Your Soil Analysis & The Benefits
Your Soil Analysis & The Benefits
Those new to building a custom home are probably unfamiliar with soil borings and why they are important. For a typical building site, one could expect to spend between $2,500-$3,500 to have an expert take boring, collect a soil profile, and issue a report based on professional lab analysis. The cost of this seems surprising to most, but when one has a better understanding of what is involved, it will start to make more sense. The costs add up from special boring equipment, skilled labor, scientists, and engineers, but it’s money well spent.
Why Perform Soil Testing for New Homes?
Completing a soil analysis will allow an engineer to design a proper footing and foundation for your building site. It’s no surprise this is one of the most critical design aspects of building a new home. The quality of your soil can play a surprisingly important role in the house building process and for years after your home has been built. Soil testing for new homes is a critical component to determine the composition of the soil and if it can adequately support a foundation. It can also be necessary to get a building permit in some west Michigan/Grand Rapids area municipalities. If the soil is found to be loose, easily compressed, or clay, it does not mean that you cannot build your home, but it does mean that you may need extra foundation support, which could mean wider or deeper foundations or replacing unsuitable soils. With an incorrect foundation design, soil changes due to moisture content can result in structural failures inside of your foundation. When this occurs, the only fix is a costly foundation repair.
Summary Key Benefits:
Determine if your land is buildable for the type of home you want (offers on vacant land can be contingent on acceptable soil analysis).
Determine the proper footing and foundation design instead of guessing what I should be.
It puts you in a planning mode with your builder and excavator vs. reactionary mode to unforeseen conditions in the middle of construction, resulting in surprise costs and schedule delays.
You may learn about other site preparation and foundation system expenses.
Allows your builder and design team to create a rock-solid footing and foundation design tailored to your building site.
Videos are worth a thousand words! Check out this link to see what is involved in taking soil borings https://adobe.ly/3AALzZK