I can probably shed some light on what they mean by "no pad". Tilson will build a small pad to give the home good drainage away from the foundation and to get the site somewhat level. What they don't do is what some call "cut and fill". This is spec'd by some geotech reports that basically will say to remove 3 feet of existing soil and bring in 4 feet of select fill, for example. There is nothing wrong with doing it that way but it is time consuming and less cost effective given that they are't building in a subdivision where there are multiple jobs to split the cost with. In addition to this, if not done correctly you open yourself up to settlement issues when dealing with fill pads. Our firm's view is we want to keep it simple and design a beefy foundation to stand up to the existing soil conditions rather that try to manipulate the soil to go with a lighter foundation design.

Regardless of the construction of the pad or lack there of, we send a drilling rig out and take two borings within the footprint of the home. One will be 30' deep and one to 20' and we take samples at 1' intervals to determine soil type and give foundation recommendations. These recommendations tell us how much concrete, reinforcing, etc. is needed to make the foundation behave on the soil present. The area you describe can have either expansive clay or very sandy soil so there is a possibility of having an ultra heavy foundation with tons of extra concrete or a lighter one depending on soil type. Here are two links if you want to kill some time and get a general idea of the soil of your project. An extreme generalization but as far as foundation performance goes: lots of clay=more expansive=heavier foundation; sandier soils=less expansive and better draining=lighter foundation.

https://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/WebSoilSurvey.aspx
You can zoom to your area, select the area of interest, and see soil types.

https://www.twdb.texas.gov/groundwater/aquifer/GAT/
You are probably on the Seguin sheet here.

We deal with jobs on occasion where, at some point in the past, the homeowner had a friend who dug a pond or something and gave them the soil to build the "pad". They didn't properly compact the soil, there is no telling what type of soil it is, whether it is free of organics, or if it can properly support the home. The sales person probably mentioned these because they create issues that we have to deal with when designing the foundation. On these we typically have to add piers under the slab to get it to bear on existing soil that is well compacted and has a known bearing capacity.

If you have any specific questions I'd be happy to answer here or I can post my email.

TLDR but...

If your in the Temple/Belton area look up Lee Armstrong Construction.

Good dude, great family, and he's an Aggie

Thank you for the information and the links. I just want a good solid foundation where the walls are not going to crack and the tile flooring isnt going to crack or pop loose. I have heard this happen with two folks but that was several years ago and just could have been bad subs.

The main thing is a good quality house and thats starts with a good foundation.

No problem at all. Happy to answer more questions if you've got 'em.

The maps said I basically have a sandy soil with little if any clay. (soil types Job and Tmc) I can confirm this by having dug a few holes out there.

What is the best way to make sure your (engineer's) specs are being followed?

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I just want a good solid foundation where the walls are not going to crack and the tile flooring isnt going to crack or pop loose.
The main thing is a good quality house and thats starts with a good foundation.

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If this is your concern, your best bet is do as RilloAg is suggesting and hire a geotech to come punch at least one (preferably two) boring. I know you said you've dug some holes, but what you need to analyze is 10'-20' below the finished grade. A lot of small / custom builders think the answer to preventing slab movement is to drill piers or add more concrete / steel. This won't alleviate movement due to expansive clays. I've seen foundations and piers shoved upward 8"-10" in areas of DFW (Eagleford Shale). Typically piers / wider beams are used when you are building on deep or uneven fill. At some point if you are in really nasty clays (especially if they are layered in seems of sand that transmit moisture) you have to consider treating the soil with some sort of moisture conditioning.

It usually sucks spending money (especially if it's not in the original budget) on improvements that you can't see or touch, but if having peace of mind is important, then having a qualified geotech tell you exactly what soils you are building on is money well spent.

I'm currently having Tilson build my house. My only complaint (if you could call it a complaint) is how long it takes to get the wheels in motion. Being the buyer, you want everything to happen fast but it doesn't. It takes time to get everything right which I understand now. Plus, the weather wasn't on my side initially. Once the ball got rolling, I can't believe how fast things are happening and the quality of the work. I can go into detail if need be but right now, I couldn't be happier with them. Great company to deal with so far. I went through the Boerne office; Mallory with the sale and Hunter with the build. Both very, very good people. Would highly recommend.

schmellba99 said:

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When I framed houses in CS, we didn't use them. But the owner of the company was militant about us grading out the bundles of wood when they first got delivered, and if we had to cripple more than about 2 or 3 studs in any given wall to ensure a nice flat surface for the rockers, we were liable to be put on trash and water duty for the next build as punishment and to be taught a lesson on making sure the walls were straight and plumb.

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Which builder did you work for and when? If this was from your college days, I bet I delivered to some of your job sites (and if it's the contractor I'm thinking, I probably picked a lot of it back up by hand as well). Billy Crouch's crew?

ETA: Didn't realize this thread was 3 years old.

We are looking for a GC in the Navasota/Waller area. We have had a construction company ourselves in the past, but for the CU, we are required to have a GC, plus we really don't want to do all that work anymore at our age. We are actually 1/2 way between Waller & Navasota. Any recommendations? Have gone to Tilson, but found that most of their plans do not consider country living with a view. We have our own plans.

rilloaggie said:

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Full disclosure, I work for the engineering firm that designs all of Tilson's foundations and handles about half of their energy efficiency ratings.

Tilson is a rare bird, a weird mix of a rural custom builder and volume builder. They can use the purchasing power of a large builder because they build nearly 1000 homes a year but have to contend with the headaches of a custom builder in that they build all over and are not just filling a subdivision. I have been on their slabs from Victoria to Orange to Nacogdoches to Mexia and everywhere in between.

I can echo what an earlier poster said that it takes a while to get the ball rolling. I think they estimate 90 days to get started from when you sign the paperwork. 3-5 weeks of that time is my company sending a drilling rig out to take borings and do soils testing(You want this done on any home if you want a proper foundation designed!) Once the foundation is done they seem to go up fairly quickly though.

I have seen everything from 1500 sqft 3/1 homes in Navasota to 4500 sqft homes with detached garages in Montgomery and a 2-story home with a library in Madisonville. They will build whatever you want if you have the money to get it done.

They don't skimp on materials such as studs. In the building industry finger-jointed studs have become very common but Tilson still uses single board studs and from what I've seen their framers do great work. All their homes will be either Energystar or Environments for Living certified. Both of these programs factor in insulation, windows, appliances, and many other factors to make sure the home is designed and will operate energy efficiently and are verified by third party inspectors. All of their foundations will have engineered plans that I think highly of and can personally testify to the quality of. We inspect every one before we allow concrete to be placed and I don't hesitate to tell them no-go if a sub has done a poor job on the makeup. They will have a proper soils report done and the design will be based on how good/bad the soil on your site is. The energy efficiency will be verified by my company if you are anywhere but around the Houston area, another firm handles that market.

From working in the industry I can tell you that Tilson does as good of a job building 100's of homes as anyone out there. They build quality homes because they know that they aren't building "starter" homes for their customers. Most of their customers are building the home for the rest of their life and not for the next 5-10 years and Tilson builds homes to meet the needs of a long term homeowner.

tl;dr version, Tilson builds quality homes. They may not be as custom as some local builders doing 5 homes a year but they also aren't building cookie cutters like many other builders their size. If I were in the position to build on acreage today Tilson would be my only call.

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Your company should be getting an order to come do our house in the FM 949/IH 10 area in Colorado County. We just had our stake out. Measured a 27" slope from high to low on our site over a width of ~105 feet.