• Seleni@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    They do though. They rip it all up and sell it off when they’re doing construction.

    Source: used to work in commercial landscaping. Which on new jobsites involves bringing in new soil to replace the soil that’s gone.

    That being said, there are places in the US where there isn’t much topsoil to begin with, it’s true.

    • null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 days ago

      Yeah but they don’t cart it off as part of some nefarious scheme to deprive home owners of the ability to grow their own produce.

      Construction regulations dictate requirements for hardness and consistency. They test these metrics before construction can begin. The regulations have these requirements so peoples houses don’t… you know… fall over?

      If you just bulldoze whatever and make the ground flat it’s going to be full of organic material that will decay and slump over time.

      They have to remove that top soil, and of course it has some value so it can be sold rather than dumped.

      • AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world
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        11 hours ago

        Well, you’re not supposed to just plop houses on the ground, you should dig foundations on a stable substrate, and then build the house. It might require a bit more work of course.