Haven't been on this site in a while, but thought I would post some pictures of our work. I was browsing this section of the site, and I'm impressed by the quality of work by guys like CM1995, Landclearer, and Fastdirt. We might not be that big, but we are growing and, get ourselves into some neat projects every now and then. We always say, if our machines can do it, then so do we. So onto the pictures. First set of pictures is a parking lot sinkhole caused by a failed 16" RCP drain pipe we did on Friday afternoon
A little project from this past week, removing about 200 yards of loam and mulch from against a building so they can waterproof the foundation, and move the curbing closers to the building to accommodate another row of parking spots.
This project was a new 2 bay garage. The property backed up to conservation land, so the DEP made the owner do all kinds of drainage. First, the driveway all slopes to one side, where a 4" schedule 40 perf pipe collects the run off, covered with 3/4" crushed stone. That is piped into a precast trough drain which runs the width of the driveway that catches any run off coming down the driveway. Then the trough and all downspouts are piped to 2 infiltration chambers in the backyard, all covered with 3/4" stone. All of this was done next to the gas service which was only 2" off the end of the trough drain, and had to be crossed over at one point.
Finishing the garage drainage project.
Hey Jim, Thanks for the pics. Looks like you guys do a little bit everything just like us. Got any pics of the dump truck, you are teasing us with that pic
keep posting
Thanks Landclearer, sure do have some pics of it. It's our 3rd 33k GVW 6 wheeler. We had a 2000 Ford F750, then a 2008 F750 that was a total lemon mainly cause of the Cat motor. Got rid of that after only 8 months. This is actually a 2007 International 7400 that we bought new in 2008. 300hp DT 570 motor with an 8 speed Eaton roadranger. Has a chrome bumper, but we still haven't taken the plow bumper of yet. Only 70k miles on her and only had 1 issue so far. One thing our other trucks did not have, that I'm glad we added to this truck is the barn door gate kit. Seen in the 3rd pic, it's great for loading and dumping big rocks and stumps like we did this week without just letting them slam in the body, and then you don't have to worry about hang ups.
Here's another little parking lot sinkhole and drain pipe repair. Two 4" drainage pipes broke and undermined the parking lot. These were old 2' concrete sections so they were pretty old. There were no bells, almost like they were only laid next to each other.
Swinging tail gate is pretty much standard on every truck here in nz. Makes sense to be able to swing and use the trips.
One of our specialties, tough access jobs. This was an addition excavation that required climbing over a 3' high block retaining wall and granite staircase, and removing a section of fence to access the job. Originally we thought we were only going to have to strip 6" of loam off of the ledge and they were going to pin the piers to it. However, after uncovering it and tugging at some of it, even though it was the dreaded blue New England ledge, it did start to come apart. That led the GC to want all of the piers down to 4', and a nice little extra for us. About 20 ton of ledge had to be removed.
Last one for now. This was an old garage that was falling down that we demoed and excavated for a slightly bigger new garage. This one was fun as the edge of the foundation is 2.2' from the lot line, and with the overhang it was within a foot from the neighbors shed. With the 120"+ of snow we had this past winter I'm surprised there was still a garage to demo as we looked at this one last year.
Finishing up the garage demo and excavation, and backfill and prep for the garage slab with 3/4" Stone.
Nice work Jim! How do you like the E42? What do you think caused the collapse on the RCP?
Thanks CM, The E42 is very nice, night and day compared to the two 334's before it, although those were nice machines themselves. We've had it for almost 4 years, put over 1,000 hours on it. Haven't had any issues with it other than a piece of debris finding it's way through the black plastic grill and puncturing the radiator on a demo job last year, and we did have one track rip at about 800 hours on a ledge removal job that we were not happy about as we usually get around 1,500 hours out of a set of tracks on our CTLs and excavators. As far as the RCP pipe, we did find a couple 2' to 3' diameter rocks pretty close to the pipe which could have caused it. The break was actually near the bottom, but there was still flow through the pipe. I think because the ground underneath the pipe was very sandy, the sinkhole wasn't caused years ago. It's hard to tell, but in the second picture you might be able to see that when the broken section connects to the last section before the manhole, the pipe was actually at about a 22° angle, and I don't think it was properly seated there either. So a very sloppy install all around.
