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:

Download Now

The Drivecast™ Displacement Pile is Revolutionizing Deep Foundation Systems

Conte Company helped create the Hubbell-Chance displacement pile product known as Drivecast™.

If you haven’t considered grout displacement piles for your project, you really should. There are many benefits to using such a system and more testing and performance data is produced each-and-every day. Here’s a little background on the product and how it performs, which explains why we’re so excited to tell you about it.

This patented grouted displacement pile was designed to be used in high side friction and end bearing applications. This combination of load carrying capacity allows the pile to be used in most soil conditions and load requirements. The added rigidity and larger grout shaft resist buckling and high lateral loads, where segmental piles systems wouldn’t normally be considered. Since each coupling joint is completely encased in grout, the finish pile acts as one solid piece in the soil.

During early Spring of 2018, Conte Company performed a load testing program that compared Drivecast piles to traditional driven and helical piles. (8) different piles were installed within the same site, to a similar depth. These piles were all tested in compression and lateral resistance. We even used a tell-tale testing method on one of the Drivecast piles—which is a method for isolating the side friction from the end bearing resistance of a pile. The results were extremely interesting and educational.

  • The (3) different Drivecast size piles outperformed the (3) driven piles and (2) helical piles in compression
  • Two of the Drivecast piles were laterally tested during a week of torrential rainstorms and they still held respectable numbers
  • The RS4500DC pile achieved the largest of the group at over 20 kips

With the help of GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc., the results of all the testing were cataloged and evaluated. You can download the full report here. We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to King Industries, Inc. for offering the use of their property for the testing location. We would also like to give a special thanks to Gary and Charlie Wetmore at G&C Marine for bringing out their new blow hammer to help with the driven pile installation!

If you’d like to learn more about Drivecast

Send us a message give us a call at (203) 853-2400. We’re happy to tell you all about it.

You can also watch our promo video here:

Why is Structural Load Testing Important for Foundations?

Load testing services by Conte Company

Load testing, when performed professionally, can help a contractor meet complex code requirements. By confirming certain calculations and providing additional information about the deep foundation plan, a well-performed load test is essential to ensure that the foundation is strong enough to pass all structural requirements and inspections.

Load Testing 101

A load test is performed by applying pressure to a specific pile in predetermined directions; either by compression (push), tension (pull), or laterally. The load is generally applied via a hydraulic jack to make sure the pressure is equal to the final load requirement. A reaction frame is then applied against the hydraulic jack. Once activated, any movement of the pile or the test apparatus is monitored and logged, and the results are used to determine the capacity of the pile being tested.

Load testing in a confined space

Load Testing Accessibility

One of the main challenges to safe load testing is having enough space for the reaction beam and other equipment. Whether it’s inside a building, twenty feet below grade or someplace with limited access to utilities, Conte Company can perform challenging load tests accurately and safely. With our custom-designed reaction beam, we’ll get everything in place with no surprises and test to over 200 kips.

As you can see in the job below, load testing was pretty tight at this natural gas substation, where caution, safety and accurate load test results were an absolute MUST, which is why they hired Conte Company.

Load Testing Services from Conte Company

Conte Company has the engineering experience and the required tools to perform geotechnical load tests on a variety of deep foundation systems. We’ve done hundreds of load tests on everything from micropiles and helical piles, to augercast, vibro stone columns and aggregate pier systems. While we do provide deep foundation installation services as well, many of our load testing clients come to us for accurate, unbiased, 3rd party data.

Our tests are performed following ASTM, D1143, D36889 and D3966.

need Reliable load testing?

Call Conte Company for a quick evaluation.

 

Load testing at a natural gas substation

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

Conte Company is Blue Book’s Featured Contractor of 2017

A Helical Pile Family - Conte Company in Connecticut

Conte Co. makes the cover of Blue Book!

Conte Company has made the cover of the latest edition of “The Who’s Who” (Eastern MA and Southern NH region), published by The Blue Book, and it’s a great read.

In the article, Blue Book explores how embracing a solid philosophy of innovation can help bring you success and business growth as exemplified by Conte Company.

It’s an honor to be Blue Book’s Featured Contractor

Ask anyone in the construction industry which business network has been the most influential for their own business growth, and the same answer will pop up again and again. The Blue Book.

There is strength in numbers. With so many participating contractors under one roof, you can imagine the influence Blue Book wields. They are simply the best go-to source for industry professionals to find quality contractors.

 

We at Conte Company always use Blue Book to find the resources we need. Now that we have been featured on the cover, and in a four-page article complete with glossy photos of our team at work, we are humbly reminded that roots count. This is a summary of our story.

Conte Company: Deep Roots & Powerful Innovation

Almost 70 years ago, Conte Company was founded in Norwalk CT. One generation later, James Conte took over the operations and recognized that big changes were coming down the pike very quickly. He sensed, before many others, that the gap between design and construction was closing and earned himself an architectural degree to accommodate this new way of thinking. He was unafraid of adapting to new technology, and fully embraced the changing landscape of the industry.

