Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jun 15, 2013 6:02 pm Hi, I am building on a block of land that has an easement on it containing a 300mm sewer pipe. The builder has advised me that the pipe is 9.8m deep, and we therefore require screw piles in the slab to provide extra stablity should they ever need to dig up the pipe. This has resulted in an extra $10,000 of site costs. The builder hasn't provided anything from South East Water confirming the pipe depth, they've just written it on the plans. Is it normal for a sewer pipe to be nearly 10m underground? It seems like a hell of a long way down! I've put in a request with Dial Before You Dig, but need to get back to the builder ASAP as they have the site cut scheduled for this coming Tuesday, so was just wondering if anyone else has had experience of a sewer pipe being this deep underground on their property? Thanks, Michael Re: Sewer Pipe Depth 2Jun 15, 2013 6:43 pm I work in drain cleaning and can tell you that 10m is deep for a sewer. But quite possible for a major trunk sewer. (300mm is a fairly major sewer) The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: Sewer Pipe Depth 3Jun 16, 2013 8:17 pm Thanks Bashworth. I got the DBYG report back from South East Water but all they sent is a map showing where the sewer is which I already had, no information on the depth of it so will give them a call tomorrow, surely it wouldn't be difficult for them to look it up in their system! Re: Sewer Pipe Depth 4Jun 18, 2013 8:03 am It seems the sewer depth is correct at 9.88m. Unfortunately I guess the builder was too lazy to make a simple phone call to South East Water to ascertain this when they did their original estimate of the site costs :/ Re: Sewer Pipe Depth 5Jun 18, 2013 8:14 am Dial before you dig wont give you the information you are seeking. I am in a Gippsland Water area with a 6m easement across the back of my property, and a 2m easement running through my neighbours property. We are required to have piles down the western side of the house (map below). I believe on our tender the additional cost is roughly 6k but that also includes some trenching around the rear of the slab for fill. The most major pipe we have is across the back and doesnt need to have piles for us. The side one however does. Happy to let you know what our builder said if you need anything in more detail. It sounds like your pipe is a lot deeper than ours, which I was told by Gippsland Water was 8m at the back and 5-8m at the side. It would be a great help if you could put up plans to see the sort of layout you have compared to where the sewer is situated. Cheers, Met. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Sewer Pipe Depth 6Jun 18, 2013 8:25 am Thanks Metroid. With the sewer depth confirmed at 9.88m I don't doubt the need for the piles, just the effort by the builder in estimating the site costs originally. Surely the width of the easement (3.5m) would have indicated to them that something significant was there and all they needed to do was call South East Water like I did and ascertain the depth of the asset, it took my no more than 5 minutes! I'm not sure how to post an image here with the plans? Re: Sewer Pipe Depth 7Jun 18, 2013 9:24 am Completely agree. Its definitely something that should be followed up by the builder as accuately as possible. I assume you're under contract so is it fixed price? You'd have to upload an image to an external site (I use Flickr) and then copy the link to here. Are you building right next to the easement or a distance away? Re: Sewer Pipe Depth 9Jul 03, 2013 10:34 am Sorry to hear about that mboucher87, do you have an update of how you went? Re: Sewer Pipe Depth 10Jul 03, 2013 8:14 pm Most of the screwpiles are in, but a few hit rock so they had to get some rock crushing machine back yesterday to break through it so they could the rest in. I complained higher up the company and got $4k dropped off the extra site costs, so bit of a win! Re: Sewer Pipe Depth 11Jul 03, 2013 8:54 pm Builder is required to satisfy himself of the foundation data before entering building contract, this means that if the information was there and he missed it I would ask him to wear all of the cost however you may have a fight on your hands. You did not say if site cost estimate was inclusion or provisional sum. 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 Hi, only for walking. It is a narrow 1.5m paved area next to house. 2 5422 I think you are getting different numbers because they all just based them on "other jobs" even though each job is unique. Often, with builders, unless you're speaking to… 3 3233 The distance between my DEBs varies from 4.1m at the narrowest to 8.1m at the widest. 5 27311 |