A Pile of News: July 2024

A briefing on news and information from the pile driving contractors,

associated manufacturers, construction suppliers and affiliated engineers

who comprise PDCA.

By Matt Bisbee, PDCA


Originally sent July 1, 2024

Top of the Pile


We start with a warm welcome to the members who joined (or rejoined) PDCA in Q2:


  • Contractors – Power Engineering Construction Co., Alameda, CA; The Walsh Group, Chicago, IL
  • Associates – Foster Stone International, Houston, TX; Lally Pipe & Tube, Taylor Mill, KY; Stealth Pipe and Steel, Montreal, Quebec; West Coast Spiral Pipe, Rialto, CA
  • Engineering Affiliate – VMS/Allnamics USA, Montgomery, TX
  • Government employees – Chris Nickel, P.E. and Kylie Beadle, P.E., both from Louisiana DOTD
New PDCA members

(L-R) Ken Gollon of Walsh Construction; Kylie Beadle of LA-DOTD; Rich Northfield of Lally Pipe and Tube, West Coast Spiral Pipe


The PDCA Connection offers new, online enrollment in PDCA and PDCA chapters for those of you readers who are not currently members. JOIN TODAY! This new cloud-based, member management system gives you one-login access to your PDCA account, PDCA event registration, chapter and committee engagement, The PDCA Store and more. Learn more here.


Save these dates! PDCA turns 30 in 2025 and is hosting two major industry events as part of the celebration. You won’t want to miss:


  • Feb. 4–6, 2025 – the PDCA Annual Conference at the J.W. Marriott Hill Country Resort in San Antonio, TX. It offers industry learning, a trade show, golf tourney, awards and more.
  • Nov. 10–14, 2025 – Contractors Foundation Institute: Driven Pile Academy in Port Bienville, MS. It features hands-on training and field tests for pile drivers.
From the Association & Chapters

Mark your calendars

Winner of the PDCADriven contest

Congratulations, Stealth Pipe and Steel, you are this month’s winner! Send an email to marian@piledrivers.org before the end of the month to claim your prize!

News from PDCA Companies

Recognitions:


Giving back:


Acquisitions & expansions:

  • Sealevel Construction Inc. adds to its equipment portfolio; now offers foundation installation through use of a Giken Silent Piler.
  • Bull Moose Tube opened their newest manufacturing facility in 2023 in Sinton, TX. Last month, the “cutting-edge” factory debuted on Manufacturing Marvels, a Fox Business Network program. 
  • CPS Houston, which offers pile coating, has earned QP3 Shop Painting accreditation
  • PVE Equipment USA moves its Gulf Coast Division office into a new, permanent home at 8718 Freedom Drive in Baytown, TX, near Houston.


Government relations:


Anniversaries:

  • Cianbro, founded in Pittsfield, ME, in 1949, is a large American construction company, rich in history. Early on, it secured a subcontract on a Cold War-era military base project. In 1969, it assembled the largest crane in the Western Hemisphere. A decade later, its robust Mid-Atlantic operations grew out of a Virginia bridge job. It introduced the full-body construction harness in 1987. Many more milestones are on the Cianbro timeline… and PDCA extends you a happy 75th!
  • Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) is a valued industry partner to PDCA and a great member. The organization celebrates 70 years in existence this year. PSC piles are among the foundation building materials that prove the old saying: “A driven pile…is a tested pile…
People on the Move

Transitions:

