Services
When the lot is solid rock, there is more than one way to build on it. We use the one that suits the site.
Cottage country sits on the Canadian Shield, and sooner or later every builder here meets a lot where the topsoil runs out and solid granite begins. Standard footing details assume a level excavated base; rock gives you anything but. It is work we do a lot of, and it is worth saying plainly that there is more than one right answer.
The two approaches we use most often are scribing the footing formwork to the rock — cutting each board to the stone's real profile and pinning the footing to it with epoxied dowels — or scribing the ICF itself directly onto the rock and pouring off that. Which one we recommend depends on the rock profile, the grade, the engineering and how much of the footprint is actually on stone.
Sometimes the answer is neither, and the right move is levelling, engineered fill or removing rock with our partners. We will tell you which it is after we have walked the site, rather than selling you the method we happen to like.
Every form board is cut to the rock's real profile so the footing bears fully on sound rock — no voids underneath, no concrete bleeding out under the forms.
Where it suits the site we scribe the insulated concrete form itself onto the rock and pour off that, taking a step out of the sequence.
Rebar dowels drilled and epoxy-set into sound rock tie the footing — and everything above it — to the Shield itself.
Sound bedrock has essentially nothing beneath it to settle. The challenge is purely in the forming and anchoring, which is the craft.
Level runs connected by vertical steps, engineered so every run bears on stone and every top lands where the walls need it.
If levelling, engineered fill or rock removal is the better answer for your lot, we will say so and coordinate it.
Scope, spelled out. Here's what this service covers on a typical project:
Formwork scribed board-by-board onto Canadian Shield granite — the job that shows exactly what makes DMT different.
Read the project story →
The original stone fireplace stayed. Everything else — footings, foundation, structure — was built new around it.
Read the project story →With more than 50 years of combined experience, DMT Building Group self-performs its scope: consultation, quote, footings, foundations, ICF walls and waterproofing, under one accountable roof. We're members of the Simcoe County Home Builders' Association, backed by a deep local partner network — and we're the crew other builders call when the site gets hard.
Not as drawn. Standard details assume a level, excavated base, whereas on exposed rock the bearing surface rises and falls. The forms have to be scribed to the stone and the footing stepped so it bears on sound rock everywhere — otherwise you get voids and point loads.
No, and that is worth saying. We also scribe ICF directly onto the rock and pour off that, and on some lots the right answer is levelling, engineered fill or removing rock. The site, the grade and the engineering decide — we will recommend a method after walking it.
Sound bedrock is the best bearing surface you can build on — there is essentially nothing to settle. The difficulty is all in the forming and anchoring.
Wherever possible we work with the rock rather than against it, scribing and stepping to its contours. Where removal is genuinely required we coordinate it with trusted partners.
If you have exposed granite anywhere on the footprint, very likely yes. Send photos of the site with your quote request and we will tell you straight.
Tell us about your project — we'll come back with straight answers and a free, no-obligation quote.
Prefer to talk? 705-333-3329 · info@dmtbuilding.ca
One short form — the property, what you're planning, and any drawings or site photos you have. We'll come back with straight answers.
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