ᐅ Partially level the sloped plot; should the topsoil be removed first?

Hello,
I hope this is the right topic area.

We have a sloped plot where the basement level will partially be built into the hill. The soil excavated for this will be removed and then partially reused in the garden behind the house to level the terrain.
Now I am wondering if the supposedly better topsoil in the garden area should first be removed, since it will be covered by the supposedly poorer soil from the excavation, so that the topsoil can be placed again as the uppermost layer later on.

To illustrate this, I have included a cross-section drawing.

The current ground level is shown with red dashed lines. I have simply drawn the planned ground level in black as an example.

My question arises because the shell construction company is only responsible for the foundation work, not for landscaping. They will therefore excavate the soil into the garden, and we will take care of it ourselves afterwards… For them, it does not really matter whether they cover the apparently good topsoil with poorer soil, if this is not clarified in advance. I want to discuss this with the builder tomorrow but don’t want to be completely unprepared. Besides further research on my part, I would be interested in your opinions.

Thanks very much in advance.

Good luck, Kinderpingui

As additional information: In our building area, the soil mainly consists of clayey loam, which is practically used for backfilling and landscaping the garden.
Here is also a photo of soil already dumped on our plot from a neighboring property. Maybe it helps with the assessment.

Basically, you would say you "save the topsoil." However, it doesn’t look very good in the photos. So, if I imagine an excavator storing soil on the side for a day and then putting it back later, you can get two trucks of good topsoil for the same price.

kinderpingui schrieb:

So for them, it probably doesn’t matter whether they mix supposedly good topsoil with poorer soil.

However, the employees of the shell construction company should be familiar with the building code:
§ 202 Protection of Topsoil
Topsoil that is excavated during the construction or modification of buildings, as well as during significant other changes to the earth’s surface, must be preserved in a usable condition and protected from destruction or waste.
So it shouldn’t be completely unimportant to them. Bringing it up is definitely a good idea.

Escroda schrieb:

However, the employees of the shell construction company should be familiar with the building code:
§ 202 Protection of topsoil
Topsoil that is excavated during the construction or modification of buildings, as well as during significant other alterations of the ground surface,
must be preserved in usable condition and protected from destruction or waste.
So it shouldn’t be completely irrelevant to them. Bringing it up is definitely a good idea.

Thank you very much. I was not aware of that! Good advice.

From your drawing, it looks like not much fill material will be needed at the back. The excavation contractor will also dig out the working space of about 3 meters (10 feet) in height at the rear and slope it. During this process, most of the topsoil will likely be removed (which will then be stored to the side) and you can use it later to fill in.