  • Brendan Wilson is the newest estimator at C.J. Mahan Construction Co. in Ohio.
  • Malik Tromblee was promoted to safety specialist at D.A. Collins Companies in Wilton, NY.
  • Justin Ballard joins MEB as director of business development and client solutions; also, Adrienne Iachetta elevates to project manager at the Chesapeake, VA-based contractor.
  • Krista Miller has been promoted to director of communications at Orion.
  • Sharon Rowe moves up to preconstruction and engineering specialist and Robert Truszkowski becomes a project manager at Alameda-based Power Engineering Construction Co.
  • Mary Marek recalls starting at Aggregate Technologies 20 years ago. Self-described as “blunt,” she’d tell the bossman “how it is.” Now, the bossman and team miss her in retirement.
  • Tyler Weisinger is new in outside sales at Dark Horse Metals; he’s a Jiu-Jitsu black belt!
  • Melanie Schmitt appointed VP, Finance at American Engineering Testing, Inc. in Minnesota.
  • Fernanda Moraes joins GRL Engineers, Inc. in its California office; Anvir Ahmed onboards with the Pennsylvania office; and Syed Hussan is newly named to the Illinois office.
  • Annika Goozen, EIT, joins the Anchorage, AK, office of PND Engineers, Inc., where she interned prior to earning her master’s degree in civil engineering.
  • David DeBerardino, P.E., named transportation director of construction, engineering and inspection (CEI) group at S&ME in Raleigh, NC.
  • Susheel Kolwalkar, Ph.D. rejoins Terracon as manager of regional services. We dare you to challenge him in ping pong! #IYKYK


Recognitions:


And let’s congratulate some proud PDCA parents!

  • Dr. Peyton Galbreath, OTD, daughter of Pile Dynamics, Inc. marketer Diane Fischer, has passed her occupational therapy board examinations, earning her entry into the profession.
  • Joanna Hueber celebrates a new marriage to Rob, after their June wedding in Cape Cod, MA; the event gives father-of-the-bride Brad Roberts from GZA GeoEnvironmental “in-law” status.


Sending sympathies:

  • Ryan “Heath” Forbes (1980–2024): Heath was a career geotechnical engineer at S&ME, Inc. in Charleston, SC, and leaves his mark on some significant U.S. projects, including the widened I-95 in South Carolina, the Indian River Inlet cable-stayed bridge in Delaware and the Portsmouth Bypass in Ohio. He also worked on a port development at the Panama Canal. In his spare time, Heath and his wife Jill owned a local axe-throwing lounge. Heath is survived by Jill and their three children.
On the Job

ASAP Group installs steel sheet piling from Meever for a luxury residential complex in Juno Beach, FL.


Cape Romain Contractors starts a Mount Pleasant, SC, shrimp dock Rebuild at popular Shem Creek. Crews will install piling for the seafood facility. T&H is providing engineering services.


DFI Piling is in North Dakota to install driven piling for a new bridge. The crew uses DFI-built equipment, including an RGZ 225 crane and a HH350-60 hydraulic hammer.


Forefront Deep Foundations completed another phase for the California High Speed Rail project; the latest was a pile-supported, temporary trestle over a Central Valley waterway near Hanford. Crews drove 118 steel pipe piles from Mammoth Carbon Products using their vibro and impact hammer.


Foundation brought the California Bay Area piling industry to its waterfront property in Oakley for the annual Horseshoe Tournament. Sponsors/participants came from Nucor Skyline, Hammer & Steel, GRL Engineers, Inc., Independent Pipe, PILECO, Inc. and McNeil, Silveira, Rice & Wiley.


George Harms Construction Co. continues work on the Point No Point Railroad Bridge in Newark, NJ. Crews finished pre-driving H-pile using a vibro from Equipment Corporation of America, and have now begun final installation with an RG-21T, shown in this photo from ECA’s Bruce Langan.


J. Fletcher Creamer has entered a JV and signed the charters for the engineering and design of New Jersey’s first offshore wind project. President Martin Downs, Jr., P.E., participated in the formal launch with other stakeholders aiming to bring clean energy to 700,000 homes and $2B to the state’s economy.


Norwalk Marine Contractors Inc. returned a crew to the cranberry bogs, this time in Carver, MA, where it is installing H-piles to eventually support solar panels on the dual-purpose property.


Power Engineering Construction built the Belmont Gravity Pipeline, part of the Silicon Valley Clean Water regional sewer system upgrade called RESCU. The scope included sheet pile installation for which crews used Hammer & Steel equipment to drive PZ sheet piling from Nucor Skyline.


Reagan Marine Construction completed a new dock for the City of Newport, RI, a project that took two months. Work included in-house fabrication of many finishing components and timber pile installation using an International Construction Equipment vibro from the Reagan-owned crane barge.


