My job is fantastic. People come to me having just gotten "a great deal" on a piece of land that they now want to develop. Problem is, there is usually more slop than land! Let's face it, in 2017 most of the good property is already developed. Areas the are undeveloped remain so either for preservation or because they are just really poor quality.
So my task is to find a way to transform these subterranean wastelands into buildable ground, and then educate my clients on how best to do this.
Many engineers and builders believe that if the ground conditions are poor, then a deep foundation system like augercast or driven piles is a must. So simple - even a caveman could do it! What do we need the geotechnical engineers for anyway?
Well, there just happens to be a very important rule in civil engineering: whenever possible, keep your structures on shallow spread foundations. Why? Economics. Shallow foundations are easy to construct so labor costs and installation time are much less as compared to deep foundations. Why spend our clients' money needlessly? If we can find a tool or tools in our toolbox that lets them build on poor soils with low risk and low cost, we just increased the value of their development.
So Doctor Ed, "what is in this toolbox" you ask. Well, stay tuned because in the following weeks I'm going to open it up and take a look together with you. Know Your Options™ and you'll be able to do a better job for your clients.