Land Surveyor/Engineer.

[NOTALENT]

We have a Bearing Wall in our Parker House (Hillcrest Bay) that we need to get surveyed. The parent's are wanting to see what the option's are to either build a deck, or fill it in. The wall is currently about 4ft high, but to even out would have to be built to about 10ft + filling in with dirt...
Does anyone have any hookups or recommendations....??? Help a brotha out!! :crossx:

[buzzaro]

We have a Bearing Wall in our Parker House (Hillcrest Bay) that we need to get surveyed. The parent's are wanting to see what the option's are to either build a deck, or fill it in. The wall is currently about 4ft high, but to even out would have to be built to about 10ft + filling in with dirt...
Does anyone have any hookups or recommendations....??? Help a brotha out!! :crossx:
Do you mean this wall is a load bearing wall in the structure? or that this wall is marking the property line. I am a surveyor in norcal and might have some suggestions. Unfortunatly i am not yet licensed so couldnt help you out myself and dont have any connections in your area but i might be able to point you in the right direction or help you solve this without paying someone. Generally to have a licensed surveyor come out and do a retracement its gonna run you at least 5k if hes gotta record the survey.

[NOTALENT]

Do you mean this wall is a load bearing wall in the structure? or that this wall is marking the property line. I am a surveyor in norcal and might have some suggestions. Unfortunatly i am not yet licensed so couldnt help you out myself and dont have any connections in your area but i might be able to point you in the right direction or help you solve this without paying someone. Generally to have a licensed surveyor come out and do a retracement its gonna run you at least 5k if hes gotta record the survey.
Yeah....A load bearing wall...it marks the property line...the house is on a hill...its at the base of the hill...and rather then facing problems down the line with errosion. They want to build the wall up and then fill it in with dirt to make it level with the house. More room to be used for a Jacuzzi and other things... :crossx:
One person suggested a step cinderblock wall going up....It does have to be recorded in order for them to do something.
Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it.
Brandon

[buzzaro]

Yeah....A load bearing wall...it marks the property line...the house is on a hill...its at the base of the hill...and rather then facing problems down the line with errosion. They want to build the wall up and then fill it in with dirt to make it level with the house. More room to be used for a Jacuzzi and other things... :crossx:
One person suggested a step cinderblock wall going up....It does have to be recorded in order for them to do something.
Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it.
Brandon
Sounds like a pretty tough spot to get out of as far as hiring someone is concerned, no matter what you do you need a building permit for the improvements and that needs to get submitted to the city/county. But for the wall itself did someone tell you that you need to get a survey recorded? It sounds a bit odd that you would, you might want to head to your title company and read the deed for the property, it will tell you what officially marks the property. Normally nothing marks the property "line" there is only something that marks the "corners" or places where the property changes direction, so while this wall might be on the line, it does not mark it. Ive never heard of someone having to record a survey to build a fence on their property line so this raises a flag for me. Your first, and most certainly cheapest, would be to talk to an engineer or contracter who youd like to have do the work. Theres more than likely one in your area that has already dealt with this specific issue and can get you headed in the right direction.
I might be taking the meaning incorrectly of what the person you talked to meant by "recorded". If he just meant a building permit than that is normal and the contractor will take care of that for you and it wont be a headache at all.

[CornWater]

Building department should have pre-approved plans for a typical retaining wall up to a certain height. How tall does the wall need to be? Surcharge? You may just be able to have the contractor that will build this wall pull the permits.

[NOTALENT]

Building department should have pre-approved plans for a typical retaining wall up to a certain height. How tall does the wall need to be? Surcharge? You may just be able to have the contractor that will build this wall pull the permits.
Im just guesstimating from the last time I was out...it is a cinderblock wall now...about 3 or 4 ft hight..but for it to be filled and be level with the rest of the land it would need to be a total of around 10ft high....I guess because it will be a retaining wall after a certain height there are different requirements..

[CornWater]

Surcharge will require an engineer designed wall, so will a retaining wall over 6'. 10' retaining wall will be expensive. How much wall (length) are we talking? I work for beer, but to design a wall that high, it may have to be cash and beer. :D :D

[NOTALENT]

Surcharge will require an engineer designed wall, so will a retaining wall over 6'. 10' retaining wall will be expensive. How much wall (length) are we talking? I work for beer, but to design a wall that high, it may have to be cash and beer. :D :D
haha...were on the right track now...beer is never a big deal its the money that has me worried...lol.. :crossx: I believe one of the ideas they said was making a step wall to a certain point this way they can bypass the over 6'ft rule.

