Most of our newsletter readers know us as Atlanta’s basement foundation specialists. We feature articles about our homebuilding clients, and our Technical Bulletins show better construction methods for poured wall foundations.
However, residential basement foundations aren’t the only type of concrete structures that we build. Over the last 36 years, we’ve completed hundreds of projects in the agricultural, commercial, multifamily and industrial sectors.
We wanted to kick off the first issue of 2015 by highlighting three different types of concrete structures that we construct. We realize that you may not be aware of these additional areas that we work in and we wanted to share them with you.
Commercial Projects
 |
| Our company built a foundation for Trader Joe’s at the corner of Peachtree St. and Piedmont Rd. in Buckhead. |
Residential basement foundations have many of the same similarities from one
house to the next. By contrast, commercial foundations are usually one of a kind
projects. They require a lot more up-front planning, scheduling and paperwork. We have always been very comfortable with these additional requirements.
The bidding process of commercial construction makes it easy to get into and then pull back from commercial subcontracting. While residential construction is relationship-driven, commercial construction leans more towards price-driven factors. For many years throughout the life of our company, commercial work has accounted for the majority of our revenue.
 |
| Structural steel is set on our foundations at a new Sports Authority in Hiram. |
Some of the foundations we’ve constructed:
¨ Churches
¨ Restaurants
¨ Retail Stores
¨ Manufacturing Facilities
¨ Gas Stations
¨ Office Buildings
Elevated Structural Slabs
 |
| A view from the resident parking area underneath our podium slab. Condos or townhomes can be built above the elevated slab. |
 |
| We constructed this podium foundation near Edgewood for Keith Anderson and John Willis Homes. |
We construct the entire podium slab structure, including the slab-on-grade, columns,
walls, elevator pit and elevated structural slab. Then, the multifamily structure that sits on top of the slab is built with conventional wood-framed construction.
Retention / Detention Ponds
 |
| Our detention pond wall under construction in Alpharetta for Mark Shaw and The Providence Group. |
Retention and detention ponds are created to control the rainwater on developed property. We get involved when the pond needs a concrete wall to hold the rainwater. We have come to specialize in this challenging type of work.
Our work can include an outlet control structure that manages the outflow of water. Lately, we’ve seen more attention paid to how that outflow is dissipated on the back side of the pond wall. This
area, referred to as the level spreader, we are often required to construct concrete pedestals and short walls.
 |
|
We constructed this large detention
pond wall near Woodstock for Bill Hale of Whale Ventures. |