A few years ago, I was hired for a project that went nowhere. A family living out of a trailer on a deeply rural property had inherited some money. They wanted to build a proper house. The contractor and I headed out to assess the site.

Their driveway was in horrific shape: Dirt, nearly three-quarters of a mile long, narrow, winding, hilly and badly drained. The contractor explained that before any construction could take place, they'd need to widen and grade the driveway with a tractor, lay down a layer of "rip rap" (I don't know what the non-colloquial name for this is, they're basically softball-sized stones) and cover that with "crush 'n run" (gravel). I don't remember the exact tonnage from the estimate, but the number was high.

When they asked why this was necessary, the contractor explained that no concrete company would risk sending their trucks in to pour the foundation unless the access road was up to snuff. In the end, the driveway remediation cost was out of their budget.

Stories like this aren't uncommon, but a UK-based company called RapidRoot, which I didn't know about back then, has a potential solution. They've devised a no-concrete foundation system that doesn't require heavy machinery. Their system uses a series of "MagnaPiles," which are marine-grade aluminum tubes that are easy to transport to the site.

A modular core is placed in the desired location, and the MagnaPile tubes are slid through it and into the ground, at an angle.

These cores, anchored to the ground by the MagnaPiles, are topped with pile caps. That's what the house rests on.

A soil test of the site needs to be taken, and then the company's engineers determine how many MagnaPiles are needed for each core; as little as four for solid soils, and as many as 16 for more problematic soils.

The company says their MagnaPiles offer "ultra-high corrosion resistance far superior to off the shelf galvanized tubes used by other systems" and that they can provide a design life of over 100 years. (The average lifespan of a house, at least in the 'States, is 50 to 63 years. I find that kind of shocking.)

"RapidRoot is a heavy duty concrete free footing system, a hybrid root pile /reticulated pile solution that can be deployed in any penetrable soil. It is a highly accurate and adjustable system, superior to both screw piles and ground anchors."

"Based on proven technology and established engineering methods, RapidRoot provides permanent (but removable) low impact, environmentally friendly pile foundations for housing, commercial buildings and general construction. Excavation free foundations for your building will save you time, money and mess."

In addition to making construction on a remote site feasible, these "hand portable foundations" offer speed of installation and precision.

"Compact, precise footings. RapidRoot pile cap elements are assembled and located on site, hand carried to their pre-indicated layout points. Caps are either installed directly on the ground or slightly sunken for a more discrete finished foundation.

"No heavy plant or machinery. Installation is fast and efficient. Piles are driven in a few minutes with portable tooling and entire load points with posts, with connector brackets in less than an hour. Entire foundations are completed in record time."

"RapidRoot offers speed and more importantly precision not offered by either concrete, screw piles or ground anchors. Foundations are adjustable in level, plumb and in every axis posterior to their installation."

The company doesn't have any video demonstrations of their own, but here's UK builders Echo Living putting in a RapidRoot foundation:

You can learn more about the system here.