Franklin sits high and quiet above the long slope of the Yantic valley, where the land falls away east toward Norwich and the ledge is never far under the topsoil. CMT Construction and Excavation works that ground in both directions — opening it with excavators, backhoes and bulldozers, and clearing it again when winter puts a commercial lot under six inches before opening time. The digging season means foundations for new homes, garages and additions, trenching, complete septic systems and tank replacements, water and sewer line repairs, underground utilities, and demolition when a building has to come down. The cold season means commercial snow plowing, and once the melt has run off and left its grit behind, parking lot sweeping. There is real satisfaction in a trench cut straight, a foundation squared to the stakes, and a lot swept back down to dry pavement. From Franklin the equipment runs out across New London County, from Bozrah and Lebanon to the shoreline towns.