Site Preparation
Choosing Your Building Site
A How-To for Getting Started
One of the most important aspects of a successful and hassle-free building process is working together to ensure that our crew will be greeted with a properly prepared building site when they arrive.
Choosing a professional excavator to clear the land and properly prepare the site is a very important part of your project. A professional excavator will know what type of fill is acceptable to use for leveling your area. Ideally you should use a compactable material that causes minimal settling but is still workable enough that we can auger through for post footings.
It is important to avoid using large rocks, debris, or loose slabs of shale to fill in your area. Improper fill can be very hard to auger through and could result in extra costs to you for excessive time spent on the post holes. If you are unable to locate an excavator on your own, please contact us and we will be happy to assist you the best we can.
While Timberline does not provide actual site excavation services we consider it a privilege to serve your building needs and our ultimate goal is that you would end up with a highly functional and appealing building that will serve your needs now and well into the future.
With this goal in mind and pulling from the experience of having completed thousands of successful projects, we present you with this Pole Building Site Preparation Guide which will tell you and your professional excavator the steps to take to properly prepare your pole building site.
The Ideal Building Site
Below we have illustrated what an ideal building site looks like. We understand that the site layout will vary according to your property’s unique characteristics, but the components shown should be present at each site when our crews arrive.
Site Preparation Checklist
- Site is graded to within 3’’ of level all the way across.
- Finished floor elevation has been considered in relation to surrounding terrain.
- Surrounding terrain has been improved and excavated to allow proper drainage and future landscaping.
- Desired finished floor elevation has been established and communicated to Timberline Representative.
- Rough stakes or markers are placed at corners of proposed building location.
- Area is leveled at least 3’ feet beyond proposed footprint on all sides. Example = A 30’x40’ building would require a 36’x46’ level area to build upon.
- Access to the site has been established and potential obstacles have been removed.
- 2-B or ¾’’ clean stone is either piled on-site or is on order for delivery on the same day that the crew arrives on site. (Only if Timberline is providing and pouring concrete floor.)
- Underground utilities have been located and clearly marked.
- Timberline management has been notified of any potential issues with underground obstructions, overhead obstructions, or access to site.
- Looking for tips and suggestions to prepare your site? We’ve prepared a checklist to help you. Download our Site Preparation Checklist, which includes our list of to-dos as well as 5 helpful hints on how to prepare your building site. Download Site Prep Check list
Quick Tip
Save spreading the 2-B stone until after the building is erected. If you select the concrete floor option our crews will spread your supplied stone for you.
