Building your own house is a dream come true for many people. Unfortunately, in the process of searching for a perfect plot of land we sometimes have to make compromises. It happens that we find a perfect place, but the terrain is uneven and it will be necessary to do some additional work to prepare it for construction. For this purpose leveling is performed. How to do it quickly and effectively, without additional downtime?
In a nutshell: land leveling is the proper preparation of a plot of land for construction of a house, consisting of getting rid of any irregularities. However, it is preceded by a number of complicated measurements, which are usually taken by surveyors. They check whether all key points during works included in a construction project are on the same level. If not, it will be necessary to level the surface. This does not always mean getting rid of excess soil on the plot, sometimes it is necessary to bring in and backfill existing pits and depressions. The surveyor decides what work will be necessary.
Sometimes leveling is also necessary in other cases, such as creating a garden or lawn. Then we do not have to meet any additional formalities and can carry out the process on our own.
According to the construction law, leveling is a preparatory element of the construction process, so to start it is necessary to obtain a building permit. The sooner we do it, the better. Performing land leveling before you obtain it can be treated as unauthorized construction and you may be fined heavily.
It is obvious that the cost we will incur for the land leveling is dependent on the area to which the work relates. The smaller it is, the lower the total cost will be. The amount of work that needs to be done will also be important. It is usually decided by an on-site inspection of the team hired by us, which will assess how much the whole process will take, and then draw up a schedule of work. If we care about time, we need to inform the team to treat the matter as a priority. It will also be necessary to enforce the schedule.
Of course, we can take care of the land leveling by ourselves, so that will significantly reduce costs. But then we must remember that unfortunately we do not always have enough free time, which we can devote to the work, so the process can be significantly prolonged. What is more, leveling is a complicated procedure, during which we can make many mistakes, which will affect further work.
When we already have a construction plan, measurements and building permit, we can calmly get down to leveling. Usually, it begins with cutting down trees and bushes, which may interfere with further works. Next, a sketch is drawn up, which includes all land defects and elevations. Now we can move on to leveling the site, for which it may be necessary to use specialized equipment, such as an excavator or bulldozer.
main photo: pixabay.com/Tama66