Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Aug 05, 2009 6:07 pm Hi all, We are in a quandry and dont know what to do. We are building with Pl@ntation on 1 acre in New Beith, south of Brisbane. After soil tests showed rock they put a $5000 allowance in to cover rock excavations to site cut, footings, services and for our 31500L water tank and HSTP tank which will be sunk into the ground. Having read some horror stories on here we enquired about getting a fixed price. They came back with $6500. Obviously if we go with the fixed then we wont get any $ back if it is less. On the flipside, we know it wont be more. What should we do? We dont want to waste $6500 but would be in dire straights if it came in much higher than the allowance For those in the know about these things they did 3 boreholes during soil tests. Each found rock. Where they will cut for the cut and fill they hit rock at 800mm. The cut will be 750mm. Where they will fill (750mm deep) is close to where the tanks will go. They hit rock here at 600mm. The tanks will need to be sunk about 2000mm. They will need to put in footing piers "through all fill and natural soils into weathered rock". Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance. Building the Pl@ntation Retreat on 4009m2. All moved in!!!!!! Now for the real work https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=20588&p=285640#p285640 Re: Rock Excavation- What to do???? 2Aug 05, 2009 6:33 pm Is the budget tight? Can you afford the increase to the fixed amount but not much more? Then fix it just for peace of mind! 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: Rock Excavation- What to do???? 3Aug 05, 2009 6:42 pm i started with a 4500 allowance for fill and 4800 for piers. So far I am at 30,000 including all the rock that they needed to cut and remove. Clear up if for that price they remove the rock off site? Have you got the engineering drawings yet? Are they proposing proper lined piers or are they just doing bucket piers? bucket piers are cheap, but may be Ok depending on the engineering design. As for the tanks, 31500 litres is BIGGG! that would be a hope about 3 metres deep by 9 metres long, about 3 days of dutt dutt dutt... With what you have said about where the rock is I would lock it in Eddie! My preference is to know exactly what I am up for cost wise, you will sleep better at night. I have had many sleepless nights. Danc Re: Rock Excavation- What to do???? 4Aug 05, 2009 7:04 pm Lisanne, Whose budget isn't tight?? It's tight in that if this ends up blowing out to 10 or 15K then there goes all my new furniture. I like the peace of mind idea but DH doesn't want to 'waste'$6500. danc12 Don't know if it includes removal but we have an acre to spread it around and will have some filling on the low side of the tanks to do. Cases like yours are what I am worried about. I didn't expect any of the $5000 allowance back- had basically written it off and if we did get something back well then that would be an unexpected bonus. So for me it is really only and extra $1500. Don't know what kind of piers or any other engineering stuff. Contract signing is on Friday so will possibly see all that then. Building the Pl@ntation Retreat on 4009m2. All moved in!!!!!! Now for the real work https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=20588&p=285640#p285640 Re: Rock Excavation- What to do???? 5Aug 05, 2009 7:07 pm Seast, As you know we are just up the road from you at Spring. If you are planning on having your tanks a fair way into the ground they will be digging much deeper than 2m. The 31500 tanks are close to 4m deep. Is it possible to send across your soil tests? With some of the rock in the area it sometimes runs in seams and hence the bore may have touched rock at 600 although it may only be a 100-150mm cross section and possibly crumbly sandstone. Underneath this may be clay again. Our HSTP was fine but our water tank hit rock. The minimum out of ground they are supposedly allowed to go is 400mm. We wanted as far in ground as possible and was quoted max $1000 to get it in. If it comes back cheaper than the fixed, are they offering a final payment refund? Ozz Built 36sq Plantation "Retreat" on 4460m2 at Spring Mountain, Qld In Living and landscaping.. >>> ... http://retreatspring.blogspot.com Re: Rock Excavation- What to do???? 6Aug 05, 2009 7:22 pm ozzroo, Was hoping to hear from you knowing you are close by. The rock looks like sandstone and seems to run deep. House behind us looks to have had a large amount. People building with P across the road have put in $7500 allowance because their rock is shallower. If we fix it we will not get any refund. Have soil report as pdf but it won't let me attach it. Building the Pl@ntation Retreat on 4009m2. All moved in!!!!!! Now for the real work https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=20588&p=285640#p285640 Re: Rock Excavation- What to do???? 7Aug 05, 2009 8:03 pm Hi seast, We struck rock during out site cut - which was about 9 weeks ago. After my experience with it I recommend taking the fixed price, but clarify exactly what your covered for with that fixed price. Our builders had to get a rock breaker on site, which totally blew our budget. The rock breaker spent all day chipping away just getting enough clearance for the house. The rest of the rock we couldnt get out and is there there with us (we've built a retaining wall over it). So if our rock hadn't been located in the pocket corner where it was we could have been in major, massive strive dollars wise. I agree with other comments, the sleep-less nights aren't worth it - thats why I would take fixed and know what your up for without any nasty suprises. 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