Just realized I put the wrong picture up. Here's the right one showing the angle at which the two originally met, although the broken section over time worked it's way out of the last section. Second pic is from yesterday, the old man got a little over anxious pushing fill off a cliff, calls me while I'm by the pool, "Ya I'm about to roll off a cliff, I can't get out of the machine without it probably rolling over, grab a loader and chains and meet me over here." So much for a day off..
Thanks for the extra truck pics. It is a good looking truck for sure! We have a little Pete setup just about the same, 300 motor, 10 speed, and a barn door. We do some asphalt patching and it it nice to be able to swing the gate open and stand in the bed and shovel out the asphalt. That might be the smallest RCP I have ever seen or was it terracotta? How much does the E42 weigh?
Now I can see why the RCP failed, looks like a very poor installation. How in the hell did the ones who put it in think that was going to work? Since it was so close to the manhole there was no reason why that RCP shouldn't have been ran straight, they could've made the connection at the manhole at whatever angle they needed. Those small concrete drain pipes were fairly common in my area years ago. Mostly used for basement wall drainage. Run into them when tearing down older houses. Of course now it's all 4" ADS perf pipe.
No problem Landclearer. When we were looking to replace the Ford we actually test drove a Pete 335 only it had an Allison auto. That was right before I turned 18, and my dad wanted me to learn how to shift so that's pretty much the only reason we didn't go with the Pete. We do a decent amount of asphalt too and this body only had the one coal door in the middle, so once we can't get any more out the shute we'll open the door up. The standard E42 weighs in around 9,300 lbs, however, we got the long arm configuration which comes with added counterweight which puts it at about 10,000 lbs. So with the T590 at around 8,000 lbs they both go on our 10 ton Eager Beaver tag trailer. The key thing for us though is that they're only 68" wide as we get into some tight job sites. As far as the two 4" I thought it might be terracotta but it seemed like it was concrete, no wire in it though. They were very old for sure, the building was almost 100 years old. I would have replaced the lines entirely, but it was a bank, and you know how they are.
Ya I didn't take a picture, but they didn't even mud around the section going into the manhole, just some bricks around it. I'm not sure if because of that it shifted when back filling, but either way the guys doing the installation really didn't care. I'm surprised they got any flow through those small concrete pipes as it seemed like there was nothing joining them together, they were just butted up against each other.
I think your dad did you a service by making you learn how to drive a manual transmission. I think one day manual trans. will be a like a friction crane, not many around and not many who can drive the few that are left. I guess our Kubota 121 is about the size of your E42 but yours sure looks bigger. We got an Eager Beaver trailer but it is a 20 ton. I think sometimes it would be nice to have a 161 but like you said, getting into the tight places.
Without a doubt, I'm glad he did. Like he said if you can drive an 8 or 10 speed, you can drive an automatic, not so the other way around. We definitely like the size of the E42. We had 334s before that, which are 7,500 lb machines, which we would push the limits on and always seemed like we wanted another couple feet of reach. Something we do a lot of, concrete removal. Gotta love night work, got to try out the GC's old Michigan loader. Definitely would rather have our newer Komatsu or Doosan
Some recent job pictures. We've been pretty busy around here, trying to finish up before the snow starts flying, and getting the snow stuff ready. These pictures are from a 6" SDR Sewer service renewal at a church we did. No pictures of the service, but it was pretty straightforward digging. Also had to remove 2 sections of sidewalk and granite curbing, and saw cut and remove asphalt, reset curbing and patch asphalt and concrete.
These pictures are from the end of demolition on a decent size addition project. Tore off an old 2 room addition to make way for new. The old CMU/ rubble stone foundation wall was deemed inadequate, so after demo and foundation removal were completed, we did a preliminary excavation to allow shoring to be placed, so we could then remove the old CMU return walls and the foundation wall.
First picture shows the CMU return walls, large rock, and foundation wall to be removed. The rest of the pictures are of the preliminary excavation to allow for shoring placement.
First picture was one of the only ones I got of the wall and footing removal because I started the day on another project. The rest are from finishing up the excavation.
