Site Preparation: Making the Grade
 |
| Work at Haseko’s Ocean Pointe continues to provide work for Delta Construction. |
By Judith Shinsato
Reports abound about a slowdown in construction. If they are accurate, one of the first sectors to feel it would be the sitework contractors, since they are usually the first ones on any given jobsite. In this report, B.I. checks in with them to get their view of the situation, whether it be straight A’s, a C average or something in between. In addition, we look at current projects and the unique challenges posed by the myriad soil conditions in Hawaii.
Report Card
“It’s hard to say if there is a general slowdown in sitework,” says Rodney Nohara, president of Jayar Construction, Inc. “Some contractors say that they are slowing down; others say that they are super busy. It depends on the market you’re in, your clientele (and) the types of projects you want to pursue. For us, we’re holding steady. It looks like that we will be as busy this year as we were last year.”
 |
| The Nuuanu Stream Emergency Repair is a $2.7 million project for Koga Engineering & Construction. |
Ray Skelton, Goodfellow Bros., Inc. regional manager for the Maui region, says, “There clearly is a slowing; it’s out there and just starting to be felt. There still are items selling and projects that are forthcoming, but I do see a slowing, primarily in residential. There still seems to be interest in the high end, but residential is starting to slow.
 |
| Koga Engineering is replacing 250 feet of concrete channel liner at Nuuanu Stream, part of an emergency repair project for the City & County of Honolulu. |
“There is some commercial and there are still some residential projects that are going on and will be completed. It generally seems to be commercial and resort redevelopment. We do not see a lot of infrastructure. We have three infrastructure projects going on: two road projects and a county water tank project and that’s about it. Obviously, we all know the need of getting the infrastructure to be moving at the pace of development. We’ve got a ways to go there.”
 |
| Flor Mendoza (right), Koga Engineering foreman, with help from Cheyne Pratt, laborer, relocates a pipe used to divert water at Nuuanu Stream. |
“For Delta Construction, private residential housing has slowed, but military housing as well as infrastructure construction in and around Kapolei city has picked up thereby relieving the slowdown,” says Kenneth Kobatake, president, Delta Construction Corp. “Delta’s largest private residential client continues with its major infrastructure and subdivisions.”
 |
| Koga Engineering’s Cheyne Pratt, laborer, and Flor Mendoza, foreman, at the Nuuanu Stream project. |
“From what I see, all of the sitework contractors here on Kauai are very busy,” says Jeffrey Fisher, president of Kauai-based Earthworks Pacific. “We and all our competitors have been kept busy, and at this point right now, there’s still plenty of work to go around. We’re seeing a few off-island contractors that have been looking for work here, normally we have three or four that have been doing work here for quite some time and we have all been very busy. I don’t know if we’re seeing a slow down on other islands or looking at other areas. As far as I can see, it’s pretty even; everybody’s been getting their fair share of work. It’s good because no one single person can really do it all and there’s enough work to keep everybody busy. I think ‘08 will be a busy year. We haven’t seen really an upturn in public works. They keep on saying we’re going to see more public works coming out … I don’t know, if private work starts to slow down a little bit if the public works will take its place. I think as the year progresses, time will tell. I do think ’08 will be a good year overall and that’s as far as I’ll go in my prediction.”
Laying it Straight
With that in mind, here’s what’s keeping some of Hawaii’s sitework contractors, literally, down and dirty.
Delta Construction:
Kobatake says the company has been able to maintain a good balance of projects over the years, including substantial work in the residential housing sector. “Delta’s work at Haseko’s Ocean Pointe project over the past four years is a good example,” explains Kobatake. “The Haseko project also afforded Delta the opportunity to construct a golf course and a yacht harbor.”
In the commercial sector, Delta completed the restoration of the Duke Paoa Kahanamoku Lagoon at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. “This project posed numerous challenges,” Kobatake continues, including draining the lagoon dry then keeping the ocean water from seeping back while constructing the improvements, as well as the myriad state and federal regulatory requirements.
 |
| The restoration of the Duke Paoa Kahanamoku Lagoon at the Hilton Hawaiian Village was completed by Delta Construction. The lagoon reopened in October. |
“Delta’s growing work with major federal contractors to construct and refurbish the military housing on Oahu provides (us) with an opportunity to balance the slowdown in the residential housing market,” Kobatake adds. “State and city and county projects also play an important role in maintaining (our) project balance. Delta continues to assist the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands with its housing projects on Oahu and Kauai as well as continuing its work on Board of Water Supply projects. In the future as the economic cycle runs its course, Delta will continue its focus of assessing (the) right project mix.”
