Acreage development?

[Crazy8]

Thinking about doing another house build, this time an acreage. The lot I'm interested is in a newer acreage subdivision with services to the property line. 3.5 acres, relatively high ground for the area, kinda hilly backing onto trees.
Square foot cost for the construction should be pretty much the same as in town (5 miles out) but I am unsure about some other parts of the development.
So here the questions start:
-What am I Looking at for cost to set up cistern and septic? What type of systems work well, what to stay away from?
-Bringing services to the build site, approx 200' from current location? Locate flags are Telus, Atco and Fortis.
-Taxes, country residential vs in town?
- Insurance difference between the two? (Still only 12km from fire hall but no hydrants)

Any tips or advice from people who have done the same would be greatly appreciated.

 

[rzrgade]

With very little info ( well depth , septic type ,gas company etc ) it is hard to say exactly ... But I would have no less than 60000 in the budget ....at least .

 

[MrHankey]

We applied for power through the rea qoute came in at 19000 we refused the qoute signed the paper work saying we refuse had fortis qoute it 6300$.

 

[rsaint]

Sevices to property line are power and gas only or these prepaid , you can go ask people that have developed there and see what info they would share on well depths and septic see if there are holding tanks or fields or mounds, and as rzrgade says 60 is a good number to have.

 

[rsaint]

We applied for power through the rea qoute came in at 19000 we refused the qoute signed the paper work saying we refuse had fortis qoute it 6300$.

Was that Tomahawk rea.

 

[MrHankey]

Was that Tomahawk rea.

No drayton valley

 

[Cat401]

We applied for power through the rea qoute came in at 19000 we refused the qoute signed the paper work saying we refuse had fortis qoute it 6300$.

Does that mean you signed out of your REA?

 

[52weekbreak]

Septic system is around $20,000 to $28,000 installed depending on the system. We installed Jet-Bat in 2008 and have had no problems. Jet Wastewater Treatment Plant | Commercial and Residential Wastewater Treatment | Wastewater Treatment Companies
Cisterns are about $1.50 to $2.00 per gallon for storage so a 2500 Imperial gallon tank (don't get smaller) is between $3,700 to $5,000 plus installation.
Wells are dependent on depth but a cheap well starts at $10,000. Check alberta environment website and the log all the water wells in the area, depth and productivity.
Power and gas: once again depends on distance covered. Depending on the contractor, you might get a break if you prepare the ditch for them.

Good luck. We have been on an acreage since 1990 and have always loved it.

 

[j335]

I'm in process of planning acreage near Calgary and $50k is a tight budget, I agree $60k is better. I already have a well, will be doing the road myself and an electrician friend will help run underground wire and we're still estimating around $50k.

Why do you need a phone line? Likely only around $3k but we certainly ain't planning on wasting money for that.

Also for taxes I think the city is higher when comparing a cost vs cost comparison? I never noticed a huge difference when looking.

 

[DaveB]

A huge cistern is only needed if you are hauling water. If you have a well that puts out over 4 gal/min all you need is a pressure tank/switch. Our well was around 10k with pumps and small (250 gal) cistern. We need the small one because our output is only 2 gal/min. So basically we have a floaty switch that keeps the cistern filled with the down-hole pump, and a big "RV pump" that feeds the house. (works just like your trailer water) Been working fine for 3 years now, no issues. (other than frozen line year 1 due to too shallow bury...fixed under warranty)

Septic tank and field was 16k. Ours is only sized for a 4 bedroom house....20k is probably more realistic.

Gas and electric was to property line as well....one of them was a flat rate hook up, 1500 bucks or something. Didn't matter if it was 6' or 600'...I think that was electric. The other was 2k or so. We had to run about 100'.

Telus wanted 400 million dollars to run from ditch to house (not really, but it was exorbitant)...CCI wireless internet with IP phone works just beauty.

Gravel is not cheap....I think I have 10k in gravel without trying too hard.

Taxes are about the same as what we paid in town, but the property is worth 3x as much.

 

[j335]

A huge cistern is only needed if you are hauling water. If you have a well that puts out over 4 gal/min all you need is a pressure tank/switch. Our well was around 10k with pumps and small (250 gal) cistern. We need the small one because our output is only 2 gal/min. So basically we have a floaty switch that keeps the cistern filled with the down-hole pump, and a big "RV pump" that feeds the house. (works just like your trailer water) Been working fine for 3 years now, no issues. (other than frozen line year 1 due to too shallow bury...fixed under warranty)

Septic tank and field was 16k. Ours is only sized for a 4 bedroom house....20k is probably more realistic.

