A Lot At Stake
‘It’s a lot at stake’: Local business owners prepare for another round of shutdowns Local News. By: Jessica Mensch. Posted: Dec 3, 2020 / 07:21 PM PST / Updated: Dec 3, 2020 / 07:21 PM PST. A lot at stake for Scottish clubs on fan return, says SPFL chief Doncaster Last updated on 9 September 2020 9 September 2020. From the section Scottish Premiership.
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Today we continue our blog series on How to Build a Home. Our last article talked about how important the construction schedule is to the success of your project. Now it’s time to take you through each of the steps in the schedule to build your new dream home. Here we will discuss the lot stake quality requirements.
Clear Trees
Some building sites will require trees to be cut down prior to staking the lot. If there are trees in the way, there’s no point in setting the house stakes yet as they will most likely get knocked down during tree clearing. It will cost you several hundred dollars to have the stakes installed, so be sure to clear the lot first.
How do you know which trees to cut down? It’s best to clear a minimum of 20-25 feet around the perimeter of your new home. This will allow the grading contractor to create a positive grade away from your new foundation. The grade at the tree locations is set and cannot be changed since piling dirt up on the base of a tree will typically kill it. And if you need to cut the tree, it will be much more affordable to remove prior to building the home.
When you mark the trees for the tree clearing contractor, it’s best to use two colors of spray paint…one for “keep” and one for “remove”. By using spray paint, you won’t run the risk of a ribbon falling off. Be generous with the paint as you don’t want any good trees to be cut in error. Include in the scope of work for your tree clearing contractor the requirement to remove all tree stumps.
Check with your local building department before cutting any trees to see if they have any ordinances affecting tree removal. Some municipalities have a formal review process for tree clearing and may even have fees for cutting down trees.
Responsible Party
Since our goal here is to teach you how to build a home, we will be giving you the responsible party for each scheduled activity. Typically the engineering company you hired to design your plot plan will also do the staking. If they don’t have a survey crew on staff, the engineering group will typically have a survey company they work closely with.
Major Items for Lot Stake
The Lot Stake activity is an extremely important part of the house building process. When done improperly, you can be left with headaches for years to come. Here are a few major items to make sure you include in your scopes of work and specifications for the lot stake…
- Offset Hubs – Mark these in two separate locations to help the foundation contractor locate the footings after the hole is dug. This will save you $100 or more for a return trip after the hole is dug. Check out this article on offset hubs to find out why.
- Stake Every Corner of Building – Insist that your surveyor mark every corner of the building, garage, porches…etc. This will give the excavation contractor everything he/she needs to dig the hole. Some surveyors only mark the four corners…this is not enough to get the job done right.
- Mark Curb Elevation – Have you survey put a mark somewhere on the curb giving the elevation at that point. This will give your excavation contractor a fixed reference point to check the dig depth. Some surveyors only put a mark on one of the stakes…but these can be moved or tampered with. Having the marking on the curb allows the excavation, footing, and foundation contractor a place to double check elevations. This will keep your new home from being set either too high or too low…both very bad outcomes.
- Mark Lot Corners – You will need these to make sure no equipment damages the landscaping of the house next door. Keep in mind, sprinklers systems and other utilities could be installed at the property line. Digging over the property line can lead to unhappy neighbors, expensive damage, and dangerous contact with underground utilities.
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How to Build a Home…The Blog Series
Have you been following along with our blog series on How to Build a Home? We are now finished with the pre-construction phases of the project and are ready to start building. Be sure to tune to catch the whole project from start to finish. Next up in the series…the Excavation for the foundation. Please feel free to shoot us an email if you have any questions as we move through the building process.
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Other than conducting some preliminary site work like soil testing, staking the lot is the first step towards taking your home’s design from paper, and building it in real life. Staking the lot accomplishes two things. First, the boundaries of the lot are clearly established (often marked, as you might expect, with wooden stakes). Second, the footprint (or outline) of your planned home is also marked in the same manner. All surveying should be completed by a trusted and competent land surveyor who is registered and licensed. Mistakes can be costly and time consuming.
Rough Grade Staking
If your lot is relatively flat, rough grade staking is less applicable in your situation, due to the site already being close to finish grade. Rough grade staking is generally conducted when more significant earth movement is required to contour the lot for water drainage considerations or retention considerations. Typically this is done to make the lot buildable given the topography of the site. Otherwise, necessary grading is performed when the foundation is complete and the excavated site is backfilled.
Utility Staking
Prior to excavation, staking helps provide visibility to where the underground utilities will be tapped. Source lines for water, electricity, and gas as well as connection lines for storm drains and sewers should all be marked.
Footprint Staking
A Lot At Stake Translate
Once a lot is staked, the homes orientation within the lot can be double checked to make sure it is in compliance with any required setbacks, easements, or other restrictions which may influence the way your home sits on the property. As excavation commences, the placement of the stakes may become disrupted. Prior to installing forms for the concrete work, it is a good idea to double check the home’s footprint, and maybe even have the lot staked again—especially if you believe any offset markers have been inadvertently moved.
There's A Lot At Stake Here
An offset marker is used to help the contractors relocate the corners of the house after excavation. This is necessary because the process of excavating removes the dirt, stakes and all, from the building site. Typically two offset stakes are used to reestablish a corner by measuring a set distance (like ten feet) from each offset stake to find the corner point.
A Lot At Stake Idiom
Tips When Staking a Lot
- Well-placed offset markers can help save the cost of calling back the surveyors to re-stake the home’s footprint.
- Be sure to have the surveyors mark every corner or jog in the home’s footprint. Once the stakes are in, it is easy to connect the dots with spray paint to better visualize the footprint and minimize and mistakes.
- Once the footprint is staked, revisit your site plan to make sure you like the layout on the lot—particularly if you see favorite trees you would like to keep on your site.
- To keep good relations with your future neighbors, know where your property boundaries are, and don’t accidentally dig, cross, or store equipment beyond those boundaries.
- Find a fixed point around the property (like a curb) where the surveyor can mark. This gives the contractor the ability to conduct depth checks from a fixed reference point during the construction process.
- Keep a proper perspective. The outdoor world is immense, so when staking the footprint of your home, don’t be alarmed if it feels small in comparison. Once the walls start going up, you will be able to recalibrate your senses to indoor proportions and the building will feel the right size.
A Lot At Stake
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