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Message
Structural Fill / Pad Foundation- Dirt Work for New House
Posted on 7/29/21 at 2:48 pm
Posted on 7/29/21 at 2:48 pm
I am looking to build on a cleared, previously undeveloped lot in Lake Charles.
I am in flood zone AE, so I am needing to build up approximately 5 feet. Given the pad area (Appx 5500 sqft), raised elevation, adding 10% for slope and 20% for compaction, I am receiving prices averaging around $21/yard. This is an all-inclusive price of bring in dirt and earthwork, but still seems much higher than I was expecting.
I am within the 14 day inspection period of purchasing property and this may ultimately be a deal breaker if I am looking at $45,000 just for the house pad.
Anyone have experience or advice?
I am in flood zone AE, so I am needing to build up approximately 5 feet. Given the pad area (Appx 5500 sqft), raised elevation, adding 10% for slope and 20% for compaction, I am receiving prices averaging around $21/yard. This is an all-inclusive price of bring in dirt and earthwork, but still seems much higher than I was expecting.
I am within the 14 day inspection period of purchasing property and this may ultimately be a deal breaker if I am looking at $45,000 just for the house pad.
Anyone have experience or advice?
5
Posted on 7/29/21 at 3:25 pm to carbon
quote:
I am receiving prices averaging around $21/yard. This is an all-inclusive price of bring in dirt and earthwork, but still seems much higher than I was expecting.
I am within the 14 day inspection period of purchasing property and this may ultimately be a deal breaker if I am looking at $45,000 just for the house pad.
It’s a little odd to quote it as $/yd when including labor. In general, dirt will be $10-12/yd depending on how far they have to deliver. Then you’re looking at another $1000-1500/day for the dozer work.
5,500 sqft pad at a full 5 ft elevation is HUGE. That’s also going to create a big slope around the pad.
For reference, I had a roughly 6k sqft pad, around 24” tall built in 2017 for ~$20k. This work was done by a guy with some of the cheaper dozer rates in the area as well. Dirt and dozer rates will be higher, so without doing any math on your dirt volume or time to spread, I’d say it sounds about right.
Posted on 7/29/21 at 7:45 pm to carbon
That include compaction? QA?
Posted on 7/29/21 at 8:31 pm to AUCE05
quote:
That include compaction? QA?
Price seems very low for that much fill with compaction at optimum moisture content and testing.
Unless you plan on leaving the pad sit for a year or more and letting nature take its course you need a testing program and an engineer and testing lab involved.
Putting 5 feet of dirt in and testing the last lift is not acceptable but a common practice on residential construction.
Please take heed. Foundation repairs are not cheap and dirt work guys are famous for “not warranting soil conditions”.
You gave little details on this so my apologies if I am assuming anything.
Hope this helps.
EYA: I intended to reply to OP. My bad.
This post was edited on 7/29/21 at 8:36 pm
Posted on 7/29/21 at 9:38 pm to carbon
quote:
I am looking at $45,000 just for the house pad.
See my post above.
You are not looking at 45k for this pad if properly constructed. I would love to see your quantity takeoffs and how you arrived at them.
Could be almost double that with testing and an engineer's supervision.
Finding contractors and dry dirt is a terrific challenge in the current weather pattern.
Unless you are dead set on this location and can bear the cost for this lifetime home I would pass. The payback on the dirtwork will be decades.
Posted on 7/29/21 at 10:48 pm to carbon
Why not pour concrete footing and piers and build an elevated home leaving the natural floodplain alone
Posted on 8/1/21 at 7:58 am to AndyCBR
Our contractor will test and compact each 3-5” lift. I definitely wouldn’t touch a contractor only testing last lift.
After receiving a couple more bids, this price point seems accurate. There was just some initial sticker shock. It seems transportation costs due to location of borrow pit accounts for a good amount of the estimate.
After receiving a couple more bids, this price point seems accurate. There was just some initial sticker shock. It seems transportation costs due to location of borrow pit accounts for a good amount of the estimate.
Posted on 8/1/21 at 8:20 am to carbon
We just got done with our pad last month. 6500sqft with 2ft of elevation and three compaction test. We dug a pond so we had dirt but it was still almost $20,000.
Posted on 8/1/21 at 8:33 am to carbon
Also in your DD, if you haven't already, you should at least research what your parish will require when it comes to your pad.
For example, in Ascension parish, one of the rules is that the bottom (including the slope) of the pad has to be at least 10' from the property line. My subdivision only required 9' from the edge of the slab. Quite a difference.
They also require an engineered mitigation plan. (You have to offset all that dirt that you bring in.)
Obviously, your parish will have a different set of rules, if any. But they can enforce their rules upon you when you go try to get your building permit.
For example, in Ascension parish, one of the rules is that the bottom (including the slope) of the pad has to be at least 10' from the property line. My subdivision only required 9' from the edge of the slab. Quite a difference.
They also require an engineered mitigation plan. (You have to offset all that dirt that you bring in.)
Obviously, your parish will have a different set of rules, if any. But they can enforce their rules upon you when you go try to get your building permit.
Posted on 8/1/21 at 1:27 pm to carbon
quote:
Our contractor will test and compact each 3-5” lift. I definitely wouldn’t touch a contractor only testing last lift.
They all say that. Unless it comes from a testing lab after a moisture-density curve has been run on a sample it is all talk.
No worries but at least get the compaction requirements and means and methods put in writing somehow in your agreement with your contractor. Will 90 or 95 pass? Standard or Modified Proctor? Whomever is stamping your foundation plan needs to be involved in some way.
Still sounds cheap to me and I want to find this dirt pit that the dirt shows up to the site at optimum moisture content without having to use a disc.
Hope this helps and I'm not trying to rain on your parade but this can go bad (and does) in so many ways especially in Residential construction.
This post was edited on 8/1/21 at 1:34 pm
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