Utilities Hookup For Land Development

theJmack

This is my first post, I hope this is in the right section!

We have purchased a 14 acre piece of property in Arkansas from a motivated buyer for a relatively cheap price. We aim to take advantage of this good deal by divided it into eight 1.75 acre lots and selling them. We would have made more lots out of it, but it's kind of in the country, as such, most people out there want a bit of land. This isn't a very big project, but it's a way for us to get into the business. We will not be building houses or anything, just selling the land as building sites.

The land lays along 1400' of road frontage going about 400' deep, with each lot being about 175' wide while extending the full depth. We were told that the land had city water, as it turns out, however, the water main ran along the road up to the edge of our land! So, we had to buy 1400' of water main pipe, which is still being installed. We definitely wanted the lots to have city water to make them worth more.

My main question has to do with hooking up the utilities. Being that we are simply selling them as building sites, should we take responsibility for all of the utilities and contact all of the respective providers or leave that to the contractor that will build the house?

Thanks in advance,
Jordan

cleveman

The answer is it depends.

If natural gas is available, it is less expensive than propane. You would probably have to pay to have it extended to lot #1, and the gas co. would be best informed about the subdivision.

If propane is the only option, then you don't have any considerations.

With the electricity, again, it depends. Is it across the street, or does it need to come from an end?

It doesn't seem like you have your land subdivided yet. These are things which you will want to consider for your preliminary plat.

Sewer will have to be addressed as well. If sanitary sewer service is not available, then you may have to have some soil tests done before the plat is approved.

Don't forget about internet access and telephone. Usually these are not a problem, but they certainly could be. High speed internet access is surely a desirable thing.

Kgmz

Who is doing the short plat for you? Surveyer, Civil Engineer, etc.

Water, sewage (sewers or septic), power, gas, phone, etc. These are all things that he should be addressing in the plat, and are usually neccessary to get the plat approved.

theJmack

Thanks so much for the responses, guys! If you don't mind, I just want to clarify a few things.

Ok, so I have to make sure that the natural gas lines (if available) are simply contiguous to the land as a whole, leaving further setting up for the builders, correct? Otherwise, a propane tank would just be set up at the builder/home owners request?

And for electricity, it would be the same as gas? Meaning I shouldn't worry about running to each individual lot?

We already had the land tested for septic tanks and that was approved by the health dept.

It's a local surveyor that is going to be doing the plat for us.

I have yet to contact the telephone company. The chamber of commerce website for that area links me to AT&T's website for telephone service. I've searched that website and can't seem to find any number or email for new hook ups. Once I do get ahold of them, though, is that something that will need to be installed on each lot?

Thanks so much guys!
Jordan

genecarp

what you are refering to in your first post is an (improved lot), as a builder i would pay more for an improved lot, you would be able to charge more. if the expense of setting these sights up with utilities is in your budget, you will get more for the lots, and will probably move them faster.

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