That's a fair point, but honestly, even a walkthrough with an excavation pro won't always catch everything. I remember working on a project where we did exactly that—walked the property, soil survey looked good, no obvious red flags. But once the digging started, we hit a layer of dense clay about five feet down that didn't show up in any report or visual inspection. Ended up costing extra to adjust the foundation design and drainage plan.
My takeaway is that there's always some risk involved, no matter how thorough you are. Soil surveys and site walks are both valuable, but if you're really concerned about hidden surprises, budgeting a contingency fund for unexpected excavation issues might be the smartest move. It's not ideal, but having that buffer can save a lot of headaches down the road...
"budgeting a contingency fund for unexpected excavation issues might be the smartest move."
Yeah, totally agree with this. I've seen plenty of projects where something unexpected pops up—old buried foundations, weird soil layers, even random underground springs. You just can't predict everything. A contingency budget isn't fun to think about when you're already stretching to buy land, but trust me, it's way less stressful than scrambling for extra cash mid-build...
Definitely a smart call on the contingency fund. Excavation is notoriously unpredictable—I've had projects stall because we uncovered old septic tanks nobody knew existed. A little extra cushion upfront saves a ton of headaches later on...
Couldn't agree more about excavation surprises. Had a project a few years back where we stumbled onto an old buried foundation—no records, no warnings, just concrete and headaches. That contingency fund was the only thing keeping us sane. Honestly, it's tempting to trim budgets upfront, especially when you're hunting for affordable land, but cutting corners there usually bites you later.
On the bright side, sometimes those hidden gems come with quirks that turn into cool features. We ended up incorporating part of that old foundation into a garden retaining wall—clients loved the story behind it. So yeah, smart move planning ahead...you never know what you'll dig up (literally).
