Good news–you’re building a post frame building! Before we get started, it’s important that you follow a number of recommendations to ensure your site is prepped and ready for the crew to arrive.
“In my experience of building hundreds of post frame buildings across Western Canada, you’ll have the best experience–and building–if you take some extra time to prepare your site well before the crew arrives,” says Al Williams, partner at Integrity Post Structures. “A well-prepared site can make the construction process run much more smoothly and efficiently.”
1. Choosing your site
When you’re looking for a building site, choose a location that will allow proper water drainage from all four corners of your building.
2. Call before you dig
Every time you dig in the ground on your property, there is a safety risk if you hit any of the many buried cables, conduits, gas or oil pipelines or other underground facilities.
This is an important step to help ensure construction safety. Call your local utility provider to find out what is buried on your site and which areas to avoid. They will help to identify and locate owner-installed utilities as well as utility company services.
3. Prepare and level your site
Remove all organic material and level site within six inches across all perimeter points of the building. Get the most accurate measurements of your site is by using a transit level. The transit level can be invaluable to anyone planning to build a new structure.
In preparing your site, you may need to clear trees, rocks, underbrush, or anything else that may be in the way of your building pad. Low spots may need to be backfilled, or high spots leveled.
At the end of this exercise, your building pad should be as level as possible. Your building is designed to be level with the highest part of the ground. If the site is not level, there will be a gap under the building where the ground slopes. You may need to backfill topsoil or gravel around perimeter of the building to ensure proper water drainage is maintained.
This is a critical step to complete before the crew arrives.
4. Place gravel outside the building footprint
On your contract, we will have indicated how much gravel you need to have before we start construction. Arrange to have gravel delivered before the crew arrives, place outside of the building footprint.
5. Construction and delivery clearance
The construction crew requires 15’ clearance around the perimeter of your building. A suitable staging area for the building materials is also required within close proximity of the building site. Confirm these details with your sales representative before the crew arrives.
Click here to find a checklist of tasks pre and post-construction to help ensure a smooth delivery of your post frame building project.
