Building Gen Fyansford - soil test issues

Geelong10 · Apr 24, 2023 10:39 am

Hi All,

Is anyone building or has built in Gen Fyansford, in Geelong?

We bought land off the developer 2 years ago and it finally titled in December last year. Went with a large volume builder as first house but not dream home so weren't too fussy.

Had some issues with final variations being much higher for site costs, pushed back as felt most of this was the Builders issue as they hadn't completed soil tests/acquired foundations data prior to the contract being signed (HIA clause).

Builder advised in a call last week that the developer and engineers have raised issues regarding the site and the soil, something about needed to do more tests for compression, I think. There is a fairly large amount of fill on our site, but I think this is pretty typical for this development.

We were due to be handed over to from pre-site to construction before this was raised.

Wondering if anyone has experience with soil/fill/settling/compression in the Gen Fyansford development or if you are going through the same thing at the moment.

Also if anyone knows what could have raised this flag so late in the process and how long this could possibly delay construction.

Appreciate the knowledge trust here!

groundzero · Apr 24, 2023 8:43 pm

Probably is fill compaction not compression.
The foundation design engineer may be asking the soil testing company to do extra testing on the fill to
see if it has enough compaction to put a floating slab on it or decide whether
they need piers/piles to go through the fill into the natural soil.
If the fill is controlled then there should be a compaction report available.

Geelong10 · Apr 26, 2023 10:36 am

Thanks Groundzero!

Initially the engineers had designed the slab w bored piers into clay but on final review they decided bored piers weren't enough and they re-designed with screw piles.

Since then we have been advised the developer AND engineers have queried the soil reports and want further investigation done - and yes you are correct, it was compaction - not compression.

Apparently there is a large amount of uncontrolled fill, which wasn't picked up in the first soil reports. As someone who knows nothing about soil reports - is there a reason why this wouldn't have been picked up? This isn't the first build by this builder on this development so I'm pretty miffed.

I also don't understand why the developer is now involved either.

groundzero · Apr 28, 2023 1:40 pm

Is this the area close to the top of the hill or down near the flat area next to the river ?

ponzutwo · Apr 28, 2023 1:55 pm

groundzero

Is this the area close to the top of the hill or down near the flat area next to the river ?

likl;ey top of a hill. Fayansford has some lovely views

Geelong10 · Apr 28, 2023 2:22 pm

groundzero

Is this the area close to the top of the hill or down near the flat area next to the river ?

As much as I wanted top of a hill or a lovely slope as ponzutwo suggests

I went with a flatter block. Approximate location circled in the screenshot. Really appreciate your responses!
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groundzero · Apr 28, 2023 11:19 pm

Near the casey blvd area there is recent subdivision fill which is probably controlled with a compaction report but underneath that there will be older uncontrolled fill that was there from previous industries,I think it was cement production. There is also a water table at approximately at the river level so screw piles would be justified.
In your area it looks like there may have been an old quarry or old filled in dam before the subdivision so you may have a similar situation with older uncontrolled fill below the newer controlled subdivision fill and a shallow watertable.
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Geelong10 · Apr 29, 2023 11:27 am

groundzero

Near the casey blvd area there is recent subdivision fill which is probably controlled with a compaction report but underneath that there will be older uncontrolled fill that was there from previous industries,I think it was cement production. There is also a water table at approximately at the river level so screw piles would be justified.
In your area it looks like there may have been an old quarry or old filled in dam before the subdivision so you may have a similar situation with older uncontrolled fill below the newer controlled subdivision fill and a shallow watertable.
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Interesting. Yeah, the area between the river and escarpment drive was a quarry I think and they have been doing remediation and site works on it for the past several years getting it ready to build on.

I'm just super frustrated with this whole process, it seems like everything is being done on the fly, or not picked up when it should have been.

I got sent the build design/engineering report and soil test in February and it had bored piers.

Then the builder issued a "final" variation last month with huge increases to site costs, stating they didn't know there was fill on the site when we signed the HIA in 2021.

6 weeks after the first build design/engineering report was sent to me, and after I kept questioning the variation costs, I got sent a second, revised engineering report where they had changed the design to screw piles stating large amounts of uncontrolled fill.

Now I've been told the engineers are concerned about, and requesting this compaction test, and the developer is involved as well - why the developer is involved I don't understand at all.

I don't understand why the engineers keep finding "new" information about this site - is this normal practice?

We were supposed to have been handed over to site a couple of weeks ago and now have no idea when our build will actually start.

Here are a couple of side-by-sides showing the development of the site, just for funsies and also for proof as to why I pushed back on the builders claims they didn't know there was fill on the site.
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groundzero · Apr 29, 2023 6:42 pm

Must be very frustrating There are some very average soil testing companies and engineers in the industry at the moment
so it may just be just incompetence. The soil testing company should have picked it up and done a deeper investigation.

Geelong10 · May 02, 2023 10:30 am

groundzero

Must be very frustrating There are some very average soil testing companies and engineers in the industry at the moment
so it may just be just incompetence. The soil testing company should have picked it up and done a deeper investigation.

Thanks for your reply. I will just wait and see I guess. Trying to get some more information from our builder.