Leawood Custom Estate

The Challenge

What Made This Project Difficult

The lot fell 11 feet from the street to the rear property line, with a shallow limestone shelf roughly four feet below grade across the building pad. The clients wanted a walkout lower level with full daylight on three sides, which meant significant rock excavation and a retaining strategy that would not compromise the neighboring property.

Our Approach

How Mavrix Solved It

We engaged a geotechnical engineer to map the limestone shelf and designed a stepped footing system that followed the rock rather than blasting through it. Rock excavation was sequenced with a hoe ram and removed on a fixed haul schedule to keep the street clear. A reinforced segmental retaining wall with an engineered drainage bed resolved the grade change on the north property line, and the walkout level was framed with a steel beam to eliminate interior columns in the main recreation space.

Outcomes

• Blower door test came in at 1.6 ACH50, well inside the ENERGY STAR target
• Rock excavation completed without damage to two neighboring retaining walls
• Final cost within 1.8 percent of the fixed-price contract
• Delivered two weeks inside the 14-month contract schedule