University of Delaware Barnes & Noble Bookstore
Hardscape Installer: Pickering Valley Landscape Inc
Location: Newark, DE
Owner: University of Delaware
Being one of the last subcontractors to begin work on a site under tight conditions can be challenging. All other contractors started months before having staked their claim to storage areas, down to the last metered parking spot for crew trucks.
"This project required a contractor with the equipment and labor to get the job done. Most mason's do not own loaders and excavators and the typical landscaper does not either" comments Miguel Servin, Senior Foreman. "Our crew size changed based on daily expectations. On this job I had days we only had room for a typical 5 man crew but on weekends up to 12."
One thing is for sure however, no client of Pickering Valley Landscape, Inc. (PVL) can ever say that from the 1st day the crew shows up they aren’t there for the duration.
Originally the plaza work was scheduled to start in early May of 2011. Instead rather PVL’s crew was asked to mobilize on June 17th with the scheduled August 1st completion date remaining unchanged. 37 crew days later on Saturday evening July 30th the last paver was being laid and last bluestone tread being set.
Plaza projects can present unique challenges with non ordinary materials often specified. This particular project blended 6 tractor trailer loads of New York River BlueTM Bluestone park benches with 8,000 sq ft of 8”x8” bituminous set tudor finished asphalt pavers and brush finished stainless steel plates connecting many of the benches to retain landscape areas.
PVL worked alongside a site, concrete, mason, landscape, irrigation, and electrical contractors to complete the project on schedule. Closely managed logistics was key to pulling this project off. With limited storage space and changing traffic volume on a one way city street in a college town there was hourly and even up to the minute communication with trucks coming out of a New York bluestone Quarry, a Pennsylvania paver plant, and Maryland asphalt plant.
Company owned equipment was also a key factor in getting the work completed on schedule. A Kubota mini excavator was used to trench in over 300’ of under drain, a Case 321 compact loader with fork and bucket attachments to handle all materials up to 10,000 lbs, and a CX135 zero turn excavator for digging bench footers and to lift bluestone treads and benches.
PVL handled purchase and installation of the following materials: 200 Ton of 3⁄4” minus aggregate placed and compacted, over 200,000 lbs of New York bluestone including 49 park benches and various sized 6” step treads, 8,000 SF Hanover 8x8 Asphalt pavers with a tudor finish, trenching and install of 300 LF underdrain, and various other site amenities including stainless steel skate board stops .
