Dirtworks, Inc.

Dirtworks, Inc. — trading on its own site as MCE DirtWorks Inc. — is a Harwich-based paving, site work and excavation contractor working across Cape Cod. The company's site names Mike Escher as Owner/Operator and claims over 25 years of experience, without naming a founding year, and lists residential driveways, commercial and municipal asphalt, milling, sealcoating, grading, drainage and utility excavation. The strongest thread in its record is drainage and grading, not just blacktop. In a 2023 Google review, a homeowner on a private road in Dennis described Mike working with eight abutters to design a drainage repair that met Dennis DPW engineering standards and setting up a payment arrangement all of them could accept. A 2021 review described the addition of two large storm drains and a meticulously re-sloped driveway that eliminated long-standing puddling, delivered "on time and on budget". Other 2023 reviews praise a driveway repave with widening, done as a basecoat in the fall and topcoat promptly the following spring, and a driveway paved at the end of a day spent installing the Chatham pickleball courts. Word of mouth is consistent with that. Two 2023 r/CapeCod commenters said they had used the firm and called it "the best for driveways, price and work". In a March 2026 Nextdoor thread from a Harwich homeowner replacing a shell driveway with blacktop, a Brewster neighbour answered with the company's name and an Orleans neighbour seconded it — two independent voices in the same thread. The company also appears on the Town of Orleans' utility contractor list. The complaints are worth reading before you call. A 2023 reviewer described chasing the company by phone and email for weeks over a driveway-sealing estimate that never arrived and gave up; the most recent review, from July 2026, is a one-star complaint not about workmanship at all but about the driving of a company truck on the highway. Platform-wide the business sits at 4.2 stars over 15 Google ratings. So the practical questions before booking: get the estimate commitment in writing with a date, ask who is running your job day to day, and — for a drainage or grading job — ask for the specific pitch, drain sizing and base prep in the quote, since that is where this firm's best-documented work lives.