Site cost for piers and dirt removals

rktheaegon · Dec 26, 2024 9:42 pm

Hi all,

we are building our first home with one of the custom builders in our area (Austral, NSW). Everything has been smooth till now and we recently received an invoice for our site cost of around $15k. That includes:
1. Cost of additional Piers - 46 piers - $7k. The builder never informed us about using the additional piers beforehand.
2. Dirt removal - 7 trucks - $715 per truck which I believe is super expensive (as one of my mates is building in the same area and his builder charged him $200 per truck).

So my question is, is it normal for builders to charge for additional piers without prior notice/ discussion as they should have known about it in the geo-tech report? Likewise, knowing they have provided the provision of removing soil/dirt from the site up to 1000mm cut and fill, how deep they might have dug for piers resulting in 7 additional trucks of soil removal.
Besides, if anyone knows the standard charge for soil removal from the construction site would like to hear from your experience.

takenbyWine · Dec 27, 2024 7:52 pm

Builders often add piers based on unexpected site conditions, but they should inform you. As for soil removal, $715 per truck seems steep. Compare rates locally and discuss with the builder for clarity.

Ashington Homes · Jan 02, 2025 2:48 am

rktheaegon

Hi all,

we are building our first home with one of the custom builders in our area (Austral, NSW). Everything has been smooth till now and we recently received an invoice for our site cost of around $15k. That includes:
1. Cost of additional Piers - 46 piers - $7k. The builder never informed us about using the additional piers beforehand.
2. Dirt removal - 7 trucks - $715 per truck which I believe is super expensive (as one of my mates is building in the same area and his builder charged him $200 per truck).

So my question is, is it normal for builders to charge for additional piers without prior notice/ discussion as they should have known about it in the geo-tech report? Likewise, knowing they have provided the provision of removing soil/dirt from the site up to 1000mm cut and fill, how deep they might have dug for piers resulting in 7 additional trucks of soil removal.
Besides, if anyone knows the standard charge for soil removal from the construction site would like to hear from your experience.

rktheaegon

It always hurts to get an unexpected invoice. Your builder really should have allowed for piering and soil removal in the upfront cost of the slab,

Unfortunately there are too many unethical builders out there who deliberately miss out on critical items when tendering a job, win the job and then hit the clients up for more money. We see this regularly and I could tell you a few stories that would make your hair curl!

Anyhow here are my main comments and or advice:

1. Check your contract - Most contracts in NSW should have a mechanism that requires that the builder gets you to agree to the variation before the work is undertaken. It is possible that they have allowed for these items as a provisional sum though so check that section of your contract ie if there is a provisional sum of say $2000 for soil removal and it ends up costing $7,000 then you are up for the difference.

2. Check your structural plans - if the plans required piering and there is no provisional sum in the contract then I would make the builder pay as they should have included for it.

3. For piering in Sydney we pay $110/lineal meter so use this to check your calculations

4. Spoil removal - the price per truck really depends on the quality and type of material. Firstly it is impossible to get a load taken away in Sydney for $200, if you mate has found someone please can you get their number as I would love to use them ( that would save me so much money every year). You generally find the price is between $500-700 per load for clean material but again, it really depends on who is available on the day and where that material needs to be taken too.

So my conclusion is that I don't think the prices you are being charged are excessive, but I do question whether or not the builder has the ability under the contract to actually charge you and that is impossible to tell without reading your contract.

FYI - ALSO CHECK YOUR LIST OF EXCLUSIONS IN THE CONTRACT

All the best

Simeon

rktheaegon · Mar 23, 2025 7:18 pm

Hi Simeon,

Thank you for your reply.

I checked the contract and HIA contract which suggests the builder was supposed to tell us about the additional cost due to extra piering and provide an estimation. I guess I could have argued and told them not to pay for those items but I thought I would just pay the invoice in full if they had done the work. Afterall, it is my house and makes moral sense for me to pay for the work done.

So I asked for structural plan and they finally sent it to me but, I could not ,for sure, tell the length of each piering. As it does not specifies the depth. Should I ask for a document/invoice that explicitly gives the count/ measurement of piering used? It gives the general notes of how deep the piering should go (picture attached).

I have my major doubts as they are now telling me that they have charged 2 out of 7 trucks of soil removal in advance for the driveway's soil removal. They could have been transparent beforehand and told me that while sending the invoice but chose not to disclose it. So I don't know if I can ask for invoices, just to be entirely sure.

Thank you
Rk

Ashington Homes · Mar 24, 2025 7:10 am

rktheaegon

Hi Simeon,

Thank you for your reply.

I checked the contract and HIA contract which suggests the builder was supposed to tell us about the additional cost due to extra piering and provide an estimation. I guess I could have argued and told them not to pay for those items but I thought I would just pay the invoice in full if they had done the work. Afterall, it is my house and makes moral sense for me to pay for the work done.

So I asked for structural plan and they finally sent it to me but, I could not ,for sure, tell the length of each piering. As it does not specifies the depth. Should I ask for a document/invoice that explicitly gives the count/ measurement of piering used? It gives the general notes of how deep the piering should go (picture attached).

I have my major doubts as they are now telling me that they have charged 2 out of 7 trucks of soil removal in advance for the driveway's soil removal. They could have been transparent beforehand and told me that while sending the invoice but chose not to disclose it. So I don't know if I can ask for invoices, just to be entirely sure.

Thank you
Rk

Hi Rk

A couple of points in response to your post:

1. You wont find the length of the piers on the structural plans as in basic terms, they drill to refusal. So depending on the depth of the rock you might have some piers 200mm and some 2000mm etc

2. $7,000 is a fair price for 36 piers this assumes that each one is 1400mm deep

3. You are better off to have piers than not for your house

4. My objection in my last post was to the fact that I personally think it is wrong to give a client a variation without first obtaining the clients approval, especially if the structural plans show piers.

It sounds like your builder is sh$#t at their paper work and systems ( mine need a lot of improvement so sort of throwing stones at glass houses here) and I think they forgot to charge you for piering in the contract pricing and now they are trying to make it up.

I don't know how it happened but we recently forgot to add rubbish removal to a job ( that's a $16,000 mistake). It's never happened before but we would never think of hitting the client up for that money. We took it on the chin and moved on. That's construction.

But being pragmatic it comes down to how hard you personally want to fight. I think the fair outcome would be to meet somewhere in the middle. You get piers and the builder gets something but should also feel some pain to teach them a lesson, as I promise you I am personally checking each job now to ensure rubbish removal is included!

Have a great monday

Simeon