Finally, backfill, basement slab prep, and beginning drainage system installation. This one was fun because the GC decided they wanted the deck on first because they were afraid of the walls collapsing. Lot of confidence in the form guy, but looking at his work I don't blame them.
Last set for now. A little pool and deck removal job. We normally like to take the whole pool out, but customer didn't want to pay for the extra trucking, disposal, and machine time. So we just brought the beam down 2 feet, broke the whole floor up, and got rid of all the deck. There's a gunite spa by the house that had to be saved, and we re-plumbed. Site access was actually through the neighbors yard, since it was a new house construction, and we otherwise had to take down wooden fence and move a bunch of bushes/trees. No room around the pool, so we had to ramp in the deep end, and out the shallow end to get the rest of the deck. My dad came back the next day to bring the grade up in lifts, and prep for the new paver patio we may do in the Spring.
Nice work! That addition must've been a PITA at times.
Nice looking work Jim. The demo and foundation job looks like it was a challenge. Makes you feel good when you finally finish a tough job. I hope the guy with the pool doesn't sell the house to someone who wants new a pool. That would be a nasty little surprise
Thanks CM. It definitely was a PITA in the sense that we weren't able to get in, get it done, and get on to the next one like we are accustomed to. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but the whole house is being gutted as well, so the project has been dragging. They're about at 3 months in, they have half a deck on, and the basement slab still isn't poured. It also didn't help that the GC's super and PM quit a month in, they've had a temp PM and super for 2 months, now they have other projects to go to, so they'll be on their third set of the project. It's definitely a circus over there.
I just hope you got or will get your money fast. Sounds like a messy project in more than one way.
Thanks Landclearer. Definitely a pretty involved project, but not our first time removing an existing foundation wall. Usually it's because they want 8 or 9' ceilings in the basements of these 75+ year old New England houses. Regardless, you are right that it feels good to bring our part to about 90% completion. We won't be back till early winter, or probably Spring time if it starts snowing. We have to pipe the discharge for the sump out to 4 new infiltrators, possibly connect the downspouts, and spread and power rake some loam. As for the pool, definitely not our desired decision, but it was also another $5,000 for the 2 machines for a day, a triaxle for a day, and disposal. Can't blame them there, seeing as though they wanted to do a 1,300 sf new patio around the spa and just materials were $15 sf. That whole pile in the second to last picture, as well as some of the bigger pieces in the last picture were all disposed of though, and the whole floor was broken up, so we did the best job possible to stay within their budget.
You nailed it. There's no shortage of work or wants. It seems, however, as the years go by there's fewer and fewer quick payers. Everyone wants to be "Construction Managers" now, and not pay subs until the owner pays them, and they line their accounts.
I hear ya' Jim. Just about every contract we sign has a "paid when paid" clause. One of the largest GC's we work for will pay before paid sometimes but all the small guys are paid when paid.
Curious CM1995. In MN on the paid when paid clause the contractor has 5 work days to pass the funds along by law. Any different there?
State law is payment to sub 7 days after GC gets paid from the owner unless the contract says differently.:cool2 That's where reading and understanding the contract before one signs it is prudent. http://www.alabamaconstructionlaw.com/files/articles/prompt pay overview article.pdf As it goes in the construction law world, the State sets the rules but two parties entering into a contract willingly is bound by the terms of the contract. Alabama law sets retention at 10% of the first 50% of contract value, in other words 5% of the total job. Owners, GC's and subs can agree to 10% of the entire job in the contract, which is the standard here, but one can buck that clause if it's negotiated in the contract up front. With all that said, one has to keep the machine running and sometimes has to accept terms that aren't ideal.
Here's another new garage project we just finished up. Can't seem to figure out how to get the pictures in the right order, but oh well. All of the old vertical curbing seen in the 3rd picture came from under the asphalt berm in the last picture. The layers went asphalt berm, topcoat, binder, a foot of gravel, then the original topcoat and binder, another foot or so of gravel, then about a 2 foot tall wall made out of stacked old granite curbing laid on its side. That led to overages on asphalt removal and disposal, but we were at least able to sell the granite. That corner of the driveway was approximately 5' below street level. We immediately asked what the new drainage plan is when bidding, and we were told, "The architect said no drainage required."
