by Ryan Schruender 
So you’ve done all the paperwork and preparation, and now you’re ready to get started. Now what?
This is Part 4 of our series on building a custom home in North Andover: breaking ground. Here’s what the ground-breaking process looks like.
Once all your red tape is finalized and the builder is ready, it’s time to get the engineers, builders, and excavators moving onto the next step:
Dig.
Getting the lot staked for digging
Call your engineer and ask them to come out and stake the lot. They will put out stakes to mark the corners of your foundation as well as some off set marks for your excavator to work with.
If needed, you will need to get your lot cleared of trees. If they are small you can do it yourself. But if not, please hire a professional. Tree service is no joke.
We did a few ourselves then called Saddle Up Tree Service from Methuen for the rest.
In some cases, your engineers may need to work with Dig Safe. In our case, the lot had never been developed, so it had no underground utilities. And were far enough from the street that it wasn’t a problem.
But make sure you do your homework (or ask your contractor) on underground utilities!
Time to dig!
After your lot is staked and you engineers give you the green light, you’re ready to dig. Either you or your builder will call the excavator to get going.
Finally you get to see some progress.
And if you’re lucky, they might even let you drive the excavator…
See it in action
Here is a little video of our basement excavation for you to enjoy. 2 days of digging in 1 minute!
Looks like fun, doesn’t it? And I gotta say — it feels GREAT to finally see some good progress made.
Thanks as always to the whole crew who have helped us out on this.
Next step: Foundation
Truth be told, we’re a little behind on blog posts and the foundation has already been poured. We’ll write about that process and show off some more photos next week.
But in the meantime, here’s a teaser from my Instagram account. Check it out!
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