text 480-571-1046
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