Lot Clearing and Pad

It's been a few days since my last post. BUT much progress has been made between fits of activity contrasted with periods of waiting around. This post is going to be all about pictures...of the lot clearing and pad. There was a two week period between the initial clearing of the lot and when the pad work took place. You can't rush the process at some stages and the engineers must have their say at critical times in the process. Here are photos from the initial clearing. I am such a newbie and have learned so many lessons. A great reminder about how good God is and is gracious to help me through all mistakes in my project management!

Here is the first picture of the bulldozer clearing a path directly into the heart of the lot.
















And this next is a good shot of the claw doing its work.


















This tree turned out to be pretty pivotal in the overall plans for location of the pad. More details to follow.

















Two weeks later the pad and driveway were completed. During the two weeks it rained, core samples were taken and analyzed and much other behind the scene work by the multiple parties involved.

It just so happens that the scheduling of the pad work had to take place while I was away for three days on a business trip. There were many phone calls working out the final details. The most critical event was a meeting the night before my trip at the lot with the contractor. He was instrumental in helping me visualize the layout of the house and where to set the pad. We got out to the lot late in the afternoon. Then we measured and staked out the corners. BUT the cool thing was running construction tape from each stake which helped me see what the house would actually be sitting on the lot.

When I returned from my trip this was my first look at the lot. The drive way is now complete and the culverts installed. The driveway is made from concrete wash out which will set up in 2-3 and make for a rock solid construction driveway. The goal is to have a strong driveway for the big concrete trucks to make it to the pad site even if conditions get soggy.
















Here we have where the turn around will be located next to the garage. I have to admit its a little hard to see but the idea was to have a 30 foot wide pad next to the garage. So how did we get to 30 feet? No secret....a visit to the next door neighbor who had a 30 foot pad and he felt it was the right size. Anyway, we were so occupied with carving out the pad site with a 10 foot buffer that the garage pad was a last minute consideration which we had to decide on before the dozer left.































This is the smaller of two culverts which was necessary to help bridge over an old revine.















I will follow up with more as there is an immense amount of stuff I have left out.

But the critical take away is that all is ready on the site for foundation . It will be about a week at the earliest before the foundation work can begin.