Anyone recommend a good soils testing firm for construction? I'm planning for construction and want to find a good firm at a good price, since I pay a premium to have the builder contract it out.

Thanks.

Check out Terracon.

+1 for Terracon

Terracon is a good one to use, Southwest Laboratories/Apex Geosciences is also a really good on that I've had on a couple of projects.

Terracon:
713-690-8989 Phone

Apex:
409-948-8494 Phone

email me and I'll give you contact information at each.

why would you have your builder carry it? seems a little fox/henhousey...

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why would you have your builder carry it? seems a little fox/henhousey...

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It's included in the bid for the foundation.

I suppose if I really wanted to be cheap about it, I do happen to have the soils report from a house that was built 60-75 feet away.

im talking about it in terms of - the guy is drilling piers or excavating footings, his guy looks at it and says its ok or not ok, he builds the house, you get foundation failure - you think the builder's consultant is going to be any help to you in court?

Terracon or Fugro, but I'd go with Terracon.

We've been using Terracon for soils testing at work, and our project is a lot heavier than your house.

http://www.paradigmconsultants.com/content.asp?secnum=60

RTT, email me.

email sent.

GeoTest
Aviles
Fugro
Terracon

quote:

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quote:

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why would you have your builder carry it? seems a little fox/henhousey...

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It's included in the bid for the foundation.

I suppose if I really wanted to be cheap about it, I do happen to have the soils report from a house that was built 60-75 feet away.

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I would think that would be plenty close enough. Don't know that I've ever seen borings taken closer than 100' apart. You won't be able to sue the soils people if something goes wrong, but then again, this is a garage and a garage apartment. Much more room for error than in a house since it has a much smaller slab and shorter span distances for the slab even if there are soil problems. Unless the main house has significant foundation issues, I'd use the neighbor's soil test.