Clearing the Land

It’s time to play in the dirt.

The surveyor is your new friend. They have laid out the property boundaries and have staked where the building is going to be located on the property. The first staking is going to be temporary so that you can move to the next step in your journey.

All the municipal notifications have been taken care of and approved. Now the question is are you working with a flat piece of ground, something on the side of a hill, or something right on the water, they all have the same steps. Let us assume you are building on unimproved property located on a compound slope.

The very first thing that will happen is removing the foliage. Make sure that you do not accidentally remove trees, shrubs, or other plants that are protected or endangered. Now that the land is cleared you get a really good idea what you have to work with. You may find that there need to be some adjustments. Make adjustments the surveyor and the governing bodies confirm. 

You may want to spend a little bit of time being a kid and watch the excavation. Remember when removing soil, you may have to put some soil back so do not have everything hauled away. When all is done, you will need to have surveyors come back and stake exactly where the building is going because during the excavation process the original steaks most likely have disappeared.

I have attached pictures that will give you an idea of the steps involved. Next time we are going to talk about inspections. If you follow the rules, inspections are a breeze.

Stay tuned, there is a lot more to come,

Dik Muller