Gas and electric was to property line as well....one of them was a flat rate hook up, 1500 bucks or something. Didn't matter if it was 6' or 600'...I think that was electric. The other was 2k or so. We had to run about 100'.

Telus wanted 400 million dollars to run from ditch to house (not really, but it was exorbitant)...CCI wireless internet with IP phone works just beauty.

Gravel is not cheap....I think I have 10k in gravel without trying too hard.

Taxes are about the same as what we paid in town, but the property is worth 3x as much.

Thanks! Loved your old thread on your acreage build, I've referenced one a bunch in my planning! To the OP, search acreage build and it's about a 3 yr old thread.

At what depth what your water line buried when it froze and at what depth is it now?

 

[rzrgade]

It's the small things that add up... Landscaping, trees , concrete, top soil, etc etc .....
Unless nat gas is prepaid into the subdivision, it does not matter if they are coming 2 miles or 200' , the cost will be the same .... About 8000$ in our area....
I would suggest buying a skid steer , and selling it when done ... It will pay for it self !
They are a lot of work but very rewarding.....
You don't want to know my gravel expenses.....!

 

[DaveB]

Thanks! Loved your old thread on your acreage build, I've referenced one a bunch in my planning! To the OP, search acreage build and it's about a 3 yr old thread.

At what depth what your water line buried when it froze and at what depth is it now?

When they exposed it in the spring it was 4.5' down....waaaaay too shallow. Now at 7' AND has a sheet of 2" styro over it in the trench. House is a walk-out with the utility room at the back, so there was little ground cover until you start heading towards the front (up the hill).

 

[MrHankey]

Does that mean you signed out of your REA?

Yes

 

[Rotax_Kid]

I'm in Sask, but live 6km on 2 acres to the nearest town.

Out here, Septic is completely dependent on number of occupants, toilets, etc. It's individually sized to soil conditions, etc. Neighbours in a sandier area than me had to put mounds in and are in the $18-20K range. Leach fields have been cheaper to put in.

Insurance for us has a limitation on being within 8km of fire services. Any further out than that and our insurance would be going up as I understand they assume fire protection would be too late to respond and the chances of a full loss are higher.

Wells here have varied in price obviously from depth, but some of the deeper wells in the area are down 230' and were $10K to drill, case, screen, and set the pump. That's with VFD pumps ~20GPM.

Services vary on how close/far you are from a connection point. Locally, gas is the most expensive to run and is only done by the utility..take it or leave it.

We are on wireless internet...we have a cabinet a kilometer from our hamlet...local provider wants $100K to run fibre into town and distribute over 16 properties. No thanks.

Our property is larger than in the city, but are taxes are pretty darn close to what we would pay for an equivalent valued property in the city. Again, being in Sask, and in a different RM, mill rates, approach, etc all different than what you would see.

$60K is probably a good number, but with so many variables, I wouldn't be surprised to see +-20%.

As mentioned above about aggregate...fella I work with built a house 500ft off of the main road. Had to haul aggregate in to build his approach, 14' wide and built up about 3'. Cost him very close to $20K.

 

[SwampRatt]

I wouldn't go back to living in town for anything, taxes are very reasonable where we are, but insurance on an acreage is off the hook the last couple years, and it's only gonna get worse. Make sure to shop around and make them compete with each other for your business

 

[rsaint]

It's the small things that add up... Landscaping, trees , concrete, top soil, etc etc .....
Unless nat gas is prepaid into the subdivision, it does not matter if they are coming 2 miles or 200' , the cost will be the same .... About 8000$ in our area....
I would suggest buying a skid steer , and selling it when done ... It will pay for it self !
They are a lot of work but very rewarding.....
You don't want to know my gravel expenses.....![/
Looks goood from the last time I was there.

 

[Summitric]

Did u put the really thick gravel liner down underneath the gravel?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[rzrgade]

No liner ...I have a2000' drive way .
Lots of packing .

 

[Uturn]

Septic rules changed in 2009. We started building in 2010. Basically mounds are out of the question now unless you have a lot of flat ground. (Our mound design was 14ft wide and 165ft long or 800 lineal ft of Infultrators) Our septic system was designed for a 4 bedroom house. 4 tank treatment plant with surface pumpout into the trees. 5 years old now. It gets a yearly cleaning. $40k install plus $300 yearly fee.

One power pole with 100A service was $7k from Fortis. Upgrading to 200A was additional $5k. I ran 200A wire from pole to house so all I need to upgrade in future is the transformer. My cost was $3k from pole to house. Fortis was $18k for same install.

A safe number now to service an acreage is closer to $100k