Hello everyone, this is my first topic here:
We are planning to start building our house this year with a general contractor. The position of the building on the plot is fixed, and we are currently waiting for the building permit / planning permission.
Our plot is approximately 20m by 41m (66 feet by 135 feet) in size, located in a gap between buildings. The shorter side faces the street. The land slopes downward by 3m (10 feet) over the 41m (135 feet) length towards the back, with the steepest slope in the middle of the plot. The neighbors on the left and right have filled their land, which can be seen clearly by the height of the neighbor’s wall on the left side of the photo. The neighbor to the left has built a basement into the slope, the neighbor to the right has not.
According to the soil report, about 50cm (20 inches) of topsoil needs to be removed. Beneath that, the soil is stable. Frost protection material will be used to fill up to the average street level, so that the finished floor level will be about 20cm (8 inches) above the street. Due to the slope in the middle part, the backfill behind the house will be approximately 1.8m (6 feet) above the current ground level. According to the soil report, the fill should be either sloped back at a 45° angle or retained with a retaining wall.
In the rear area of the plot, we want to create vegetable beds and a wildflower meadow. We already established and harvested a small potato patch last year to pass the waiting time.
What do you think would be the most sensible and cost-effective solution in this situation?
I am looking forward to your suggestions and ideas!
We are planning to start building our house this year with a general contractor. The position of the building on the plot is fixed, and we are currently waiting for the building permit / planning permission.
Our plot is approximately 20m by 41m (66 feet by 135 feet) in size, located in a gap between buildings. The shorter side faces the street. The land slopes downward by 3m (10 feet) over the 41m (135 feet) length towards the back, with the steepest slope in the middle of the plot. The neighbors on the left and right have filled their land, which can be seen clearly by the height of the neighbor’s wall on the left side of the photo. The neighbor to the left has built a basement into the slope, the neighbor to the right has not.
According to the soil report, about 50cm (20 inches) of topsoil needs to be removed. Beneath that, the soil is stable. Frost protection material will be used to fill up to the average street level, so that the finished floor level will be about 20cm (8 inches) above the street. Due to the slope in the middle part, the backfill behind the house will be approximately 1.8m (6 feet) above the current ground level. According to the soil report, the fill should be either sloped back at a 45° angle or retained with a retaining wall.
In the rear area of the plot, we want to create vegetable beds and a wildflower meadow. We already established and harvested a small potato patch last year to pass the waiting time.
What do you think would be the most sensible and cost-effective solution in this situation?
- Slope everything back, add stairs and a natural stone wall later
- Build stairs and a wall directly on the right side, slope back the rest
- If building a wall: formwork blocks would be much cheaper than L-shaped blocks; regarding the earth pressure, a structural engineer would probably need to be consulted.
I am looking forward to your suggestions and ideas!
25 cm (10 inches) is not enough. In times of increasingly long heat waves and dry periods, you need to allow plants to root as deeply as possible. A typical rose roots at least 120 cm (47 inches) deep; if it finds enough water, it will go even deeper. A tomato can also root up to 100 cm (39 inches) deep.
Natural stones. Check around to see if anyone is demolishing. In older houses, you often find nice stones in the foundation and basement.
Natural stones. Check around to see if anyone is demolishing. In older houses, you often find nice stones in the foundation and basement.
H
hanghaus20238 Feb 2023 09:15Eifelbau2023 schrieb:
The building application planning was done by the general contractor’s architect. How do you come to that assumption?Because the contractor is making real money with the gravel. The more, the better. Easy money.
Ask the neighbors how much the site grading cost them.
H
hanghaus20238 Feb 2023 09:31Eifelbau2023 schrieb:
The road doesn’t have a curb yet, and I’m not sure if one will ever be installed. One or two plots are still available 😀 Is there a plan for the road? There should be a sidewalk and/or curbs planned. Those are your reference elevation points.
Eifelbau2023 schrieb:
The frost protection gravel is being offered at a friendly price; I don’t have the exact amount yet, but I’m expecting about 20€/ton (including delivery). For my design, I had calculated 700 tons, which is probably too much. Including installation, that’s 50 euros per m³ (1.31 cubic yards). For 180 m³ (235 cubic yards), that’s 9,000 euros (option with 30 cm (12 inches) less depth).
For 450 m³ (588 cubic yards), that’s 22,500 euros (option with 75 cm (30 inches) deeper).
A nice favor from a friend.
An independent architect is required to provide you with a cost-optimized design.
Your contractor’s design is not that.
The additional costs for backfilling outside the building footprint and the complex site grading are not included here.
Eifelbau2023 schrieb:
I definitely wanted to avoid the sandbags. The savings from 180 m³ (235 cubic yards) less material would, of course, be nice to have, but the channel by the road would have to be quite pronounced. Unfortunately, there was a lot of water running down. If necessary, the water can be diverted around the house. With good planning, that’s no problem.
Are there any requirements in the zoning plan (building permit / planning permission) for fences, retaining walls, or similar structures on the road side?
E
Eifelbau20238 Feb 2023 11:11hanghaus2023 schrieb:
Because the contractor is really cashing in with the gravel. The more, the better. Easy money.
Ask the neighbors how much the site grading cost them.Our general contractor (GC) is not involved with the earthworks or the foundation slab; our contract with him starts from the top edge of the foundation slab (except that he will insulate and plaster the sides afterwards).
hanghaus2023 schrieb:
Is there a site plan from the road? There should be sidewalks and/or curbs included. Those are your reference heights.
Including installation, it’s 50 euros per m3. For 180 m3 (cubic meters) that’s 9,000 euros (variant: 30 cm (12 inches) lower)
For 450 m3 (cubic meters) that’s 22,500 euros (variant: 75 cm (30 inches) lower)
A nice favor from a friend.
An independent architect is obliged to provide you with a cost-optimized plan.
That’s not what you’re getting from your contractor.
The additional costs for filling outside the house and the complex terrain modeling are not included here.
If necessary, the water can be diverted around the house. With good planning that’s not a problem.
Are there any requirements for fences, retaining walls, or similar at the street side in the development plan?As far as I know, there are no planning documents from the street side; the development area is already about 30 years old. There are neither curbs nor sidewalks—the street is an extension of the old village center, which is quite narrow, so none exist there. We will inquire if anything is planned.
As I said, we will do most of the earthworks ourselves, which makes the solution relatively affordable. We have many family members who have built or helped build several houses.
We will keep the gutter/water drainage in front of the house in mind. The development plan only states the following requirement for fences:
H
hanghaus20238 Feb 2023 11:29HnghusBY schrieb:
We had a plan created by a garden/landscape designer regarding the positioning of the house and the elevations, which was very helpful to us. I can only recommend this to the original poster as well.
E
Eifelbau20238 Feb 2023 12:30haydee schrieb:
25 cm (10 inches) is not enough. With increasingly long heat waves and dry periods, you need to allow the plants to root as deep as possible. A typical rose roots at least 120 cm (47 inches) deep, and if it can find enough water, it will go even deeper. A tomato plant can also root up to 100 cm (39 inches) deep.
Natural stones. Ask around if anyone is breaking ground. In old houses, you often find nice stones in the foundation and basement. We would only plant vegetables in the lower area that is not raised, but for the middle terrace you are right. We will look into what shallow-rooted hedges or shrubs we could plant there.
We will also consult a landscape architect and discuss the possibility of lowering the house slightly and creating a “dip” in front of the house for water drainage. I could live with that, as the material savings would be quite significant if we could build 30-40 cm (12-16 inches) lower across the entire area.
Similar topics