1350 tons of earth excavation for a single-family house

The truck had to drive 27km. (one-way trip). The excavation, which is included in the service, was commissioned by the main contractor to the civil engineer. The disposal and removal were commissioned by me to the same civil engineer from the main contractor. Actually, it doesn't make sense, since the transport must be paid for by the client anyway.

I don't want to imply anything bad, but theoretically it could be that the civil engineer, who surely doesn't only work for you at that time, is working for the general contractor on another construction site and bills the transport there through you. Just as an example, our civil engineer also said that if he happens to have another construction site where he could dump our excavation material, he would do that and it would be cheaper for us (since I know him). Do you seriously think he wouldn't also ask the other client for something for the material?

But the "refilling" then already includes installation, right? Otherwise, as I said, you can easily save half and it’s not a highly complex task, just sweaty hard work...

Sure, you just casually bring in hundreds of tons yourself? Preferably with a car and trailer? Or do you happen to have a gravel truck parked in your backyard?! That’s nonsense about doing it yourself. Besides, you lose all warranty on anything related to cracks and such ("the compaction probably wasn’t so great on your part" and end of discussion).

Warranty for the civil engineer with cracks - I’m laughing my head off... sorry, but you’ll NEVER see anything there.

You can do the compaction yourself, but it has to be done layer by layer. So either you need an excavator operator with you or you do it in collaboration with the civil engineer.

I see little cost savings there...

Sure, you just casually bring in hundreds of tons yourself? Preferably with a car and trailer? Or do you happen to have a gravel truck parked in your backyard?! That's nonsense about doing it yourself. Besides, you lose any warranty on everything related to cracks and the like ("the compaction by you probably wasn’t that great" and discussion over)

I wrote that you can save money during installation, not in procurement! And then someone should first claim that I am not capable of spreading 20cm of sand and running the vibrating plate over it... Why should cracks occur at all due to insufficient compaction? Does the house hold together because of the sand around it???

Warranty with the civil engineer regarding cracks - I’m laughing my head off... sorry, but you’ll NEVER see anything there.

You can do compaction yourself, but it has to be done layer by layer. So you either need an excavator operator with you or do it in cooperation with the civil engineer.

I see little cost savings there...

A friend rented a mini excavator for a day, had 3 friends help, and the rough work was done... (House about 9 x 9m and a pit nearly 3m deep or basically backfilling the working area.)
The whole thing cost him about €1000, if he had it done it would have been at least €3000 according to the quote...