Seeking comments on the quote I received for parking pad.

[minghi]

Hi. I'm preparing a site to build a pole barn on the side of my house. The land slopes away from the road to say 4 feet at the other end. I'd someone come over today and provide a quote for fill dirt and stone. Just wondering if the price seems reasonable as I've zero idea on these. The contractor's site is about 25 miles away from me, so most likely hauling everything from there.

This is a good photo of my yard. Notice the two wooden stakes aka that's the property boundary and I wanted to bring this area up to the road level. I wanted to bring it up to the road level but the guy said it will be slightly below. My reasoning was it will be easier to drive on a level surface in the winter.

Any comments or additional questions I can ask him? Thanks in advance!!

 

[mike93lx]

That's a lot of material...i would have assumed a good bit higher for the cost, but we have no idea where you live

 

[minghi]

That's a lot of material...i would have assumed a good bit higher for the cost, but we have no idea where you live

Sorry yes, I'm in Easton PA

 

[mike93lx]

So that's, what, 15 truckloads of material? Plus mobilizing, material costs, a roller, a skid steer, plus operators. All for 9k. Feels like a good deal to me. Curious what others think.

Have you tried getting a second quote?

Adding your location in your user profile will help with other questions.

How are you planning to set the poles?

 

[minghi]

No I haven't - thanks for reminding me this.

Just updated my profile with the location.

I'm not sure about this. My next plan was going to contact a pole barn builder and get a quote.
Example: https://www.cedarvalleypf.com/

Edit: Just remembered I got a quote couple months ago.

 

[mike93lx]

No I haven't - thanks for reminding me this.

Just updated my profile with the location.

I'm not sure about this. My next plan was going to contact a pole barn builder and get a quote.
Example: https://www.cedarvalleypf.com/

The next pole barn I build will be my first, but I don't think I'd do these steps separately, especially with all that dirt work that's needed

 

[Adaylate]

Have you checked with your city / county to see if you can put your building there?

 

[benjy]

Good price, I had 300cy select fill for my 30x50, I had to rent the smooth drum, cost me $7k near Houston.

Check with Morton if you're shopping pole barns, very happy with mine.

 

[ozyborn]

I would use it as an opportunity to get a new toy. Err tool. Used bobcat. Then dump trailer rental. But that is me.

 

[minghi]

Have you checked with your city / county to see if you can put your building there?

I'm on the smallest lot in a rural area which makes it a low density neighborhood so they said I would need a variance to do so. My plan was let me just level the area first and then go through that process so if they deny it I'll atleast have a nice parking pad there.

 

[minghi]

Good price, I had 300cy select fill for my 30x50, I had to rent the smooth drum, cost me $7k near Houston.

Check with Morton if you're shopping pole barns, very happy with mine.

Will check with them. Thanks!

 

[minghi]

I would use it as an opportunity to get a new toy. Err tool. Used bobcat. Then dump trailer rental. But that is me.

Hehe I had the same idea and looked around on FB marketplace. Cannot find anything in decent shape for less than 10k. It will probably be a great learning experience though.

 

[minghi]

The next pole barn I build will be my first, but I don't think I'd do these steps separately, especially with all that dirt work that's needed

Good point. Only reason I'm going this route is to bring it to street level

 

[G McKay]

So that's, what, 15 truckloads of material? Plus mobilizing, material costs, a roller, a skid steer, plus operators. All for 9k. Feels like a good deal to me. Curious what others think.

Have you tried getting a second quote?

Adding your location in your user profile will help with other questions.

How are you planning to set the poles?

 

[Toolfool]

Is the plan to scrape and remove the sod first ? Didn't see that in the quote.

 

[mike93lx]

Is the plan to scrape and remove the sod first ? Didn't see that in the quote.

Great catch. Hopefully he wasn't planning to dump a bunch of soil on the grass

 

[driftpin]

Always go to the local Zoning AHJ to see about suitability of the site. Bring a sealed survey, and a site plan on a photocopy, done to-scale. That would be a conceptual plot plan and you will be secure in knowing that your plan meets site requirements. I expect you have to get approval from the Engineering dept also. You have to contain your runoff water, which likely is going to require an engineer's stamp to meet your code. Adding 250 cu yd of fill is going to change your contour. You can't just have it-runoff rainwater run onto your neighbor's.

