After the concrete cures for a few days the wooden forms are removed. They can be saved and recycled for some other use later during construction. Because the footings were poured on top of the soil, there will be little digging necessary when it is time to place the interior drain tile or radon mitigation system. However, compared to footings that are formed by digging into the ground, this method will require the use of more than twice the amount of stone to fill the area under the slab that will become the basement floor.

For the owner builder, formed footings may very well save money since most of the work can be done without hiring another subcontractor and the costs of excavating for the footings and the drain tile is practically eliminated. You will need to check the numbers for your specific job to see which method of installing footings will work best for your project.