If the ripping is not required...

[Daniel]

I would wait until you have the house done. except maybe a spot for the workers to park. Trees could be planted directly into the ground, no extra soil needed. Do you plan on having a lawn?


Daniel R Diamond

[John S. Rabi]

The bid from your builder should include the dozing of the lot. Since it's only 8,000 sq.ft. and doesn't have native plants you might want to have the whole lot dozed.

Aloha,
John S. Rabi, GM,ARB,BFT,CM,CBR,FHS,PB,RB
808.989.1314
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Typically Tropical Properties
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[StillHope]

Thank you ,John!
You are always so helpful!
Daniel,I don't plan to have a lawn,but I do plan to have a well)):
May be you drive you rig back and forth on the lot and I don't need to have a dozer?

[DanielP]

Hope, The A'a is like popcorn shaped rock. A Mediun sized dozer like a D-5 or D-7 will crush and level it out. Then bring in soil. Personally, I would bring in the dozer before the house is built.
It will make the construction easier and I wouldn't want a dozer near my foundation.
Job could be done in a day guess $130/hr. plus $500 transport. You might want to leave some of the perimeter natural. 8,000' doesn't leave alot of room though.

[StillHope]

Thanks,DanielP.
Burned popcorn-that's it!
Seriously,I appreciate your input.

[Carey]

Stillhope, found some photos of Seaview, so you get an idea of what the subdivision looks like (inc. some of the more unusual homes).

Most of the lots in Seaview would not need much of anything, as they are fairly level & do not have the extreme A'a rubble (there are some videos of the sea side across from Seaview that does have extreme A'a rubble) and as you have seen with Carrie’s container garden, you can start harvesting without spending a lot …. & as you figure out what & where, you can do it. Depending on the ferns, they could be adding to the thin soils on your lot until you are ready to work it.

One of the reasons most people are telling you to wait until you are ready, as soon as you put dirt down, all sorts of things will start growing, if you are not ready to control them, they will turn into a jungle in a few months, so use the vegetation that is there until you are ready to take control of an area, and then work it...

Here are the photos:

http://www.bigislandworld.com/gallery/sh...?photo=157&cat=534

Seaview Utube:

Drive into Seaview ( a’a rubble by ocean - 2:30, entry into Seaview Estates - 3:00)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtybEzzJ_pE&feature=related

Raining in Seaview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpQt3pgsZo4&feature=related

Seaview weird houses:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A9Po59uWwY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucba5KWcVks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj0cPOVOiIA&feature=related

Hope this helps you figure out things...

[StillHope]

Carey,thanks a lot!
Such a picture gallery!
Endless road, "drunken house",a movie made by "donisnutty"..

[Guest]

Well the ripping is about to get a lot more expensive here on the island.[:0]

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[waynesb]

Why frighten all these people who would never consider clearing a vast swath of land? These rules apply to areas of MORE THAN an ACRE!

[robguz]

I agree that you should wait before you do much with most of your lot. There is so much that is going to happen and you need areas for trucks to pull in and materials to be left, trash to pile up. Bring whatever soil or soil mix when the house is done. I limited my planting to the periphery until recently. I bought bags of supersoil, cinder, and compost and spot planted, then covered with the free mulch. You can plant quite a lot with that strategy. But I needed to keep large areas open for trucks that delivered things like base course. A good surprise was that when they did my septic, they spread the rock that came out over about 1/5 of my lot so that part evened out and kept the weeds down for a while. They covered the leech field and tank with cinder too. Just wait, it will be much easier to deal with when you're done. The top foot of the Seaview a'a rubble is full of big chunks. Below that it is different and more like cinder. The big chunks aren't like cinder, which is why they aren't really very overgrown on most lots.