Finishing up excavation. The temporary wall is the original garage, which they wanted to match the floor height, so they could use it as a 3rd space.
Surprise! The dilapidated driveway that the architect told us was staying, and being tied into, the planting bed the architect said was to remain when we asked how the cars were going to get into the garage, and the drainage system we were told was not needed turned into a nice extra. Didn't get finished pictures, but we designed and installed a similar system as on page 1, with the same precast trough drain along the door, connected the downspouts, and piped it all to 2 infiltrators to the left of the garage.
Architects seem to be a good source of change orders. A guy told me once that out of confusion comes opportunity. He was right. Job looks good. It's nice having that barn door isn't it?
You got that right Landclearer. Thanks for the compliment, and we love the barn door. Keeps the abuse down a little bit on the body.
Another little demo and dig for an addition. Only being able to work till 5 without working in the dark, and a shortage of trucks and dump sites are slowing us down. This dig took us parts of 2 days. Took about 120 yards of fill out.
Finishing up excavation.
This project, when we originally bid on it, was 3 separate additions. A new front entry way, a family room off the back, and included removing the east foundation wall, and adding a second garage bay, 2 cars deep onto the side, and dropping the existing garage floor 2 feet. We were a little leary about this portion of the project. The owner wound up scrapping the front entry, and making the back addition bigger, and going with another GC/ excavation contractor. Fast forward 6 months, and the project is about halfway done. We get called in by the other excavation contractor to remove and lower the floor, and grade out the stone for the new floor. Funny how the world goes round.
Hey Jim, You guys do some nice looking work as well as tough jobs. That is a great pic with the Superduty, dump and trailer. How does the truck handle with the loader on the tag.
Thanks Landclearer. We try to keep a neat site. Obviously the last one wasn't ours, I didn't get a finished picture, but it looked pretty good when we were done considering they were 20 ton of stone short, all the water from cutting the floor, and it was pitch black out. Thanks, that was actually the first time we had it on our trailer. We have both of our bigger loaders registered year round and just run them down the road. This job was about 20 minutes from our shop, but mostly highway, so we decided it would just be easier to try trailering it. It rode really well. Machine is about 18,500 pounds, 10' 1" tall and the trailer deck is 96" x 24' x 34", so we were actually under 13'. The heaviest machine we've had on the trailer is a Dressta TD 9M. Although I think the specs say it weighs under 20,000, it feels like it's about 6,000 pounds more than the loader.
Thanks for the info Jim. We have a 928 and a L70 but do not haul on our tag due to height. The only thing I can say about the TD9 is you might have had it to far up on the trailer. I know a lot of guys like to put the blade against the headboard but in my opinion it makes for a bad ride. On our trailer I keep a dozer blade about 2.5 feet from the headboard. Keep on posting, I enjoy your pics.
Ya I wouldn't want our 200 on a tag, I have see a guy around here with a WA 200 on a 20 ton before. Must be right at or most likely over 13'6". As far as the dozer, we always try to have most of the weight over the axles, even when it's just a Bobcat or Excavator. Thanks again for the compliments, much appreciated.
Cool Jim. Your SA dump is a sweet truck. I would like to have one similarly spec'd but with a 14' bed built heavy like yours with at least one side that either laid or folded down for loading and unloading RCP and other bulky items. Your wheel loader is the ticket for the jobs you do. In my thread I was asked why I was using a track loader instead of a wheel loader and explained it just doesn't fit for the majority of the work we do. On the flip side your wheel loader is the ticket for getting in and out of the jobs you do, being able to move material quickly. I assume you also plow with it? Good stuff keep it coming.:drinkup
Thanks CM for the compliments. We really lucked out with that truck. Had a 2000 F750 33k gvw that was a great truck. Traded it in the end of 07 on a 2008 F750 33k gvw that we had for 8 months and it was literally at Ford for 5 or 6 months with Cat motor problems. Luckily we've dealt with, and continue to deal with our Ford dealer for 25+ years, they stood behind it, and bought it back after 8 months for $3,000 less than purchase price (which was about $80,000, heard they sold it for $50,000). I wound up finding this truck down at a dealer in CT, brand new 2006 International 7400 in August of 08. Original sticker was about $92,000, they marked it down to about $75,000, and when we were done painting it and changing a couple things I think it was about $82,000. That same truck now is about $120,000 with all the emissions BS. We will probably keep that at least until my father is all done. He has talked about maybe wanting a short 7600 ten wheeler, with like a 12'6" body with 48" sides and a 60" gate, but I think we're more focused on growing our excavation side, not enough money in trucking.
