ᐅ Earthworks – a few questions.

Hello,

excavation is scheduled for calendar week 24. The basement measures 8 by 11 meters (26 by 36 feet) with a rough construction height of 2.37 meters (7 feet 9 inches). I assume that the excavated material will be suitable for backfilling. Other houses in this development revealed sandy soil.

The ground is level and slightly below the planned future grade. Roughly calculated, I estimate about 270 cubic meters (9,530 cubic feet) of excavation. I think about 50 to 100 cubic meters (1,765 to 3,530 cubic feet) can be spread across the site to raise the level just above the street (a bit hard to say, since there are some dips in the plot).

The rest should preferably be taken directly to the disposal site at €16.50/m³ (including transport), since storing it on the neighboring property also incurs costs of €7.50/m³.

Where did you dispose of your excavation material, and what did you pay? I’ve registered in the county’s soil exchange, but I don’t think the chances are very good there.

We have set aside around €30,000 for additional foundation costs as a buffer (+€10,000 if needed for a waterproof basement, window well drainage, and perimeter drainage), but of course I want to keep costs as low as possible.

And does anyone have experience spreading excavation and topsoil? Is doing this work yourself even practical given the volume?

Good luck,
daniels87

You got a good price for disposal. In the Stuttgart area, you pay 27.37€ per ton.
We had to remove 230 tons with an 80cm (31.5 inch) soil replacement (no basement).

daniels87 schrieb:

Where did you dispose of your excavation material, and what did you pay?
I have registered on the county’s soil exchange platform, but I think the chances are slim there.

We have set aside about 30,000€ as a buffer for additional foundation costs (+10,000€ if needed for a waterproof basement, window well drainage, and perimeter drainage), but of course, I want to keep costs as low as possible.

And has anyone gained experience with distributing excavation material and topsoil? Is it even worthwhile to do it yourself considering the volume?

According to the LAGA 0 report, a company next door was able to use my excavation material. I paid 700€ for a truck and driver for one day to haul the material away. The excavation was about 12 x 10 m, 0.8 to 1.2 m deep (no basement). Using a landfill would have been much, much more expensive.

Topsoil is an interesting topic. You tend to put it aside at first. Good that you’re not ignoring it, because the next cost shock usually comes with that.

I needed fill material (due to rocky subsoil) and topsoil.
Altogether — just checked again — around 500 tons. I didn’t go overboard; an extra 10-20 cm of topsoil wouldn’t have hurt, but everything grows, including trees.

I wasn’t willing to pay nearly 10,000 euros for the soil, so I persistently looked to see if anyone was giving away soil with a certification report. That happens. If you look carefully, you find it. I paid nothing for the soil. Persistence and friendliness paid off here. If you buy soil, you go broke. Seriously. Like I said, I paid a lot for the house build, but for dirt that’s too expensive for me... that’s my frugal side.

I clearly remember last year: For a whole week, I had no view because the piles of excavated earth blocked it. Neighbors rang the bell and asked if I was crazy and what I was planning to do with all that soil. Well: build a garden — it was just enough.

I can operate an excavator only rudimentarily, and after building the house, I didn’t feel like doing that anymore. Seven days of work were done here by four people with an excavator and tools. Then it was something like a garden (it’s still not finished).

I would clearly advise against doing this yourself, especially with a shovel and wheelbarrow, in this case.

Best regards, Thorsten

T21150 schrieb:


I would strongly advise against doing any of the work yourself—especially the idea of using just a shovel and wheelbarrow in this case.

I can only agree! It’s completely unreasonable to try spreading the soil manually with hand tools.

If it’s a new development area, you might be able to get rid of the soil with neighbors. We initially had an extra 200sq m (2152 sq ft) of soil piled up, but now we have to add more fill again to level everything out. Our neighbor has quite a bit left, so the landscaper will remove it from there. The only ones who might be stuck are those at the end, because the material has to be stored somewhere, and eventually there won’t be any free plots left.

Payday schrieb:
I can only agree with that! It’s complete nonsense to try and spread out soil manually with hand tools.

I was thinking more along the lines of a mini excavator and a tracked dumper. Use those to make some piles on the site and then distribute the soil with a few friends.

Stefan G. schrieb:
You got a good price for disposal. In the Stuttgart area, you pay €27.37 per ton.
We had to haul away 230 tons with 80cm (31.5 inches) of soil replacement (no basement).

Ouch! That’s pretty intense! I’m really getting off cheap here..

daniels87 schrieb:
It’s best to take the rest directly to the landfill at €16.50/m³ (including transport), since storing it on the neighbor’s property also costs €7.50/m³

Are you sure the disposal price is per cubic meter and not per ton...? That could cause a factor of 2 difference. Plus net prices on top, and the day is lost...