Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 27, 2018 11:11 am Hi guys, I'm considering purchasing a block of land which has an approximate 3m fall from top to bottom of the block, sloping downwards from the back of the yard (approx 16x39 block). I'm looking to build with Porter Davis and they've given me some really rough site costs (20-35k) but obviously this is just speculation until I pay a deposit and they actually do a survey report. Am I the only person that has been concerned about getting accurate site costs prior to purchasing a block? While the estimate from the sales person is probably reasonable, by leaving it just as an "estimate" they could potentially turn around and say it's actually going to cost $100,000 or something ridiculous. You might be thinking, well yeah you would just lose your deposit though if you change your mind, but in actual fact I would be stuck purchasing an expensive block of land that no longer can be built on within my budget. So my question is, how can I get some assurances on site cost expectations before purchasing the block to minimise my risk? Additionally, I have no experience with retaining walls and am struggling to think about how this block would be structured. PD told me they would "cut and fill" which I believe might minimise some of the 3M fall, but down the sides of the property am I going to need massive retaining walls? And what about at the back of the property? The house design has a patio out the back, which I also to flow straight onto a pool as one. Does this mean I would need to put a big 3M retaining wall at the back of the property too? Appreciate any thoughts and insights you can provide! Re: Questions about retaining walls 2Feb 27, 2018 11:15 am Do you have any pictures of your block survey? If you are looking at the land straight on does it slope down toward the backyard or is the backyard very high and slopes toward the road? Will try and give you some advice once I have some more info Re: Questions about retaining walls 3Feb 27, 2018 11:20 am Caydenn Do you have any pictures of your block survey? If you are looking at the land straight on does it slope down toward the backyard or is the backyard very high and slopes toward the road? Will try and give you some advice once I have some more info Hey mate, so I haven't had a survey report done of any kind. From the backyard it slopes downwards towards the road. Anything else I can give u? Re: Questions about retaining walls 4Feb 27, 2018 11:28 am Okay so I'm not sure on what your buying situation is, whether that be through a developer off the plan etc. To answer your question on sight costs most accurate range you'll get through a builder is getting a profession survey done of your land. This will allow them to see what costs are going to be involved in getting the block flat and what slab will be required. They will NOT lock into any site costs until their own surveyor and soil tests have been confirmed so you may actually be able to pay them to do that before you enter into a contract. In terms of how you will build the most likely scenario will be scraping soil from front to back and you will end up with a ~2.5-3m wall of dirt at the rear of your property. Here a retaining wall will need to be constructed, happy to share some rough costing for retaining walls from my experience however when you get over 1.2m you start getting into some very expensive council approvals which are going to be the killer. Site costs they have given you roughly seem about correct to me, however I think the retaining wall costing is going to be heavy as you may need walls along the sides as well as vertical walls are created along the edges of the cut. It is hard to describe without a land survey or showing you visually but I think you can see what I mean. Hope this helps Re: Questions about retaining walls 5Feb 27, 2018 11:28 am 3m is a lot and you should tread carefully. Do obtain multiple estimates. The builders site costs would only include provision for drop edge beams, additional piering. The lot is not 'large', thus the cut & fill done to construct your house will leave you with unusable sloping land upto the boundary. So your best bet is to do 'hardscaping' i.e. do required cut (leveling) towards all boundaries. This is best done when the cut/fill for the house is being done as later (after house is built) there may not be enough space for large machinery to access all sides. You will require retaining walls to take care of this hardscaping. The builders rough estimate will never include all this. Re: Questions about retaining walls 6Feb 27, 2018 11:32 am Caydenn Okay so I'm not sure on what your buying situation is, whether that be through a developer off the plan etc. To answer your question on sight costs most accurate range you'll get through a builder is getting a profession survey done of your land. This will allow them to see what costs are going to be involved in getting the block flat and what slab will be required. They will NOT lock into any site costs until their own surveyor and soil tests have been confirmed so you may actually be able to pay them to do that before you enter into a contract. In terms of how you will build the most likely scenario will be scraping soil from front to back and you will end up with a ~2.5-3m wall of dirt at the rear of your property. Here a retaining wall will need to be constructed, happy to share some rough costing for retaining walls from my experience however when you get over 1.2m you start getting into some very expensive council approvals which are going to be the killer. Site costs they have given you roughly seem about correct to me, however I think the retaining wall costing is going to be heavy as you may need walls along the sides as well as vertical walls are created along the edges of the cut. It is hard to describe without a land survey or showing you visually but I think you can see what I mean. Hope this helps The land is being purchased privately, separate to the builder. I'm trying to get as much info out of the builder to make a decision on whether I should purchase the block. How much do you think a 3M wall at the back would cost? And how would you picture retaining walls