Thankfully the contractors are experienced. They had the forethought to cover the building site with hay and then a very large tarp. This prevented the ground from freezing. Had they not taken these extra steps some recent snow storms in the area could have halted the ground breaking until spring. Their advanced planning however allowed for excavation to begin in late November. Below are pictures of their progress.
Trees are cut down. The circular driveway is in.
The framework you see is for the footings, which is where the heavy bearing areas are. The dug out area toward the big lake is where the walkout area of the basement will be. Notice how much extra space is needed around the actual home site for work area and piling dirt.
Here is a photo showing the concrete footings. The steel rods poking upright are to tie the concrete walls to the footings. The form in the ground at the far left is where the lower garage door will be. Wherever there is exposed basement (walkout), a frost wall is needed. There will be three garage stalls at this level and three more above this.
Concrete forms are being filled for foundation walls. The forms were stripped off a few days after this photo was taken. The small lake is in the background.
Another view of the basement, poured-wall foundation. The opening in top middle area is where the prow basement walkout wall will be. The prow walkout wall will be built with 2"x6" construction.
This photo is a great example of what is needed for additional frost walls where the walkout basement walls will be. Anywhere you have a walkout basement in colder climates, you need to have a frost wall under the basement wall to keep the foundation from heaving.