- A professional excavation contractor can dig a standard residential basement, including excavating the trenches for the footings, in less than a day. That doesn’t mean that the excavation contractor can dig on short notice. Depending on his skill and the demand for excavation contractors in your area, you may need to schedule it in advance. As soon as he excavates the site, you can form and pour the footings within a day's time.
- Forming and reinforcing the walls takes more time than forming the footings, because you must install vertical and horizontal steel rebar in accordance with your local building codes. Once you finish the reinforcement, the building inspector will check the forms to make sure you’ve added enough steel for a structurally sound wall.
- When you pour concrete, you get one chance to do it right. Ensure that all workers are briefed and can perform as much as their duties as possible without guidance while they're completing them. Once the concrete trucks start dumping, the flow of concrete should not stop until the pour is complete. As soon as one truck empties and pulls out, another should be waiting and ready to continue the pour. You’ll have to vibrate the concrete from the top of the wall while it’s wet to remove air voids and smooth the top as you go. With no delays, a simple foundation wall pour can take approximately two hours.
- The concrete wall will set hard enough to strip off the forms the following day, but your contractor may want to let the concrete cure for a couple of weeks before starting construction. Local code might also require a minimum curing time after the pour before construction can begin.