As for the loaders, you nailed it CM. Up until 5 years ago all we've ever owned is Bobcat equipment. We've been getting nailed with snow the last 5 years, and the Bobcats were just maxed out for stacking and pushing back. Our Bobcat dealer had just gotten an 2006 Ingersoll Rand WL 440 in with a 1.5 yard bucket and forks and we're having fun in their yard with it. It only had 250 hours on it. The service guys were kind of pissed when we came in and bought it. We wound up getting a 2 yard bucket and another fork frame to put a 10' Fisher MC plow on it. We added the 2007 Komatsu WA 150 almost 2 years ago when we added a third parking lot. Got it with only 1,400 hours, JRB coupler, 2 yard bucket, JRB forks, and a 12' Protech pusher for it out of NY for a steal. Then added a 2013 Doosan DL 200 with only 900 hours, and JRB coupler and 2.5 yard bucket this Spring after our snowiest winter ever. You can see in the last picture we've fabbed up a JRB quick coupler plate as a plow hitch and that's getting a 10' Everest power angle plow for doing streets this year. Finally had them all back at the shop today to get them serviced and ready for winter. Originally they were just for snow, but we've really found a niche putting them on our 100 - 500 yard digs, getting the trucks in and out.
Hey Jim, just out of curiosity, which do you like better the Komotsu or the Doosan?
Landclearer, it's hard to say because I haven't ran the Doosan much. The Doosan has a few quirks I don't like, for instance the speedometer is in KPH, and the directional buttons on the joystick are a little more complicated than just the regular toggle switch like the Ingersoll Rand and Komatsu have. Also the Doosan is a little harder to see the quick coupler when connecting attachments. Also the Doosan is 6 years newer, so there's that. Overall I'd probably say I like the Komatsu the best, but I hope to get a few hours on the Doosan this winter. We've bought all our loaders used, and have just looked for the best deal considering condition of the machine. We were looking at WA 200s and DL 200s. The nicest used WA 200 we found had 1,500 - 2,000 hours, and were 2012 models for $115,000. The DL 200 had 900 hours, comparable specs, and they gave it the 1,000 hour service and fixed a couple minor things for $90,000. We felt the 20% difference in price couldn't justify going with the Komatsu.
Hi Jim, Thanks for the info on Doosan. I have never run one so was just curious. Your Komatsu is hydrostatic right? If it is, what do you think of it? The doosan has a transmission?
Hi Landclearer, Yes, all 3 loaders are hydrostatic. The Komatsu and Doosan both have 4 forward gears and 2 reverse gears. Both also have Auto Shift. All 3 also have forwarded/neutral/reverse selector switches on the top of the joystick. The IR and Komatsu have a 3 position toggle switch, real simple. The Doosan has 3 buttons on the top of the joystick, (Forward/neutral/reverse, left to right), horn below that, and an activation button on the back of the joystick. In order to change direction with the joystick buttons, you must click the activation button once, then hold the activation button along with one of the 3 directional buttons. That will put it in whatever button you chose, then you can just click whichever button you want to choose direction. A little complicated, but once you use it a few times it's not that bad. Overall, they're all nice machines, no real complaints.
Haven't been on here in a while, figured I'd update the post a little on what's been keeping us busy this year. If there's any interest I'll add some more pictures. First, some snow pictures from what little we had this past year. A year after having our snowiest winter ever, getting 120" in about 2 months, we didn't even reach our average, but still stayed fairly busy. First picture, replaced my 2010 F250 with a 2016 F350. Nothing major wrong with the old one, had a couple minor issues showing, and we had a really good year and needed a write off. Biggest reason for updating was wanted to avoid price increase/unknowns with the new aluminum body series coming out. Next 3 pictures are the lots I'm in charge of in the winter, those two loaders work extremely well together, once both operators get our system down. Last picture the Doosan with other pieces on plowing streets for a city. Definitely the newest piece by a few years. I didn't get a chance to run it plowing, as it was my father's baby.
