cutting out a hill

[swines]

With fuel and machinery prices what they are plus the wages for the operators and truck drivers (Davis Bacon rates)....

Davis-Bacon wages only apply to public works / federally funded projects. Excavating a hill on private property doesn't require payment of Davis-Bacon wages. The road project you cited does as part of the funding, no doubt, included a federal grant of some kind.

The closest you can get to an accurate estimate is to call several local excavating companies and ask for an estimate. If you have access to RS Means, you can probably estimate the cost within about 5% if you put in all of the adders like equipment, transportation, part time supervisor, and do the appropriate city cost index adjustment.

We generally develop a "crew" for this type of project as you will have to include some supervision time. For a small job like this we would probably add 1/4-time supervisor (have to include travel time, not just time on the site).

 

[pat32rf]

Owned a house in a hill like that once. Basement flooded every time it rained because of poor grading. Make sure that you do it right.
Not a fan of track loaders, but a wheeled loader might make things easier/faster....

 

[GlenncN]

Yeah I realize there is a lot of dirt there. But across the drive from where I plan to do this which is about 15 yards from the site there is the there is about a 6' drop. I will dump the excess there and all I will be doing is adding to my yard.
As I've said before, I'm in no hurry to do this. If it takes 6 or 8 months or even a year to get this done at as I'm able to do then it's not a big deal.

 

[GlenncN]

Owned a house in a hill like that once. Basement flooded every time it rained because of poor grading. Make sure that you do it right.
Not a fan of track loaders, but a wheeled loader might make things easier/faster....

I've saw exactly what you're talking about before. That is one of the purposes of the retaining wall. It is to prevent erosion and it is also to deflect water running down the hill so that it goes around the house instead of in the house. I'm also going to have a drainage system so the rainwater can drain out of the area and not flood the house. I'm also planning to build the pad so that the house sets up about 2' higher than my yard. That way the water will have to get at least 2' deep before it will be able to come into the house. With the drainage system that is not going to happen.
As a painter I have saw this happen to numerous houses that were built on a hill. So I've taken every precaution possible to prevent it.

 

[mattbatson]

I've saw exactly what you're talking about before. That is one of the purposes of the retaining wall. It is to prevent erosion and it is also to deflect water running down the hill so that it goes around the house instead of in the house. I'm also going to have a drainage system so the rainwater can drain out of the area and not flood the house. I'm also planning to build the pad so that the house sets up about 2' higher than my yard. That way the water will have to get at least 2' deep before it will be able to come into the house. With the drainage system that is not going to happen.
As a painter I have saw this happen to numerous houses that were built on a hill. So I've taken every precaution possible to prevent it.

maybe post up some pics of your land?

I'm also developing slowly over time our 20 acres of hilly land up in western NC, and am now cutting roads and doing some terracing.

Plan to terrace a big chunk out for a future home up near the top of the hill, and will probably own a dump trailer by then and plan on transporting the soil off of my land, as there really isnt anywhere to put the extra.

some pics...

our current homesite where we are building a quonset hut garage/studio apartment....