Excavation

I decided to let someone else do the dig work.  I realized after the cost of renting an excavator and the time it would take me, a beginner, to complete the work it would cost just as much.  I got a great price from the company that has already been doing the work so far (survey, plans, septic tests, etc.).

I would recommend getting at least two or three quotes before you decide on a company.  Make sure you get the job details in writing, there are a lot of variables when it comes to digging on a slope.  They could run into rock and have difficulty removing tree stumps, so a flat rate quote helps prevent too many surprises.

I received quotes from a few thousand dollars up to fourteen thousand dollars, so be careful!

Tree Clearing

The trees have been cleared, now I can begin the dig work.  They will dig the driveway and pad and lower that 32% grade around the leach field area down to under 25% slope (per inspector).  It took me, and a friend for two days, 5 weeks (on weekends) total to clear about 20 trees.  Several of them were already dead so I don't feel so guilty killing trees, there was a beetle that came through many years ago and killed a lot of trees.  So, that was less than 40 hours total for clearing around 20 trees, not to bad!

Bare land

Picture of bare land - 32% slope

Severe Slope

Well... the survey was completed this last weekend.  I used the worksheet from my last post to double check the slope readings, looks like the slope of the lot is around 32%.  Yikes... according to Utah code, special consideration is needed for slopes over 25%.  This could require a horizontal cut into the mountain of up to 50ft, so that the septic's drainfield is setback from the slope.  This would be an overwhelming task for building a small cabin.

Looks like we have a lot of layout planning ahead to see if this project can move forward!

Slope measurement

Here is a handy tool I find online!  Once the survey is done in a couple of weeks I will take some slope measurements.  I think they will do that with the survey, but won't hurt to have them too!