"...builder screwed up and didn't plan an appropriate exit..." Well I guess. Is the builder willing to rectify the situation?

It looks to me that it may be possible to build a deck outside the back door which projects beyond the face of the house, with minimal steps and/or ramp in the direction of the left side of the photo, parallel to the face of the house. In other words, a deck projecting out beyond the house for whatever dimension you want with access/egress toward the left margin of the photo, where the grade appears highest.

It appears that the ground slopes off so much to the right side of the house that it's impractical to build anything in that direction.

What do you prefer to do?

Its hard to believe a deck wide enough to allow egress from the house would cost that much.

Hi,

The builder is willing to give $2500 credit off the price to resolve the issue. The numbers I posted are AFTER credit. The actual cost of retaining wall is $20,000!

I should be more clear, the door is in the back of the photo posted. The side entrance you see first is where an Ac unit. I've attached more photos.

I would like the retaining wall wall because I need a yard area for my dogs. If I just do a small ramp the yard could be on the grade side minus the deck, but I worry about long term maintabilty and if that will look really that for the house.

You do not want to have access in this direction--it makes no sense with the fall off of the ground. You need to look at access in the opposite direction toward the high ground. You and your dogs can easily access grade up there. Why don't you want access where the grade is more positive and convenient?

Hi Vrigil,

I do want access from the high ground. In the photo above you can see scaffolding to an entryway. The laundry room exit door is there. The easiest solution is to have a ramp come from the higher ground to a small deck and make a right angle turn into the laundry room door. It can be made with just the entrance being decked or making a much larger deck for a sitting area.

I'm waiting on a final quote for just the ramp and smaller deck, but I worry about wether it is really worthwhile to spend the larger amount of money on filling the area with dirt to make the entryway level and provide a larger flat yard.

How is this just coming up now?

I notified the builder of it during before foundation pour and they said they would take care of it. Notified them again and was told they would take care of it and fill it with dirt and it would be fine. Then finally as we get close they swap out to just building some cheap wooden stairs as something to meet code because of cost. They aren't owning to their mistake and I don't know what legal actions I can take against them to fix it.