New Rowing Club a Model for Advanced Pile Foundation Technology

We recently spoke with Matthew Conte, of Conte Company, about a foundation project they completed for a 2-story rowing club in Norwalk Harbor. Rowing clubs often prove especially difficult to build due to their proximity to the water, and the ground on which they are built. Building near or above water brings its own set of challenges for pile foundation technology, along with strict guidelines to which builders have to adhere.

In the case of this building, the ground floor of the rowing club is to be used for storage of the boats and equipment, while the upper floors are used for meetings, offices and social areas. Crew has always been a mainstay in the Connecticut area and rowing clubs are an important piece in the community, serving as both an athletic and social gathering place. Matt and his team were eager to finished this project quickly and efficiently, in order to get the general construction started on the 6,000 sqft, pre-fab, metal butler building, so it will be ready for the upcoming season.

In order to build this rowing club, Conte Company installed 56 27′ Drivecast piles. They tied those piles to a grade beam grid, on which a heavy slab of concrete was poured. The soil conditions, which were waterlogged every time the tide came in and composed of organics, fill and silty material, were not suitable for traditional building. The engineering team ultimately determined that there were only a few cost-effective pile foundation technology options for a site plan like this. The only other alternatives to Drivecast were helical piles, or H-Piles.

According to calculations and field tests, utilizing helicals would have maxed out at around 40-50 kips (1 kip = 1,000 pounds of force), whereas each Drivecast pile supported a staggering 120 kips! Matt explained to me that the other alternative, using H-Piles, would require pile lengths of up to 75ft in length, and would’ve taken significantly longer to install. For starters, H-Piles typically come in 50 foot lengths, so each pile would need to be spiced together to produce the full 75′. What’s more, when you’re talking about driving piles of this enormous length, you need some enormous equipment to do the job. In this case? A massive crane would be needed to drive each of the H-Piles deep, deep into the earth. By contrast, Conte Company’s Drivecast piles only required a 14 ton excavator to get the job done. Matt explains it best:

“A 14-ton Ex looks like a toy, sitting next to a crane like that. We pulled up our machine on a trailer and were in-and-out of the job site quickly.”

Matt and his team installed all of their Drivecast piles within 5 days; start to finish, and had no issues installing them. The grouted columns were allowed to dry for 5 days before testing, and again had no issues, even in the salty, waterlogged silt. As an added bonus, the site was located on property owned by a chemical plant, regulations for which are far more stringent than other environmentally regulated industries. Again, no worries, Conte Company sailed through all requirements with ease. The entire project went off without a hitch.

The building Matt and his team recently built is located on Norwalk Harbor, and will be a great addition to the community. Matt and his team, along with the revolutionary pile foundation technology called Drivecast from Hubbell-Chance, allowed this project to be done faster and cheaper with less work, and smaller equipment than H-piles or helical piles.

What more do you need? Download the official Drivecast brochure below:

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Building in a Flood Zone: 5 Tips for Hurricane Construction

Building in a Flood Zone - Tips for Hurricane Construction

When the weather turns downright dangerous, like it did with recent Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, saving lives is the number one priority. But when the wind finally calms, the rain finally stops and the skies turn blue, we look at property damage to evaluate how bad a storm really was. Victims of lost homes and other property damage need to know how to repair the devastation left behind and how to prepare for building in a flood zone in the future.

You’ll find our list of tips for hurricane construction below, but first, we want to show you why we feel so passionately about preparing for hurricanes and flooding through proper construction techniques.

We talked to Matt Conte, our 3rd generation owner of Conte Company, who understands that storm repairs are about more than just fixing houses. It’s about coming together as a community to help put people’s lives back together and get things back to normal. As we keep those in Houston and Florida in our hearts and minds during the devastating aftermath of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma; and as we prepare ourselves for a less ferocious Hurricane Jose in the Northeast, we can’t help but think back to two storms that ravaged our own community, just a few years ago…

The two storms that changed the way we think about coastal construction in New England…

Hurricane Irene was the storm that hit the East Coast of the United States during late August 2011 and ranks as the eighth-costliest hurricane in United States history. Here in CT, Irene dropped a devastating amount of rainfall, washing away roads, bridges and anything else in the flooding rivers’ path. Some major highways were closed for days and more than half the state lost power. But Irene couldn’t compare to Sandy, which arrived a year later. 

