Build Light - Build Fast - Move In Sooner

Apart from the planning process, the potentially slowest part of building a home on anything beyond a flat block is getting the construction up to the ground floor level - referred to as ‘getting out of the ground’.

There are basically two ways to get out of the ground, and I’ll describe them below.

The first method involves cutting into the side of the hill by excavating then concrete slabbing and bricking your way out of it.

This consists of excavating in soil, clay and/or rock (more on steeper blocks), making false ground and ensuring that is compacted to the required bearing pressure, then managing and disposing of the excess excavated material. Next involves constructing retaining walls, ground water management, moisture management with lots of steel & concrete and site erosion management. This will all require a greater level of detailed engineering (and fee’s), significant construction time, including a long weather exposure, and of course, significant cost just to get to floor level.

The 2nd method, and by far a simpler, faster and much more cost effective method, is to bore piers for the main support footings and post your way up to the floor level with minimal disruption to the ground, minimal disruption to the existing ground water table, and minimal disruption to the surface of the land in general. This is in effect ‘touching the ground lightly’ as opposed to the ‘scorched earth’ method described above.

Building your home on posts on a graded slope is by far the fastest and most economical way to get to ground floor level where we are then ready to stand wall frames, pitch the roof frame and get the roof covering on.

Described as ‘light weight’ construction, there are many benefits afforded to this way of building, including the increasing awareness, and demand, that construction delivers a significant reduction in the total energy cost to produce - i.e. less mining/factory/transport/handling/construction etc.

The savings in labour, consultant fee’s and materials too, can allow for more freedom with the design and incorporate valuable up front energy efficient features that will lower your ongoing running costs and provide a more comfortable and healthy home for years to come.

Australians love the perception of a solid home that full masonry construction conjures up, don’t get me wrong, there are fine examples of solid construction that have been built, but that is becoming more at odds with the pressures of increasing concerns around sustainability and our valuable and limited resources.

Building lightweight is faster, more cost effective (and more attractive considering our current housing financial crisis), and it allows people to move into their homes sooner than it otherwise would.

If you’re interested in a better way of building, and want a more energy efficient home, give us a call 0413 126 238