Building the House Step by Step

STEP 2: Clearing and Excavation (1-3 days)

Clearing the lot includes clearing trees, brush, rocks, roots, and debris from where the house will sit, and usually 10 feet or more around the foundation, thus allowing space for tractors, fork lifts, and trucks working at the site. Obviously, the more area to be cleared, the more it will cost. Removing big trees is time-consuming and expensive. Rocks may have to be blasted. If you want unwanted trees to be cut into firewood, the crew you hire will charge dearly for doing the job. Best to have the good, manageable-sized logs cut down to 10 to 12 feet in length and piled at the side of the lot for you to cut up at your leisure.

Your best source for finding a sub for clearing and excavating is by word of mouth or in the Yellow Pages.

Get a contract price for this work. It may cost a little more, but you will be assured of not having your first cost overrun. If a basement is to be dug, your sub must have and know how to use a transit. You may also want your surveyor/engineer to oversee this digging to make certain it is the proper depth. Some or all of the dirt removed from the basement site might be put out of the way for later backfilling and landscaping. Topsoil should be separated out to be spread later for the lawn or garden.

Your contract price should include hauling all trash, such as stumps, branches, and rocks, to a suitable landfill. I don't advise burying trash on your lot, as these stump holes tend to form an unsightly depression as the material in them settles or rots. Some areas ban stump holes. Of course, if the distance to a suitable landfill is prohibitively expensive and you have enough land, a stump hole may be your best choice.

You may want to put one or more loads of stone on your driveway so that supply trucks can drive in during wet weather. The best stone for this is unwashed crushed stone. It has all the powdery substance created in crushing the stone, and it will harden after getting wet. You also may need to put drainpipes in at the roadside if they are required by either ordinance or common sense. They allow roadside water to flow under the driveway and prevent water from washing the stone away.