Soils report basics

What Does a Soils Report Really Tell Us Mass Grading of SoilsEarthwork

Estimated read time: 1:20

Summary

This transcript is a practical walkthrough of how to read a geotechnical report and use it during mass grading and earthwork. The speakers explain that the executive summary is helpful, but the full report matters because it contains the site geology, soil descriptions, groundwater conditions, boring logs, and construction recommendations. They emphasize checking whether the report is preliminary or final, matching the report to the current site plan, and paying close attention to issues like settlement potential, deep fills, moisture-sensitive soils, shrink-swell clays, and lightweight silts. The presentation also covers field exploration methods such as borings, Standard Penetration Tests, Proctor testing, and compaction requirements, plus how different soils respond to equipment and lift thicknesses. The central message is that estimators, project managers, and superintendents should read geotech reports early, understand the red flags, and communicate with the geotechnical engineer before construction starts.

Highlights

Leaning Tower of Pisa is used as the classic cautionary tale for bad soils and foundation support 🏛️
The speakers stress that a geotech report is only useful if you actually read it, not just skim the front page 👀
Boring logs show sample depths, soil layers, N-values, and groundwater encounters in a very practical way 🧾
Preliminary reports may be limited if the site layout was not known yet, so final reports are preferred for design and bidding 📄
Mass grading discussions focus on cut/fill, settlement, compaction, and how different soil types behave under load 🚜
Proctor testing is explained as a key way to determine optimum moisture and density for fill placement 🧪
Undercutting footings and replacing problematic soils with stone or flowable fill may be required in shrink-swell areas 🪨
The team encourages preconstruction meetings and direct communication with ECS when report questions come up 🤝

Key Takeaways

Read the executive summary, but don’t stop there—dig into the full geotech report 📘
Check whether the report is preliminary or final, because that changes how reliable the recommendations are ⚠️
Deep fills, especially over 15 feet, can mean settlement risk and monitoring needs 🏗️
Moisture-sensitive soils, shrink-swell clays, and lightweight silts can seriously affect grading and foundations 🌧️
Boring logs, groundwater info, and soil descriptions help you plan earthwork and avoid surprises 🕵️
Compaction matters because it improves density, bearing capacity, and long-term performance 💪
If the site plan changes, the boring layout and recommendations may no longer be valid 📍
When in doubt, call the geotechnical engineer early—communication saves headaches later ☎️

Overview

The presentation starts with a simple but important idea: a soils report is not just paperwork. It is a guide to what is actually under the site and what that means for design, grading, and construction. The speakers explain the major sections of a geotechnical report, including the executive summary, site geology, boring logs, groundwater conditions, lab testing, and recommendations. They also point out that the report needs to match the current site plan, because if the layout changes, the boring pattern and advice may no longer apply.

From there, the discussion moves into mass grading and compaction. The speakers explain how fill behaves, why settlement becomes a big issue on deep fill sites, and how soil type affects construction decisions. They talk through concepts like moisture sensitivity, shrink-swell potential, lightweight soils, and the importance of achieving the right dry density. Proctor testing, lift thickness, and the choice of compaction equipment all come into play when preparing a site for structures, roads, and pavements.

The overall message is very contractor-friendly: use the report early, use it correctly, and ask questions. Estimators should look for hidden costs tied to undercutting, monitoring, stabilization, or settlement delays. Project managers and superintendents should use the report in preconstruction planning and coordinate with the geotechnical engineer before issues show up in the field. The presenters repeatedly reinforce that communication is the difference between a smooth job and an expensive surprise.

Chapters

00:00 - 05:00: Introduction and Seminar Context The session opens with attendance and logistics: participants are asked to scan a QR code or use the chat link to sign in, and those wanting a continuing education certificate are instructed to email the organizer or sign the sheet. The host thanks ECS for partnering on the event and then introduces Brian Moss from ECS Southeast.
05:00 - 15:00: Reading the Geotechnical Report The speaker explains that a geotechnical report should be read beyond the executive summary, since the full report is needed to understand subsurface conditions, site geology, likely soils, groundwater, rock, and the resulting design and construction recommendations. They note that preliminary due diligence reports may use a limited number of borings, while full geotechnical reports are prepared according to standards and can take four to six weeks to complete.
15:00 - 25:00: Field Exploration, Borings, and Site Data This chapter explains how geotechnical field exploration is performed using borings and the Standard Penetration Test (SPT). The speaker describes drilling an auger hole, taking split-spoon samples at set depth intervals, recording blow counts for the 18-inch drive, and using the last two 6-inch intervals to determine the N-value shown in boring logs.
25:00 - 40:00: Cut-Fill, Moisture Sensitivity, and Soil Risks The speaker explains how geotechnical reports should be used by estimators, project managers, and superintendents to understand site conditions before grading begins. He stresses checking whether the report is preliminary or final, reading the executive summary, and paying special attention to cut-and-fill quantities because deep fills or cuts can create settlement risks and affect schedule and cost.
40:00 - 55:00: Compaction, Proctor Testing, and Fill Standards This chapter explains how geotechnical reports flag moisture-sensitive or high shrink-swell soils and often recommend undercutting footings and replacing them with more stable materials such as flowable fill, stone, or ABC. In hard-bid work, these items may be excluded if they are not included in the bid, while negotiated work typically accounts for them directly.
55:00 - 60:00: Practical Takeaways, Communication, and Q&A The speaker emphasizes practical communication as the key takeaway: if anyone does not understand a report or notices a concern, they should call and ask questions rather than guessing. He encourages a relationship with Landmark and ECS where people are comfortable reaching out about reports, jobs in progress, or unusual site conditions, even if the original report is not his.