[Tyson Ross]

Lemme Engineering 928-667-4755, just down from the public launch near Riverbounds.

[NOTALENT]

Lemme Engineering 928-667-4755, just down from the public launch near Riverbounds.
Any contacts?? or were they just a good referral???

[YeLLowBoaT]

From the sound of it this is going to cost you ALOT!!!!!!!!!!! Even if you go to the "steps" its still going to cost you ALOT!!!!! The last retaining wall job I was on ( I was just a Fuax painter) was 10' high and about 65 ft in total length was over 250k. Thats not a type-O $250, 000. From what I am I am gathering for your needs it will cost Atleast 50k. Now if you have any lenght to it add a 0. It all really depends on the slope of the hill and how high you need.

[NOTALENT]

From the sound of it this is going to cost you ALOT!!!!!!!!!!! Even if you go to the "steps" its still going to cost you ALOT!!!!! The last retaining wall job I was on ( I was just a Fuax painter) was 10' high and about 65 ft in total length was over 250k. Thats not a type-O $250, 000. From what I am I am gathering for your needs it will cost Atleast 50k. Now if you have any lenght to it add a 0. It all really depends on the slope of the hill and how high you need.
Damn...im in the wrong business..... :220v: We had a quote at about 37k. Thats sooo much money. Im fine with just building a deck on stilts...haha... Wow...we need to figure something out.

[Tyson Ross]

They seem to do most of the surveys etc for local contractors from what I have seen. Can't remember the dudes name though.

[river redy]

You first need a civil engineer to look at it and tell what your going to need to do, from what your saying is the surchrge on the wall will be greater and you might have to scrape the whole wall because the footing will need to be increased along with the size of rebar and your bottom rows of block might have to be larger also. there is water proofing and drainage also to be considered,normally cities have walls up to 6 foot which are a typical anything over will have to be engineered, good luck, any question pm me

[buzzaro]

and as was mentioned before, depending on the height of the wall, the amount of backfill against the face of the wall(the force on the wall), and the soil conditions, the codes might require that pilings be drivin below the footing, usually I-beam columns or large tube steel. If you start getting into this realm the raised deck is gonna save you big $$$

[YeLLowBoaT]

and as was mentioned before, depending on the height of the wall, the amount of backfill against the face of the wall(the force on the wall), and the soil conditions, the codes might require that pilings be drivin below the footing, usually I-beam columns or large tube steel. If you start getting into this realm the raised deck is gonna save you big $$$
It will save you alot of cash, but is still not "cheap" I see it being a 25k deal atleast... build some thing to support a hot tub is not cheap no matter how you do it.

[LakeRacer]

Just go and ask Lemme to come out and take a look. They also have in house surveyors...at least their office in Phoenix does. Tell them what you want done and for them to give you an estimate. Also ask them what it will cost for them to submit the plans to the city of Parker for design review and approvals. Before you even get that far, based on preliminary engineering estimates, ask Lemme for referals on how much it will cost to build the wall. As was stated before, retaining walls of any height are very expensive.
In all honesty I don't think you're going to get a "hook up" on this. Any kind of structural design carries alot of liability and therefore you should hire a professional to do it. You wouldn't want your new deck falling off into the river now, would you? And if it did wouldn't you want to make a claim against someone who has professional liability insurance?
Just some suggestions for you to think about.
Art Witzell
Register Land Surveyor, AZ
ps I don't work for Lemme.

[Captain Dan]

.......In all honesty I don't think you're going to get a "hook up" on this. Any kind of structural design carries alot of liability and therefore you should hire a professional to do it. You wouldn't want your new deck falling off into the river now, would you? And if it did wouldn't you want to make a claim against someone who has professional liability insurance?......
I second that. I'm a registered civil engineer (in California) and there is way too much liability on the engineer signing and sealing the plans to get a "substantial" discount. Not only "should" you hire a professional engineer to do the calculations and plans, you have to, (unless the wall height and surcharge load is within limits prescribed by a County/City standard plan), which doesn't appear to be the case. Get a registered civil engineer to have a look and give you an estimate for the design of the wall, and a ballpark on the construction cost. Once you choose a wall system, you can shop the contractors for the best price.