What are your thoughts on using pex for plumbing? Thank you!

This is funny. Im 35F I know nothing about living off grid but I watch every video of yours prior to purchasing anything.

Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge, this is super helpful and timing as I'm about to make an offer on a plot in Washington that's in the mountains. I learned so much!!!

Great info, planning on building in Custer S.D. Found two up there. Thanks so much

Excellent information. Thank you! We are getting ready to purchase your self-managed Owner Build course.

Exactly the info I was looking for.

Thanks for your vid . I have been shopping for land over a year now. You have helped me understand the different soils. Alicia Slyman

Very informative thank you sir. In Africa, my father was a mayor therefore left us a huge land but since little, I knew his land isn't ideal for construction because the land is very mudy when it rains & the soil is clayish white :) Now I understand why within a mile, there's a huge cimetary :) Undertakers like collapsible & non rocky soils - makes grave digging easier. I now live in London but I might buy a land in Spain with geo tech awareness in mind. Thank you.

Yikes. We're paying off our property with a mobile home on it with the intention of building a house after it's paid off. I'm worried that our soil is too sandy. Going to have to hire a geotechnical engineer.

Superb advice.

Hello Keith thank you for responding to me, that helped alot I will take that course on days off, my other question is , as contractor on the inner walls bottom plates such as closet and other interior wall would be better to add anchor bolts while pouring concrete than using a nail gun . Your thoughts on that. Thank you Keith.

Good info. Thanks

Good info. Go Vols.

Haha, the hilltop neighborhood off the 405 by the Getty museum, near Belair, CA IS built on a dump. I remember that dump, it was a dump. Yes, the steam vents were everywhere. It seemed like a nice place but I bet there were more stories.

Thank you Sir

Thank you so much. How do you interpret a geotech report in line with designing of structures? Points: CBR, MDD, GRADATION, DCP etc.

Holy moly! Bill Belichik also works in construction....

Anyone is welcome to comment or answer my questions. A little background… I live in Canada, Edmonton, Alberta to be exact. My house was built in an area that has a high water table and a lot of clay in the soil. I have a hilled backyard, so water drainage flows through the front yard and rock swale. My neighbour and I both have downspouts at the front and back of our houses that drain into the rock swale. A couple of years ago, a cable company decided upgrade to fibre optic cables and drilled channels underground in the utility easement area by the sidewalk of everyone’s property and underneath our driveways. They also installed a service box in the rock swale next to my driveway. The company that did the work didn’t even know what fluffing or the expansion fact was. There did the work in early November during freezing temperatures and lot of snow fall. Prior to digging the hole in the rock swale, they flooded the soil and for some reason removed soil from underneath my driveway. I discovered this when part of my driveway fell into the hole. The excavated hole was left uncovered for several days, before the service box was finally installed. They didn’t completely backfill all the dirt because they ran out of supplies and had to wait until spring to finish the work. A 4” channel was left open under the driveway parallel to the sidewalk. That winter my driveway did not do the normal frost heaving, it sunk during the winter. In the spring, water from melting snow couldn’t drain properly because they left piles of soil and rocks in the rock swale. Water pooled in the area between the houses, and unfortunately my property is lower than my neighbour’s. No concrete products were used during the partial or final backfilling process. When they completed installing the cables they just spread out the soil and rocks, which damaged the landscaping grade. They did not replace any of the landscaping fabric either. A gap in the separation space between the driveway and garage foundation developed and has continued to widen, and parts of fibreboard have just disappeared. My driveway has sunk approximately 2 inches by the sidewalk and 3-4 inches at the garage. Normal frost heaving and settling doesn’t occur anymore. The driveway settles more by the sidewalk during the winter. The expansion joints have cracked and widened. A driveway repair company said that the driveway had slid away from the house. I think this is due to shear force. The middle of the driveway is now uneven because the North outer edge by the rock swale dropped, which lifted up the other side. After 2 years the company finally admitted to causing some damage, but they don’t want to admit to everything, even though it’s clear there is a causative affect. Unfortunately it seems they are trying to do the minimum to fix it. They just want to mudjack the driveway by the sidewalk, and fix the grade in the rock swale.. First question: would the expansive properties of clay based soils affect the compaction of the soil? Could this cause soil migration into the spaces they left open? Can soil migration occur when the integrity of the foundation was damaged? Could 2 years of improper drainage cause enough soil erosion to create voids for the fibre board to fall into? Is there a way to check the soundness of the driveway foundation? Do you have ANY other recommendations? Any help would be very appreciated.

Thank you so much! I learned a lot! One more question, do you recommend to do the fault study if there is a fault line on the site? It will cost $15k and seller won’t pay it. We are In Nevada, no earthquakes though . And there are houses surrounding the site, all utilities available, it is not in the middle of no where

Excellent video! Other than soils and perc test, are any other tests needed?

Wondering if you can do a segment on PERC test and when to do them.....and the ins and outs of them.

I had a neighbor dig an 8 ft deep 100 ft long trench to pull a line for a frost free from the well. It was the cleanest carved clay walls all the way down. We could see it was wet from the neighbor's irrigation filtering in. And I wonder how much info could be gleaned from the well driller's report. Well 80 ft. deep, clay mostly, gravel and sand at 60ft.

If a property is fairly large, say in the 3-5 acre range, should you ask the geotech engineer to drill/dig in a few different places on the site?

I would like a wood foundation.have done research.have you had any experience with these? There are about 300,000 in US.

I tried to find a small 2 bedroom bungalow for my disabled daughter. I keep finding houses with failed foundations. Mostly concrete block with negative slope and caving shored up (steel beams vertically) Today's market they sell as is anyway. I refused to pay $150K for a 900SF house with big foundation problems. So now I look into building a 900SF bungalow, found an inexpensive lot but the previous house had burned and they buried the foundation along with some of the house debris. The cheapest way to build is a slab but not with who knows what buried there. Any advice is appreciated.

if the lot im buying says public sewer available that means i don’t have to worry about a perc test right? just the soils test for foundation?

GDay What are your thoughts on a waffle pod slab? Many thx

What is a good or passing test score on a geo test?

hello i dont know if you would know the answer to this but is this a problem in Arizona as far as extendable, collapsible ? and for me im just trying to get a mobile home on the land so does this really make it a problem for me ?

I want to start building. I would pay you for consulting or a small percentage in the company for advising.

Hi, what kind of soil testing should we get done on the land pre-construction if the builder doesn't do any soil testing. Thanks in advance

Who do I contact for the soil testing? We did a perk test when we purchased the land, but I am not sure about a soil test.

*What's the estimated cost of getting a soil testing done by a geotechnical engineer before building the home?*

Great vid! I will probably take your beginner's course on your website. But I have a budget question for you first. I'm planning on selling my home in 1.5 years and I would love to downsize and build a small 2bd/2ba house at around 900 SF. I'm open to moving to another state in order to make it all work. My all-in budget for the land and the build will be around $150,000-$160,000. So: 1) Do you think that is enough money for a small house build on a foundation, NOT a tiny house. 2) In your opinion, can you suggest any particular states that have good soil to build on that don't have collapsible or expandable soil? I think I'd like to start by finding the best soil to save me the future problems. Thanks very much.

would you consider sandy soils collapsable /?

I'm in California there is a land for sale and there is two homes nest to land how I know if the land nis buildable is I possible that the land will not get permit

What if I never got a soil test and already build

How do you find your courses you offer?

hey how can I connect you?

Where did you go to school?