Three Things You May Not Know We Do

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.

Also known in Atlanta as “Podium Slabs,” these elevated concrete slabs are popular for multifamily projects that don’t have a lot of land space.  Instead offorfeiting property square footage for parking spaces, the apartments, lofts or townhomes are built on a raised concrete deck.  The area beneath this deck is then used for parking.  In certain applications, this can almost double the housing unit density of a property.

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

We constructed this large detention
pond wall near Woodstock for
Bill Hale of Whale Ventures.

area, referred to as the level spreader, we are often required to construct concrete pedestals and short walls.

Client Spotlight – Whale Ventures

 

During the development process of turning raw land into a subdivision for new homes, a detention pond is constructed to manage stormwater.  Often, these detention ponds require a concrete wall, which is something that we specialize in.

We recently completed a concrete detention pond wall in the City of Roswell for our longtime client Whale Ventures.  Whale Ventures was founded by Bill Hale in 2000.  Bill and Mark Nichols, Whale Venture’s Development Manager, chatted with us recently about that detention pond project and the general state of building in Metro Atlanta.

Herbert Construction Co.: Bill, how would you describe what your company does?

Bill Hale: We work for a select group of builders and developers.  We work hand in hand with their staff to evaluate raw land’s feasibility for future residential subdivisions. Our work starts even before the land is purchased.  We assist our clients as they make the purchase; we guide the engineer through the development of the land; we assist in permitting and putting together developmental budgets, and lastly, we hire and manage the subcontractors for the site development.

Mark Nichols:  Bill has been in this business all his life.  Clients come to us because of his expertise and experience.

 

 Mark Nichols (left) works with Bill Hale at Whale Ventures to develop land for homebuilding companies.

HCC: Your clients contact you before they’ve purchased the raw land?

Mark: Yes, we act as a consultant very early in the process, identifying any hidden problems, and we help them through the entire development process.  You could say that our job is to resolve any problems that our clients have.

HCC: Bill, what did you do before starting your company?

Bill: Before Whale Ventures, I was a Development Manager for several Atlanta area builders and developers. Before that, I was the President of a Grading and Pipeline Company. And, my Dad was a pipeline contractor, so I grew up around bulldozers and tractors. As a matter of fact, there’s probably not a tractor around that I can’t run.

Concrete pedestals in the level spreader reduce erosion by
dissipating the stormwater as it leaves the retention pond.

HCC: Why do homebuilders choose to work with you over other people that do what you do?

Bill: Because of our track record.  Banking institutions tend to feel more comfortable if they know we are involved in helping a client who wants develop a tract of land. They know that we’ve already addressed potential problems with the site.  And, they know that we’ll develop the project on time, and on budget.

HCC: Who are some of your clients?

Mark:  We work with lots of companies, but some of our key clients are Ashton Woods Homes, Edward Andrews Homes, Ryland Homes and FrontDoor Communities.  The Webb Street Detention Pond project that we did with Herbert Construction is a FrontDoor Communities project.

HCC: During the Great Recession, many Atlanta homebuilding companies downsized or eliminated their land divisions.  Is this still the case?

Bill: The vast majority of local homebuilders eliminated their land divisions during the downturn.  Some have added staff back, but many of them rely on our services to work with their in-house staff.

Mark: When our clients are busy, they tend to overwhelm their own people. That’s when they come to us.

HCC:  What are some of your biggest challenges with the work you do?

Bill: Hands down, the biggest challenges we face on an ongoing basis are the ever-changing municipality inspections.

Mark: When the economy collapsed in ’07, a lot of neighborhoods were left incomplete.  The local cities were left holding the bag on these subdivisions that weren’t finished.  Now, they are being stringent up front so there are no loose ends. Because the municipalities are so cautious, everyone has to jump through a lot of hoops for financing documentation.

Bill: Of course, like anyone in construction, we face other challenges as well.  Weather plays a big role in what we do.  And these days, there are just not enough site development contractors to keep up with the volume of work.  There simply aren’t enough qualified pipe and grading contractors still around.

 

Our robotic total station layout instrument ensured
accuracy and sped up the construction of this unique wall.

HCC: What were some of your challenges specific to the Webb Street Detention Pond project?

Bill: As you know, we ran into a lot of rock during excavation of the pond.  That modified the engineering of the concrete footings.  It also affected how we handled the sequence of construction.

Mark: The concrete detention pond was on the side of the hill and right up against the stream buffer.  It was very tight and required a lot of coordination between the grading contractor, the engineer, and your company.

HCC: What is your outlook for the Atlanta housing market in the next 12 months?

Bill:  Based on the current level of new projects in the pipeline, there is a lot of demand.  We are as busy now as we were in 2005.  As of today, we have 1500 residential lots under contract management.

