Spotlight: Laquinta and the Problem with ADA Compliance

These are the kind of comments from customers that make this job worthwhile...

"I have finally made it back down to Raleigh and was very pleased with the end results here!  Nice Job, and not the easiest one to blend back but it looks good."

"Just wanted to let you know- the client was extremely pleased with this project.  Great job on this one!    Quality work- I appreciate it!"

It always feels good when you please people. Not only from the perspective that it is a job well done but more so from the perspective that you can look forward now to the possibility of more work with these people in the future. If you have owned your own small business, you know the constant anxiety about where the next job is going to come from. Repeat business is the key to making that anxiety more manageable. 

So what was the job and what does it have to do with the title of this article? The story begins with lawyers as many of the problems with ADA compliance do. The American Disabilities Act has been around for a few years but many existing building have been around for a lot longer. As a consequence these buildings do not comply with the law as stated. Of course, these buildings are generally grandfathered in and are not forced to comply with the code unless they do updates such as expansions to the property and then generally local enforcement will try to bring the structures up to compliance. Large corporations however seem to have to live by another set of standards. The threat of lawsuit due to an injury sustained on their property is a major concern and a major focal point these days is with the accessibility requirements to and from buildings. In the past year I have spent at least 10% of my time finding ways to bring facilities as close to compliance as possible. 

The La Quinta job was a case in point. Many factors combined to make a successful completion to this job unlikely. First were the constraints set by the owner. We were expected to rip out the entire side of the hotel parking lot and walkways and rebuild the project within a week. This included curb, walk and asphalt.  On top of that we were expected to maintain compliance with ADA standards to the degree that could be achieved given the existing conditions. 

Luckily for us an engineer was involved and had produced plans that dealt with the conundrums on site but for these type of situations it is difficult to produce a perfect set of plans. To deal with these issues, we sent our survey team out there to get a better view of the site. Every step of the way there were issues to solve especially at the transitions to the tie in points. A good line of communication existed between us, the project manager, the engineer and the owner. Everyone understood the concerns and that contributed the most to a successful project. 

I don't have any epiphanies to share with you about projects like these other than communication is so important to getting the job completed on time and to the satisfaction of everyone. You can have the best experts in the world but if they are not willing to bring their expertise to the table in a meaningful way, the best jobs can turn into the worst jobs. 

My hat is off to not only to our employees who built the job but to the partnership with our customers who helped to make this job successful. 

Spotlight: Magna Composites Design/Build

Location: Magna Composites, Salisbury NC

Issue: The facility required an overflow parking lot in order to provide additional spaces for their ever growing employee base. They stipulated a 76 space minimum, the new lot's location, and a wish to keep costs low.

Solution: Pave South sent their surveyor to assess the initial site conditions and conduct a topographical survey. The site was designed in-house and the area of the parking lot was kept under 1 acre in order to avoid site disturbance permitting and keep costs low. We were also able to design the lot with 79 spaces, giving the facility a few more parking spaces than their minimum.

The topsoil was stripped and stockpiled on-site

The lot's earthwork was designed and calculated so as create a balance of cut to fill and avoid any costly soil export charges

The site was fine graded, abc was installed, along with a run of storm sewer along the southern edge of the lot

The asphalt was install

And the lot was striped per the customer's specifications.

Spotlight: Lone Star Steakhouse, Statesville, NC

Job: Lone Star Steakhouse Pavement Repair

Location: Statesville, NC

Issue: A large pothole had developed in the facility's parking lot and was in need of repair.

Solution:

The area was coned off for traffic control

The failed area was then saw-cut

The failed pavement was removed and the sub-grade prepped

Once the sub-grade had been prepped, it was compacted

New asphalt was then installed, compacted and re-striped.

Why do you have two names? Are you special?

Well, I guess we are special in a way. We actually have 4 names. Eastern Services is the parent company of Pave South and Raleigh Paving. Since Raleigh Paving has been around in Raleigh since 1983 and would not have much relevancy in the Charlotte market we thought it best to keep the Pave South name. Pave South will be the name of any future expansions because it is not localized. We also have another operation in the Buffalo area that goes by the name Thomann Asphalt. Thomann Asphalt has been in business since 1925 and has a strong branding in the WNY area. So in effect we have 4 names but one name that we will use in all new markets, Pave South. Hope this explains everything.

3 Qualities of a Good Contractor

I was reading another contractor's site the other day and they had an article on the 3 qualities of a good contractor. In their opinion the three main qualities are:

Reliable. Responsive. Results-Driven.

Although I think this is a good way to breakdown the issue, I kept getting it wrong everytime I tried to remember it. So I thought a better way to come up with it is to break down what they mean and then see if I can't come up with a better phrase that is easy to remember. Lets see, where do we start?

Reliable.

What is the standard of reliability or in other words what must a contractor do to be reliable. In my opinion reliability is about fulfilling commitments. So is "committed" a better term than "reliable".

