Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Oct 23, 2012 9:49 pm I am a first home buyer and I am desperately needing some opinion in regards to site cost. I have recently bought a survey strata land at Cannington, WA and I am currently shopping around for builders. I am really happy with Celebration Homes specification so far but to my horror, Celebration Homes has provided me with a quotation of whooping $25,000 for site cost. My neighbours whom I am still trying to get hold of are currently building with Celebration Homes as well and it seems that they are already in the lock up phase. It was actually based on my neighbour's quotation that Celebration Homes provided me with and they even showed me the break down of their site costs. It was mentioned that the Engineer's C7 details alone will cost me $14,703. The building consultant told me there was clay in the land and usually that will be costly to fix. What does "engineer C7" even mean? I thought it was based on soil classification in regards to the soil reactivity. Shouldnt it be Class A,S,M, H1,H2 or E instead of C7? i was googling on the internet about C7 engineer details and nothing was mentioned. How do I go about with clarifying this statement? Help please!! Re: WA: Engineer's C7 detail for site cost 2Oct 23, 2012 10:01 pm Ring the engineer and ask nicely for clarification, they may be of more help than you expect or you have nothing to lose by asking. Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: WA: Engineer's C7 detail for site cost 3Oct 23, 2012 10:34 pm Thanks, building-expert but sorry for sounding ignorant. How do I get hold of those engineers? There is no mention of the contact details of the engineers who have done the survey. They are generally contractors of Celebration Homes. Re: WA: Engineer's C7 detail for site cost 4Oct 24, 2012 5:16 am The best place to start is the local council, they have building surveyors and engineers and by asking around you can find out a fair bit. Usually they will be more than happy to help. Then do a bit of research, ask around, who else is building and ask for details, then cross reference. The most important place to ask is your builder. If he wants your money he has to be transparent and justify the prices charged so that you feel comfortable that the price you are paying is right. As for Engineer C7 I have never heard of it, unless it is something peculiar to WA Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: WA: Engineer's C7 detail for site cost 5Oct 24, 2012 9:05 am That's very informative for a newbie like me. Thank you once again. Re: WA: Engineer's C7 detail for site cost 6Oct 24, 2012 9:29 am The C7 detail might possibly be a Concrete detail drawing in the Engineers drawings. If you dont have drawings yet they will be looking at your neighbours site plan details and just telling you this. I would def call the builder to explain it all to you. They wont put you through to the engineer directly. My guess is you will have a much deeper footing due to the clay in the soil. and often a sand pad is set on top which is extra $$$ Building with Dale Alcock Re: WA: Engineer's C7 detail for site cost 7Oct 24, 2012 3:31 pm C7 is a "footing detail" and is different to the site classes. For example, our site classification is "S" and we require a "C2" footing detail, which is costing us an extra $9,460. I have heard that heavy clay sites need much deeper footings which will definately cost more. Our custom Gemmill Home in Bedfordale WA Build thread:https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=53788 Timeline on page 1 Re: WA: Engineer's C7 detail for site cost 8Oct 24, 2012 4:02 pm I definitely have a much better understanding of the soil and footing classification now. Thank you all for providing me with the insight and knowledge. I rang the City of Canning this morning and the engineer provided me with my neighbour's geotechnical report stating that the soil classification is "S" and a Silt Pit is required to connect to the council drains. It is so reassuring to know that the soil classification for my neighbour is "S" and not below. We are both from the same subdivided land and this shouldn't differ much. I guess the next thing for me to do right now is to approach the builder again to get clarification about the C7 footing details. Probably I should get an independent geotechnical assessment so that I can have a better clarity and expectation in terms of the sitework. But it'll cost me another 2000-3000 dollars. What do you guys think? Re: WA: Engineer's C7 detail for site cost 9Oct 24, 2012 4:31 pm The builder will order the site/soil test once you sign the preliminary agreement. Before you arrange to get one done yourself I would recommend asking the builder if they will accept the one you get done otherwise you will end up paying for it twice. Our custom Gemmill Home in Bedfordale WA Build thread:https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=53788 Timeline on page 1 Re: WA: Engineer's C7 detail for site cost 10Oct 24, 2012 4:32 pm I wouldnt bother with a geotech report from a 3rd party. will most likley come up with the same results and you have just wasted your money. If anything you should be able to get a building inspector to have a look at your report and site costs if you want peace of mind. Being Celebration homes I wouldnt expect them to take you for a ride. Building with Dale Alcock Re: WA: Engineer's C7 detail for site cost 11Oct 24, 2012 8:57 pm I've never heard of C1, C2, C7 etc so I thought I'd do some research. Didn't find much, but as others have said, the various C1, C2, etc numbers refer to footing details. Presumably, the larger the C number the thicker/stronger the footing. Does anyone have something detailing what each of the footing types are? Demolition August 2009, Construction Started September 2009, Completed December 2010 Re: WA: Engineer's C7 detail for site cost 12Oct 25, 2012 9:41 am They sound to me like like standard details from an engineering consultancy. They will vary company to company. I wouldnt look into this C7 detail thing at all. the Engineer/draftie has most likley copied it from their standards and pasted it onto your drawings. Building with Dale Alcock Re: WA: Engineer's C7 detail for site cost 14Apr 07, 2013 11:05 am The engineers have been to my land for a formal assessment and classified the footings as C6 which is a classification better than my nextdoor neighbour C7. Unfortunately, the final site costing came back around $30,000 due to the extra vegetation and rocks that needs to be removed. The site cost provided to my neighbour by Celebration homes was 2 years ago and they mentioned that the site cost prices have increased over the years. Celebration homes have been really transparent so far and I trust that this expenses is reasonable due to the condition of my land. Re: WA: Engineer's C7 detail for site cost 15Sep 24, 2014 4:59 pm Hey weiwei0205, We are building south of the river too. And we too have a C7 class land. Can u tell me what information was provided to you? Or where u got it from? Or perhaps would you be able to provide me a copy? We you also charged "hard digging costs?" Re: WA: Engineer's C7 detail for site cost 16Oct 18, 2014 11:48 am Hi, Im in a similar situation as you were at the moment but my costing has come back more then double your price. We were given an "s" soil classification and with a C6 footing detail and our costing was $62K. We were originally building with Homes Group WA but have since decided to switch. Our new builder has suggested we stick with the budget of $62K though. They have not done any testing themselves. Our new builder has said we can get an independent company to complete the site works as this may mean that the price could drop. Has anyone got some more info in regards to this, do you think this price is reasonable and does anyone know of any good and trustworthy site work companies? 3 6412 The engineering is the engineering. It's irrelevant how much material you have. Unless it fits the requirements of your design the engineer can't "make"it work. 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