 |
| One of the bigger challenges of the Duke Paoa Kahanamoku Lagoon restoration, a Delta Construction project, was draining and keeping the lagoon dry in order to construct the improvements. |
Work usually includes, without limitation, land clearing, mass grading, fine grading; construction of underground utilities: sewer, water, drain, electrical and CATV lines; construction of roads and streets, sidewalks and street lights; and lot grading, including boundary certification.
 |
| Jayar Construction was the sitework contractor for The Avenue Shops at Safeway, which opened in November. |
 |
| Koga Engineering is the sitework contractor for the Trump International Hotel and Tower. |
Earthworks Pacific:
 |
| Marriott’s Ko Olina Beach Club was another project for Jayar Construction. |
 |
| The new Nordstrom store at Ala Moana Center, for which Jayar Construction was the sitework contractor, is set to open this month. |
Fisher says the Kauai-based firm has been doing a number of projects
for Kukuiula, which is being developed by A&B Properties, Inc. and
DMB Associates, Inc. “We’ve had numerous projects out there
for Kitchell Construction Services, the construction managers for Kukuiula;
all the work is being managed by Kitchell Construction out of Phoenix,
Ariz.,” explains Fisher. “It is the same company that managed
1250 Oceanside and has been in Hawaii many years, functioning as construction
manager. Our work includes primarily infrastructure: roadways, sewer
mains, etc.”
One of the projects is sitework for Kukuiula Villages, a large shopping
center going up in the area, for which Earthworks Pacific is a subcontractor
to Unlimited Construction Services, Inc.
“I don’t know exactly what the time frame is, but I know
there’s a lot more work coming up out there. I know it’s
going to be years to come, at least two or three years, after that I
can’t tell you.”
 |
| Jayar Construction is a subcontractor to Swinerton Builders for the Frear Hall project. |
Unrelated to Kukuiula, another project is the Poipu Reclamation Wastewater Pump Station, a large new regional wastewater treatment plant in Poipu. “We’ve already done a couple of large diameter sewer projects out there,” Fisher continues, “and this project, just getting started, is a pump station that’s by the existing treatment plant. It’s a three to four month project that started in January.
“We are just finishing up a large project for the Marriott in Lihue: a large, 10-foot by 10-foot precast box culvert project that has been ongoing the last six months of ’07. We’re in the last stages of grading the parking lot.”
 |
| Sitework at General Growth’s Ward Villages, a Jayar Construction project |
Earthworks Pacific also is getting ready to start a six-month Department of Transportation project on Kamalii Highway. “There are several areas here that have had quite a bit of slope failure over the last few years. This is a $3.5 million project to stabilize four locations of large cut slopes with earth anchors,” says Fisher.
 |
| Aerial view of The Residences at Kapalua, for which Goodfellow Bros. is the sitework contractor to Nordic/PCL, a Hawaiian Joint Venture |
E.M. Rivera & Sons:
1) Drogin - Holualoa subdivision: a nine-lot subdivision (mass excavation
and infrastructure improvements)
2) Kona Nissan auto showroom (building site preparation and parking
lot)
3) Kona Demonstration Access Road and Facility at the National Energy
Laboratory of Hawaii (road improvements and infrastructure improvements)
4) Kiilae Farms, 48 five-acre lot agricultural subdivision (mass excavation
and infrastructure improvements)
5) Kaloko light industrial subdivision, phase three, a 33 one-acre lot
industrial subdivision (mass excavation and infrastructure improvements)
“All projects are site preparation of undeveloped plots of land,”
says Hiram Rivera, company president.
Goodfellow Bros.:
 |
| Goodfellow Bros. crew does pool piping at The Residences at Kapalua. |
Maui-based Goodfellow Bros. has a number of projects throughout the
island, including:
• Maluaka Makena Bay — a Dowling Company 69-unit residential
project consisting of 14 buildings, multifloor from one to four floors,
with a total of 56 units at 3,000 square feet; 11 top floor units at
4,500 square feet and two single-story bungalows at 6,000 square feet.
Skelton says it’s being built on about 11 acres and has interesting
grading utilities. “It’s, of course, all rock, so we’ve
had some interesting challenges to deal with,” explains Skelton.