According to Dictionary.com reliable means: "dependable in achievement, accuracy, honesty, etc" That is a pretty good cross section of what a contractor should be. On the other hand committed means: "to bind or obligate, as by pledge or assurance;"

While not as broad, I think there is a difference that makes me lean towards committed. The keyword here is dependable used in defining reliable. Dependable does not strike me as a word that means that you will do it every time. Contractors all claim to be reliable. It is so overused that it really has become virtually meaningless. If you asked any contractor if he is reliable he would say yes. If asked if the the contractor was reliable, references might respond something like: "Well, in general, yes". But if you ask a reference if the contractor is committed, I think that would set a different tone. In my mind if someone tells you that the contractor is "committed", it means that they strive for the highest standard possible before, during and after the job as they really stand behind what they do.

Responsive

I like this term. Responsiveness refers to communication and it is a critical part of the job process. When someone is working for me, there is nothing worse than a contractor who is non-responsive. Everything can be right but the fact that the contractor is non-responsive just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. So my vote is responsive stays.

Results-Driven

I think the meaning here refers to the end product and that the organization which includes the office, the field, the equipment or whatever is all focused on completing the end product to the satisfaction of the customer.

Answers.com defines it this way:

"A results-driven organization concentrates on meeting objectives, delivering to the required time, cost and quality, and holds performance to be more important than procedures".

Ok, I can see why they would want to use "results-driven" but like "reliable" it seems very cliche to me. Every contractor claims to be results driven but the concept is very abstract and it is not anything that you can hold your contractor accountable to. So I would like to go a different rout completely on this one and talk about a different aspect of contracting that is very prevalent in the industry, namely, change orders.

Quite frankly, the nature of contracting results in changes. We take our best guess and give you an estimate and based on that estimate as long as their are no unforeseen conditions then the price that we gave you should hold true. Changes occur for many reasons including that the customer wants to increase or decrease the scope of the work. When changes occur however, the issue of trust enters the relationship big time. So many questions can arise but in the interests of time, the customer is usually at the mercy of the contractor. In defense of the contractor, however, he may do his best to give the customer a fair an honest price but often the customer still assumes they are being overcharged. Its a difficult situation for everyone. In these instances we strive to be "fair and reasonable" since we know that the long term relationship is far more important than the short gain that can be had in these situations. But "fair and reasonable" is too long for my replacement phrase so I had to look for another word. I decided that "equitable" was the word that implied fairness, reasonability, and something else that I think goes a long way to building good relationships - objectiveness.

So there you have it. My 3 words for what a good contractor should be.

Committed. Responsive. Equitable.

Its not as appealing from a marketing perspective, but it is also not cliche and it is what you should be looking for in a contractor. We try to do more than just aspire to these ideals.

Spotlight - Cates/Dan Allen

Description: Road rehab project. Complete road rehabilitation completed on 2 of the main campus roads during the summer of 2005.

Spotlight: Apex HS Track

Track overlay and restripe

Spotlight: Raleigh Tennis Court

Tennis courts, running tracks and play surfaces are our specialty.

Spotlight: Advanced Auto

Before

After

At this location we performed several areas of asphalt removal and replacement to address alligator cracking. We then seal coated and striped the lot.

Spotlight: Raleigh Foot and Ankle

The client's lot beforehand,

The lot after the cracks have been filled,

The squeegee machine with brush attachment,

The final product.

Spotlight: Optimist Park

Spotlight: Lillington Parking Lot Paving

Prepping the lot for paving - Installing stone and sawcutting the edge for a smooth transition.

The finished product.

The finished product, again.

Spotlight: CoGeneration Steam Tunnel, UNC

The prepared road-bed.

Spotlight: Heritage Track

Spotlight: New Shop

There are many more photos of the construction of our new shop...Check them out here: LufkinShopPad & ShopPadComplete

Good Repair, Bad Repair

If you have an asphalt parking lot, and have had to maintain it for any amount of time, then you probably know what we’re talking about when it comes to repairs. Sooner or later (one hopes for later) you’re going to have to address issues with your asphalt surface in the form of patching. The need to patch can arise from any number of issues—the most common being water and puddling issues, alligator cracking, and potholes.

The way to repair these issues varies as well—from just removing the oldasphalt and filling the area in, to a full depth removal which involves excavating the area down to the sub-base and installing fresh courses of stone and asphalt. Each contractor has a different method of how to repair a damaged area—some good, some bad. Typically, though, a general repair for a damaged area in your asphalt surface would go something like this:

1) The contractor will mark out the extents of the damaged area with paint

2) The area will be sawcut and all damaged asphalt will be removed from that area.

3) New asphalt will be placed in the area and compacted.

Pretty simple, right? Well, to a certain extent it is; but then there are the intricacies of asphalt repairs which most people don’t get to see, and not all contractors adhere to. Yes, the bottom line of asphalt repairs is to get the broken asphalt out and put the new asphalt in, but to make it look good, to get it to last, there is much more that your paving contractor should be doing.

What is a good repair? A good repair is fundamentally 3 things:

1. Structurally sound

2. Aesthetically pleasing

3. Either improves or maintains existing drainage patterns.

A good repair starts with the contractor’s quote. A good quote will tell you what exactly the contractor plans to do, for example:

“Saw cut perimeter of repairs as necessary. Excavate repair areas to a depth of 4” and haul offsite. Re-compact stone base and tack edges of repair. Install 4” of S9.5B asphalt in (2) lifts. Roll to a smooth even finish.”

