Evaluating the impact of large construction project on my house

December 20, 2018 5:35 AM

I live in a small row/terrace of six older houses. The row has some minor/liveable issues with long-term settling etc, such as off kilter walls/floors, small cracks up the sides of houses, etc. A major construction project will be going next door up on the same block - as in physically adjacent to the end house. It is steel framed, may involve pile driving etc. Neighbors are interested in the possibility of investing in some kind of pre- and post- structural survey, to identify any impact on our houses (movement, etc.). What should we be considering? - for instance, what sort of specialist should we hire, and what should we ask them to look for? Thank you!

For instance, I'm assuming (with no background in this) that surveying tools are now precise enough to identify any movements in the row pre- and post-construction. I appreciate that this is a bit vague, I'm be happy to respond to further queries in the thread.

posted by carter to Home & Garden (7 answers total)

I think you'd be looking at finding a structural engineer who specialises in residential buildings - maybe one whose remit also includes things like assessing damage for insurance. At this point, your best bet is probably to call and talk to some professionals - if you don't get the right person straight away, they're likely to be able to point you in the right direction. I don't think you should worry about specific things you need to ask or specific techniques - that's their job; yours is to explain fully what the situation is, and your concerns about damage to your properties.
posted by pipeski at 5:55 AM on December 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

Depending on where you live, you may be able to get the developers to pay for the structural survey: certainly in the UK this would be covered by a party wall agreement. If you have free legal cover with your home insurance it would be worth checking things out with a property lawyer/conveyancer (in our case our old conveyancer also recommended a structural surveyor she had worked with in the past).
posted by tinkletown at 6:05 AM on December 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

Did this project go through an application planning process? Did you guys participate in those public meetings? Everything you listed should be part of the planning process and publicly posted. Any damage is on the builder, but more importantly mitigating those concerns during the building phase should be explicitly written into their approval with your city/county.

You can have the work stopped if this is a significant risk.

During application hearings, your side presents why their plan puts your dwellings at risk, their side presents, then the city/county approves their application with whatever stipulations pertinent to your concerns will make the project safe.

What stage are you at? Have you contacted the relevant planning department about this project yet?

You might need a lawyer and an engineer. The lawyer probably has an engineer they work with.

There’s usually politics involved in these things. Google other projects in your area to find lawyers that have successfully advocated for safer building developments in your area to find someone that will do a good job in your jurisdiction advocating for your rights.
posted by jbenben at 11:00 AM on December 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

For instance, I'm assuming (with no background in this) that surveying tools are now precise enough to identify any movements in the row pre- and post-construction.

A friend is a surveyor, and most of his work seems to be "go to this worksite twice a week for months and make sure nothing is moving". Most of the time it's walls of underground parking structures he is measuring, but sometimes it's existing buildings adjacent to whatever new is getting built.
posted by sideshow at 11:31 AM on December 20, 2018

I live in Washington DC and when I had to deal with a larger building being built adjacent to mine, we had to execute an underpinning agreement. THe city insisted on it and I had a real estate lawyer draft it for me. He also had me insist that the developer name me on the insurance policy as an additional insured party, which apparently would have allowed me to make a claim to the insurance company directly, if necessary. The developer hired a building surveyor to come through my property and document every corner, wall, etc, both inside and out, with photographs, before the project began. I was given a copy of the report. In the end, there was no damage throughout the process, but I felt covered if there had been.
posted by juggler at 2:54 PM on December 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Getting back to this after a busy day ... jbenben - the application planning process is still to come, and the meeting dates have not been announced. But there have already been a number of public meetings anyway, as it's such a big development.
posted by carter at 5:05 PM on December 20, 2018

I have been through this, in Philadelphia. If you're in the US I strongly second juggler's advice, along with the suggestions to talk to a structural engineer experienced in old buildings. If you have existing cracks, you can get crack monitors (one kind), and if there will be pile driving you can also likely get them to set up vibration monitors. They should be encouraged to use less-disruptive piles if possible - helical piles are basically screwed in instead of the banging, but aren't always an option. And get an emergency phone number for your city building department.

The UK has a separate system that I'm not familiar with.
posted by sepviva at 7:56 PM on December 21, 2018