Hillside Construction

On any Burnaby hillside lot we engage a geotech before the architect goes too far. The soils report, slope stability assessment, and infiltration testing dictate where the foundation can sit, what retaining is needed, and how the drainage works. Designing a footprint without that data is the single most common reason hillside builds blow their budget — by the time the report comes in, drawings need to be redone and the schedule has already slipped a season.

On lots in Capitol Hill or Westridge we routinely step the foundation across two or three elevations to follow the grade rather than fight it. That means engineered concrete walls — often six to ten feet of exposed face — designed for lateral soil loads, not just gravity. Every retaining wall over 1.2 m needs a permit and engineer's seal under the BC Building Code. We coordinate the structural, geotechnical and civil engineers so the wall sequencing matches the excavation plan.

Burnaby's annual rainfall and the slope itself mean water management is the difference between a dry house and a five-year warranty claim. We install perimeter drains tied to dedicated sumps, sub-slab drainage where the water table demands it, and surface swales above any cut. On hillside builds we also stage erosion and sediment control through the wet months — required by the City of Burnaby and audited by inspectors more aggressively on slope lots than on flat ones.

The view is usually why the lot was bought, and Burnaby's zoning includes height envelope rules that protect neighbours' sight lines. We work with the architect to test massing against the height-envelope diagram before drawings get too far along. The Burnaby tree bylaw also kicks in early — significant trees on slope lots often hold the soil, and removal triggers replacement requirements and arborist reports. Plan that work into the schedule, not around it.

Hillside lots are usually narrow, with one access point and a neighbour close on each side. Crane picks, concrete pours, framing deliveries — every one of these has to be choreographed weeks in advance. We pre-plan staging, lay temporary access where needed, and sequence trades to minimise crossover. The day a concrete truck can't reach the pour because someone parked the lumber delivery in the wrong spot is the day the schedule loses a week.

Hillside homes have failure modes flat lots don't — wall ties, drainage tile, perimeter waterproofing, slope creep on landscaped grades. We document the as-built drainage and waterproofing in the handover package, and we stay reachable for the 2-5-10 home warranty period and beyond. Most callbacks on hillside houses happen in the first two wet seasons; we'd rather catch a small drainage issue in year one than a saturated wall in year four.