Excavation cutting in

[adaran01]

Hello
I am thinking of cutting into the hill behind my house. The hill is about a metre from the back of the hose, and then rises steeply from there, it is very clostrophobic, the trees cause problems, as they hang over the gutters, and rats , possums, koalas, foxes can jump from the hill onto the roof directly from the hill, causing more problems.
I have an engineer coming out on friday to give me some advise, I know I will need council approval etc.
My questions are.
1) has anyone here done this before, with an existing house in place.
2) How expensive per square metre are the cheapest structural retaining walls (Not wood) around 2 metres in height.
3) how expensive is it to cut and fill in semi rocky area, say an hourly rate.
regards Adam

 

[Glenn]

Hi Adam,

There are a few options, rock probably being the cheapest.

Glenn

 

[Glenn]

Hi Adam,

PS...putt a hanky on your head, have a stiff Tetley tea and 2 Scotch Finger biscuits before attempting to build the wall.

Glenn

 

[INVESTRON]

i had one built with rocks a few years ago - no footings or reinforcing steel - looks good, works well.

cost $2,600 - about 2 m high x 8 m long.

L shaped.

 

[geoffw]

There may be a few ideas in the thread http://www.somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5317

 

[Jas]

Ever get those students working geoff?

Jas

 

[geoffw]

Originally posted by Jas
Ever get those students working geoff?

Jas,

No, Cashflow is slowing the rockflow.

Even though a valuation on one property is starting to sound quite good, and certainly would be enough for a very nice retaining wall (as well as for a few more home comforts), it may be that a good valuation will be used completely for the next stepping stone.

It gets harder to justify spending $10K on one's own home for something which will add $5K value, vs spending $5K to add $10+K value on another property- which would lead to even more value adding or investment elsewhere.

The "delayed gratification" mentioned in an earlier thread somewhere rings bells.

 

[XBenX]

it seems that is my motto for life atm

although there are a few addictions that I cant get by without

(like 50+ days snowboarding )

 

[adaran01]

Hello
with regard to the retaining wall, I had the engineer come up and he is now going to write up a report on what my options are.
My thought is that if I could get the average cost per square metre of (flat )land for my suburb, then I could find out what it would cost me (per square metre of flat land) to cut in.

For example if the retaining wall cost $25000 total and it gave me an extra 100 sqm, then the average cost per square metre would have to be more than $250 per square metre.

This of course does not factor in the fact I would no longer walk out the back door and straight into a cliff face, which would add appeal.