{{lot_address}} is {{flood_zone}} with {{road_frontage_type}} frontage: your site work, line by line

Your lot at {{lot_address}} is {{flood_zone}} with {{road_frontage_type}} frontage, so site work is four jobs, clearing, pad, driveway and culvert, and each should be its own line in every bid.

Hi {{first_name}}, builders often fold site work into one allowance. On a Montgomery County acreage lot that hides the biggest swing in your budget.

1. Clearing

Trees, brush and stumps come out of the house footprint, the driveway path and the septic area. Clearing a half acre of pines is a different job than clearing three acres of thick yaupon. You do not have to clear the whole lot, and leaving trees is usually cheaper.

2. The pad

A pad is the compacted fill the slab sits on. How high it goes depends on drainage and on your flood zone. If the lot sits in or near a mapped flood area, ask the builder what finished floor elevation your plan needs.

3. The driveway

Cost follows length. A lot that sits 400 feet off the road needs much more driveway than one at the pavement. Ask for the base material and thickness in writing.

4. The culvert

If your driveway crosses a roadside ditch, water has to pass under it. That is a culvert. The size and the permit depend on who maintains the road, the county precinct or a city. [CONFIRM PRECINCT PERMIT PROCESS BEFORE SENDING]

The decision

Ask every builder for site work as a separate, itemized bid, with your lot walked in person. If you want, I will send the lot record to the builders before they visit, so they arrive knowing the flood zone and the road.

Jacob Dow
Builder Connect Group | CB&A, Realtors
(346) 273-1143