Blue Willow Ridge Nest #3
Single-Family Residence Under 2,000 sq.ft.
SCW Footings & Foundations
Salt Lake City, Utah

The intrigue of the residential foundation that is under 2,000 sq.ft. is often overlooked in today’s construction economy, where bigger is spectacular and ostentatious is attractive. Some of the most challenging projects, however, come in small packages. That is the case for this year’s winner set in the “mountainscape” near Eden, Utah.

The main challenge for this project was the steep hillside of the lot. In a small footprint of only 1,076 sq.ft., the walls stepped thirteen times to cover a vertical descent of 15 feet. Steps are labor intensive, and when the project is small, they become dominant in the project costs. In addition to the significant number of wall steps, the small footprint incorporated 26 corners and three separate rebar schedules.

“This project was a long distance from our base of operations,” states John Graber of SCW Footings & Foundations. “Given its size, we could not afford to mobilize each crew for just this project, so we found a creative way to integrate it with trips to larger projects in and around the same area.”

Project Statistics:

194 lin. ft. of wall, 1,076 sq.ft. footprint
74 yd3 of concrete, 5,005 lin. ft. of steel
13 wall heights from 2 to 11 ft., all 8 in. thick