By clearly specifying their intent a contractor obligates himself to the results and makes it easier for you to compare their quote with another contractor’s. Another important factor to look for and compare is the quantity of repairs to be performed. Some contractors will not divulge the square footage or yardage of asphalt they are repairing. It is important to make sure you get quantities out of the contractors so you can make sure you get what you pay for. It usually makes sense to try to get the bidders quoting on a apples to apples basis, but sometimes that may not be necessary because you have more confidence in one contractor as opposed to the other contractor.

Good repair work is work that meets the above 3 requirements. The final product should be something which is aesthetically pleasing, structurally sound and addresses the drainage needs of the area.

There is one last thing you must consider however and it is probably more important than any other issue. Does the contractor stand behind their work and are they committed to building long term relationships? Even the best contractors make mistakes from time to time. That is going to happen. Your parking lot is not going away. The older it gets the more maintenance it will need. You’re not going to want to chase several quotes every time you need minor repairs done. A contractor that is committed to quality should also be committed to building long term customer relationships by being always fair with their pricing and always fixing any problems in a timely manner. In the long term this is what will save the customer time and money and achieve the best results.

Case in point:

When it comes to repairing and maintaining our asphalt surfaces, especially in this down economy, people tend to go with whatever is the cheapest solution. This, however, doesn’t always cause the intended outcome of saving money—rather one’s money is wasted due to poor quality work by the lowest bidder.

After meeting in the field with a customer regarding structural and drainage repairs to a parking lot, we sent an estimate detailing our scope of work. The next day our salesman received an irate phone call from the customer who accused him of price gouging because our price was almost twice that of the other contractor. We were both dumbstruck and curious as a result of these comments. Our pricing is always competitive if not consistently lower than our competitors. Had the customer made any attempt to compare the two scopes of work?

Suffice it to say that our curiosity got the better of us. A few weeks later our salesman was in the area of the parking lot and decided to stop by. The axiom, “you get what you pay for” comes to mind. The repair areas were holding water, not cut around the perimeters, and no milling was done at the curb and gutter to ensure an even transition. It looked as if someone had just quickly dug out the broken asphalt, backed a dump truck up full of new asphalt and dumped it in with no care.

Check out the "Bad Repairs" section of photos below and you be the judge. It will not be long before these repairs will have to be done again .

Good Repairs:

Bad Repairs:

Dirt Coming Through Blacktop

When answering this question it is important to first understand exactly how the mud got there and it all comes back to proper preventative maintenance. Typically, if you see mud showing through in your blacktop it means that water usually by way of a surface crack has penetrated beyond the gravel base and into the underlying soil layer. If this happens, mud can then be pumped up into the grave acting as a lubricant and causing the overlaying asphalt to shift as cars and trucks drive across it. You see this a lot in areas which have a vast amount of cracks and in many cases inadequate drainage.

The solution is a full depth replacement. Simply putting a patch over such a repair will only cover the problem temporarily, causing it to worsen. With a full-depth replacement our crew will come in tear out the damaged blacktop and gravel layer and replace it with new stone and newly laid asphalt. Important to note here – this fix among several others in many cases could have been avoided with proper asphalt maintenance, like crack filling and sealer, which studies prove can add up to 30-50% more life span to your lot, eliminating costly repairs.

Differences Between Patching, Peel & Pave, and Mill & Pave

Asphalt Patching
Patching is a common asphalt repair in areas where the asphalt has cracked, but the base is still stable, or in areas where potholes have occurred. This process begins by cleaning the repair area and applying a tack coat to help the new asphalt adhere to the existing surface. A layer of asphalt is then installed upon the existing surface; the depth will vary from 1”-2.5” depending on the severity of the existing damage. Patching is a cheap solution to asphalt defects; however it will not last as long as removal and replacement. Eventually cracking will reflect through the new patch, or spread beyond the patch.
Asphalt Removal & Replacement
Asphalt removal and replacement or as we call it “peel & pave” is another common repair. The repair is often prescribed for areas with cracking and or base/failure. This process begins by saw cutting the perimeter of the repair area in order to achieve a clean edge. After the edges are saw cut, the existing asphalt is removed to the depth specified. Typically the new asphalt is installed in 2 lifts; a binder course usually at 3” is followed by a 1” top course. The depth of repair will vary dependent upon the extent of existing damage, and/or the load requirements needed to be met. By adding up to 10 times more life span than patch work, asphalt removal & replacement is often a very cost effective fix for your surface’s distressed areas.
Mill & Pave
Milling, or grinding, takes a much different approach than either patching or peel & pave in that it removes built-up layers of deteriorated asphalt down to a specific depth, making room for a new surface, by actually grinding up the existing asphalt into a tiny like gravel. The millings, as they are often referred to are then hauled off site and can easily be recycled. The newly grinded surfaced is then layered with tack and set to receive a fresh smooth coat of asphalt. In many cases this type of fix is done on much larger areas where a peel and pave or patch is just not sufficient.