Soil Reports and Engineer's Report

Hi all,

Is it worth getting an independent soil report/engineer's report done on a block of land before committing to a builder, so you have an independent idea of what it will cost?

Or do builders generally get these reports done before you have to sign any contracts?

Obviously we would like to know the site costs up front, but as the builders seem to include these reports in their prices, we wondered whether it was worth getting our own done. And if we wanted to, where do we go in Adelaide to get such a thing done?

Unfortunately you have to sign on the dotted line before they then order soil test. You can get an independent report done. Not sure where in Adelaide, but I'd give an architecture place a call.

If you are building in a new estate you can get a fairly accurate idea of what the soil is like from land close by. Also if there is a display in that estate they estimate pretty accurate.

Good luck!


Metricon Glendale 34 Modified

I am building with Metricon and asked for fixed site costs. The fine print says subject to soil and survey test but i have been reassured that it is definitely fixed. Either way I have asked and been told that my deposit is 100% refundable (i have this in writing). All you can do is ask so that you have a way out if you are not happy with their costs. I recommend always demanding fixed site costs so that you can budget with confidence and not have anything out of the ordinary surprise you.

We paid $850 to have the soil testing and engineering done for our site - next step will be to pay $3250 for the contract. So technically, not signed up yet to the builder.
We now have a fixed price for the footings, excavation, fill and spoil removal.
One thing I have heard about soil testing is that it may only be valid for 18 months

Depends where you build. In some developments they give you the soil tests. Otherwise you might want to get some independent testing done before you engage a builder to make sure things are what they seem. Builders will be reluctant to offer fixed prices on siteworks, but some will do it. Try asking and see what they say

Nawsome, did your builder get the soil tests done or did you have an independent person do them???

We're just not sure where we go to ask if we wanted to get them done independently.

It was through the builder - but we "own" the reports, so if we decided to not go through our builder, we could take this information to another builder

Just looked who did ours - was RCI consulting engineers for the engineering and AS Drilling for the soil report

Thanks Nawsome!

Our builder (Simonds) did the soil test after we'd put down an initial $2k desposit (they do soil tests, engineering reports, the proper floorplans getting generated and start checking your house against council regs and development reqs); but if we needed to withdraw at that point after the soil test was done and they came back with an unachievable footings price (fixed price), we could have and gotten the reports for us to keep.

We are currently thinking that we will go with Oakford.....we asked about doing the soil report in order to fix the price, and they have said we can pay to have the soil report done now, and then if we sign with them, the price will be credited off the house. If we don't sign, we will have the soil report that we have paid for. So that's probably what we will end up doing

that sounds good - hope you get a good result for your soil