Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 20, 2022 7:23 pm Hi guys hope your all doing good I'm currently building my first home and I'm relatively early into construction just looking for some advice regarding my retaining wall. bit of a nightmare I got a text from my soon to be neighbour one day at work regarding a fence that got knocked over a few days prior, the builders story went that while digging for utilities the earth shifted and knocked over the retaining wall which in tern knocked over the fence, for context the wall is about 30m long running along my driveway and the fence line, the property is the rear house of a subdivided block. It looks like its 2 different retaining walls, one built with cinder blocks and the other built with double wide house bricks. It is retaining at its tallest point 425mm of soil. I think they have knocked it over with there digger as they seem to have dug right up against it but there claim is that the wall had no footing and wasn't structurally sound, my understanding is that since it is such a small amount of soil being retained a footing is unnecessary especially considering that the wall seems to go very deep for what's being retained and its been up for roughly 50 years based on when the front house was built assuming it was done at the same time. they are trying to say that I am responsible for replacing the wall but I don't agree with this especially with the size of the job and the fencing running along side it that isn't damaged will most likely need to be replaced when digging out the existing damaged wall. does anyone have any idea as to who is responsible for this wall iv tried to tell them that they need to fix it but there not budging. thanks any advices is appreciated Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Builder damaged my Retaining wall 2Feb 21, 2022 8:14 pm Does that clause not cover it? I think it is your responsibility to fix it. I don’t think it is adequate. Are you expecting the builder to build a new retaining wall for free when it has been specifically excluded in the contract? Looking at the levels it was never up to the job, Good opportunity to do it properly. cheers Pulse Re: Builder damaged my Retaining wall 3Feb 22, 2022 6:12 pm It's definitely not included as per the wording of the item, so it's your responsibility. I think its more of a moral obligation from the builder they should of told you that this may happen, but they like to sign you up as cheap as possible then add everything after. Re: Builder damaged my Retaining wall 4Feb 23, 2022 9:40 pm doesn't the latter part of the clause say that the engineers inspection will say if it is not structurally sound and since it didn't come back saying that the wall is not sound the argument that they made saying that its not up to spec and that's why it collapsed kind of fall apart, no pun intended. Builder damaged my Retaining wall 5Feb 24, 2022 9:56 pm It is a moot point, the wall has failed, you don’t need an engineer, it is tipped on its side. They will not build you a free wall and have warned you this might happen. Seems all pretty reasonable Re: Builder damaged my Retaining wall 6Feb 26, 2022 9:37 am Pulse It is a moot point, the wall has failed, you don’t need an engineer, it is tipped on its side. They will not build you a free wall and have warned you this might happen. Seems all pretty reasonable Not entirely true. A builder could still knock over a structurally sound retaining wall by being negligent. Do I think it likely in this case? No, the wall looks like a slight breeze would have brought it down. But that doesn't mean that it's impossible that the wall was structurally suitable and the builder damaged it with their equipment leading to the failure. Thank you again Simeon.. I will call my certifier for that. Have a good day 4 6859 It's hard to comment as the photos area bit dark ( you might need a new 15 - just got one and wow ) Jokes aside, I can see one member that is cracked. I would find a… 2 2510 The coupling, which is made from flexible PVC, needs to comply with AS/NZS 4327 which specifies the requirements for metal banded flexible couplings used in low-pressure… 1 2343 |