Founded in the State of Texas in 1972, ADSC: The International Association of Foundation Drilling (ADSC-IAFD) is a professional, international, not-for-profit trade association representing the anchored earth retention, drilled shaft, micropile, and other heavy civil construction/design industries. ADSC members include specialty subcontractors, manufacturers and suppliers, academicians and design engineers in the private and public sectors. The ADSC-IAFD is served by a national staff and eight regional chapters. Through its technical committees, the ADSC-IAFD

• conducts technical conferences and industry trade shows,
• conducts design, construction, inspection and testing seminars, 
•  establishes standards and specifications, 
• funds pertinent research,
• offers field and management training programs including OSHA Certification,
• funds academic scholarships,
• provides project review services to government agencies and owners at all levels,
• publishes and distributes technical materials, and 
• publishes and offers subscriptions to its flagship periodical, FOUNDATION DRILLING Magazine

ADSC-IAFD can be found at http://www.adsc-iafd.com/

http://portal.ncdenr.org/web/greensquare/photos/excavation

Mark Collins, Skanska USA Building

Greg Shenkler, Skanska USA Building

Eddie Self, Taylor and Murphy

John Maddux, Faulconer Construction

Charles Durant, Taylor and Murphy

Dear Scot,

 The information and timing of the “conversation” with ASFE in the latest Foundation Drilling magazine is uncanny. Our office has just recently decided that one of our directives for the coming year is to try to educate GC’s and owners about the value added by the geoprofessional to any given project. We are often low-ball bid and we see shoddy work performed by some of our competitors and the alleged project geotechnical engineer either: a) has no authority or b) lacks the education to do anything about it.

Currently, in our region, geotechnical engineers are hired (usually based on their fee) to perform borings, write a report and recommend a foundation. During construction, they perform materials testing with limited project over sight. For the design/build projects that are inherent to ADSC members, there is little or no oversight in the private market (it is superficial at best). Geoprofessionals should be providing thorough oversight. Yes! I am advocating oversight of our work! This will hopefully “weed out” the guys who design and/or construct our projects in a less than desirable fashion. Let me give you an example of a typical design/build micropile project in our region:

 1. The low bidder is chosen with no regard to his preliminary engineering or proposed installation methods.

2. A poor design, not up to the standards of ADSC, is submitted and may be reviewed by a structural engineer who has no idea what he is looking at (no geotechnical engineer involvement). 

3. Installation proceeds with sub-standard installation methods, like grouting a hole 8 days after it was drilled (we actually saw this done on a site).

 4. A geotechnical company may be hired to observe construction, but the people don’t know what they are looking at and they don’t have the authority to stop work (also done at the site mentioned above).

 For our company, at least, (and I suspect for other ADSC members) this is an important issue. The problem with the “less than desirables” is not necessarily immediate – like being upset that they low-ball bid work. The problem will come when there is a major soil-nail wall failure or a large micropile failure – then these methods will be shunned by the construction industry and it will take a long time to recover. The best way we see of preventing this problem is by helping the geotechnical engineers to be better educated and by convincing owners and GC’s that geoprofessionals should be hired to review calculations and observe installation – while having the authority to reject work. Thanks for including that article. I think ADSC should jump on the bandwagon and hopefully this will get us started. Sorry for the rambling, but I felt a need to write you after reading the article.

Greg Sullivan, P.E.
Managing Member
Subsurface Construction Company
Raleigh, NC