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coordinating grading with the build next door

10 years ago

The lot next to ours has just about finished all their dirt work. We hope we'll be starting within the next month or so. Because we are both adding a few feet of elevation, I wonder if it might be helpful to have a chat with the neighbors-to-be about the grading between our homes. How much is reasonable to know about someone else's plans? Is this something our building inspector/permit giver/guy who does everything in our smallish town will know about already and discuss with us when we go for plan review? We want to be good neighbors, and so we've discussed drainage with the existing home on the other side since we'll be 3 feet higher than their home.

Has anyone ever had this kind of discussion/arrangement? We do know the family (our kids are in sports and school together). Any tips or words of caution?

Comment (1)

Spottythecat
10 years ago
I think you should wait until you get survey/engineering documents approved. Our builder guided us when the time was right. If you engage them too early, they may have questions and you will end up being the "go between" back and forth. I would wait for something you can show them...a drainage plan with a landscape plan. We had to talk to our neighbors about a hump between our lots that needed to be flattened for drainage. Our builder told us when to approach them and we were able to show them right in the yard so they could get a visual...it was a simple 10 minute conversation.
Enjoy your build!
Pam
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