The footings in a level excavation are a straightforward affair that most builders can easily handle — knock together some 2x10s, level and square them, then fill them with concrete. But things get trickier on sloped sites, where the footings must be formed in steps, whether to walk up a hill or to drop below a walk-out basement door. Even a level lot may require stepping, as where a garage or crawlspace connects to a full basement. In this article I'll examine each of these conditions and explain the methods I've developed over the years to cope with them. I learned to build forms the hard way. One of