Specialty Underwater Services (SUS) expects to finish a new vessel lift travel pier in New Jersey for the U.S. Coast Guard in mid-month. The Maryland contractor designed the pile-supported structure, then installed the pipes after D.W. Kozera testing. Crews used an International Construction Equipment vibro and an American Piledriving Equipment diesel hammer to drive the Nucor Skyline steel pipe piles, one batter and one plumb, for each bent.


Wren Works LLC reports from Grand Portage, MN, where it completed the Hat Point Ferry Terminal and Marina, a federal and tribal initiative. Project manager Brian Rankila says they installed sheet, H- and vertical piles from Nucor Skyline, using equipment from International Construction Equipment and Hammer & Steel. The 70-day job ended with The Eh Team” (Canadian border thing) posing for Facebook in matching red hoodies.


GeoQuip, Inc. is in Lake Charles, LA, with its HPSI Model XL vibro and clamp extension; Cajun Industries uses the equipment to drive sheet piling adjacent to a bulkhead. In Savannah, McCarthy uses a GeoQuip diesel hammer and an HPSI vibro for the Georgia Port Authority Overpass project.


Dewberry won the design contract of a new WTP at the Twentynine Palms, CA, U.S. Marine Corps base.


GRL Engineers, Inc. releases case studies from Mohamad Hussein, P.E., and Ben White, P.E., showing that dynamic pile testing resulted in cost and time savings on Florida and Ohio bridge projects.

Notes from the Field

Check “yes” or “no” – Do you want a bulkhead like this around a pond in your yard? Orion can do it! In contract with Brazoria County, TX, crews installed a barrier wall in the shape of Texas at a local park, consisting of approximately 850 LF of vinyl sheet piles.


All my exes live in Texas – We know one LSU alum who now lives in Houston and works at Aggregate Technologies. However, the concrete demo specialist serves Baton Rouge and beyond, and recently performed concrete sawing at Tiger Stadium for a scoreboard upgrade. The Bayou Bengals hope to keep visiting Nicholls State off the new display during the 9/7 home-opener.


I can still make Cheyenne from the south, even as crews from R.L. Wadsworth Construction work on I-25 between Denver and Ft. Collins, CO. Through a JV, they are expanding the north-south artery to open a third lane for motorists. Summer travel reminder: Drive slowly when workers are present!


I got a car – NASCAR fans may recall last month’s Enjoy Illinois 300. Driver Christopher Bell, in a DEWALT-sponsored Camry, displayed a McCarthy Building Co. logo on the hood.


Unwound – Team building, work-play balance and mental health can contribute to greater workplace productivity. Examples of PDCA members unwinding include CRW Engineering Group adventure-seeking staff on a backpacking trip at Denali, Alaska’s K'esugi Ridge. Also, Lloyd Engineering indulged in a staff outing at a Houston mini-golf park. Even extracurricular unwinding is necessary, see below:

Service Steel Warehouse employees at a George Strait concert

Brenna Spillmann, other McCarthy staff, and Derek Brodnax of Service Steel Warehouse attended the June George Strait concert at Texas A&M; they sent APON some photos from their experience in the record-setting, 110,905-person crowd. #kingatkyle


You finally made it to the end of another A Pile of News, now get back to work! If your job involves marketing for your piling industry employer, consider adding your banner advertisement to the last open spot in this publication – it’s affordable. We don’t mind telling you that readership of this publication is just shy of an unheard-of 50% open rate, with another nearly 25% click rate. And the subscriber list grows each month by double digits. This author is certain that our friendly ad sales reps can find a marketing package to fit your needs. But at minimum, keep reading. Our present advertisers appreciate it!


To our friends up north, Happy Canada Day. And to those of you in the good ole’ U-S-A, have a happy and safe 4th of July. August 1st brings our next installment, so… starting right… NOW, send us news items from your company that you want considered for broadcast here, to matt@piledrivers.org. It’s a FREE benefit of your membership. We will see you in a month.

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