Mark: I think the next 12 months will be a bit crazy. It feels as though everyone is jumping in right now.  The hottest areas for growth in Metro Atlanta are Forsyth, North Fulton and Cobb Counties.  It’s a good time to be in construction in Atlanta!

Multiple angled corners and sloping walls
were required due to the tight site conditions.

HCC:  Herbert Construction Company has enjoyed a long relationship with Whale Ventures.  How would you describe our company to others?

Bill: I always recommend Herbert Construction for all concrete wall jobs. If it’s poured concrete, I always rely on your company.  Your staff has the ability to figure out complex situations – like working with unsuitable soil – and then adapt quickly.

HCC: How does your company benefit by using Herbert Construction Company?

Mark:  With the Webb Street project, there were a lot of unknowns.  Being interactive with our subcontractors is crucial to the success of any job.  Herbert Construction always responds quickly.  At the end of the day, we save time and money with Herbert Construction.

Bill: Bottom line: we rely on Herbert Construction Company, because we know it’s going to be done right!

HCC: Thanks for your time, Bill and Mark.  We appreciate all of the business you’ve provided over the years, and we enjoy working with you on your development projects. 

Subdivision Development Finally Returns To Atlanta

From 2004 to 2008 there were tens of thousands of lots created in metro Atlanta from the development of new residential subdivisions.  In 2007 the normal consumption of these lots by homebuilders was quickly halted as the early stages of the recession set in. 

Gregg Goldenberg, who developed many subdivisions prior to forming Acadia Homes & Neighborhoods, utilized our company for his detention pond walls and site retaining walls. Gregg said, “What impresses me the most about Herbert Construction is their ability to take difficult projects and make them look easy. Cobb County requirements on detention pond walls are onerous and the team at Herbert worked closely with our project engineer to ensure the walls they built were to the exacting standards that the County requires.”

Before you knew it, there were subdivisions everywhere that were developed but vacant.  Some subdivisions had a handful of homes built near the entrance, with the remaining lots unused.

These barren acres throughout metro Atlanta were nicknamed “PVC farms” for the green sewer tap pipes that stuck out of the ground on every home site.  Those pipes, along with weeds and the occasional fallen, faded lot number sign replaced the activity we had been accustomed to. 

If you drove all the way to the furthermost cul-de-sac in the subdivision, you’d often see a mangy couch, garbage bags of trash, or an old washing machine on its side. (For whatever reason, lazy idiots decided that discarding those items in a cul-de-sac was perfectly legal and acceptable.)

Our crew sets forms for the wall of a huge detention
pond at the Great Sky subdivision in Canton.

As builders worked their way through the Great Recession, the best of these subdivisions were methodically picked up and built out.  2011 and 2012 saw most of the subdivisions in desirable locations consumed by builders with a product that would sell.

Now, in 2013, all of the developed land in areas such as Alpharetta, Roswell and Marietta is either gone or spoken for.  Home builders are scrambling to find lots in these hot-selling micro markets. 

You can still find vacant developed lots in the outer areas of metro Atlanta – such as Paulding, Cherokee and Bartow Counties – but most builders don’t yet see a demand for those markets.

We put the finishing touches on an outlet
control structure for a detention pond.

This demand for developed lots in desirable locations means that developers are waking from a long hibernation to fill that need.  The larger home builders are wiping the dust off their development playbooks.  Residential development in Atlanta has begun again!

The development of new subdivisions brings site work for grading contractors, silt fence installers, sign makers, asphalt crews…and us.

For example, concrete retention and detention ponds are constructed to hold stormwater runoff from the streets within the subdivision, preventing the chances of flash flooding.

Men from one of our footing crews tie rebar reinforcing for
the large footing of this retention pond in Woodstock.

Our company has constructed many of these structures over the past 20 years and we’ve become specialists in this development work.  We have constructed retention ponds, detention ponds, site retaining walls and subdivision entry statement foundations for many of the subdivisions you see every day on your way to work. 

Some of the walls we have constructed for these structures have exceeded 24 feet in height, with footings more than 22 feet wide (almost the width of a two lane road).

The experience we’ve gained over the years allows us to suggest design tweaks and modifications that have saved our developer clients hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

Our unique process for constructing the footings and walls reduces problems and speeds up the construction schedule.  Our developer clients spend less time on the jobsite because they don’t have to manage our work.  This allows them to focus on other tasks.

This new residential development work is a great sign for our overall housing situation here in Atlanta.  It means that there is a continuing demand for new homes.  It also means that home prices are rising, allowing the cost of developing raw land to be included in the price of the house.  This is good for the Atlanta economy, and you – our readers of this Newsletter.