Hurricane Sandy (a.k.a. “Superstorm Sandy“) was the second-costliest hurricane in U.S. history, affecting 24 states, including the entire eastern seaboard from Florida to Maine. New Jersey, New York and Connecticut were hit particularly hard. All said and done, damage in the United States amounted to $71.4 billion.

Sandy completely destroyed thousands of Northeastern shoreline homes, and in some cases leveled entire neighborhoods. In cities that were completely unprepared for such an event, streets, tunnels and subway lines were flooded and made transportation impossible in one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world.

“At Conte Company, we remember all too well the damage that these two storms inflicted. We were there in the days that followed, surveying the damage and helping people figure out what to do next. As one of the premier pile construction companies in the area, we had a unique perspective and a service that was suddenly in high demand.”

Helical pile foundations can help prevent hurricane damage

There were lucky ones too… But even many of homes with little damage needed to be raised to comply with new flood zone regulations and insurance requirements. In some areas, the flood line was raised by as much as two feet, which may not seem like a lot, but when it comes to flood-prone construction, every inch can make a difference.

Some were extra-un-lucky… Many houses were built on deep pile foundations and survived both storms, but many did not learn their lesson after the first one. Only one year after Irene’s massive clean-up effort began, Sandy barreled through and again destroyed some of the homes that were just rebuilt. In most cases though, those homes were built on the same types of foundations that failed the first time around.

“We felt just awful for people that had to rebuild and lift their homes twice in one year, but these homeowners went through even more hell when FEMA ran out of money after Sandy.”

Financing from FEMA decided whose houses were fixed and whose were not…

Immediately after Irene, FEMA money arrived quickly and homeowners poured all available funds into new construction. Conte Company helped many dig out and lift their homes quickly with new pile installations and the region recovered relatively quickly.

But the story was very different with Hurricane Sandy which pounded the East Coast just a year later. At first, FEMA was very responsive to Sandy. As long as a homeowner’s claim seemed legitimate, the money came through and people could hire contractors to rebuild and lift their homes. But soon, Sandy projects started taking an unusually long time to get financed… FEMA was simply running out of money. After two back-to-back, very deadly, very destructive hurricanes, they could not meet their financial commitments to ill-fated homeowners who were building in a flood zone.

For some, there was a government program called the Superstorm Sandy Relief Fund, which tried to help a few homeowners in the direst of straights. But today, many who did not qualify for this program have homes which still remain condemned, with “NO OCCUPANCY” stickers plastered to the front door.

Rebuilding homes that are literally and figuratively “underwater”…

When homeowners in this region did not receive the funds they expected, Conte Company knew they had to play a big part in the recovery process, for the sake of the community.

“In many of Connecticut’s beachfront areas, many homeowners were first wiped out by Irene, then by Sandy and then by FEMA’s dried up funding.”

Homeowners were holding onto properties with negative equity, and banks generally don’t refinance a home in that type of financial situation. Conte Company knew up front there wasn’t going to be a lot of money for repair, but felt duty-bound to help a community that has supported their business since the 1940s.

Conte Company took it upon themselves to work with a number of general contractors. Ones they knew could do the job the right way, make honest recommendations to homeowners and wanted to give a little back to a hurting community. They were able to lower their own subcontractor rates in order to assist these hand-picked GCs, who working hard for Sandy victims, to rebuild some homes, and help some people put their lives back together.

“In some cases, we lowered our pricing more than we should have, but if we didn’t, the competition would come in and do an inferior job. We couldn’t have that. We wanted them to be happy again. With the repair and with us. But mostly with their lives.”

Many people are back in their homes today because Conte Company was able to help them with costs after FEMA’s coffers were empty. Unfortunately, Conte couldn’t help everyone — there was just too much damage. Thousands of homeowners who were building in a flood zone had to abandon their properties completely, as the cost to rebuild was just too high.

Building in a Flood Zone: How to construct a home that will survive the storm…

To this day, Conte Company is often asked to check homes that were repaired after Sandy by less-than-qualified builders. Many of the issues they find are (or will cause) significant problems when the next hurricane comes roaring through. Some of these homes’ problems were simply never addressed, not necessarily because those builders were dishonest, but more likely because someone didn’t understand, or care, what the real problems actually were.

In the wake of the most recent superstorms to slam the U.S., there is no better time to discuss these issues which apply to both new and existing construction. As experts in the industry, we thought it makes sense to give people our best advice and recommendations for hurricane-proofing your new home, or repairing your old one.