 

[Half-fast eddie]

My plan was let me just level the area first and then go through that process so if they deny it I'll atleast have a nice parking pad there.

Very risky. Take your pictures to the city,they will have property line plans, explain what you want to do. Lots of ways for that to go wrong. Like maybe you can’t have a second driveway. Ask first.

 

[minghi]

Wow there's a lot more process into this but I guess the right place is to start at the zoning office? I'll take an appointment with the township and go from there. Thank you all.

 

[mike93lx]

Wow there's a lot more process into this but I guess the right place is to start at the zoning office? I'll take an appointment with the township and go from there. Thank you all.

I would talking to someone dealing with permits, not zoning

 

[billconner]

$3.56 per sf seems reasonable for depth of fill.

 

[mcbane]

Hi. I'm preparing a site to build a pole barn on the side of my house. The land slopes away from the road to say 4 feet at the other end. I'd someone come over today and provide a quote for fill dirt and stone. Just wondering if the price seems reasonable as I've zero idea on these. The contractor's site is about 25 miles away from me, so most likely hauling everything from there.

This is a good photo of my yard. Notice the two wooden stakes aka that's the property boundary and I wanted to bring this area up to the road level. I wanted to bring it up to the road level but the guy said it will be slightly below. My reasoning was it will be easier to drive on a level surface in the winter.

Any comments or additional questions I can ask him? Thanks in advance!!

I would say that is an incredible price.

At my location, a load of stone delivered from the quarry (40 miles away) costs $1400. And a load of dirt is around $800. So $7K for stone and $8k for dirt. Add a few $k for the grading, spreading, compacting and you are close to $20k.

 

[billconner]

$1400 a truck!?! It's like a third of that here. My 1250' x 12' drive will use 35 loads of crushed stone and includes excavation and some big humps and dips - $17,250.

 

[Half-fast eddie]

I would talking to someone dealing with permits, not zoning

Actually, he needs to talk with both. Permitting and zoning are not the same, and they sometimes have conflicting rules. Example: Just because it’s zoned multifamily doesn’t mean you are guaranteed a permit.

 

[billconner]

Simple here - 2 villages and 2 towns, building and zoning, 1 guy.

 

[Sumboodie]

That's cheap.

250 yards alone would run me $5800 if I hauled it myself. Easily another $500 in fuel too.

 

[Sumboodie]

No I haven't - thanks for reminding me this.

Just updated my profile with the location.

I'm not sure about this. My next plan was going to contact a pole barn builder and get a quote.
Example: https://www.cedarvalleypf.com/

Edit: Just remembered I got a quote couple months ago.

That's cheap too!
I priced out a 30x60 a while back and it was right around $50k

 

[cvairwerks]

What's the height differential between the top and bottom? You may have enough of a change that you would need to have a retaining wall to maintain the pad being level. Once you get beyond about about 2' of wall height, you need to have some engineering done. You may be looking at another 10K+ just for the wall. Need to sort all this out before committing, as going back into do additional needed work can get way expensive in a hurry.

 

[USNretired]

That seems like a very fair price........ just tossing the numbers around off the top of my head.

Either material and labor costs are a lot cheaper in your area, or the guy is desperate for the work. It would be twice that in my area to have that done.

Just curious? How are you going to bulkhead the low side? Did the guy factor that into the quote?

 

[thebmrust]

It looks like there is a vehicle to the left. I assume you are standing on your current driveway, and the pad will be close to or adjacent with your current home/driveway.

If that’s the case you might have an easier time getting approved.

Where a problem might arise is if you want to build farther away.

I also see is an intersection. You might not be able to place a structure or have ingress/egress points that close to the intersection. Plus there is a power pole. If those side roads are driveways, you should be ok. But I see a stop sign on one of them.

Another issue is grade level. You might not be able to bring grade UP to road level. Most road depts don’t want water returning to the road and you can’t increase water runoff to neighbors.

You will definitely need guidance from the township.