Paul Armstrong and his son Nathan own and operate South Shore Pile Driving, LLC based in Marshfield, Massachusetts; the family team has grown the pile installation business in a predominantly coastal, residential and private market in New England. Paul says that ongoing beach erosion from increasing storm and tidal activity in the region has prompted many homeowners to move their homes further inland. And because of new state building codes, those homes are required to stand on pile-based foundations. These developments have helped South Shore become a go-to contractor for this growing number of jobs. 

Beach erosion is not limited to the Northeastern U.S., rather it is a reality for the entire Atlantic Coast and even areas of the Great Lakes. In November, The New York Times published a story by reporter Ellen Rosen entitled For Waterfront Homeowners, Moving Can Have a Different Meaning. The article appeared in the November 5th print edition of the paper and chronicled this growing challenge to owners of coastal structures. The national newspaper interviewed Mr. Armstrong in this story and used several quotes from him based on his expertise in this trend of safeguarding waterfront homes through pile-based foundations. READ THE FULL STORY HERE [Paywall].

An important takeaway from this article is that a driven pile foundation is increasingly regarded as the safest and most reliable method to protect structures from natural elements. All members of PDCA benefit from this widespread endorsement of the practice.

RELATED: PileDriver Magazine Issue #6, 2022 distributed this month and carried numerous stories about pile driving and natural disasters. READ THE LATEST MAGAZINE HERE. In this publication, you will see a coastal home on the Cape Cod National Seashore that stands on piles Paul Armstrong installed in 2015. This home was the lone, surviving structure following a violent North Atlantic storm that battered the region in January 2022. Major media organizations published a photo of the home in the storm's aftermath in their coverage of the weather event earlier this year. The team at South Shore Pile Driving, LLC has since driven a new foundation for that home, further inland, as a safeguard from ongoing beach erosion and other oceanfront challenges.

We caught up with Paul and his crew to congratulate them on the great work they are doing for clients of the company, but also the powerful message he has amplified through media about the value and integrity of driven pile-based foundations. Paul is yet another member who's contracting work shows that A Driven Pile...Is a Tested Pile!