A Pile of News: November 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 Nov. 1, 2024

Top of the Pile

• "Pile" driving voter turnout  Voting members of PDCA, cast your ballots for 2025 organizational leadership starting Monday, Nov. 4 through Friday, Nov. 29. The primary representative of each member company (contractors, associates and engineering affiliates) will receive an email from Election Runner that contains an electronic ballot. It takes about three minutes to complete. You are selecting the five-member executive leadership team and nine board members.
• Read the latest PileDriver magazine, Issue 5 2024.
• Registration for the 2025 PDCA Annual Conference, Feb. 46 in San Antonio, is open. Attendees, sponsors and exhibitors, reserve your spot today.

From the Association & Chapters

Mark your calendars:

• Nov. 6: Northeast Chapter Dinner Meeting & Casino Night in Newark, NJ  Attend this chapter meeting and stick around for gaming. It's 2024's last event.
• Nov. 68: Deep Foundations Dynamic Testing & Analysis (DFDTA) in Cleveland, OH  This workshop/seminar is available through a partnership between Pile Dynamics, Inc./PDCA; it concludes with a PDA proficiency test.
• Nov. 14: South Carolina Chapter Dinner Meeting and Scholarship Award, Charleston, SC  The Nigels Scholarship will be presented to a Citadel cadet.
• RESCHEDULED: A previously announced networking reception Coastal Virginia on Nov. 21, 2024, is moved to an undetermined date in early 2025. 
• Dec. 12: Value Driven Webinar Series, 2 PM EDT: Hear subject matter experts, including Justin Yard of Gulf Coast Prestress Partners, present Introduction to Precast/Prestressed Concrete Piles. FREE to all members.
• Jan. 17, 2025: South Carolina Chapter Oyster Roast, Charleston, SC, 6 PM  It's an annual family social event, free to the industry, at Palmetto Pile Driving.
• Feb. 46, 2025: PDCA Annual Conference & Expo, San Antonio, TX  Don't miss the signature event for the driven pile industry at the JW Marriott Hill Country Resort. It includes impactful programs, a trade show, networking receptions, awards ceremony, PDCA committee meetings and optional golf. 

From the piledrivers.org blog:

• The Engineers Driven Pile Institute (EDPI) delivered two days of rigorous instruction to engineers/project managers; subject matter experts Pat Hanniganand Van Komurka of GRL Engineers and Jerry DiMaggio shared insights on recommending, designing, specifying and inspecting driven pile foundations.
• The Mountain State Meet-Up was a networking reception in Salt Lake City, UT, that brought together EDPI attendees and the Northern Utah driven pile industry.
• Pacific Coast Chapter awarded nine scholarships to students who are future constructors. The 2024 winners are beneficiaries of the April Scholarship Shoot.
• Denver altitude didn't intimidate deep foundations professionals. PDCA was a cooperating organization in the 2024 DFI Annual Conference; recap/photos.
• Hurricane outbreak in southeast U.S. activates PDCA members to service. See how ESP Associates, TRC Companies, Koppers and others are helping.
• ICYMI: The father of modern soil mechanics is celebrated each year on his birthdate; Robert Thompson of Dan Brown & Associates sends geoprofessionals an annual observance letter each Oct. 4.

Congratulations, Sealevel Construction Inc., you are this month's winner! Send an email to marian@piledrivers.org before the end of November to claim your prize!

News from PDCA Companies

Giving back:

