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A builder in Phoenix told me custom homes there use way more concrete than I ever guessed
I was talking to a custom home builder at a show in Scottsdale last month, and he said a typical 3,000 square foot house in that area uses over 200 cubic yards of concrete just for the slab and footings. I always thought it was a lot less, maybe half that. He said the soil and heat mean you need a really thick, solid base to stop cracks. On one side, that seems like a huge amount of material and cost. On the other, it makes sense for a forever home to have a super strong foundation. Has anyone built in a hot, dry climate and seen numbers like that?
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william_taylor7mo ago
Our slab in Tucson was under 100 yards.
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johnson.caleb7mo ago
That Phoenix number sounds about right to me. The ground out there is brutal, all that expansive clay that moves like crazy with any moisture. You can't just pour a normal slab, it'll be a cracked mess in a year. They end up doing these massive, overbuilt foundations with tons of steel, which just eats up concrete. It's a huge cost, but skimping on it is way more expensive later.
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