If I’m going to dramatically overspend on a project fundamental, there must be a good reason. Too often in building, particularly at the higher end market, significant overspending is done just because the budget is there to do so. Or design mistakes are made necessitating taller walls and lateral stability details that go unnoticed when the building is complete (as in nobody sees or benefits where the additional cost was incurred. I’ve done that plenty of times as well). The key budget killer is extra deep footings, stepped footings and walls, 10 foot walls, and concrete supported elevated patio details. Most of these element are shown in my townhouse project, except the over digging part. Most evident is use of technique to support the top of the concrete patio slab at 4 inches below the plywood subfloor. This means the patio is higher than the concrete walls of the basement by a significant sum. The engineer doesn’t like a concrete slab being poured against a wood joist structure so the work around is to make the front wall of the townhouse 10 ft, while the rest is 9 ft. The walls supporting the yet to be poured patio slab are then set at 9 inches below the subfloor, the slab is poured 5 inches thick, and the effect is a minor 4 inch drop at the transition from inside to outside space. In this case the outside space is a 3 sided south facing patio overlooking the the ice cream store. Is it with it? We will find out soon.
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