When building your home, you need a solid team of professionals to help you with the pre-construction planning and the actual construction of the house. Your main team members during the construction process are the civil engineer and the surveyor. Civil engineers conceive, plan, build and oversee infrastructure projects. They possess technical skills that enable them to use design software in order to plan and visualise the eventual outcome of the project.

They also have advanced project management skills, which help them manage a diverse team of professionals to accomplish the goals at hand. In the case of your residential home, civil engineers are responsible for planning the following components of the project:

Plot Plans

Plot plans/site plans define, to scale, the positions of roads, buildings and other constructions of an existing or proposed project site. Civil engineers draw out your plot plan, and they detail how your house fits on the lot. They can also use their creativity and communication skills to design the overall lot layout to your specifications.

Utility Runs

Civil engineers also make sure you have proper drainage, that your driveway is functional and that your utilities are in the right place. Utility planning is critical to your budget. If utilities like drainage are not well designed, you can have severe damage done to your foundation. Foundation work can be costly, so you want to avoid any potential damage that may come about.

Zoning Requirements

Civil engineers also make sure your property meets zoning requirements. Zoning requirements specify whether an area can be used for commercial or residential purposes. Zoning also regulates the height of structures, bulk and lot size. Most municipalities will require that a plot plan be submitted with the permit application to ensure that proper zoning has been done.

Landscaping and Budgeting

A civil engineer usually has land surveyors on site that will also check the house footprint for excavation. The surveyors mark the outer corners of the home and verify grades just before landscaping. A civil engineer may also help with budgeting costs for moving dirt.

The landscaping budget varies based on the size of your home or the type of foundation (either basement or slab and your lock grade) being installed. In addition, your engineer can tell you whether you're going to have excess dirt to haul off your property. This service comes in handy since hauling can be the biggest unexpected cost you'll face and it is difficult to estimate.

Reach out to a civil engineering service to learn more.

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