down the sides of the property, would this end up being 3M down the sides too? Re: Questions about retaining walls 7Feb 27, 2018 11:32 am Caydenn Okay so I'm not sure on what your buying situation is, whether that be through a developer off the plan etc. To answer your question on sight costs most accurate range you'll get through a builder is getting a profession survey done of your land. This will allow them to see what costs are going to be involved in getting the block flat and what slab will be required. They will NOT lock into any site costs until their own surveyor and soil tests have been confirmed so you may actually be able to pay them to do that before you enter into a contract. In terms of how you will build the most likely scenario will be scraping soil from front to back and you will end up with a ~2.5-3m wall of dirt at the rear of your property. Here a retaining wall will need to be constructed, happy to share some rough costing for retaining walls from my experience however when you get over 1.2m you start getting into some very expensive council approvals which are going to be the killer. Site costs they have given you roughly seem about correct to me, however I think the retaining wall costing is going to be heavy as you may need walls along the sides as well as vertical walls are created along the edges of the cut. It is hard to describe without a land survey or showing you visually but I think you can see what I mean. Hope this helps The block slopes downwards towards the road, so scraping soil from front to back may not be correct. Re: Questions about retaining walls 8Feb 27, 2018 11:34 am djblurr Caydenn Okay so I'm not sure on what your buying situation is, whether that be through a developer off the plan etc. To answer your question on sight costs most accurate range you'll get through a builder is getting a profession survey done of your land. This will allow them to see what costs are going to be involved in getting the block flat and what slab will be required. They will NOT lock into any site costs until their own surveyor and soil tests have been confirmed so you may actually be able to pay them to do that before you enter into a contract. In terms of how you will build the most likely scenario will be scraping soil from front to back and you will end up with a ~2.5-3m wall of dirt at the rear of your property. Here a retaining wall will need to be constructed, happy to share some rough costing for retaining walls from my experience however when you get over 1.2m you start getting into some very expensive council approvals which are going to be the killer. Site costs they have given you roughly seem about correct to me, however I think the retaining wall costing is going to be heavy as you may need walls along the sides as well as vertical walls are created along the edges of the cut. It is hard to describe without a land survey or showing you visually but I think you can see what I mean. Hope this helps The land is being purchased privately, separate to the builder. I'm trying to get as much info out of the builder to make a decision on whether I should purchase the block. How much do you think a 3M wall at the back would cost? And how would you picture retaining walls down the sides of the property, would this end up being 3M down the sides too? At the point of deepest cut (say 3M), your retaining wall will be at least 3M and on top of that you will have a fence of say 1.8M (cuz your neighbor still needs a fence as his land is not cut). Re: Questions about retaining walls 9Feb 27, 2018 11:35 am djblurr The land is being purchased privately, separate to the builder. I'm trying to get as much info out of the builder to make a decision on whether I should purchase the block. How much do you think a 3M wall at the back would cost? And how would you picture retaining walls down the sides of the property, would this end up being 3M down the sides too? Generally for retaining walls made of concrete sleepers you are looking at anywhere from $350 - $500/sqm so if you had lets say a 30m wide block at 2.8m high of retaining you'd be looking at between $29,400 and $42,000. This is EXCLUDING the side pieces of retaining that would be required, also excluding the large amount of engineering and council approvals that would cost a few thousand. Not trying to deter you from the purchase but being upfront regarding costs... It may be cheaper to set the home further into the block and build on Stilts at the front but I am no expert at all. Re: Questions about retaining walls 10Feb 27, 2018 11:38 am Check council regulations for retaining wall height. Usually walls under 1M do not require council approval (subject to other conditions). A 3M will require the wall to be designed by engineer and approved by council. Re: Questions about retaining walls 11Feb 27, 2018 11:42 am Caydenn djblurr The land is being purchased privately, separate to the builder. I'm trying to get as much info out of the builder to make a decision on whether I should purchase the block. How much do you think a 3M wall at the back would cost? And how would you picture retaining walls down the sides of the property, would this end up being 3M down the sides too? Generally for retaining walls made of concrete sleepers you are looking at anywhere from $350 - $500/sqm so if you had lets say a 30m wide block at 2.8m high of retaining you'd be looking at between $29,400 and $42,000. This is EXCLUDING the side pieces of retaining that would be required, also excluding the large amount of engineering and council approvals that would cost a few thousand. Not trying to deter you from the purchase but being upfront regarding costs... It may be cheaper to set the home further into the block and build on Stilts at the front but I am no expert at all. Wow.... So does the average buyer handle this? I'm in Brisbane and most blocks have some sloping, particularly in my area Wavell Heights/Chermside. Is there some alternative options that would make this A LOT cheaper? Maybe stepping up small walls is one, but I still don't see how you could make things cheaper down the sides of the block? Re: Questions about retaining walls 12Feb 27, 2018 11:45 am djblurr Caydenn djblurr The land is