This Spring we were back to the pool demo job to do a 1,300 SF Bluestone imitation paver deck around the spa we saved. Replumbed the spa, piped all of the downspouts to a new infiltration system, installed electrical conduit for low voltage lighting, put new coping on the spa, prepped for and installed the new patio, new handrail on the spa (not pictured), loam, rake, seed and fertilizer. Came out pretty good. First picture piping downspouts to where the new infiltration system will be. Second, patio laid out, cut to sub base, compacted and ready for gravel. (Spa is under the plywood). Third 3/4" gravel base in, finish graded, compacted, ready for stone dust and pavers. Fourth new coping on, me on the T590 shuffling pallets, and our 4 guy crew laid 1,250 SF of pavers ranging in size from 10"x20" to 30"x30" in one 6 hour Saturday. Fifth spreading and raking 60 yards of loam, putting this one to bed.
That stone paver patio is slick!:thumbsup What are the normal spec's for the infiltration system? Here we mostly have heavy clay soils with rock so infiltration systems are limited where they can be used effectively.
Last one for now. Added another skid this Spring. S570 with every option except high flow. We sold our last S185 before we bought the Doosan, as it wasn't being used much. Kind of regret doing that as it was a great machine. This is the size machine we always like, as we put the offset rims on it and the machine is only 60" wide over the tires. Main reason we bought it was for snow work, doing sidewalks at a big office complex with a blower, but it will be nice to have a skid and 5' wide machine in the fleet again. Second picture, picking up the new S570 with my new F350. You can tell we go the extra mile to keep our company colors the same. Ford didn't offer the red and silver two tone like my last 2 trucks have been, so the new truck came in and went right to paint. First picture, a little job at a Country Club redoing the main entrance way. We were the sub of a sub on this one. Removing existing concrete stairs, walkway, handicap ramp and landing. Super was spoon feeding us info, at first it was just remove concrete. Almost felt like a frost wall under slab, so I cleaned out all of the concrete. Super came out at the end of the day to finally show us the prints, and tell us we needed to excavate for footings and frost walls. Had a feeling one of them was already there, even though it wasn't shown on the prints. Came back the next day, exposed the existing wall, and dug for a little return and a couple of footings. Luckily I felt the wall when hammering and didn't damage too much of the CMU, score for the concrete guy we were working for. Third picture return wall excavated for at top left, and existing frost wall exposed, exactly where prints showed new wall. Had to dig a couple small 3'x3' footings at each end of entrance way also for extension of the stone walls. Fourth picture backfilling the irrigation sleeve and staircase/handicap ramp. Fifth installing 6" of 3/4" stone under all of the concrete.
Thanks CM. Infiltration is usually done by an engineer with a flow study to determine amount of storage needed, which just dictates how many chambers are needed. Specs usually just refer to manufacturers' install specs, in this case Stormtech. Landscape Architect for some reason called for elevation of this chamber to be only a couple feet under finished grade, but we just installed not designed. We put about 8 ton of 3/4" stone around it, even though specs only called for about 5. Figured I'd throw a finished pic up of the patio since I guess I didn't before.
That's a beautiful patio, want to travel south a few miles and put one in for me? I've done two StormTech systems in parking lots. It's a good system of storage and infiltration if it's designed right, however those yellow chambers are expensive for no more than they are.
Thanks CM, might be a little cost prohibitive though I really like this type of paver, if you use the right type of sealer the correct way, it looks exactly like Bluestone, for a lot less. Although, a lot less, pavers alone run about $13/SF Also, not many guys like to install those, as the 30"x30"s are 110 pounds I believe. Wish I had a better picture, the manufacturer actually wanted to send the area rep out to photograph it, wish we were able to arrange that. You got that right on the price of infiltraters, I can only imagine what their markup is on that plastic. I think since they are being required more and more around here, they are becoming a little more realistically priced. It doesn't bother us though, as we just pass the cost on. However, it can be rather difficult to tell a homeowner they need a $5,000+ drainage system because some engineer or some town or city guy wants to see it.
I don't believe your Doosan is hydrostatic. Torque converter with a planetary ZF transmission.