The cost of excavating?

[MaryJ]

I'm looking at a section which has a slight incline (1in30). I have some questions that the developers amongst you may be able to answer:

1. Do you have a rule-of-thumb about the cost of excavating a building platforrm?

2. Do you have a rule-of-thumb costing of retention walls? (i.e. at the back of excavations)

3. Does one always have to get Resource Consent for excavations or build-ups? (I.e. when one is either digging down and upward slope to create a platform or building up a downward slope.)

I'd be very grateful to receive some tips.
Cheers
Mary

[4thecat]

Get lots of Quotas, 2 or 3 they don’t cost anything to get.
The one that quotes you the highest price is most likely the one that is closest to the actual cost .
And add another 20-25% on top of that , just to be on the save side.
I just been thought this exercise myself, and ones you start digging you will be amazed what you will find and dig up sometimes !

[Muffin]

Mary,

My experience is that the second the excavation starts is when the profitability slides and the problems begin.

Before you start I would speak to the local historical groups about the potential past usage of the site. When redeveloping my parents house a couple of years ago we found a 15,000L petrol tank (where a corner store once was), a handful of aboriginal artifacts and some early settlor artifacts. The environmental report and the archaelogist cost more than the excavation in the end and delayed the whole process by a year. (for reference we were only digging 50cm deep).

4thecat is right, the more quotes the better and add at least 25%

[4thecat]

I found a old cow shed under my almost flat section, and the storm water pipes where almost 1.5m off the plans. 25 truckloads later…….. we planned on 8-10 max,on top we carted 6 truckloads of clay in to fill the holes .
All of that in subdivision, that was less than 6 years old. So needless to say, plann for the worth ,and if it dosen't happen, well you made some more profit.

[Richcrooks]

Richcrooks

Hi Mary guess you gor the negatives!