Well, $40,000 later...

[ForceFed70]

Im not going to comment on the price, but am shocked to say the least about it being expensive to build/own there. Ive driven all over BC and up into the Yukon many times, and always thought it would be an awesome place to retire one day.

There are cheaper areas. Generally, it's this expensive in the larger population centers. If I was in Vancouver it would be even more expensive. The smaller towns are often cheaper but you may still be surprised with the prices.

 

[bjcouche]

OK, I think I can give you some info that might make you feel better than reading about all those people who paid way less on their concrete. I'm paying a truckload and I'm in a rural area of Ohio, I look out my front windows and see the neighbors cows... I'm in the process of building now, they will be pouring the walls tomorrow.
My building is bigger at 40X64 but so are the bills. Like you I am building on a slope which is 95% the reason for the crazy costs.
With footers, walls, 6" concrete floor, labor, drainage and back fill it's costing me $70,000. That includes 140 yards of concrete and 4 tons of rebar. An entire building with concrete floor that size on level ground would cost less in my area. I couldn't cut a huge swale behind the garage and level it out because 10 feet behind it was a buried high voltage power line.
My back wall is 10' high with 2' down to the footer and the front wall is 6' high with 2' down to the footer. They originally were only going to put 2' above ground but I thought that would look dumb and changed it to 4' so that it would look like wainscoating. Picture this, you walk into the garage at grade in the front, when you get to the back the floor is 7.5' below grade.
The footers are all 14" thick, in the front they are 3' wide and in the back they are 4'3" wide.
For those with buildings on flat ground I am envious. This wall is not overkill, it is not a "foundation wall" it is a "retaining wall" meaning it doesn't have a house floor tying the front and rear walls together preventing the walls from caving in. The walls are all 10" thick. The building itself sits on the concrete is going to be a pole building with metal siding, metal roof, and metal clear span trusses. After all the concrete expense, I'm thinking I should have went stick built...
I'm thinking of starting my own build thread to help others realize the costs and to discourage building into a hill. Might have been cheaper to buy some flat property...
Hope this makes you feel better.

Brian

 

[blue dog]

$200.00 a yard for concrete. I am moving to BC and starting a concrete business. On the plus side, BC is beautiful, negative is cold.

 

[ZRX61]

Kind of a blanket statement. Building on a slope is expensive. In Los Angeles a foundation for a home on a slope can cost 100K. If well done, the price is good insurance.

Yup, & the next big quake we have will have all those homes in a big pile at the bottom of the hills. Assuming fires and/or mudslides don't get em first. I can't believe the stupid places they build expensive homes in LA.

 

[ibedayank]

Yup, & the next big quake we have will have all those homes in a big pile at the bottom of the hills. Assuming fires and/or mudslides don't get em first. I can't believe the stupid places they build expensive homes in LA.

and what some ******* will payfor them just to look ""cool"" and impress the other people that bought them

 

[AMCguy]

I live on the Sunshine Coast of BC. I'm a stone's throw from a huge gravel quarry and lime quarry. In fact our town is supplying all the aggregates for the new bridge in San Francisco. We still pay $200 a meter for concrete because the local ready mix company has no competition. The only concrete pumping company around here charges $150 an hour with a four hour minimum. That's right, I had to pay the ******* $600 for each of his forty five minute visits. He left a gallon of hydraulic fluid on my driveway each time to boot.

The property costs are high here as well. The nice thing is. mine is paid for. I busted my *** for years to do it. I can sell when I'm ready, take the money to another part of the country and live like a king.

ForceFed70, Your place is looking great. Keep up the quality build and keep us posted.

 

[cashishift]

Probably cheaper just to move to North Dakota or Wyoming at that rate, lol

 

[ForceFed70]

OK, I think I can give you some info that might make you feel better than reading about all those people who paid way less on their concrete. I'm paying a truckload and I'm in a rural area of Ohio, I look out my front windows and see the neighbors cows... I'm in the process of building now, they will be pouring the walls tomorrow.
My building is bigger at 40X64 but so are the bills. Like you I am building on a slope which is 95% the reason for the crazy costs.
With footers, walls, 6" concrete floor, labor, drainage and back fill it's costing me $70,000. That includes 140 yards of concrete and 4 tons of rebar. An entire building with concrete floor that size on level ground would cost less in my area. I couldn't cut a huge swale behind the garage and level it out because 10 feet behind it was a buried high voltage power line.
My back wall is 10' high with 2' down to the footer and the front wall is 6' high with 2' down to the footer. They originally were only going to put 2' above ground but I thought that would look dumb and changed it to 4' so that it would look like wainscoating. Picture this, you walk into the garage at grade in the front, when you get to the back the floor is 7.5' below grade.
The footers are all 14" thick, in the front they are 3' wide and in the back they are 4'3" wide.
For those with buildings on flat ground I am envious. This wall is not overkill, it is not a "foundation wall" it is a "retaining wall" meaning it doesn't have a house floor tying the front and rear walls together preventing the walls from caving in. The walls are all 10" thick. The building itself sits on the concrete is going to be a pole building with metal siding, metal roof, and metal clear span trusses. After all the concrete expense, I'm thinking I should have went stick built...
I'm thinking of starting my own build thread to help others realize the costs and to discourage building into a hill. Might have been cheaper to buy some flat property...
Hope this makes you feel better.

Brian

Thanks Brian. Misery loves company.

Would certainly be cheaper to build on a flat lot. Also, I think if it was a flat lot I would have done a lot of the concrete work myself (probably would have just hired a finisher to pour/finish the slab). But with the engineered wall, the 7 different inspections, the steps in the footings, the mountain of rebar, etc, I decided that it was just too much for me to take on. It's not something that can be easily fixed or redone if you make a mistake.

 

[bjcouche]

I've had the opposite experience with inspections so far. I got a building permit for a "foundation only" for my pole building because my building design isn't stamped yet (long story). The footers, and walls are "engineered" with lots of concrete and rebar. The county only wanted an inspection of the footers and not the walls . So the inspector inspected the footers, complained about the rebar ties and wanted more ties or something. The contractor conceded even though he'd never had to do that with other projects in the county saying it was easier to add the ties than argue with the inspector. With no inspection for the wall rebar prior to pouring the concrete for the walls, we could have omitted all the wall rebar and passed inspection... Luckily my contractor is doing a high quality job for which I am pleased.

Brian