I'm looking at a largish plot at a pretty reasonable price. I have a couple of concerns because of the layout and the state of the ground combined my not overly open-ended budget.

One is that the access track would have to be quite long - probably more than 100 metres - and the ground is, in places, very soft and boggy. I know it's a length-of-string question but what sort of costs am I likely to be looking at?

(I'm assuming I'll get all the ground works done by a local contractor and a frame kit custom cut by somebody else followed by superstructure construction by me.)

Be careful of using recycled concrete as backfill, can be cheaper than type 1, but it can contain a lot of soil which defeats the object. False economy

Thanks folks. It's obviously something I need to investigate further for this specific site. £5K or a bit more would be quite manageable, £40K (or even £20K for, say, half the length) would make the plot a non-starter for me.

Dumping the extracted soil on site would be no problem at all, there's plenty of room to spread it out. Just have to make sure it doesn't exacerbate the drainage.

There's a ruinous stone small agricultural building on site which could supply material. Actually, I had that in mind for the undercroft for the Segal-style house but it'd take some measurements to work out the quantities available.

Quite a lot of quarrying goes on in the area. Bad in that it seems to indicate that there's not much in the way of recyclable material around (though there are plenty of abandoned houses; wonder why they don't “quarry” those?) but good in that new stuff isn't likely to have to come far, I think.

Draining the track properly would take a bit of thought. The site has failed a percolation test (hence the need for a sewage treatment thingy - power consumption of that is something else to think about). There's a general slope across the site which is varied by bumps. Some bits are quite dry (last Sunday after some big showers on Saturday) whereas others are lose-your-welly wet.

A complication is that it's actually two plots (PPIP for two houses) which haven't sold for a long time (not unusual around here (Caithness)). I had a chat with somebody in the planning office who pointed out that their policies have changed and it wouldn't now be possible to get permission for two houses this close together (they like 100 to 150 metres between them; it'd be less than 100 m between the nearest points on the houses) but as long as I renew the PPIP in time the option of selling the second plot could be kept. I imagine, though, that this means I'd need to go with the track layout shown on the PPIP which, because the initial access would be shared, is not the shortest for just one of the houses.

Posted By: Ed DaviesQuite a lot of quarrying goes on in the area. Bad in that it seems to indicate that there's not much in the way of recyclable material around (though there are plenty of abandoned houses; wonder why they don't “quarry” those?) but good in that new stuff isn't likely to have to come far, I think.

Around here the abandoned house material would probably be seen to have value for use in new builds (there are several cottages & houses round here that are basically a timber kit inside with a very substantial natural stone masonry outer layer). Stone for bases, roadways, etc. comes from locally excavated rock if at all possible (& it often is). Stone from the local quary (~8-10 miles) does get used but that's either in cases where local excavation is not available or where someone wants a nicer finished surface.

Recycled (crushed and screened) concrete - is what I meant!
Anyway, as qeipl said you can't really say without knowing the terrain but yes, drainage is important, so may be a geotextile membrane but you could always use concrete railway sleepers laid bottom up. They make excellent cattle tracks, don't need any excavation, just levelling, are very quick to lay and are cheap but may not be the look that your new home is looking for. Go onto the British Farming Forum to see, I like them but not for the path to the front door!

Try talking to any local arable farmers. They will usually pull tons of stones out of the ground after ploughing.

Jonti

Posted By: Ed DaviesI'm looking at a largish plot at a pretty reasonable price. I have a couple of concerns because of the layout and the state of the ground combined my not overly open-ended budget.

One is that the access track would have to be quite long - probably more than 100 metres - and the ground is, in places, very soft and boggy. I know it's a length-of-string question but what sort of costs am I likely to be looking at?

(I'm assuming I'll get all the ground works done by a local contractor and a frame kit custom cut by somebody else followed by superstructure construction by me.)

Hi Ed,

I'd say you would be closer to the £5k than any other figure mentioned, reckon on paying somewhere around £100/10 tonnes stone (75-150mm from a local quarry), maybe just over half your money going on stone. £1k for a big 360 (14t) for 3 days - long enough reach to spread the spoil out at the side without needing a separate dumper and driver and should be able to compact the stone well enough to avoid a roller if the driver tracks it in, £500 for terram (will stop the stone disappearing). A few hundred for some twinwall drainage pipes if necessary. Resurface with finer stone if necessary when you are done and it has been well compacted in with numerous trucks going over it.

Yes, I am a bit concerned about the foundation costs. I have Segal-type piles in mind so I think the overall impact of having to put in something a bit deeper/wider would be well contained.

I tried mapping the field with my GPS on Sunday to get a clearer idea of exactly where the tracks proposed in the outline planning permission would go and how long they would be. I had such difficulty just walking around the field that I've put the idea on the backburner for now. Pity, as I like the spot. So many of the other plots available are surrounded by such obnoxious rubbish houses that it really puts me off.