The 5 Most Important Tips for Hurricane-Proof Home Construction

1. Hire a Reputable Structural Engineer

No project is ever the same and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Trust your project engineer to make appropriate recommendations about your home’s foundation. Don’t have one you can trust? We work with plenty and are happy to refer you.

2. Lift Your Home Above the Floodline

Building in a flood zone can be somewhat nerve-racking for a homeowner, but you can greatly limit your potential for damage simply by making sure it’s out of the floodwater’s way. Most of the real damage is done by high waters and the pounding surf of wave action, not by high winds.

3. Use Helical Piles for Deep Foundation Support

As some of the most versatile pile types around, helical piles can be installed in just about any environment. When properly designed, helical piles can also provide:

  • excellent lateral load to resist winds in high-velocity zones
  • substantial uplift capacities to keep your house from floating away
  • exceptional scour support incase of soil erosion below your house
  • and here’s some more info on helical piles

4. Use Piles to Support Every Structure on the Property

Grade beams are a great way to connect all the piles for each structure to support the load with an interconnected system of foundations. Grade beams are installed below grade to create a solid foundation spanning from pile to pile. Every external structure should be connected, including the deck, garage, pool, stairs, patio, etc.

5. Don’t Cut Corners, Don’t Use Band-Aids

If you are building in a flood zone, remember one thing…

“Doing it once the right way, means you don’t have to do it twice later. Even if you do it cheap twice, it will end up being more expensive than doing it right the first time.”

Hurricane Damage?

Conte Company performs structural and site repairs like as underpinning, supports and responsible replacement of scoured material. Make sure the job is done right, so you don’t have to do it twice.

Call Conte Company Today

Construction Project Managers: How Do You Lighten the Workload?

construction-project-manager-workload

A construction project manager always needs to be in two places at once.

  1. In the office, planning the project and seeking out potential subs.
  2. And on-site, making sure the project is going well and that subs are doing the job right.

Has this ever happened to you?

“I need to work in the office today— no wait, there’s a problem, I gotta go to the job site.”

This dual responsibility may never go away completely. But by hiring the right employees and working with the best vendors, you can minimize problems on the job site and spend more time in the air conditioning.

Experienced Vendors Know What They’re Doing
(so you don’t have to babysit)

Finding a great subcontractor who can work autonomously, do their job quickly and efficiently is a construction project manager’s dream. Ensuring the result of all that meticulous planning often means being on the job site to field questions, check supplies and solve problems as they arise. Just imagine if all subs could be trusted to handle this kind of stuff on their own.

Being the Busiest Guy on the Job Site

As a construction project manager, it goes without saying that you have a lot on your plate. Maybe you build skyscrapers in busy cities, or help municipalities expand their airports or construct bulkheads at commercial marinas. Maybe you build luxury homes or shore up crumbling infrastructure on old college campuses. Whatever types of projects you work on, the workload and responsibility of a PM is more than just about anyone else involved.

On the construction site, you answer to your boss… and the client. You’re not the one hammering nails or guiding beams into place, but the buck will stop with you when it comes to staying under budget, on schedule and getting the job done right… all of which requires hiring the right subcontractors.

The responsibility of planning how and when the parts and pieces of a project come together takes some serious desk time. Endless phone calls, countless emails, erratic schedules, and constant research are a huge part of the job.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you had more time to do that stuff instead of spending so much time on the job site?

Hiring the Best, Getting the Best

While we can’t speak for everyone else, the experienced crew at Conte Company knows how to troubleshoot and solve problems on their own. We arrive at the job site on-time and ready to roll. We have our team assembled, safety gear on and everyone knows exactly what they’ll be doing that day.

As a small company, every crew we send out has a supervisor who’s worked in the industry for a decade or more. We manage our own supply chain, provide our own insurance, rarely come in over budget, and are always on schedule.

When you hire Conte Company to install your foundation, you can get out of the heat and back to the office to plan whatever comes next. Our long-time customers don’t worry about these things, because they know their job is in good hands. When you hire Conte Company, you don’t need to be in two places at once.

 

Conte Company is a family owned company since 1948. We are New England’s premier deep foundation contractor because we bring the best tools, equipment and crew to every job we take on. 

