Help and advice required

Vastation

Good morning folks, hope you're all well. This is the first time I've posted on here but am becoming increasingly stressed and agitated with the situation my partner and I find ourselves in. 

So we have had plans approved etc. for a 3.5m x 9.5m single storey extension. We've paid for a company to assume complete control, and they've contracted an architect to design the extension and a structural engineer to design a raft, as per the architect's recommendation. This has been paid for. 

We've also now paid for x2 weeks labour for ground to be removed in preparation for the raft and the cement. We've also paid for the labour and costs of raft creation and the materials required to fit the raft
Building control have since been down however, and told us that our foundations are horrendous and that a raft is simply not an option. The only way we would be able to achieve a stable extension would be via piling.

We have obviously looked into this and it appears incredibly costly, so much so that there's a possibility of it out-pricing our budget, meaning that we've forked out cash for something that isn't going to work and will ultimately leave us with a huge hole in the garden, or cost us more in labour for someone to return the garden to its previous state.

We've never had work like this done before, and we've got little to no experience of the industry, so have no idea where we stand.

Should the ground have been tested before a raft was built and before plans were drawn up? Should it have been tested properly before the entire garden was dug up? Should we be still paying for the raft and its construction even though this wasn't 'our error'?

We're quite scared about where we stand with this, so any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Vastation. 

stuart45

What has the company said?

Vastation

stuart45 said:

What has the company said?

Got another meeting with them this afternoon. Didn't want to go in without appropriate knowledge. 

Bigphil1474

Tell the company what Building Control have said - is it the local council or a private BC company? Might need a second opinion one way or the other.

stuart45

Foundation's can sometimes be a problem. As a council BCO said to me years ago when there were only council ones, it is a question of suck it and see.
Doesn't matter if you dig out trial holes and get an engineer to design it, it's only when it's dug out will they make a decision. 
The architect must have known something about the ground to ask for an SE to design a raft.
Did the SE do a site visit?

Section62

Vastation said:

We've paid for a company to assume complete control, and they've contracted an architect to design the extension and a structural engineer to design a raft, as per the architect's recommendation. This has been paid for. 

Just be aware as the property owner you can never get someone else to take complete control.  You ultimately remain responsible for several aspects of a project - for example planning and building regulation compliance.

Otherwise, I agree with stuart45's comments.  Foundations are one of the biggest risks with building projects, the exact detail is unknowable until the bottom of the final excavation is reached.  The company you've employed should have advised you of the assumptions made in the project budget, and the allowance they were making for contingency.

Do you have access for a piling rig if one was needed?  Two week's labour to prepare for a 3.5m x 9.5m raft sounds a lot - I might expect additional time needed if access was very difficult - but if access is that difficult then piling could be a bigger problem.

stuart45

Have you had a quote for just the piling to form a piled raft? 

diystarter7

OP
You are in control, your property, your money, your life.
Good news, you have a roof over your head

Seems wrong re BC but they are looking out for you.

Who is to blame is a hard one as at times you cannot tell if the groud is going to be solid until you start digging.

It helps at times if the company is local

Dont blame yourself we cant think of everything, not even I had considered that other than the founds may have to go 3 feet instead of 2, etc.

Therefore, see what your contractors say and BC, seek quotes. If you can't afford see if contracts can put the project on hold.

NB: I am no expert but did your contractor offer at cost to drill to check foundations?
Rafting usually works but again I feel local builders would have known and IMO its a grey area

Good luck

Vastation

Hi guys, thanks for your replies. It helped me massively during my conversation with the contractor.

So basically, we've had six days of labour so far in order remove the ground ready for foundations to be placed. 

Our contractor has subcontracted an independent structural engineer who did a site visit. He determined that a raft foundation was suitable (the architect believes our existing house is on a raft) and so money for design and creation of the raft was provided, and the raft is currently sat in the back garden. Hardcore, breezeblocks etc. are also sat in our garden ready for foundation completion.

An independent building control officer has been since and determined that that ground is too soft, wet, and peaty, for a raft to be installed (yet we seem to have already paid for raft design and construction?). The issue has there been passed, costing us yet another £1,600, to a ground investigation team who are going to attend with a small dynamic sampling rig... Whatever that is! 

My contractor has told me that I'll still be responsible for the cost of the ground investigation team, however I would be able to contest the costs associated with the raft design and completion, as it appears that the structural engineer has jumped the gun in his creation of it? 

So far my contractor has received £10,150 from me. 

Vastation

Images of current progress. 

diystarter7

Thanks, OP
I'm glad things are looking more positive.