Site Prep--Where to start?

[afish]

I think you might be over complicating things a touch. Take it one step at a time. Will the house have crawl,basement,slab? Plan where you want the house keep in mind septic (was it perked where you think it might go) you dont want to just decide to move it on a whim like my neighbor and find out the new location wont perk and spend 3-4 times more for an engineered field. After you have an idea where the house and field will go stake it out this will help you visualize it. Get an elevation set (high enough so you can get nice slope away from house in all directions) plan your driveway cut it in and lay down some large stone or crushed concrete and let the delivery trucks do some of the work packing it down (there nothing delivery drivers hate more than bad access or mud) most wont even try if it looks like they will get stuck. You could come to the site and find your lumber package out by the road. The lot dosnt look that bad I would cut a ditch in at the road to fix your immediate drainage problems maybe lay in a culvert and get the driveway base in so you and other trucks can drive back. Just remember water rolls down hill. It can be a little overwhelming at first just take on one step at a time. Dosen't make sense to me to have a bunch of site work performed then dig it up for a basement (just more dirt to move) Then after the foundation is in do some ruff grading hopefully you will have some fill to work with. Oh yea your profile dosn't list any type of equipment. This is prime time to go to the tractor dealer and pickup maybe a kubota M59,L39 or Jd 110 forks,box blade,brush-hog should do nicely for what you got going on you will need it so might as well have it from the get go. After you start construction and the money is flowing the wife will probably bark more. At least thats how it works at my place but my wife is a tight A** you can always tell her how well they hold value and could sell it after the house is done

 

[TigerfaninAR]

Great recommendations from all. I sincerely appreciate it. The house plans we have agreed on (if I can keep the wife from changing again) will be on a slab and yes it has perked. I should have put the link below in my first post to give a better idea, it's the google map street view. You can walk up the street a bit to see the ditches of my neighbors that will hold quite a bit of water that gets dumped onto my land. Thanks again.

http://www.google.com/maps?cbp=12,3...;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small>

 

[TigerfaninAR]

Revisiting this old thread I started in March. Now October and our house has sold so we're ready to start some land prep. The county is going to dig the front ditch and provide the rock/backfill for the culvert we've purchased.

We've had one guy come out and look at it who was highly recommended. He said it would take about 3 days to:

1. Dig out a small pond (there's already what looked to be the start of one in the back of the property, really just a big hole that has water all the time) so we can have the dirt to build up where the house will go and fill in some low spots. I didn't really care about a pond although it will be nice, but said he said much cheaper to do this than spend the money to haul in dirt.

2. Make the small creek/ditch on the side of the property where the water will flow from the front ditch larger/deeper. I could almost do this with a shovel so this isn't a big deal.

3. House pad built up and general grading so water flows into the front ditch, side ditch, and pond in the back.

When he initially said three to four days he was also assuming he would be digging out the front ditch. I'm still assuming it will take at least four factoring in the always true-it takes longer and more money that you think.

He quoted 200 dollars/hour which includes Dozer, trackhoe, and dump truck with two guys working. This sound reasonable? That's about 6K, which I thought was a little cheap but some others in the area thought it was high.

 

[MarkV]

For my area that would be a good price. A few years ago that would have been cheap. Any idea what size equipment he is using? Only down side I can see is if he is over estimating what he can do in a day. He did come recommended so you are most likely good.

Congratulations on the house sale. It is still a tough market.

MarkV

 

[TigerfaninAR]

For my area that would be a good price. A few years ago that would have been cheap. Any idea what size equipment he is using? Only down side I can see is if he is over estimating what he can do in a day. He did come recommended so you are most likely good.

Congratulations on the house sale. It is still a tough market.

MarkV

Thanks, I guess we were lucky it only took 6 months to sell.

The guy said something about an "850" when talking about his dozer. I have no idea what brand or size that is.