Where it goes wrong · What the Survey Missed
Everything Underground
A topographic survey shows the surface. What is underneath is the source of most site work surprises.
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
Utility records are not reliable
Abandoned lines, unrecorded services, old septic systems and utilities that were relocated without anybody updating a drawing are found by an excavator. On a site with a long history, the records describe a version of the underground that has not existed for decades.
What reduces the risk
- Subsurface utility investigation before design, not after.
- An environmental assessment on any former commercial site.
- Talking to whoever has been on the site longest.
- A stated contingency for unknown conditions.
- Careful excavation where records are doubtful.
How we handle it
- 01Recommend subsurface investigation where history warrants it.
- 02Excavate carefully where records are doubtful.
- 03Report anything unexpected immediately, not at month end.
- 04Price a stated contingency and explain its basis.
Talk to whoever has worked on or near the site longest. A maintenance manager or a neighboring owner frequently knows about a line, a tank or a filled area that appears on no drawing anywhere, and the conversation costs nothing.
Said plainly
Where we stop
No investigation eliminates underground risk entirely. We price a stated contingency and explain the basis rather than implying the unknown has been removed.
FAQ
Common questions
- Are utility records reliable?
- On sites with a long history, frequently not. They describe a version that has not existed for decades.
- What reduces the risk?
- Subsurface investigation, environmental assessment, and asking people who know the site.
- Can underground risk be eliminated?
- No. We price a stated contingency rather than implying otherwise.
- When should investigation happen?
- Before design, not after.
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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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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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.