Learn about our Foundation Installation Services or Request a Consultation

 

Here are a few photos from our latest residential job in Fairfield, CT

How to Choose a Helical Pile Installer: 10 Questions to Ask

 

Choosing a Reputable Helical Pile Contractor

Hiring a helical pile installer can be complicated when you don’t know what to look for. We’ve put together this list of questions to help project managers better screen their contractors, and determine if they are capable, experienced, reliable and trustworthy potential partners.

Ask your potential contractor:

1. “Are you certified, insured and bonded?”

Making sure vendors are qualified and covered is the best way to safeguard your project from major delays and accidents. Removing liability is important for every contractor, but maintaining a high standard for safety is the best way to keep your project on-schedule and running smoothly. Your contractors’ first priority should be the wellbeing of job-site workers, so make sure they have all the right paperwork, before signing a contract.

2. “Do you guarantee your foundation with a warranty?”

If a helical pile foundation doesn’t measure-up to industry standards, at some point it will need to be repaired or replaced. A reputable, helical pile installer will always stand by their work, so if the warranty that comes with it seems suspect, walk away. If they do offer a guarantee, as do most CHANCE Certified Installers, read the fine print to avoid costly surprises down the road.

3. “Can you provide 3-4 client references we can talk to?”

Few things are as valuable to the vetting process as talking to recent, real-life customers. They’ll be able to give you unique perspective on contractor’s knowledge, expertise, communication and customer service. Obviously, be considerate of their time by having some questions ready, but listening carefully to their answers will often tell you all you need to know about your potential vendor.

4. “Do you have a helical pile project portfolio we can look at?”

A good list of successful projects will help you understand the depth of a contractor’s experience and the scope of their capabilities. Looking through photos of helical pile projects to find examples of jobs similar to yours can confirm that they’re able to do what they claim. You can also get a feel for their level of professionalism, their attention to detail and their ability to address unexpected challenges that inevitably come up.

5. “Do you have experience working on projects similar to ours?”

Each helical pile installation project is different, so it’s important to know that your contractor is capable of solving the issues unique to your project. If your helical pile installer is working with unfamiliar soil conditions or structure types and sizes they haven’t worked with before, chances are they are going to run into problems and that means scheduling delays. Avoid the stress and choose a helical pile installer whose track record includes projects like yours.

6. “Do you provide design-build services?”

Keeping the design and installation aspects of a job under one roof is a great way to streamline planning, execution, overall communication, and keep costs down. When unanticipated challenges come up, as they often do, a design-build firm can move much more quickly to resolve the problem and get the project back on track.

If your contractor is not a design-build firm, you’ll want to know who is designing the project, and go through this checklist with them as well. It’s also nice to know if the two companies have worked together before, and have successful joint-projects under their belts.

7. “What’s your safety track record and what on-site, safety procedures do you practice?”

Nothing grinds a job to-a-halt like accidents and injuries. Avoiding mishaps should be a primary concern for both you and your contractors. Definitely ask the contractor about relevant safety and training certifications. But it’s also essential to ask about the specific, on-site safety procedures they use to protect their crew and yours.

8. “Who manufactures your piles and who supplies them?”

The difference between high-grade and low-grade steel and concrete may not be obvious when the project is first completed, but good-quality materials can add decades to the life of a foundation and it’s superstructure. If a contractor’s bid is lower than the rest, they may be cutting corners by getting cheap, second grade steel from various parts of the world. Material quality is not the place to cut costs, so make sure you know exactly where your helical piles come from.

9. “Who will be our on-site supervisor and what is their experience with helical pile installation?”

Knowing that you have a full-time supervisor on-site and available at all times is mandatory for any major construction project. Beyond managing the day-to-day of a project, an experienced supervisor is critical to making good decisions, if and when things go wrong. During a helical pile installation, a capable manager needs to be in charge of communications, scheduling, materials, equipment malfunctions and everything that keeps the project running safely and smoothly.

10. “What information do you need from us to provide an accurate proposal for this project?”

Your contractor should be willing to have an open conversation about the details of your project and collect the information required to provide an accurate and responsible estimate for your work. If you don’t have specific information on hand, a good contractor will tell you and explain how to get it. A not-so-good contractor will provide a quote anyway and hit you with change orders later on.

How well are you vetting your contractors? Get Conte Company's 2017 Guide to Evaluating Geotechnical Contractors: 22 Mandatory Questions to Ask Before Getting a Bid.