• Baker GCI hosted its annual Boy Scout Sporting Clays Classic at Covey Rise, generating nearly $150K for the SE Louisiana Council of Boy Scouts.
• GROUP Contractors staff connected with high schoolers about construction careers at Build Your Future Day near Baton Rouge
• Kiewit invests $6.6M in Colorado State University for a new construction engineering degree program; news/talk powerhouse KOA-radio covers the story.
• Mason Construction salutes late president Chuck Mason and his wife Beckyfor generosity to the Beaumont, TX region. In October, Baptist Hospital of SE Texas "raised the beam" on the new Chuck & Becky Mason Infusion Center. 
• Scott Bridge Company gave the new crane "Building to Serve," to the Auburn University structural engineering lab. AU brass thanked the family on Sept. 19.
• BAUER Equipment America held a staff blood drive at its Conroe, TX HQ, part of the Q3 meeting. CEO Christian Gress addressed the assembly over pizza.
• Haley & Aldrich held its annual charity golf tournament, which raised $50K, split evenly between Boston Children's Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital.
• Lloyd Engineering, Inc. made a "phenomenal" impact at the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Walk/Run event in Houston. Staff helped raise funds and completed the course, all in the name of childhood cancer awareness.
• S&ME maintains a large footprint throughout the southeastern U.S. and has employee owners who live and work in many communities ravaged by Hurricane Helene. In response, unaffected coastal staff helped relieve colleagues.
• Thomas & Hutton staff volunteered on a river and beach cleanup in South Carolina; among the refuse they removed was a flat screen TV.

Acquisitions & expansions:

• Cajun Industries, LLC cut the ribbon on its new Texas Workforce Center in Houston, which centralizes hiring and training operations in a dedicated space.
• Tadano wholly owns a subsidiary crane manufacturer, Manitex, after the board approved purchasing the remaining 85% stake. It bought the first 15% in 2018.
• Geo-Technology Associates taps Scott Taylor, P.E., as head geotech at new Washington, D.C. office. Theresa Gabris, Matthew Hartman comprise the staff.
• ECS Group of Companies adds Heitmann & Associates to its portfolio, strengthening the firm's St. Louis presence.
• Terracon acquired tech platform FactorEarth through its purchase of Denver-based Metcalf Archaeological Consultants.

Recognitions: 

• CIANBRO attended a ribbon-cutting for the new Farragut Sea Wall it built at the U.S. Naval Academy; Vice Admiral Davids thanked them in her remarks.
• Dissen & Juhn Company snagged more awards for Lighthouse Point Marina; ABC Chesapeake Shores honored this job for both excellence and safety.
• Foundation Constructors performed sheet pile driving for a California job that also involved Haley & Aldrich; it won an APWA project of the year award.
• Kiewit is Company of the Year, as honored by the Engineering Dept. at Kansas State University; nine staff/alums attended the ceremony in the Little Apple.
• Manson Construction Co. attended an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., where representatives accepted a national safety award.
• McCarthy is #8 on the Houston Business Journal list of best places to work.
• SUSSpecialty Underwater Services of Baltimore appeared in a Cape Gazette story about an investigation into a Lewes, DE, water main break. SUS dive team members are pictured in the publication and credited for diagnostic work.
• Locke is #13 on the Aggie 100 list, which recognizes the 100 fastest growing companies led by Texas A&M alums. "Gig 'em" was a common social comment.
• Dewberry gets PR for the Living Shoreline project in Panama City, FL; local TV station WMBB aired a story on the work it is doing for the local visitor's bureau.
• Pile Dynamics, Inc. hosted 22 employees from 13 countries at Cleveland HQ for the triennial PDI International Representative Days. It was the first gathering since 2017 because COVID derailed the planned 2020 event. (pictured, below)
• Schnabel Engineering contributed to the award-winning City of Kingston, Ontario municipal dam project, which was recognized for safety.
• Heron Wolf is a finalist for its industry staffing work; the global recruiter prepares to gather for the annual awards ceremony later this month.

Cleveland Rocks staff from five continents visit the home office of Pile Dynamics, Inc. for triennial meeting

Governmental relations:

• Aggregate Technologies sent the co-headliners to October's ASCE meeting in Houston. Ronnie and Belin Wills gave a tech presentation on hydrodemolition and County Commissioner Tom Ramsey, P.E., delivered the keynote.
• Gerdau North America was at a celebration of an American-made solar project for which it supplied 22K tons of structural steel from its mills in Texas and Georgia. U.S. Sec. Granholm and others were also in Austin for the event.
• Nucor hosted U.S. Rep. Mace at its Berkeley steel production facility in Huger, SC. The Congresswoman toured the plant and addressed the employees.
• Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers secured work on the Long Bridge Project for the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority. It's a $2.3B, federally funded project that broke ground in October with help from U.S. Sens. Kaine and Warner, U.S. Reps. Connelly and Spanbarger, and DOT Sec. Buttigieg.

