Where it goes wrong · The Geotechnical Report
The Cheapest Insurance Available
A few thousand dollars of borings routinely prevents hundreds of thousands in change orders, and it is still the thing owners economize on.
The survey, the geotechnical report and what you intend to build. That is enough to tell you what the site work involves.
Retention
In Florida it takes real acreage, before the building
Self-perform
Dewatering and deep foundations in house
Yield
The site work decides how much you can build
Licensed
General contractor, licensed in the state of Florida
Too few borings, in the easy places
A report with a handful of borings placed where the drill rig could conveniently reach describes those points and nothing else. Across a large site, conditions vary, and the areas not investigated are exactly where the surprise will be — because nobody looked there.
What a useful report covers
- Borings across the whole footprint, not a convenient sample.
- Depth appropriate to the loads being imposed.
- Water table depth, and whether it is tidally influenced.
- Identification of unsuitable material and its extent.
- Recommendations specific to the intended structure.
How we handle it
- 01Read the report before pricing anything below grade.
- 02Say plainly when a report is inadequate for the site.
- 03Price to what the report actually shows.
- 04State a contingency for what it could not resolve.
Spend more on borings than feels necessary. It is the cheapest risk reduction available on a development site, and every dollar saved on investigation reappears as a change order at several times the value.
Said plainly
Where we stop
We will not price below-grade or earthwork scope from an inadequate report. Doing so produces a number that is a guess, and a guess becomes a change order.
FAQ
Common questions
- How many borings do we need?
- Enough to cover the footprint. A convenient sample describes those points and nothing else.
- Is it worth spending more?
- It is the cheapest risk reduction available. Savings there reappear as change orders.
- Will you price from a thin report?
- No. It would be a guess.
- What should the report identify?
- Bearing, water table, unsuitable material and recommendations for the intended structure.
What we do
Clearing & Demolition
The first package on any site, and the one that reveals what the survey did not show.
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Mass Grading & Earthwork
Shaping the site to the design grades, where the cost is decided by whether the earthwork balances.
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Stormwater
Florida requires stormwater to be managed on site, and doing so consumes a genuine share of the land.
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Utilities
Water, sewer, electric, gas and telecommunications, and whether the capacity you need exists at the boundary.
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Paving & Hardscape
Parking, drives, sidewalks and hardscape, where the failures come from the subgrade and the drainage rather than from the asphalt.
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Site Restoration
Landscape, irrigation, and putting the site back — the last package built and the first thing anybody sees.
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More where it goes wrong
The Water Table
Florida's water table is close to the surface, and on coastal sites it moves with the tide.
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Unsuitable Material
Organic soils, uncontrolled fill and material that will not support the works. It has to come out, and something has to go back in.
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Permitting
Horizontal work touches more agencies than the building does, and the approvals frequently run in sequence.
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Next step
Find out what is actually wrong with it.
An inspection, photographs of what we found, and a written scope. If the honest answer is that it can wait another season, that is the answer you will get.