A Pile of News: October 2023
A briefing on news and information from the pile driving contractors,
associated manufacturers, construction suppliers and affiliated engineers
who comprise PDCA.
By Matt Bisbee, PDCA

Originally sent Oct. 2, 2023
Top of the Pile – a warm welcome to new and returning (Q3) PDCA members!
  • Contractors: Bechtel Equipment Operations, Sugar Land, TX, CNT Foundations, North Charleston, SC, Johnson-Davis, Lantana, FL, Land N Sea Pile Driving, Naples, FL, NSI Contracting, West Bridgewater, MA, Omega Foundation Services, Slaughter, LA, Reagan Marine Construction, Newport, RI
  • Associates: Associated Steel Fabricators, Tomball, TX, Mammoth Carbon Products, The Woodlands, TX, Sutherland Pipe and Supply, Brookshire, TX

Membership has its privileges – the companies above made the deadline to be named in the 2024 PDCA Membership Directory. If you’re not a member, you have until Oct. 20 to JOIN PDCA and get listed in this book. Members: check your PDCA account and promptly make needed company updates.

Members Only – PDCA leadership elections for the 2024 Executive Committee and Board of Directors are here. The Nominating Committee meets this month to develop a candidate’s slate – to nominate someone, the time is now to send it to PDCA. Once a slate is set, Contractor, Associate and Engineering Affiliate members in good standing will vote in November on 2024 leadership.
From the Association & Chapters
Mark your calendars

News and PHOTOS from the PDCA Blog

Industry News
Congratulations, John King, you are this month’s winner! Send an email to [email protected] before the end of the month to claim your prize!
People on the Move
Transitions:
  • Bob Bowen, construction ‘legend’ and founder of Bowen Engineering in Indiana in 1967, established a deep footprint throughout the Midwest. In September, he called it a career and retired. The company produced a touching, video farewell to Bob; among VIP’s who appear is Bob’s longtime friend, former IN Governor and Purdue University President, Mitch Daniels.
  • Tim D. Dupre, Earl K. Hano, Jr., Gary D. Pustanio reach 45 years at Boh Bros. Construction.
  • Al earned distinction as the longest serving employee at DFI Piling in Alberta. Now retired, former colleagues describe the 38-year tenure of the longtime driver as ‘a great ride.’
  • Nick Gould departs Contractors Steel Co. as a midwestern piling materials supplier to become a teacher and basketball coach at Bishop Luers H.S. in Fort Wayne, IN. Go Team!
  • Fabiano Jorge is new to CZM-US Foundation Equipment as Georgia-based rental fleet manager.
  • Des wraps up a career of nearly two decades in service at England’s Dawson Construction Plant.
  • Rob Martini joins Hoffman Equipment to serve Staten Island and adjacent New Jersey counties.
  • Paul Bambrough promoted to VP Operations at Interpipe Inc. Canada.
  • Caroline Whitehead, a PileDriver magazine contributing author, elevates to market intelligence director in the Washington, DC, offices of Dewberry.
  • Oliver Taylor, Ph.D., PE, D.GE, joins the ECS Limited Baton Rouge geotech team; also, Emma Walsh, EIT, onboards in Richmond, Charles Shaw, PE named group manager in Aberdeen, MD.
  • Berk Turkel, Ph.D., named Geosyntec Consultants senior staff professional; while completing his degree at the University of Central Florida, Turkel was a Student Member of PDCA.
  • Sayed Rahman, Ph.D., is the newest addition to the Pennsylvania office of GRL Engineers, Inc.; elsewhere, Alex Elias onboards at the firm’s Texas office.
  • Chris Russell and Robert Lawrence are new geotechnical engineers at Shannon & Wilson in the Denver and Boise offices, respectively; the firm also names Katherine Spence, Mia Verdolan, Jiayao Wang and Carlos Jimenez to the geotechnical staff in other U.S. offices.

Recognitions:

Newsmakers: 
  • Jonathan Schmaltz appears on the Gulf Coast Growth Show in an episode entitled ‘Gulf Coast Growth Driving McCarthy Building Activity,’ from the Economic Alliance Houston Port Region. Among McCarthy Building Companies projects he discusses is a new water reclamation facility in Pearland, TX, that was also featured in a recent story from Construction Superintendent.
  • Randy Dietel, of Piling, Inc. and a PDCA past-president, adds another office to his resume. The Galveston County Daily News reports on his appointment to the Texas City school board. This is the latest example of Randy’s commendable history championing local education.
  • Pollyanna Cunningham sits for the Main Interview in the Sept. issue of Construction Today magazine. Speaking extensively about her role as VP at ICE-International Construction Equipment, she shares her commitment to pile driving and bluntly states, ‘I love this industry and the people in it.’ She also gives a glowing endorsement to PDCA (thank you!) as she recalls many of her successes as a longtime leader in the organization. 
  • Ralph Forbes appears in the Wall Street Journal [PAYWALL] about American manufacturing shifting south. Thomas & Hutton, where he is VP, is involved in Georgia’s EV production boom.

In Sympathy:
News from PDCA Companies
Giving back:

Recognitions:
  • Dissen & Juhn cleaned up at a Chesapeake Shores awards ceremony, earning accolades for a bulkhead project, and safety and business practices. Make room in the trophy case!
  • Ralph L. Wadsworth Construction won Grand Champion at ARTBA awards; the Utah contractor was lauded for its health and safety culture, notably its zero recordable injuries since 2002.

