Securing an approval is a milestone. It is not a finish line.
Our Modules provide implementation guidelines for evaluating and managing your building or land development project once approvals have been secured. Presented as a series of information essays and outlines, they close the gap between approval granted and project executed — in the sequence it actually happens, in language written for the property owner rather than the plans examiner.
Each module is an advisory guideline, to be used in conjunction with information provided by your building department, surveyor, building contractors, and engineering firms.
Three inputs govern the first step of site preparation: municipal zoning requirements, property characteristics, and your home placement preferences.
Once those are established, site preparation is guided by a Site Plan — a geographic blueprint dictating where the home and driveway can and will be placed on the building site. This blueprint is essentially an enhanced survey map.
The site map should identify:
Once the Site Plan is completed and approved by the Building and Highway Departments having jurisdiction over the project, site preparation activities can be planned.
The approved Site Plan functions as an administrative platform for the development of a site-specific Building Envelope, defining where site preparation activities will be required. Preparation should be geared to allow site access to surveyors for foundation and driveway stakeouts, to contractor labour, to excavation equipment, and to building material deliveries for driveway and foundation materials.
The Site Plan, as approved by the Building and Highway Departments, should be reviewed with the contractor tasked with preparing your building site for construction activities. Then confirm the following before anything moves.
Factors associated with preparation of the building site will vary depending on the unique site and building department requirements associated with your project. The following have historically proven advisable to implement prior to the start of site preparation activities.
Has an understanding of the content and location of any required erosion control fencing been established, and the fencing installed, prior to the start of the building project? Placement of pre-construction erosion control systems is an important consideration in preparing the site in advance of construction — especially as it relates to excavation-related site preparation functions.
Has the home site location been staked out for the purpose of defining the areas where trees and foliage are to be cleared or retained? Are the home and access driveway locations identified with the appropriate stakeouts, in accordance with the site plan survey map specifications?
Are gradient stakes required for the driveway to maintain grade compliance? Is there an understanding of what driveway base and apron materials are needed — both to allow ingress and egress for contractors and equipment, and to provide proper driveway apron material to avoid soil erosion deposits on adjacent roadways and neighbouring properties?
Have all buried utility lines been identified and marked by the respective utility companies, or by the water and sewer departments requiring department input? Have authorisation numbers or codes been provided acknowledging your compliance with their notification procedures?
The core implementing objective of the site preparation phase is to prepare the building site to accept contractor labour, excavation equipment, and the construction materials necessary to start the building project.
Once the areas of the building site where the home and its support components and systems are defined and identified — the defined building envelope — work can start to efficiently prepare the site for construction preparatory activities.
Activities include, but are not limited to:
The administrative factors, coupled with an understanding of the property’s site preparation requirements, allow labour and excavation work to proceed within the defined building envelope as established in the site plan map and home requirements.
The four-component evaluation framework — local property values, building site development cost initiatives, existing and planned area zoning ordinances, and existing or planned town, county and state infrastructures — presented with the three documented equity-enhancement case studies.
The start-to-completion administrative framework: excavation equipment and road material determination, utility system installation, cost-to-value feasibility and point-of-diminishing-returns analysis, drainage and retention pond review, contractor incentive structuring, and municipal inspection scheduling.