Sounds as if more coordination was needed if the grading contractor can screw up the plans. A skilled builder can build a mirror-opposite house from your plans.

From the heading, I expected you hit an underground stream, an old garbage dump, unexpected bedrock. But the excavator couldn't read plans, so you're redesigning your home?

That is the silliest thing I've ever heard. The GC yanks the short hairs of the excavation contractor who has to repair his damage and then do the correct dirtwork. Or threaten to never give him another contract ever again.

Or just mirror image the house after a trip to the AHJ to confirm that the adjustment is allowed. And get some freebie upgrades for your ability to roll with the punches and not insist on #1 happening.

No freaking reason in the world to start over. Your GC is on crack.

That's part of the problem, we haven't hired a builder yet. We're on our own. We could have had the driveway come up on the other side, but it would have cost an estimated 20k additional. Here's what I've learned so far...
1) You have to have an "equipment rider" on your General Liability insurance in order to rent from most equipment companies. It took me a week to get the insurance issue lined out.
2)It's really difficult to make some of the choices that need to be made on the house plan without a GC. For instance, which way the driveway should enter. Everything can look "ideal" on paper....but may cost a fortune in the real world.
-I'm going to need LOTS of help to make sure the basement is done correctly, and we will be hiring a GC before the foundation work begins. I know, it will be his job to make sure the work is done correctly. I will be trying my best not to micromanage;)

As everyone has noted, why can't you just flip the house?? You're on EIGHTY acres, HTH could this get soooo s@ewed up??

I should clarify, it is the same footprint as the original plan. The main difference is that I didn't have a rear entrance aside from one that led directly into the kitchen. We are building on a hill that gently slopes down in the front and is more steep on the sides and flat in the back.

Pay a GC hourly to help you get this sorted out ... probably cheaper than redrawing plans. Doesn't make sense to be that limited when you have 80 acres.

We excavated a basement for a large guest/carriage house on a California size lot, squeezing it in between neighboring retaining walls and our house. They build huge apartment buildings in Manhattan on a 5000 sq.ft lot between existing buildings and roads. Your project is not that hard. Get help.

If trying to avoid an extra 20K during excavation causes this muckup, then you don't have the budget for the project from the beginning.You need to put the brakes on and reassess the whole project here. You are NOT gonna DIY fly by the seat of your pants through this.

At this stage, you've mucked things up enough that it will be difficult to even find a professional to work with you without paying a premium. You've got way too many red flags for a real pro to want to deal with. The only people you will be able to hire now will charge you an exhorbitant rate to take the reins at this stage. Since you don't have tbe budget to hire that higher priced pro, you need to shelve this until you do. It will only get worse. Mistakes compound each other.

The budget is not an issue. We dramatically changed the 4 or more acres surrounding the house location, removed dense woods, changed the grade, ect. It doesn't look like the same property, so it changed my perspective. When faced with two decisions, I chose the path of least resistance.....mostly because I didn't see changing to a rear entry garage with rear foyer as a problem.

Perfect example of how a little money toward paying pros up front will save you many thousands of dollars and headaches down the road....Even if you don't want to pay the pro to do the job, you can pay someone to act as a consultant to make sure you're doing it correctly. Even touching base with an architect where you pay him/her by the hour for their critique of the house plan and the siting can be worth it.

Siting a house is so essential to get right from the get go...views, sunlight, water drainage, utility placement, driveway access, etc....as it is the fundamental thing you won't remodel in the future. You can always change windows, move walls, etc. But picking up a house and rotating it or moving it 10' to one side? Not so much.

Frankly, I'd stop work at this point and not move forward without some experienced eyes on the entire project to make sure you will get what you want out of the house...if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right.

The funny thing I found is that you can just ante up the bread and rent the biggest tracked excavator you can scare up and away you go. No qualifications or experience needed.

A restaurant owner did that a few houses down from me one time on his 50 foot wide lot. Took down the house, then proceeded to dig to China I think. Even had a small bulldozer down in the pit playing in the sand.

Only when a neighbouring house threatened to fall in and he ruptured and set afire a natural gas line did the inspectors shut him down.

At least, the OP has their own 80 acres to play in.

I'm a bit confused. Do I have this right?

You have 80 acres. You cleared and graded 4 acres for the house and money is no object.

You do not have a gc or builder working for you. You appear not to have an architect?