being purchased privately, separate to the builder. I'm trying to get as much info out of the builder to make a decision on whether I should purchase the block. How much do you think a 3M wall at the back would cost? And how would you picture retaining walls down the sides of the property, would this end up being 3M down the sides too? Generally for retaining walls made of concrete sleepers you are looking at anywhere from $350 - $500/sqm so if you had lets say a 30m wide block at 2.8m high of retaining you'd be looking at between $29,400 and $42,000. This is EXCLUDING the side pieces of retaining that would be required, also excluding the large amount of engineering and council approvals that would cost a few thousand. Not trying to deter you from the purchase but being upfront regarding costs... It may be cheaper to set the home further into the block and build on Stilts at the front but I am no expert at all. Wow.... So does the average buyer handle this? I'm in Brisbane and most blocks have some sloping, particularly in my area Wavell Heights/Chermside. Is there some alternative options that would make this A LOT cheaper? Maybe stepping up small walls is one, but I still don't see how you could make things cheaper down the sides of the block? I work in brissy and this is why most homes are build on stilts at the front, how much cheaper this would be is another question. The person you are buying this land from is likely in the same situation as you are right now and is selling the land after realising the cost of building on it. Re: Questions about retaining walls 14Feb 27, 2018 12:05 pm IamSAM A 16x39 block with 3M fall calls for a custom/architect designed home and will imply a mega budget to absorb site costs. Gotcha, so its definitely not suitable for a project home? Re: Questions about retaining walls 15Feb 27, 2018 12:10 pm djblurr IamSAM A 16x39 block with 3M fall calls for a custom/architect designed home and will imply a mega budget to absorb site costs. Gotcha, so its definitely not suitable for a project home? Could work for a project home but you'd need to have then site prepped for them and not let them deal with it, definitely getting yourself into a massive headache from a financial and admin point of view. Re: Questions about retaining walls 16Feb 27, 2018 3:24 pm There are a number of project home companies which are specialising on sloped blocks, e.g. Montgomery Homes. Adjusting the house design to suite the block might be easier than forcing a standard design into the sloping block with retaining walls, stepdowns etc. Our block is sloping 3m over a length of 40m and just over 1m where the house is situated. That already cost us quiet a bit in adding a stepdown, bringing additional soil into the block and more cost to add retaining walls later (not included in the build cost!) etc. David Re: Questions about retaining walls 17Feb 27, 2018 3:35 pm djblurr Hi guys, I'm considering purchasing a block of land which has an approximate 3m fall from top to bottom of the block, sloping downwards from the back of the yard (approx 16x39 block). I'm looking to build with Porter Davis and they've given me some really rough site costs (20-35k) but obviously this is just speculation until I pay a deposit and they actually do a survey report. Am I the only person that has been concerned about getting accurate site costs prior to purchasing a block? While the estimate from the sales person is probably reasonable, by leaving it just as an "estimate" they could potentially turn around and say it's actually going to cost $100,000 or something ridiculous. You might be thinking, well yeah you would just lose your deposit though if you change your mind, but in actual fact I would be stuck purchasing an expensive block of land that no longer can be built on within my budget. So my question is, how can I get some assurances on site cost expectations before purchasing the block to minimise my risk? Additionally, I have no experience with retaining walls and am struggling to think about how this block would be structured. PD told me they would "cut and fill" which I believe might minimise some of the 3M fall, but down the sides of the property am I going to need massive retaining walls? And what about at the back of the property? The house design has a patio out the back, which I also to flow straight onto a pool as one. Does this mean I would need to put a big 3M retaining wall at the back of the property too? Appreciate any thoughts and insights you can provide! We have a 2m fall and PD charged $8000 for retaining wall on one side. We couldn’t proceed with the build without it as we could not get the permit. We tried to negotiate on price but they wouldn’t budge. Re: Questions about retaining walls 18Mar 02, 2018 5:39 pm We have a 3m fall over where we have positioned our house. It meant a 1.5 m cut and 1.5m fill we now have to do retaining walls on each side and just to do ourselves just in materials it’s going to cost about 15 k. And break our backs lol. Retaining walls are quite expensive. I’m not sure about the site costs side of it as we built a custom house and we already had the contour and site test so the builder quoted it all together. Building our first custom dream home. https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?share_ ... are_type=t Re: Questions about retaining walls 19Nov 26, 2020 4:12 pm Hiring an architect to suit the land with stepped house would be good investment rather than spending money for massive cut and fill for custom home. You can either design a stepping house or multistory using the natural slope or also use footings Re: Questions about retaining walls 20Nov 26, 2020 5:09 pm Either you pay for cut and fill or you invest into retaining walls throughout and deal with tons of staircases in your house... If you can achieve prominent house position with just cut and fill, e.g. having basement/garage on the ground level, then go for it. Otherwise, you might indeed be better off with split design. Not sure what council area you are in. Some LGA's allow zero lot retaining walls. This usually occurs in greenfield developments but not often in established areas. 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