Contractor Succeeds by Shifting Business Targets

Chameleons are adaptors. They move to a new environment and blend in. Or the existing environment changes and they blend in. In today's challenging market, successful construction contractors have become chameleons, adapting… adjusting…retooling to blend into a dramatically different market.

One such chameleon-like contractor has learned how to survive and change by shifting its mix of business pretty dramatically to government-contract work—highway roadwork and municipal projects.

Three grading-intense projects
Currently engaged in three major highway projects, the contractor now has the largest amount of grading work they've had at one time.

"The first project we're working on is the expansion of a two-lane, six-mile major rush-hour artery into a major city. The project is massive because the entire alignment is being changed.

The contractor is facing about 800,000 cubic yards of excavation, with 200,000 of it being rock that will be drilled and blasted. This is all work that needs to be completed before they get to the grading. Because of the project's mandated grading standards and tight timetable, the contractor opted for Trimble® GCS900 dual GPS automated systems on three dozers and a motor grader to ensure that the work is completed to plan. In addition to the excavation and grading, the contractor is also responsible for the utility installation of storm and culvert pipe. The company will produce the limestone base and the asphalt and lay both in place.

Design-build project
The second project is another six-mile, two-lane highway. It's similar to the first project in that it's being widened to four lanes on a new alignment, but it's different because it's a design-build project. With a design-build project, the contractor has teamed up with two highway department designers who keep the project moving along at a fast pace. The project is also broken into three segments or phases, due to its complexity.

The project had been through different design processes for about nine years before it went to contract, but they're anticipating three years can be shaved off the overall schedule by it being design-build. The process has allowed the contractor to begin pushing dirt and working on about half of the project while the state is still purchasing the rest of the roadway. With traditional road building, the contractor would need to wait until all right-of-ways had been purchased and all the utilities moved.

The Trimble grade control systems allow the contractor to complete each section as they become available and maintain consistent results throughout.

The design-build approach, also shifts more responsibility to the contractor. One of their partners is actually buying the right-of-way land on behalf of the highway department shifting the responsibility for the final results to the contractor. So the design, construction and testing are all on the contractor's shoulders.

Stimulus funded roadwork
The third roadwork project is the result of the economic stimulus package, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

This project is the reconstruction of an existing two-lane road that is also around six-miles long. The U.S. highway project is a heavily traveled trucking corridor connecting several towns. The contractor is eliminating some sharp curves, fixing the alignment, and by-passing one little town to keep the traffic out of its downtown.

With projects awarded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, there are stricter recordkeeping and reporting requirements. The Trimble systems have made it easy to produce the progress documentation required by the federal government, which included how many people were hired, what they were paid, and how they contributed to the project. Another characteristic of a stimulus project is the aggressive timeline. The Trimble GCS900 Grade Control Systems on their dozers and motor grader have been instrumental in ensuring that the tremendous amount of grading is completed accurately and on time.

The contractor will be running multiple day-and-night shifts to meet the schedule. The contractor said. "What's nice about the Trimble GCS900 Grade Control System is that we can perform grade finishing at night with the same quality results as though it were completed in daylight."

Three times six equals success
Clearly, the contractor is busy with its three road projects running simultaneously. They are all around six-miles in length, but each of them has distinct challenges.

"With each of the projects we're able to be more productive and meet the timelines because we're using Trimble technology during the critical grading period," the contractor said. "We're not dealing with the time waiting for staking subcontractors and the Trimble GCS900 Grade Control Systems have virtually eliminated any corrective rework…it's done right with the first pass." The contractor estimates that the cost savings of not being dependent on outside staking subcontractors can be as high as 40%.

It's all about having more information. The machine operators like it because they have access to more information. Their results are better than grading off of stakes—"they can cut the slope and ditch line the first time and it's accurate."

The contractor continued: "Everybody has more information when using the GCS900, which is better. Using the dozer operator as an example…when he comes down that slope, he has accurate information on every spot on that slope. Older, experienced operators knew what it felt like to cut a 2-to-1 slope or a 3-to-1 slope, but if you didn't have that experience there was a lot of rework. But now with the Trimble systems, you know every point on a slope and can be more accurate because there is so much information with you all the time."