Acquisitions & Expansions:
  • Taylor Marine Construction acquired, and recently established all business operations at a seven-acre, waterfront yard near Houston’s Ship Channel (light 45). Rental space is available for cargo and/or crane loading, or other temporary projects. Check out the hardscaped specs at this yard.
  • PACO Ventures, a Seattle-based piling equipment and materials supplier for nearly seven decades, expands into Texas. John Burns is the new Houston Branch Manager.
  • ESP Associates grows west, brings CivilCorp (Texas) and Ditesco (Colorado) to the corporation. Pres. Joe Hendrick says ESP prioritizes a small-firm feel that delivers large-firm capabilities.
  • UES adds ecological services firm Biome Consulting Group as a new, Florida-based subsidiary.

Governmental relations:
  • Bauer Equipment America cut the ribbon on its expanded, Conroe, TX, facilities, with the city’s Mayor Czajkowski in attendance. BEA CEO Christian Gress spoke to an assembly including top company leadership, staff and a delegation from partner Equipment Corporation of America.
  • Nucor breaks ground on a new Lexington, NC, micro mill, considered one of the world’s most energy efficient. Gov. Cooper, and U.S. Reps. Bishop and Foxx were among dignitaries on hand.

Anniversaries:
On the Job
Boh Bros. Construction drove hundreds of steel pipe piles for a $450M mega-renovation of the Ceasar’s Superdome in New Orleans. Manager Michael Lagasse says Boh’s proximity to the historic arena was an advantage. At halftime of the next Saint’s game, read about the job and other news in The Boh Picture.

CS Marine Constructors has a pile driving crew on the Sacramento River in California installing pipes to enable placement of a bio-acoustic fish fence, part of its scope for the Dept. of Water Resources.

Herbert F Darling Inc. reports completion of another successful bridge abutment. This job involved installation of 85-foot piles designed to found a bridge over the Chadakoin River in Jamestown, NY.

Pile Drivers, Inc. shares photographic progress of timber pile installation for a residential build in Charleston, SC. Koppers, Inc. supplied the timber being driven with a Junttan rig.

Trevcon Construction begins pile installation at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, part of a larger redevelopment of the historic NYC industrial campus. Their toolbox for the challenging, waterfront jobsite includes machines come from ICE-International Construction Equipment, Inc., Junttan USA and others.

Clydesdale Steel welders are busy crafting 100’ splices on 240 steel pipes for a New Jersey bridge build.
Notes from the Field
On Saturdays, ‘The 12th Man’ is both myth and legend, but on casual Fridays, he sits in his Lloyd Engineering workspace, diligently crunching data. Gig’em, Brett Selansky!

And On Sundays, the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs, (the team Tom Heller at Liebherr likes to crow about 😉), is getting good production out of rookie receiver Rashee Rice. The newest weapon for MVP Patrick Mahomes averages 11.8 yds/r. In college at SMU, he was an NIL partner with JD Fields.

Finding openings in football is essential – that also goes for national security. A new U.S. Coast Guard vessel en route to Key West strategically navigated Louisiana’s Bayou Lafourche. On the way, it split through a Sealevel Construction road and bridge project in Galliano. Coach drew up this play flawlessly!

Are they producing a sequel to the classic 1979 flick? Nope. Stabilize Alcatraz is a wharf fortification job on which Manson Construction and a subcontracted dive team have been performing critical pile repairs. The end goal is to downgrade the seismic risk at the historic San Franciso landmark.

Great story, but let’s see the Pile Driver! After finishing his 17th Ironman, Pat DiCerbo added another venture to his CV. When he’s not training or insuring construction companies through Northwestern Mutual, he’s a talk show host. A recent guest was Olympic Gold Medalist wrestler Jordan Burroughs. Pat opted against writing the policy so the reigning world champ could perform a pile driver on air.

A couple years ago, a previous president of the PDCA Gulf Coast Chapter suggested to this author (who sometimes impersonates a B-level event photographer), that PDCA should strive to make the organization ‘look fun.’ You may not remember suggesting that to me the first time I met you, Travis Schonacher at Sealevel Construction, but I want you to know that all of us at PDCA publications have taken that advice to heart. In all editions of PileDriver magazine, we work to include sections showing photos of members enjoying different events while they are learning, networking, and advancing pile driving. We have maintained a blog at the bottom of the homepage on piledrivers.org that often includes photo dumps from various Chapter activities and other industry functions. And each month in ‘A Pile of News,’ we sometimes take liberties in offering editorial observations about what we find on members’ social media. Thanks to Travis’ casual suggestion several years ago, we continue to work to demonstrate that PDCA, in addition to being the leading advocate for driven pile construction in deep foundations, is also a fun place to be. Yes, business and pleasure coexist here!
 
It's exciting to tally-up the quarterly lists of new members that we include at the Top of the Pile in the beginning of the April, July, October, and January newsletters, because often, some of these new members have joined because they recognize that they have been missing out. So, we ask that you re-read the very top of this publication to help us welcome the 7 new Contractor Members and 3 new Associate Members who have come on board, just since July 1. And don’t forget, if you’re a non-member and reading this (still), you have about three weeks to join PDCA to ensure your company is listed in the 2024 Membership Directory. Thanks for your time and support.
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