My wife and I purchased a lot in TR last year. We’re looking to break ground around the new year. It’s on a steep hill, but not a mountainside. The plans call for cut/fill, walkout basement. A builder I spoke to went out and looked at it and told me he’s never built on something this steep and said his best guess is $50-100k for site prep with a dog run off the back porch. I had a grader go out and look at it and told me that it’s not that bad and thinks he could do it for $15k, but plan for $30k. You think the builder was factoring in retaining walls and the grader wasn’t? Obviously there’s no way someone could give me an estimate with that little intel, and I’m going to get more solid answers as we start moving along in the process. I was just wondering if any of y’all had experiences with building on steep terrain and had any examples/insight you could throw my way.

Also, if you have any suggestions for builders/ graders I’m open to suggestions. I’m not unimpressed with the guy we’ve been talking to, but we are looking at getting some different quotes by the end of summer. Price and quality are obviously a factor, but stellar comms and honesty are just as high of a priority to me.

PMs/email are welcome if you have any details that you don’t want to post on a forum.

Thanks!

Up here there is always the possibility of hitting rock. That means drilling and blasting. Most contractors will have a "rock clause" that is extra money if they hit something too big for a loader or excavator to move.

Roger that.

 I would ask for a detailed breakdown of what’s included.
As stated rock can be a big issue.   Im not far from you and built on a big hill.  We elected to grade the top flat.