Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jan 31, 2012 11:41 am Hello everybody. I am have purchased a land in Tarneit gardens, in their new Stage 16. The land comes with huge retaining walls on the rear side of the plot. I was wondering what the implications are of such a construction? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? My builder is charging a huge Site Cost price, but my recent view of the land shows that its got a relatively flat land, and a huge retaining wall (8+ m). Does anyone have more information to discuss on this? Cheers! Re: Land in Tarneit Gardens, Stage 16 - Retaining wall 2Jan 31, 2012 1:17 pm Could be an accessibility thing for the high site costs Re: Land in Tarneit Gardens, Stage 16 - Retaining wall 3Jan 31, 2012 1:34 pm Well the site cost of 15K (excluding council costs) was fixed way before the land was developed. During that time, it was said that my land would have high fall, and would require a retaining wall, and would have lots of rocks... so 15K is the price. But now considering the land being close to flat, and there being a nice retaining wall, I wonder if they should reduce the site cost. Accessibility cannot be an issue because the land is just on side of a main road. How do I negotiate this with the builder (Carlisle!) ?? Re: Land in Tarneit Gardens, Stage 16 - Retaining wall 4Jan 31, 2012 2:43 pm Without seeing them I suspect the lots you are describing have been benched by the developer to make them feasible to build on. The problem with benching is that beneath the surface the "solid" subsoil layer is still on a slope - you just have fill to make it look all nice and level on the surface. Again without seeing the blocks or knowing what the developer has done with the lot benching (if that is indeed what they have done) then the site may be classified as a "p" (problem) site due to the fill and drainage issues (as well as the benching of the lots behind your block), but this doesn't necessarily mean paying more especially if the fill is controlled fill and it has bee compacted in accordance with regulations. Back onto the main point of your query though - you probably wont have much luck as fixed site costs are just that - fixed. The builder doesn't get to charge you extra if the actual site costs blow out well above the agreed fixed site cost amount, so it stands to reason that you don't get to ask for the fixed site costs to be reduced no matter what has happened in the interim. Having said that $15k is a good workable amount for a hilly area that has known issues with rock imo (it is certainly not "huge" by any means) and to be honest you never know what's going to be hiding under the nice flat surface. Some people apparently have nothing better to do than comment on other people's sigs. Re: Land in Tarneit Gardens, Stage 16 - Retaining wall 5Jan 31, 2012 8:28 pm cmhamilton Back onto the main point of your query though - you probably wont have much luck as fixed site costs are just that - fixed. The builder doesn't get to charge you extra if the actual site costs blow out well above the agreed fixed site cost amount, so it stands to reason that you don't get to ask for the fixed site costs to be reduced no matter what has happened in the interim. Having said that $15k is a good workable amount for a hilly area that has known issues with rock imo (it is certainly not "huge" by any means) and to be honest you never know what's going to be hiding under the nice flat surface. So you sya that i should not be too concerned with these high site costs? Other builders are giving a 9.5k site cost including council cost for the same land, but their contract says allowance. Just too much confusion. The issue is I am charged 15k site cost + 3.5k council cost with carlisle, and 9.5k site cost including council cost. The diff is of approx 9k betweenother builders. How can i determine if there is rocks underneath, in case i wanted to? When we say rocks, is it boulders that are the problem, or just plain rocks? Anyone built around taneit gardens or rice estate n found rocks there? Re: Land in Tarneit Gardens, Stage 16 - Retaining wall 6Feb 01, 2012 8:38 am aristocrat cmhamilton Back onto the main point of your query though - you probably wont have much luck as fixed site costs are just that - fixed. The builder doesn't get to charge you extra if the actual site costs blow out well above the agreed fixed site cost amount, so it stands to reason that you don't get to ask for the fixed site costs to be reduced no matter what has happened in the interim. Having said that $15k is a good workable amount for a hilly area that has known issues with rock imo (it is certainly not "huge" by any means) and to be honest you never know what's going to be hiding under the nice flat surface. So you sya that i should not be too concerned with these high site costs? Other builders are giving a 9.5k site cost including council cost for the same land, but their contract says allowance. Just too much confusion. The issue is I am charged 15k site cost + 3.5k council cost with carlisle, and 9.5k site cost including council cost. The diff is of approx 9k betweenother builders. How can i determine if there is rocks underneath, in case i wanted to? When we say rocks, is it boulders that are the problem, or just plain rocks? Anyone built around taneit gardens or rice estate n found rocks there? I'd be careful when it comes to site cost allowances - they generally don't include price-cost items such as rock removal or slab reinforcing. Fixing site costs is a gamble for both parties - it saves you money if there are issues with your sub-surface soil structure or significant amounts of rock, but on the other hand the developer can make a bit of money on the site costs if no problems are found. For the customer it is a toss up between:
I would also be highly suspicious with the allowance for your site costs being only $6-7k on land that appears to have issues with significant slope/fill and potentially rock (assuming that the council costs probably aren't going to vary much between the builders in question) - is that allowance on top of a base specification for the slab and if so what is the standard slab/site that you have included in the base price (M class or H class)? As for the query re: rock, well unfortunately there is no way to work out whether there is rock or not and how much rock will be encountered during the excavations for your footings until the excavations are actually done - not even the soil survey will guarantee that there is no rock which will be an issue when excavating as you could have a dirty great solid boulder hiding below the surface within the building footprint of your house and just small brittle floaters elsewhere on the block. This is why the issue of fixing site costs versus going with a site cost allowance and seeing what happens is a gamble - you just never know what is hiding below the surface and given the benching of your lost there might be issues with drainage and fill as well, so you have a few things to consider. p.s. Don't be scared or intimidated by what I've written here - I'm just trying to fill you in on some of the issues you need to be aware of when making your decision. You should by all means enquire about the fixed site cost in light of the lot benching, but don't expect them to fall over themselves to give you a discount especially if you have signed the tender. Some people apparently have nothing better to do than comment on other people's sigs. Thank you again Simeon.. I will call my certifier for that. Have a good day 4 5196 Thanks for the insights, that makes perfect sense, and yeah, I will be leaning on the experience of the excavator operator entirely. 6 16157 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 6917 |