Excavate land costs vs Downward slope hillside

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Question for seasoned developers. My partner and I develop in the Los Angeles area and we are currently building our first project on hillside downward slope. With that said we looked at another lot today but it is building uphill. It would require to excavate the land and build a retaining wall. I know I am completely over simplifying this question and it should come with lots of details. But for the sake of the time I am keeping this incredibly simple. Which method is TYPICALLY less expensive - Downward slope development or excavate for uphill development? Any input is appreciated. Thank you!

[Jeffrey Stasz]

Great Question Amir. 

Uphill and Downhill are NOT the same. Uphill is significantly more costly because the productivity factors of the excavating machinery is an order of magnitude different. 

If you are going downhill and do not need to haul any of the material it will be much cheaper and faster to do this sort of site work. A small to mid-size dozer can "slot" doze down hill. You will get a productivity bonus because gravity is helping the machine and the dozing technique will allow you to move more material per set. So machinery will be on site for less time and use less fuel. That equals savings to you. 

Now on the uphill: you are using an excavator and dumping into hauler or moving it elsewhere on the site. In this instance you either have A: two machines, two operators, and twice the fuel consumption. Or B you have multiple movements per set. That is going to slow you down and cost a lot more. 

Finally, if you're excavating below 5 ft you're going to require special shoring and form work. This is added cost as well. 

If you'd like to read more about this topic check out this book: 

https://www.amazon.com/Pipe-Excavation-Contracting-Revised-Roberts/dp/1572182660