Hi all,
We are going to be building a house in Valley View, SA. The previous owner of the land had nearly signed a contract with Format but for financial reasons was unable to build in the end. We too are in negotiations with Format at the moment (we figured seeing how there were council approvals it might be easier to go with format) We asked the question whether or not any soil reports were done from the previous owner to which we got this reply:
"The other question I was to chase up for you was the contours and soil reports – I have just found *previous owners name* the full engineering report the news as a result of this is that the footing / site allowance of $22,000 is not going to cover you, on the calculations now it appears it will be more like $50,000 (THIS WILL ADD AN ADDITIONAL $28,000 TO THE QUOTE) – I know this is a huge difference but you will require 1200mm deep piers, double mesh and 30mm rods this is because the soil is tree effected and highly reactive and you would certainly not want to find this out after a contract had been signed, as it would normally be done as a variation (we would not normally have this information to hand at the time of signing a contract). The footings will be the same where ever you go – the price of steel (mesh and rods) has increased by 95% since Feb 08 and the concrete prices have gone through the roof as well. The area of your design is about the same as the original *previous owners name* plan and that footing would now be the same cost – the variation for their footings after contract signing took the footings to $42,000 a year ago."
HOLEY COW.. seriously.. this seems like A LOT for footings???????????
the home is 300 square metrs including the garage.
Is what this woman telling us seem true? Obviously we will definately look at some other builders.. maybe Rossdale seeing how once you sign the contract thats it!!
any suggestions from anyone would be appreciated.. any ideas of what footings should cost would also be appreciated.