Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Oct 12, 2009 11:43 am Howdy all. Would appreciate some feedback. We're building with H3nley, and we have fixed site costs. According to our tender it says that includes retaining walls. The way they've done our site cut, has left us with a fair slope next to the neighbours block - incidentally our neighbour has their site cut done, and it's nice and level - no need for a wall on their side. I've been advised by a landscaper that I will DEFINITELY require a retaining wall and draininage - but i think Henley should 'foot the bill' - since the only reason we require it is because of how they did the site cut. Do i have a leg to stand on here? Anyone have previous examples that may help?! It's extremely deceiving to say 'fixed site costs' if we end up having to fork up THOUSANDS for a retaining wall that we wouldn't have needed if they did the site cut differently...... Appreciate any help! Re: Retaining wall debacle - do I have a case? 2Oct 12, 2009 11:47 am IMHO I definatly think the builder needs to foot that bill, I would be seeking legal advice right away though, so you know for your own piece of mind where you stand legally. Building Thread viewtopic.php?f=31&t=13002 Site start: 8th July 2009 Handover: 11/12/2009! 5 months total build time. 40 sqs of luxuary...Bliss! Re: Retaining wall debacle - do I have a case? 4Oct 12, 2009 11:54 am How far between the house and fence? And how deep is the cut? If they've got enough room to batter the cut down, I doubt you'll get very far with demanding a retaining wall. Ours is battered at the cut as well, but they did make this quite clear to us at tender. We were happy about that as we didn't want to have to pay them for retaining walls. Its also quite clear on our site plans how deep the cut is. What's it look like on your site plans? Re: Retaining wall debacle - do I have a case? 5Oct 12, 2009 11:57 am jcjuice what state are you in? I would be calling a building survayor, building comissioner in your state, it will tell you on your building permit what council and who approved your plans, call them! Be prepared to fight it though, the builders won't give in easily. Good-Luck Building Thread viewtopic.php?f=31&t=13002 Site start: 8th July 2009 Handover: 11/12/2009! 5 months total build time. 40 sqs of luxuary...Bliss! Re: Retaining wall debacle - do I have a case? 6Oct 12, 2009 12:06 pm If they have done the site cut according to the site plan you signed off on (as part of your contract) then you have no leg to stand on legally. They have done the job according to how they said they would and you consented to it being done in that way. Compare it to your site plan. If it's different, then you have grounds to be unhappy, but in terms of having grounds to force them to pay for retaining walls I don't think you'll get anywhere. Re: Retaining wall debacle - do I have a case? 7Oct 12, 2009 12:07 pm Hey http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y191/jcjuice/side-of-house.jpg - Photo here. Probably doesn't give the best idea of height because this is taken from the back of my neighbours property - and it slopes up. It's about knee height, maybe more when you're standing on the ground. I just don't know what the tender says retaining walls are included if they dont include them! Gap from house to fence is 1m next to the garage and about 2m after that. I live in Victoria... who'se the contact to call about building plans? thanks again. Re: Retaining wall debacle - do I have a case? 8Oct 12, 2009 12:18 pm this may help! it looks pretty flat to me on this...... http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y191/jcjuice/elevation.jpg Re: Retaining wall debacle - do I have a case? 9Oct 12, 2009 12:19 pm There is no way that needs a retaining wall. Aesthetically, I think a small retaining wall about 50cm out from the fence would look nicer (planted with a few things in it etc) but functionally (i.e. for drainage etc) there is no problem with keeping it the way it is. Your landscaper probably recommended retaining walls because he wants you to pay him to do them! Re: Retaining wall debacle - do I have a case? 10Oct 12, 2009 12:21 pm well - i trust him, and he said there's no way with the amount of dirt that's there it could be done without. he doesn't want to do the retaining wall anyway, he said I'd have to get someone else to do it. So hes not looking to bump up his profit. As i said, not a great photo to use because im looking DOWN the hill..... it's about waist height near the rear.. i can't see how it could be done without the wall Re: Retaining wall debacle - do I have a case? 11Oct 12, 2009 12:30 pm The dotted line on your site cut is the elevation of the original land, so it look like they intended for you to have a knee high cut at the back, definitely not waist high though! If you compare your dotted line to the door of the house at the rear, it looks like they have done the cut too deep. They did the same thing to my brother's place. He now needs knee high retaining walls along one whole side because they did a 100% cut, rather than a cut and fill (the fall on his block was 30cm- so essentially it was very flat) so they should have just puffed three times and bit of dirt could have blown over to make it perfectly flat. Instead they came in with a digger and started excavating from the edge of the pavement. As a result, his house sits lower than it should. If you can prove they have done the cut deeper than they should, surely that is grounds for you to raise the possibility of them covering cost of walls...? Re: Retaining wall debacle - do I have a case? 13Sep 28, 2015 3:43 pm hi, I can see this is an old post, but wonder how you got on with the outcome? We may have a similar situation. thanks Thank you again Simeon.. I will call my certifier for that. Have a good day 4 1333 Thanks for the insights, that makes perfect sense, and yeah, I will be leaning on the experience of the excavator operator entirely. 6 11078 Hi All, I engaged a tradie to install concrete retaining wall 600-800mm high over 32 meters in Victoria. Sleepers are 200*75*2000 mm installed over 17 steel posts. I… 0 3737 |