Excavation Report – Engineered Footings

So, the engineer has been out to the land and has issued his Excavation Report.

We are going to have to put in Engineered Footings.

The standard footings are included in the cost of the house. We have to pay extra for anything beyond this. And Engineered Footings means we are going way beyond.

In this case, this is what Engineered Footings and the rest of the report means:

• All of the footings will be re-dug, since they collapsed with the flooding. They have to used a bigger machine this time, to reach.
• All of the footings will all be attached to each other, no more piers. That way they can drain to each other.
• They will be deep; as deep as they have to be to provide positive drainage.
• They will build footing drains.
• They will put in about two feet of rock, wrapped in fabric.
• The concrete will be poured over that. The concrete will be deep, but concrete is evidently less expensive than materials and labor for block walls.

So, it sounds like a super expensive, glorified French drain.
As this is done, I will add the photos.

Here is the Excavation Report. The high points are.

• Strip Top Soil
• Soil Conditions: Sand & Gravel, Clay, Combination
• The soil is suitable for what we need for backfill. No bank run* will be needed.
• An additional sump pump will not be needed.
• No additional clearing or debris removal is required.
• Additional foundation materials will be required due to soft footing and high water table. We will have to have engineered footings.
• We require an additional 144 tons of gravel.
• It next lists engineered footings, footing drains, gravel and additional concrete.
• All costs associated with the site conditions are the Homeowner’s responsibility.

*What is Bank Run?

This isn’t where people are afraid the bank will run out of money so they rush to get their money out. (Although we have had to run to get some money out of our 401K to pay the additional cost of this foundation.)

Bank Run is unprocessed gravel, very coarse crushed rock. It is used for back fill, as a base for a driveway, under a slab or as septic or trench backfill. It is small, 3/4-inch-or-less crushed stone and stone dust, with perhaps some pieces up to 4″ in diameter. (Standard fill can be up to 8″ in diameter.)  It is made of crushed limestone, granite-gneiss, trap rock or a combination, whatever the quarry quarries.

Anyway, according to this report, we don’t need it.

Original Lot Prep & Utilities Pricing

Here is the original Lot Prep & Utilities pricing. Total for Lot Prep And Utilities is $31,242.00. This is what we got the construction loan based on. We still pay all of that. This is all additional. We have applied for a loan from the 401K.

You will notice the last item says;

“Because we are an on your lot custom homebuilder and each site is unique, the base price of your home does not include homesite preparation or utilities. Your New Home Consultant will enter allowance amounts in this category based on your specific homesite. After signing your purchase agreement, we will schedule your home site inspection where you will meet with your personal builder on your site to review any unique characteristics and utilities. The initial allowance amounts are then adjusted (if needed). Installation of a temporary electric pole is included in the base price, and the jobsite will include a dumpster for removal of all product debris. (800001)”

Hard to believe. The lot looks so nice and level. It is so far from the brook. There was really no way they could have foreseen this. Our footers are just going to be really expensive.

Documents from the Engineer >
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