You rented machinery and adjusted your insurance to put in the driveway yourself. So where does the $20k figure come from? If money is no object, why don't you pay the $20k and get the driveway where you want it?

You mention choosing the path of less resistance. Where is the resistance coming from?

Your about to pour the foundation. But haven't decided on the layout of the house yet?

You have not yet designed the second floor of the house?

Is it possible that when OP says "excavating", she's talking about clearing the land? She hasn't necessarily dug a foundation yet.

I can totally imagine walking through a forest and thinking, "we can have the driveway here..." And then when the trees come down and you see the slope of the ground and the way the views have changed, you want to change the plan.

And a "not tight budget" and "money is no object" are completely different things. Just because you HAVE $20k doesn't mean you want to spend it without considering alternatives.

You desperately need the help on several on site professionals. ASAP. Good luck.

Amberm is correct, we have not dug the foundation...and also correct about the budget. It's not tight, but I do need to pick and choose what I want to splurge on.
Worthy: Yes, we rented a big dozer and borrowed an excavator. We did have professionals operating them though.

In your defense, let me say that I also try to be careful when spending, to get the greatest value for the dollar spent. And one of the results after many years is that there is plenty of cash available here. Those old habits persist here.
But an essential is that one needs to be able to judge when a significant expenditure needs to be made to insure that the expenditures that follow will be money well spent.
Things happen on purpose or they happen by accident.

Without a survey, and a detailed grading plan you had big boys playing with big toys. Just because they can physically operate the machinery doesn't mean they actually know how to properly prepare a building site without a plan and knowledgeable supervision.

Skipping steps in the process, like not hiring the GC first, only leads to more money spent fixing things in the long run. Building through winter shoud only be attempted by an expert GC. You either need to move like lightening to get one on board now, or STOP right now. More planning would seem to be high on your list of needs here, so fall back and plan (better) for a spring build.

Kinsley, I would start a new thread just asking for advice for your floor plan. People seem so caught up on WHY you are changing your floor plan, and the fact that you cut the trees yourself that they aren't answering your question.

I agree that you need to get a GC on board soon. I know that you want to have a solid design plan that you can then shop around to builders. It's hard to choose a builder based on theoretical ideas and wishes. But if you've got a short list, you can ask them for advice, such as where the best place to put the access is, if they see any issues with your site, etc. Their response to these kinds of requests will give you a better idea of what they'll be like to work with before you sign a contract.

But (s)he is asking for advice on the floorplan layout. People post that on here all the time, and don't get this much flack.

Can I ask some odd questions?

What state are you in? I know some states are pretty loose with the need for permits and such, I am going to assume you live in a state that only cares in you are on your own land and not near water.

Did you have some one who knows how to read a plan stake out your drawing?

Did you need any compaction done? Did you have any kind of soils testing done? Have your plans been looked at and approved by anyone? I take it this is an all cash build so there is no bank to be concerned that you have not followed plans. Will you be able to sell or get insurers on the building if it was a do it yourself foundation? Can you find a contractor willing to work on this build who will have any type of liability on their work if yours fails? With no contractor in place, are you sure you know what it will cost?

As my friend says for things like this, he is hired from the neck down if he is not the grading/engineering contractor. It is not his his insurance, not his license, not his plan, he is not in charge and it is not his liability if it goes wrong

To answer some questions:
1) We have an ag exemption because we are on more than 10 acres.
2) This was not as random as it sounds. Our operators each have around 40 years experience. We added drain tile in the appropriate places and it is working well to control the run off.
3) Yes, the soil has been tested. We know what type of septic system is required.
4) We are hiring a GC before any foundation work begins. The footprint is 40 x 32 plus porch and and garage, I'm trying to keep this as simple as possible. I veered WAY off track thanks to HOUZZ.com. I'm getting back to basics now.
5) To further clarify, we could have had the driveway where I wanted...but it's not as simple as clearing a path and adding gravel. The entire grade of that side of the hill would have had to have been substantially changed in order to not have an extremely steep driveway. It's all "pie in the sky" until you start moving earth.

This post was edited by Kinsley7 on Thu, Sep 18, 14 at 9:23

A site survey with elevations should have revealed this issue during the planning phase, before one dime was expended on moving dirt. Why was that not done?

Soils testing was not about your septic field, but about the soil you are building on and how it compacts and just what needed to be done to compact to build on.

fyi my friend has 40+ years in the business too, but values his lic. and would work on a job like this from the neck down.