People on the Move

Transitions:

• Travis Schonacher elevates to president at Sealevel Construction in Thiboudeaux, LA. He will lead all operations and estimating alongside company founder/CEO Richard Roth.
• Kyle Crabtree is new to claims and insurance at Boh Bros. Construction.
• Mason Freeman and Jesus Sanchez Popo were promoted to foreman at Scott Bridge Co. The Opelika, AL, contractor cites their work ethic and reliability.
• Samantha See moves to Houston-based Apex Steel Pipe & Piling as its newest salesperson of structural steel products.
• Joe Zapata has reached one year as president at Flexicore of Texas (we are a little late in announcing this). Longtime leader Kathy Dockery retired and Chris Barberi earned promotion to sales manager.
• John Weber wraps up 47 years in timber and retires from Lodge Lumber, Co.
• Rhude Cherry, P.E., now manages the Columbia, SC, office at ECS Group of Companies, Rich Droshe is its new asset manager/market lead in Raleigh, NC, and Erin Phillips, PE becomes a geotech for the Roanoke, VA office.
• Tom Zagorski, P.E., joins Infrastructure Consulting & Engineering as a new SVP. He brings 38 years of civil infrastructure construction management.

Recognitions:

• Lake Yoke recertified as Rigger Class B & Signal Person/Train the Trainer, ensuring that Island Piling in Naples, FL, continues meeting ASME standards.
• Evan Carpinelli and Hutch Hardy from MEB performed volunteer, humanitarian work in remote parts of Appalachia to assist people impacted by Hurricane Helene. They delivered fuel, water and welfare checks by chopper.
• Shallee Biondo of Orion won a 2024 Impact Award from the Houston Business Journal, which cited her priorities for service and community involvement.
• Logan Capistran, Donald Snelling, Chase Mauch and Ricardo Bazaldua, from the Russell Marine crew at the TxDOT Port Aransas Ferry Landing project, successfully completed the Intermediate Rigging Course from IIT.
• Tasha Gardner, VP/CFO at Sargent, is a panelist for a discussion entitled Visionaries: Women Leading the AEC Industry, in Portland, ME, on Nov. 6.
• Kelly Veit interviewed on a podcast with a Minnesota business consulting group. The Veit CEO discusses her non-traditional career path, leadership lessons and importance of professional development.
• Connor Caskey, son of Matt Caskey of Duroterra, was on the first place teamfrom University of Memphis that won an ASCE student engineering competition.
• Heidi Danbrook of Gilbert is credited with making significant advancements for the southern pine lumber industry and is featured in their publication.
• Debbie Reaney from International Construction Equipment won the Award of Excellence from Florida marine contractors for her "inspired service."
• Kristy Pride and Phyllis MacConnell put on their 15th annual Pipe School for Trinity Products. Assisting them in St. Charles, MO were Shelley Stipanovich, Kailey Tennant, Christina Kummer, Darla Ratlioff and James Foster.
• Shana Opdyke-Carroll co-authored an article on affordable housing. The D.W. Kozera president in Baltimore says a solution is repurposing vacant properties.
• Dempsey Thieman appears in Alaska Contractor magazine in a published interview discussing PND Engineers, Inc.'s work on the state's waterfronts.
• Leo Keegan from Professional Service Industries in New Orleans gave an October presentation to 170 colleagues on Deep Foundation Integrity Testing.
• Rachel Greer, financial controller at Southern Earth Sciences, Inc., has been named to the 2024 list of Alabama AGC 40 Under 40 honorees.
• Abraham Suriel, P.E., a senior construction inspector at Tectonic, passed the professional engineering exam and earned his license in Connecticut.

