Pile Foundation Cost

[Saul]

I appreciate this is a very subjective question but I have been informed that the plot I am interested in buying will require Pile Foundations. I am awaiting Soil Survey documents that were completed in 2016 but it is known that this is poor Oxfordshire soil with extremely high clay content. The plot is level and access is great but those are about the only positive signs. 

 

I am planning on a 130sqm 2 storey Timber Frame house so nothing too dramatic. Graven Hill anticipate that the cost would be £70k which sounds absurdly expensive to me. That is also based on waiting for all 6 plots to sell and doing the Piling simultaneously.

 

Anyone care to offer a ball park range of what might be a more typical cost for pile foundations, perhaps screw pile foundations to cut down on machinery needed?

 

Thanks

Saul

[Ronan 1]

70k does sound expensive unless  the ground is pure swamp or your building has some very high loadings. 

Hard to tell without knowing the full details but I'd go out to a few piling companies for prices and definitely wouldn't take that one price.

Edited June 6, 2021 by Ronan 1

[PeterW]

Graven Hill = Double Standard Pricing..

 

assume this is a “golden brick” plot, so I would walk away as you’re probably already overpaying for the plot (£160k..??)

 

Ask them if you can buy without a foundation and then get it priced for an insulated foundation such as the Kore system. Will be cheaper and better than a piled system. 
 

If not, walk away. 

[nod]

Hi clay content doesn’t sound like bad ground 

Our build was high Clay and our next While we went deep we used strip foundations 

and intend to do so on the next two plots which are also high Clay 

Some SE like using piles Lucky for us ours only uses them as a last resort 

I’d get a second opinion 

[Saul]

2 hours ago, Ronan 1 said:

70k does sound expensive unless  the ground is pure swamp or your building has some very high loadings. 

Hard to tell without knowing the full details but I'd go out to a few piling companies for prices and definitely wouldn't take that one price.

 

The plots all have £220k asking price with permissable GIA of 180m2 Have been trying to find a plot in the South for well over a year and Graven Hill is still the only option under £300k+ if you want to get planning and have any design freedom at all. It's a nightmare

[Mr Punter]

Ask the owners of the surrounding houses what foundation type and cost they had.  Will at least give you an indication.  There does not look to be any trees nearby, but perhaps there were?

 

It is quite easy to excavate and trench fill a 2m deep foundation.

[Russell griffiths]

Is £70 for the piles or finished floor at dpc level. 

My costs. 

Excavation work £6000

pile mat £1500

Piles £12,000

ringbeam £12,000

blockwork £3500

floor beams £4000

block infill £1500

Labour £6500

that was then ready to stick the icf house on top. 

Piles went down to 6m house size 240m. 

Edited June 6, 2021 by Russell griffiths

[Saul]

44 minutes ago, Russell griffiths said:

Is £70 for the piles or finished floor at dpc level. 

My costs. 

Excavation work £6000

pile mat £1500

Piles £12,000

ringbeam £12,000

blockwork £3500

floor beams £4000

block infill £1500

Labour £6500

that was then ready to stick the icf house on top. 

Piles went down to 6m house size 240m. 

 

It's Golden Brick price so presume it is to DPC.  I had been working on a £40-45k basis but they said there was no chance it would be that low. The DanWood house was apparently £70k a few years back on the same strip. I'll be contacting HexHomes to see the kind they had. Having said all that GH have an insane timescale planned which means it would be years before I got to build so unless I can buy the plot independently of Golden Brick it's a non-starter.

[Mr Punter]

37 minutes ago, Saul said:

It's Golden Brick price

 

That is certainly how it seems!

 

Have you looked at the costs compared to buying one that is already done?

 

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/100474853#/

[Saul]

14 hours ago, Mr Punter said:

 

That is certainly how it seems!

 

Have you looked at the costs compared to buying one that is already done?

 

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/100474853#/

 

The small scale developer custom homes there are £435k for 3 bed but I am only interested in building my own design otherwise might as well go to a new build development and buy one for quite a bit cheaper. Graven Hill are squeezing every last drop out of the plots for self-build and keeping that route in the purview of the Grand Designs crowd where it has been for years. Seems like it's impossible to build there for £400k all in even taking on loads of work yourself inc project managing and doing without an Architect.

 

[Dreadnaught]

My costs (125 m² insulated raft):

 

Groundworks: £15,100

Utilities connections off site: £10,000

Screw piles (x26): £12,500 including design, supply & installation.

Insulated raft foundation: £35,000.

[Dave Jones]

On 06/06/2021 at 15:31, PeterW said:

Graven Hill = Double Standard Pricing..

 

assume this is a “golden brick” plot, so I would walk away as you’re probably already overpaying for the plot (£160k..??)

 

Ask them if you can buy without a foundation and then get it priced for an insulated foundation such as the Kore system. Will be cheaper and better than a piled system. 
 

If not, walk away. 

 

kore system still needs to be piled according to their website, just a very expensive conc slab alternative ?

 

https://www.glavloc.com/downloads/KORE-Passive-Slab-Design-Guide.pdf

[PeterW]

8 hours ago, Dave Jones said:

 

kore system still needs to be piled according to their website, just a very expensive conc slab alternative ?

 

https://www.glavloc.com/downloads/KORE-Passive-Slab-Design-Guide.pdf

Not necessarily and depends on the type of clay and the depth. Lots on Graven Hill don’t have anything other than standard foundations so I doubt it’s that deep anyway. 

[Saul]

23 hours ago, PeterW said:

Not necessarily and depends on the type of clay and the depth. Lots on Graven Hill don’t have anything other than standard foundations so I doubt it’s that deep anyway. 

 

 

The plot is out by Foundation Sq so very different to the rest of the main site. A show home builder was quoted £69k for piled foundations by RM back in 2016 and GH expect the Hoare Lee price to be be circa £70k.  I know you never know what you're dealing with until you actually break ground for real but I can't go anywhere near £70k with a £220k plot price + a hopeful £1500per sqm for 130sqm for a house that might be worth £450-500k... Back to Square 1

[Tony K]

I've just had 39 steel screw piles put in for a 100m2 SB on clay in Surrey, came in at about £40k, but beyond a certain point they charge by the linear metre so you'd want to have the ground tested first to have a better idea of final cost. 

 

Piling is clever stuff but terribly expensive, so exhaust the possibility of traditional footings first. 

[Dave Jones]

On 08/06/2021 at 21:33, PeterW said:

Not necessarily and depends on the type of clay and the depth. Lots on Graven Hill don’t have anything other than standard foundations so I doubt it’s that deep anyway. 

 

depending on the type and depth of clay a bog standard normal strip foot can be used. I thought you were intimating a KORE foundation could be a substitute where depths of 2.5m or more were needed which a standard foundation becomes unviable or there are trees in the vicinity.