Hello All,
Background:
I live in Sydney and will be building at Schofields in north western Sydney. My block of land is 15m X 30m fairly flat. The slope is about 1.1m from front to back, going downwards to the back.
There is also slight slope from right to left of land.
Situation:
1) Initially was planning to build a single storey house with McDonald Jones. They got a soil test and contour survey done for tender. The soil test results came back with M class slab and A1 soil and not saline affected. Since the building footprint had less than a meter fall, the site costs were all included as part of the standard inclusions. Only had to pay extra for piers IF they used more than 50 lineal meters at $90/meter.
2) Later decided to build a two storey house with Wisdom Homes. They also got the tests done, but the results are very different.
Wisdom say that I need H1 slab that costs $3850 extra and also I need drop edge beam plus import / export of dirt for the fill and an extra concrete pump at an extra cost of $9450.
Also they say that the soil is saline affected and will need a protective membrane.
Questions:
1) I'm very confused about which one to believe as the two results are in contrast in every sense. What do u think?
2) When I questioned the difference, the Wisdom consultant said that I can choose to remove the drop edge beam. Since at the deepest point the slab will be about 300mm above the natural ground and I should get a retaining wall after handover on either side of the lot instead. Does this sound legit?
3) About the type of slab, wisdom consultant said that MJH would go deeper pier and ask me to pay extra, instead wisdom are asking me to pay for the slab upgrade. Not sure how much of this I'd like to believe. Any thoughts?
4) over all, if I removed the drop edge beam and keep a M class slab I will save about $14K
Not sure if spending extra $14K is worth the additional strength the property will have. Could you please advise?
Thanks a lot.
Sorry for my long essay!
Regards,
Ajay