Sending sympathies:

• Lee Wilczynski (19412024) spent a long career in equipment and steel piling sales, and was instrumental in the establishment of the PDCA Gulf Coast Chapter. While he maintained a large network spanning the globe, Louisiana was his adopted home. The Army vet, published author and church choir baritone leaves behind a large family, including his wife of 61 years, Elaine.

On the Job

Blue Iron Foundations & Shoring reports on a USACE bridge job on I-10 in New Orleans, where its crew is fortifying infrastructure with what we are told is the first and only Giken Clear Piler in North America. The pipe press-in machine is shown splicing and interlocking material from JD Fields & Co. near West Shore Lake Ponchartrain.

Cianbro uses a Junttan PM 25 to drive 55-foot 14-inch PSC piles for a project at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. Foreman Justin Bright leads the crew on the Dry Dock 4 job.

H.B. Fleming, Inc. had a crew performing sheet pile installation for a cofferdam that will eventually be the site of a new Barnstable, MA, pump station. GTRGeosciences Testing and Research, Inc. provided engineering services for the project.

Morris-Shea Bridge Co. showed professional fisherman Logan Parks, whom they sponsor, two of their Alabama job sites  at Jordan Hare Stadium and Bay Minette.

GEOKON supplied instrumentation to USACE researchers who are performing load tests on wetlands in Scotch Bonnet, NJ. Findings may lead to implications for contractors involved in heavy construction in similar environmentally sensitive areas. 

Shannon & Wilson secured the geotechnical lead for a bridge replacement on I-55 connecting Arkansas and Tennessee. A $394M US-DOT grant, plus states' investment, will cover costs. This is in a seismic zone with unique subsurface features.

Southern Earth Sciences has a crew in Panama City Beach, where Scott Mitchell's team assists the crews installing 36-inch PSC, to found a new Tootsies Orchid Lounge.

Tolunay-Wong Engineers shares a dramatic job site photo from Cape Canaveral, FL; check out their setup in the foreground, as a rocket ship launches in the background.

TRC Companies, Inc. is retained to provide construction inspection services for the replacement of four bridges in rural Glenn County, CA, north of Sacramento.

Industry news: 

• Do you own timber land and want to maximizie its value? Check out the Management Assistance Program from timber pile supplier Bell Lumber & Pole.

Notes from the Field

All the gold in California is apparently split between cities Richmond and Sausalito. Power Engineering Construction Co. has photos where their job sites in each town appear perfectly framed underneath the same, full rainbow that occurred on Oct. 16.

Hello sunshine, goodbye rain  It was a happy day in Milwaukee for Mark Graika from Veit. There on business, he visited a famous statue honoring TV icon "The Fonz."Coincidentally, actor Henry Winkler, who forged Arthur Fonzarelli's place in pop culture, was nearby and stood next to his bronze likeness in a photo with Graika.

It goes on and on, and on, and on  This movie does end, after 51 hours! PDCA member Copier Machinery produced a film showing the journey of one of its products from production to distribution. Logistics premiered in 2012, and has earned the distinction as the longest film in the world.

Choppa Style  Staff at Eustis Engineering danced before the Monday night meeting between the hometown New Orleans Saints and defending champion Chiefs; it was Who Dat Day. Playing the team's unofficial theme song on a loop, employees were caught on video busting a move; including Chad Held doing the cabbage patch.

Talk nerdy to me  PDCA members compete in various sports; clay shooting, golf, fishing, etc. But the infrastructure team at ESP Associates in Fort Mill, SC, won gold medals at the Tri-Nerdathon. Clap your hands, everybody, everybody clap your hands!

(Left) Chad Held of Eustis Engineering; (Right) Mark Graika of Veit with The Fonz X2

November is a month for giving thanks  PDCA humbly thanks you for supporting this organization and the advancement of the driven pile in deep foundation construction. Your active membership benefits the entire pile driving industry through education, professional development, marketing, networking and more. If you're not yet a PDCA member, it is now easier and more convenient to enroll. Just click JOIN PDCAand complete the online application form.

Until we see you again on Dec. 2, have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving, and don't forget to vote!