Where it goes wrong · Unsuitable Material
Soil That Cannot Carry Anything
Organic soils, uncontrolled fill and material that will not support the works. It has to come out, and something has to go back in.
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
You pay twice for the same volume
Unsuitable material is excavated and hauled away, and then suitable fill is bought, hauled in and compacted. Every cubic yard is paid for twice, in opposite directions, and on a site with substantial organic material that single item can dominate the earthwork budget.
What it costs
- Excavation of the unsuitable material.
- Haulage and lawful disposal.
- Purchase of suitable replacement fill.
- Haulage in, placement and compaction.
- Testing to confirm the replacement performs.
How we handle it
- 01Establish extent and depth from the geotechnical report.
- 02Price removal and replacement as separate real quantities.
- 03Consider ground improvement where it is a viable alternative.
- 04Test and certify the replacement.
Ask whether ground improvement is an alternative to removal. On some sites treating the soil in place is substantially cheaper than excavating and replacing it, and the comparison is only made if somebody asks for it.
Said plainly
Where we stop
The extent of unsuitable material is only as well known as the geotechnical report. Where the report is thin, the quantity is an estimate and we will say so rather than presenting it as fixed.
FAQ
Common questions
- Why is unsuitable material so expensive?
- Every cubic yard is paid for twice — hauled out, and replacement hauled in.
- Is there an alternative to removal?
- Ground improvement sometimes. Ask for the comparison.
- How do we know the extent?
- Only as well as the geotechnical report shows. A thin report means an estimate.
- Does replacement need testing?
- Yes, to confirm it performs.
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.
Read more →
The Water Table
Florida's water table is close to the surface, and on coastal sites it moves with the tide.
Read more →
Permitting
Horizontal work touches more agencies than the building does, and the approvals frequently run in sequence.
Read more →
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.