So obviously I'm going to actually stake all of this out and have it marked out in real space for the operator, but these are my plans so far
We're looking at about 7 acres of space in this picture. ~120 feet wide and 1600 feet long
Am I crazy? I'm fully aware that I might be. The plan is to put a pump in the bottom poind that recirculated alwater up the top ponds
The whole property is on a hill, the top of the hill is the bottom of the picture
The blue dot is the current location of my cabin. There's a very shit walking path out to it currently and that's about it.
Starting from the bottom of the picture, we have the road, and the driveway, sized big so I can host a bunch of vehicles, and so that I can have large trucks for deliveries.
The green areas are hill gardens, probably just ornamental stuff, all the top layer of duff I'm going to have scraped off and deposited in piles there.
The small ponds at the top of the hill are potentially going to be heated by a compost powered heater, filled with wood chips from local arborists (and chip drop) or whatever organic material I can collect.
The dark brown area is going to be a level building site for my showers/ bathhouse & sauna
The dark blue line is a biofilter/ stream that's going to handle the run off from the bathhouse and the hot tubs
It's gonna flow into some hill and swales gardens, which overflow into another stream/biofilter
That runs along side and irritates a couple of conventional crop fields, maybe some greenhouses, into a small pond
The small pond runs into more hills and swales, another biofilter/stream, past some more conventional fields, and ends in a big pond.
I've considered doing smaller self contained systems, but everywhere talks about water needing to be fundamental to the development of a homestead, and the bigger system seems like it would be easier to manage, it being less sensitive to change and whatnot.
I was going to hire a 50 ton excavator, (maybe 70 ton? Idk it's big I've seen it) for one or two days of work. Do you think this is a reasonable amount of work for him to do in 2 days?
Have I missed something big and obvious that's gonna cause me a problem?
by Artemis_SpawnOfZeus
21 Comments
It seems like more than two days to me. Have you got an engineer to survey and look over your plans? This might all be moot if you don’t have the right soil for it.
This is going to cost hundreds of thousands. Don’t know what exactly is being shown on this sketch but this is commercial construction levels of earth moving.
That’s going to take weeks and you will also need 2 dump trucks to move the soil
Closer to 150×2000 if its 7 acres.
I think you are vastly misunderstanding the scope of this work.
That said, I’d love to have this on my land for a permaculture/homeateading situation.
You’re going to need to put a lot more thought into this. Definitely want to hire some folks who specialize in this field. Will probably also want to consult with the NRCS. This is easily 5 if not 6 figures of work. Will need excavator, dozer, skid steer and dump trucks. Have you looked alt the electrical cost and pump requirements needed to move that volume of water 1600 ft uphill? Op, you have a lot of homework to do. Even if you are independently wealthy, this is not something you can accomplish just by throwing money at it.
The grey line is obviously some kind of pathway… if this is going to be a driveway and you want to cart in gravel to make it drivable in all situations, it’s going to be a giant job. I think you should redesign to make the driveway less curvy – also, in my climate/soil conditions you need a ditch uphill of the driveway.
You need to update your design to make it more detailed, and should probably observe drainage patterns etc for a year, and implement the design in stages, starting near the road.
It will take longer than you think and you’d be best of requesting a quote on time line and cost. You should also do more research on the hydrological design. If you just start digging holes it probably won’t work out the way you want
I am also curious of the pump. $300 pump may move drinking water those distances, but it’s the volume.. are you looking for a garden hose trickle, or a small stream or more? I think the $300 pump will only provide the former. You probably need ag-sized pumps ( car engine style) to re-create a stream
50 tons? Brother that’s several thousands of dollars just to move it, it’s at minimum a super load with escorts, permits, and an 8 axle truck. For 7 acres, you’re better off browsing marketplace, buying the cheapest 953/955 Cat track loader you can buy, have it hauled to your place, and learn to operate it as you go. You’re not making it out of this for less than 200k at minimum.
In shorter terms, lol. Lmao, even.
Edit: just saw that you’re in Canada as well. You’re definitely not making it out of this for less than 300k CAD. Buy a cheap track loader with a single axle dump truck and do it yourself.
What is the difference in elevation between the top and bottom? Have you ever done anything like this before? Have you had a PE civil engineer look at your land and plans? If you put a big pond at the top of your property you are going to need the downslope wall reinforced with relief (IDK the property term) piping to offset a massive breach, everything down hill of this (your house) will get washed away in a major rainstorm without this.
What state are you in? You are likely to have to get local approval at a minimum.
I have a 14+ acre property that I have a pond area I want dug out. Was there previously and owner prior to me filled it in. I was given a rough estimate of $35k to $50k and I’m on flat ground more or less. Going up hill is going to cost a lot more from what I’ve been told.
If I had to guess. I’d bet your excavator will get maybe an eighth of what you want done in two days.
“Have you missed something big and obvious that’s going to cause a problem?” I think you’ve forgotten the power of water in mass flowing down hill for one. Second I think you severely underestimate how long it takes to do anything of this scale properly.
Good luck OP I have a feeling your going to need a lot of it. Please post photos of how it goes I’m legitimately interested in how this turns out.
Say more about your “biofilter” and your plans to dump untreated gray water on your land.
Difference in elevation is about 40 feet.
I’ve done some stuff kind of adjacent. I’ve worked with excavators a bunch.
It’s going to take significantly much more time and money than you think. My husband has rented a mini-ex or a bulldozer 4 separate times, for 3-5 days at a time, to push around dirt on our property which is just under 2 acres. He spends 6-10 hours each day running the machine, he knows what he’s doing and it still takes a long time. We’ve changed pitch, leveled some zones, improved drainage and planted, removed and moved trees. We still have plenty we want to do and probably need another couple of *weeks* running machinery. Again, 2 acres.
Also keep in mind that the tracks will churn up or damage every little bit around each of the spots you want done. If it’s wet or rainy, the damage is worse. So, add on the time and cost of smoothing that out and reseeding whatever you’d like to cover it.
This is a huge undertaking. It took me half a day to dig a foundation for a garage. I cant imagine trying to do this without 4 other guys and more equipment.
Post this to r/civilengineering
Having skimmed all the comments…
Your question was “Am I crazy? I’m fully aware that I may be.”
The answers are saying yes.
At the very least, you need an expert outside opinion from someone on site, not more answers here that you’ll keep rejecting.
Can’t see what’s going on without pictures of the actual land. However I can rest assured the many people here are right in that you underestimated the scope of work. If price is a concern I suggest getting estimates for the entire scope of the job(without your help). Couple big companies and a couple small ones. Keep in mind those are experienced people and they will prob make mistakes, so their price will reflect that margin too. Don’t expect to undercut 90% of the cost by making the plans yourself and cracking the whip on an operator working with an hourly rate and one day minimum. Especially if your not perfect and makes some mistakes
This ain’t happening.
Best of luck to you. I hope it works out for you. I like the design and would love to see any progress you make.
You want to pump water 40′ up over 1000′? that’s…massive. What kind of lines? What kind of pump? How will you handle the inevitable freeze? And if you’re digging around in ponds, the ECCC might get interested in the runoff.
lol