The first “big” step in the construction process is building the “pad” of compacted soil upon which the house’s concrete “slab” will sit. The land must be cleared of the first several inches of soil and vegetation, which here in Phoenix just means some sad weeds and grasses, and then other dirt is brought to the site to be formed into the mostly rectangular shape mirroring the building’s footprint. The extra dirt is compacted and brings the house’s slab above “grade,” meaning the level of the rest of the lot. That’s important if you won’t want to be flooded by rain obviously enough. The structure should sit “above grade.”
The maxim that you should learn to expect surprises–the realist’s oxymoron–certainly came into play here. Sure enough, I get a call that there is a big septic tank on the site that had to be removed. It might have been 10 feet deep into the ground or slightly more. In addition, there was some “pier” of concrete that must have been poured to support something much bigger than the simple house that had once been on the land (and used the septic tank). The pieces of concrete were at least 4′ x 8′ and were almost 2+ feet in thickness, probably larger, even. Below is a photo of the pieces of the concrete pier that we discovered when grading the land.
Next came the unexpected news that even though Southwest Gas had sent some subcontractor to mark the gas line, it turns out they did a very poor job and they failed to notice that a gas line continued another 60 feet or so into the property–and it was an active line! Of course, Southwest Gas was somewhat apologetic but given the Labor Day weekend, it’s postponing some of the work near the western side of the pad. Below is a photo of what my grading contractor, James Bissell discovered. James said it was very lucky that he discovered the line. He takes about 6 inches of dirt off with each pass of the huge bulldozer and it just so happened that he saw a stake with some yellow feathers–not sure if that’s how to describe what the stake had on it–and when he saw that, he stopped the digging.
Modern duplex construction in Phoenix. 