Where it goes wrong · The Water Table
Shallow, and Sometimes Tidal
Florida's water table is close to the surface, and on coastal sites it moves with the tide.
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
A single reading is not a design basis
A water table measured once, on one morning, is a snapshot. Where the site is tidally influenced, the level rises and falls, and a dewatering system designed to that single reading is inadequate for half of every day. It is a common and expensive mistake on coastal Florida sites.
What has to be established
- Depth to groundwater, and its seasonal variation.
- Whether the site is tidally influenced, and the range.
- Soil permeability, which governs dewatering behavior.
- Where dewatered water may lawfully be discharged.
- Whether neighboring structures are affected by drawdown.
How we handle it
- 01Design dewatering to the tidal high, not to an average.
- 02Establish permitted discharge before mobilizing.
- 03Monitor neighboring structures where drawdown is a risk.
- 04Self-perform dewatering rather than subcontracting it.
Establish where dewatered water may legally be discharged before mobilizing. It is a permitting question with real constraints, and a dewatering operation with nowhere to send the water stops within a day of starting.
Said plainly
Where we stop
Dewatering can affect neighboring structures through drawdown. Where that risk exists we will monitor rather than assume, and we will say so before starting.
FAQ
Common questions
- How deep is the water table?
- Shallow across most of Florida, and on coastal sites it moves with the tide.
- Why does tidal influence matter?
- A system designed to a single reading is inadequate for half of every day.
- Where does the water go?
- Discharge is a permitting question. Establish it before mobilizing.
- Can dewatering affect neighbors?
- Through drawdown, yes. We monitor rather than assume.
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 Geotechnical Report
A few thousand dollars of borings routinely prevents hundreds of thousands in change orders, and it is still the thing owners economize on.
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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.