New Home Construction
Site workand foundationplanned around water.
On a new build the ground comes first, and how you leave it decides where water goes for the rest of the house’s life.
In detail
Site work & foundation
Clearing and excavation are set out from the survey rather than by eye. Footings go below the local frost line and are inspected, foundation walls are formed and poured, and the exterior face is waterproofed rather than merely damp-proofed wherever the water table or the grade justifies it. A footing drain bedded in stone is carried to daylight or to a sump, and the whole assembly is closed and checked before any backfill goes in.
Then grading — the part nobody thinks about and every wet basement traces back to. Finished grade has to fall away from the house on every elevation, the driveway has to shed water rather than channel it at the garage, and any swale or dry well has to be sized for the roof area actually draining into it. We plan that alongside the foundation, because retrofitting drainage into a finished landscape costs several times what building it in does.
What this covers
- Clearing and excavation set out from the survey
- Footings below frost, inspected, with poured foundation walls
- Waterproofing, footing drains and a sump where conditions demand
- Finished grading, driveway falls and stormwater management
- Part of
- New Home Construction
- Typical timeline
- 10–16 months
- Where
- All 21 New Jersey counties
Questions
Asked most aboutsite work & foundation
Should a new foundation be waterproofed or damp-proofed?
Damp-proofing resists moisture vapour; waterproofing resists liquid water under pressure. Which you need depends on the water table, the soil and the grade around the house — and on whether the basement will ever be finished space. We specify from the site conditions rather than defaulting to the cheaper option and hoping.
Where does rainwater go on a new build?
Away from the house, deliberately. Roof water is collected and carried to a discharge point sized for the area draining into it, finished grade falls away on every elevation, and the driveway is set to shed rather than funnel. Most damp basements we are called to are a drainage plan that nobody ever made.
The rest of the scope
Everything else innew home construction
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