“It’s in close proximity to the ocean. We’ve been
out there since September.”
• MF 11 and MF 19 — multifamily lots (12 lots and nine-lot
subdivisions, respectively) for A&B Properties
• Wailea Gateway Center — a two-building commercial development
for Pacific Rim Land totaling 32,763 square feet, with units ranging
from 1,000 to 6,866 square feet; expected completion is first quarter
2009
• Mokulele Highway, phases 1A and 1C — a DOT project consisting
of “widening and total realignment,” according to Skelton
• Villas at Kehalani, site five — a Stanford Carr Development
project of 30 multifamily buildings with 103 units
• site 23 at Kehalani for Towne Development of Hawaii
• wall and drainage improvements at Maui Lani
• Ukumehame — 46 lots varying from 3.5 acres to 16 acres;
an agricultural lot subdivision
• The Residences of Kapalua — under Nordic/PCL, a Hawaiian
Joint Venture
Jayar Construction:
“We are currently working as a subcontractor to Albert C. Kobayashi,
Inc. at New City Nissan, which was the former site of Kalihi Bowl,”
says Jayar’s Nohara. “Our contract amount is $1.3 million.
The rain has been causing some delays and creating muddy conditions
which hinder our production.”
Also on Oahu, Jayar is working on the York & Co. warehouse, a self-storage
located on Dillingham Boulevard near Alakawa Street, with general contractor
Nordic Construction.
Maui Ocean Club Napili Tower with Swinerton Builders, a $2.5 million
job, and Kulamalu Vista subdivision for D.R. Horton – Schuler
Division, $3.7 million sitework contractor, are two projects Jayar is
involved in on Maui.
“All of these projects, except for the Kulamalu Vista subdivision,
are redevelopments,” states Nohara.
Koga Engineering & Construction Co., Inc.:
• Nuuanu Stream Emergency Repair, a $2,687,000 repair project
for the City & County of Honolulu — The project involves replacing
250 feet of concrete channel liner to its predamaged condition,”
says Alvin Fujioka, a project manager for Koga. The original channel
was built in the ‘60s. “Challenges include working within
Nuuanu Stream; access to the project site because it’s in a residential
neighborhood; and winter weather conditions. Work included clearing
and grubbing of trees and vegetation to access the stream, constructing
an access road into Nuuanu Stream, shoring house foundation by constructing
CRM (concrete rubble masonry) and keystone walls.”
 |
| Sitework at The Residences at Kapalua, being done by Goodfellow Bros. |
• Trump International Hotel and Tower project — 38-story
luxury condominium/hotel building in Waikiki; Koga’s $3.7 million
contract involves, according to Hye Jin Warren, project manager, “demolition
of the existing sidewalk, concrete curb and gutter, and the existing
utilities within (county) right-of-way; spoil removal of auger cast
piles; mass excavation and embankment; dewatering; structural excavation
and backfill, including shoring system; plumbing excavation and backfill;
slab cushion; installation of underground utilities: water, sewer and
storm drain; concrete curb and gutters; preparation for concrete sidewalk;
installation of roadway/driveway base course and grading work.”
 |
| Pool piping backfill at The Residences at Kapalua |
Challenges of the project include working in a very tight space with no space for material storage or dewatering as well as safety issues stemming from having to work with other trades in a high-rise building being constructed in the middle of Waikiki.
Willocks Construction Corp.:
• A large capacity cesspool conversion at Kealakehe multifamily
housing, $2.9 million, involves putting in a complete new septic tank
and leach-tiered system, and closing existing cesspools, explains Hugh
Willocks, president. “The challenges included working in very
tight quarters between existing occupied buildings with people and children
everywhere. Safety and public relations were major factors.”
 |
| Aerial view of Dowling Company’s Maluaka Makena Bay, a 69-unit residential project on Maui for which Goodfellow Bros. is the sitework contractor. |
• The west Hawaii regional material recovery facility (Kona landfill), $3.2 million, involves excavation of 50,000 cubic yards of rock for a new hole (cell) and lining with special leachgate protection (geomembrane). “In addition, there is waterline, drainage and fencing work surrounding the new cell,” says Willocks. “The purpose of the job is to creat additional refuse capacity at the Kona landfill. The major challenge was pumping and storing enough water needed through the job. Pumps were added to the existing well on site and storage tanks had to be constructed on site.”
*If you would like to read the full article please subscribe to Building Industry.