Today, Matt, Anthony and Michael are third-generation Contes. They manage the day to day activities of Conte Company in the same building their grandfather built, but also keep sharp eyes on the changing opportunities within their industry.

Always mindful of the legacy passed down by the earlier generations, they have now restructured the company to take advantage of their combined strengths, skills and education.

Just as James expanded what his father did into more commercial work, these three brothers have created a new division, focused on concrete/ geotechnical work and specialty site work.

Today, Conte Company is focused on the future of Helical Pile technology

Matt Conte earned his engineering degree at Syracuse University where he connected with a professor focused on the development of the relatively new helical pile technology.

Matt graduated from Syracuse University with civil engineering and construction management degrees and a firsthand education in helical piles. One of his professors was a helical pile pioneer, having developed the design and engineering for the system, and Matt was eager to offer these services to Conte Co. clients.

Today, the strong partnerships Conte Company has forged with CHANCE• and Hubbel Power Systems Inc. are direct outgrowths of that early, mentoring relationship. Matt saw piles as the future and introduced the fledgling, helical pile technology to their own customers starting in 2007.

Helical pile foundations are quickly becoming an economical and tremendously reliable alternative to traditional pile foundations. Helical piles can be used in a wide variety of applications and have garnered wide appeal throughout the commercial construction industry. In particular, they are often chosen for jobs where accessibility is limited or an existing structure could be damaged by big machinery or violent pile installation techniques.

Not only are they continuously finding new applications for helical pile use, but because helical piles are so strong and versatile, they are starting to replace some of the older and more cumbersome technologies previously used for deep foundation work.

As Conte Company has become more and more familiar with helical pile foundation systems, they have also expanded the ways in which they’re used. Few companies have innovated the way Conte Company has because they have the agility and the drive of a small family company.

“We like to find the work that no one wants because they didn’t take the time to think and problem-solve. This gives us the ability to work closely with our clients and adapt our abilities to meet their needs. With our commitment to technology evident, clearly we are ready to problem-solve, and if some aspect of a technology doesn’t quite work, we are going to work to create a better one.”

As a matter of fact, helical piles have so much potential, that Conte Company has and continues to invent and develop concepts that physically improve the capabilities of existing technologies. For example, Conte Company has been working with Hubbel Power Systems Inc. on their DRIVECAST™ helical pile system, which uses soil displacement to maximize grouting and speed up installation.

As our client list continues to grow, so does our experience, as many of our well-known clients will attest…

You can see some of our work in our helical pile project photo gallery and includes some of the work we’ve done at Logan International Airport, for JetBlue in Boston, MA; the U.S. Navy submarine base in Groton, CT.;  Eversource Energy; Keolis Commuter Services; The Dow Chemical Co.; and many, many other high-profile and highly delicate foundation projects around New England.

 

Read the Full Story in the Magazine

 

Schedule a Consultation with Conte Co Today

What’s New with Conte Company in 2017

Conte Company Helical Pile Foundation Services 2017

As Conte Company has grown over the years, we’ve been fortunate to work on a variety of jobs for an ever-increasing list of great clients. We’ve honed our craft to become leaders in the deep foundation industry and treat every project with the personal attention you’d expect from a family owned company.

Here’s what’s going on with Conte Company in 2017…

We Have a New Website

Today, we’re excited to announce that we (finally) have a new website! Our goal is to not only showcase our expertise as geotechnical contractors, but to educate industry professionals on the value, viability and wide-ranging application of helical pile technologies.

Over the coming months and years, we’ll be producing a variety of materials, to address some of the major questions and challenges that our colleagues and clients may have.

So, please check out our brand-new website and be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to stay up to date on our latest publications.

Visit ConteCompany.com

We Are the #1 Installer of CHANCE® Helical Piles in New England

As an exclusive partner of HUBBELL-CHANCE®, we have access to the highest-quality helical piles in the world. Through this partnership and our vast experience installing helical pile foundations, we’re able to provide the most competitive bids on the best products around.

From standard, commercial and industrial projects to custom fabrication and design-build services, we can provide helical pile foundation solutions for just about any job.

Learn about our helical piles and their endless applications

We’re Expanding

We’re always taking on different types of projects, from the biggest geotechnical foundation jobs to small, residential foundation repairs. In the last year, we’ve done all sorts of projects around New England and throughout the country. We’re experts in safely constructing support for elevated structures, underpinnings and marine/wetland construction. Experience matters!

Check out all the types of foundations we build

We Continue to Provide Great Service

For projects big, small, residential or commercial, our only goal is to provide a hands-on approach to every one of our clients. We take great pride in our high level of service, our unmatched safety record, and our commitment to providing successful projects on time and under budget.

Learn more about Conte Company

We’ve Done a Lot of Projects

Take a look at what we’ve accomplished in our helical pile project photo gallery. Schools, bridges, airports, hospitals, industrial plants, infrastructure and so much more are on display. See our expert crews on-the-job and hard at work. Get an idea of how helical piles are installed and see the attention-to-detail that goes into every foundation we build. Our extensive experience results in the longest-lasting foundations in the industry.

View the photos