Soil report shocked us!!

For the construction of the foundation for the slab, a soil replacement of about 80 cm had to be done. Peat soil out, fill sand in. However, I cannot say what this cost because we agreed on a flat rate with the shell builder and these works were included.

The complete soil replacement was supposed to cost around 40,000 EUR according to the quote.

Supposed to?! But it didn’t! Correct?

Good evening,

don’t be mad at me, but you seem to have approached the topic of house construction very naively, otherwise you would hardly ask whether "all this is legal."

Now tens of thousands of € in costs for earthworks are coming our way. Of course, the poor soil quality was not known before the purchase.

Be glad despite all the frustration over the additional foundation costs that the geologist did not encounter clay. This costs a bit more at the landfill than the material on your property.

Every builder first buys a plot of land according to the motto "bought as seen"; the notarial contract exclusively excludes fraudulent misrepresentation from this procedure. You could have had a soil survey done "before" the final purchase. If you had decided against the purchase based on the results, you would have been stuck with the cost of the soil survey or perhaps could have sold it to a later buyer.

We are building without a basement!

In your case, a basement probably won’t help you either in my opinion; it will only get more expensive because the measured groundwater level is probably too high and another sealing of the basement would have had to be done.

Rhenish greetings

Should?! But he didn't! Correct?

Correct. The price of 40 thousand euros referred to the complete soil replacement at a depth of 5m.

Good evening,

don’t be mad at me, but you seem to have approached the topic of house construction very naively, otherwise you would hardly be asking whether "all this is legal".

Be glad about all the annoyance over the extra foundation costs that the geologist did not find clay. This costs a little more at the landfill than the material on your property.

Every builder first buys a plot of land under the motto "bought as seen"; only fraudulent deception is excluded by the notary contract from this procedure. You could have had a soil survey done "before" the final purchase. If you had decided against the purchase based on the result, you would have been left with the cost of the soil survey or could maybe have sold it to a later buyer.

In your case, a basement won’t be of any use in my opinion either; it will only get more expensive because the measured groundwater level is probably too high, and therefore a different sealing of the basement would have had to be done.

Rhineland greetings

What does the disposal of my soil material cost per m3?

Good evening,

What does the disposal of my soil material per m3 cost?

How should I know that?

I neither know where you want to build nor which landfill is accessible nearby. Either your supplier or your excavator will be able to answer these questions for you.

Rhineland greetings

You should urgently contact a soil expert from your region. On the one hand, they can interpret the existing soil report and discuss the foundation options (soil replacement, pile foundation) with you, and on the other hand, they can refer you to earthworks or piling companies who can provide you with initial offers. These offers will be indicative as they are not yet based on a detailed bill of quantities or precise information from the structural engineer. Foundation and floor slab must be calculated together later. Soil experts/geologists and structural engineers need to work together on this.