What Does a Soils Report Really Tell Us Mass Grading of SoilsEarthwork Transcription

Segment 1: 00:00 - 02:30 Hey, good morning everyone. Pe people online, if you see the QR code, please um please scan it so that I can get that you attended the meeting. It's the easiest way to do it. We're trying something new in the room. I want to show hands who's here because of that awesome commercial that was put out. Uh I tried I tried. Um I I want got full house here, which is great. I really appreciate it. Um, I want to say thank you to ECS for volunteering to come in and do this. Uh, y'all been a great partner and and helped us many times with this. So, I'm going to go ahead. Um, the QR code, if you didn't get to scan it at the beginning, uh, it'll be up again at the end. So, uh, it's also in the chat so that if you can't scan the QR code, you can go to chat, click on the link, and sign in, please. >> Um, with that, I'm going to turn it over to Brian >> and then remind everyone about if they want a certificate. Yep. um to let us know >> if you if you want a certificate for continuing ed uh let me know send me an email since I have your your information and I'll pass it on to ECS. They've also in here they've got a signin sheet. So just sign in the sheet and just put down if you want the the certificate. >> Yeah, if if you want it just let us know. We can have them made and that way you've got it for any continuing education you need. So >> Okay, perfect. Um with that I'm going to turn it over to Brian. Great. Really appreciate y'all being here. >> Hey, good morning all. I'm Brian Moss. I'm a vice president with ECS Southeast. I helped open our Greensboro office 30 years ago in 1996. Uh happy to be here and see a lot of familiar faces in the room. Uh we're going to get started with our program today. All right, little something about ECS. We were founded in 1987.
Segment 2: 00:00 - 02:30 We're headquartered in Chantelli, Virginia. We have offices throughout the United States from uh the East Coast to the West Coast. 100 offices now. Uh our Greensboro office opened in 1996. So, we've been serving this market for 30 years. I know we have some people online in other offices with Landmark in North Carolina and South Carolina, but we have offices across both states. So, if you need help in those markets, please let
Segment 3: 02:30 - 05:00 me know. Um, and we're continuing to grow. Uh, our building is almost full. We we've got nearly 70 people in the Greensboro office uh at this time. So, we are happy to be here and see all you today. A little bit about ECS if you didn't know. We're fullervice uh environmental geotechnical construction testing facilities firm. We're involved in due diligence on site. So environmental services, geotechnical evaluations, property condition assessments, wetlands and streams. We're the first boots on the ground. We do a lot of economic development projects across North and South Carolina. Uh we're also involved in many cases through the design phase of projects from geotechnical to specialty testing to retaining wall designs and other services. Uh you know us probably more so in the traditional construction testing, special inspections world. We're involved in a lot of uh your projects over the years. And then we also have a facilities consulting group that can do building envelope problems, solve issues with uh with just property condition settlement issues, uh forensics issues, things like that. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to our first speaker who will talk to you about geotechnical engineering and I'll let him introduce himself. >> Hey, good morning everyone. Uh I'm Taran. Um I'm geotechnical. I manage our geotech uh technical department at the Ginsburg office. Um so when we see this picture so um this is one of the famous uh most famous examples for um of the u the importance of the geotechnical engineering. So the leanto pizza um they started to build this 12 uh 12th century but uh during the construction started leaning because of it was built on the shallow foundation on the uh compressible or the weak soils. Um so um I'm going to talk um uh about uh what are the information that you need to look for when you look
Segment 4: 02:30 - 05:00 at the geotechnical report. Um let's get started. So in the geotechnical report um so when
Segment 5: 05:00 - 07:30 you open a geotechnical report of course we will see the vocabul and then um then we see the executive summary. Um when we look at the executive summary, we include the the um the most important things like what are the main uh geotechnical concerns that you need to pay attention. But don't stop from there. When you look at the geical report, you can just look at it and then get an idea. So how the sites look like but um we wanted you to go and open the report and then read the entire report get the um fully understanding about the about the um subsurface conditions of the site. So we talk about the geology of in the area and then what kind of soils you will encounter at the sides and then if you have a rock or the shallow groundwater and then we address those concern then how then we recommend we provide you with recommendations during the design phase and then we uh provide you the construction recommendations. uh during the construction. Um if you do the like u preliminary um assessment like uh if you have a land and you want to see uh if the site is suitable to build something so we can go there and then do just few boardings and then give understanding about the subsurface conditions. Um but if you we need the design recommendations we always recommend to do the full geotech report that means we we need to follow the standards like practice how many boardings that we have to put in in that side. Okay. For um typically to do the preliminarily geotech report borings site during the due diligence periods um so it's got somewhere between 4,000 to 10,000 plus but it depends of the size of the property and then what kind of development that you are planning to do it and we are the lead I mean we typically turn the report in um between four to six weeks Um and
Segment 6: 05:00 - 07:30 so um in the Yes. >> is that per day? >> No, it is for the entire report like
Segment 7: 07:30 - 10:00 incoding drilling and then um for the report the clear if if it has a clearing. Yeah, we include clearing and then private utilities. Uh and then uh we typically uh include private utilities u for the site if it is if it is near the built environment like if we have like land we don't have any any developments around the sides. So we give that as optional service to the client and then you have option to choose it. So but we uh for the all of the sites for the private utilities we call 811 tickets to clear the utilities for the public utilities. So for the recommendations um and we provide the recommendations for the foundations um if we recommend the shallow foundations and then uh if we need just we provide the um recommendations for the ground improvements if you need it and then slab of grain sub slab grand and then uh payments. So and then if you have see like from the shallow ground water and then if you expect any water then we provide the recommendations how to deal with those construction and um dewatering. And if you see the um PWR the rock at the sides we provide the recommendations how to how to work with those during the construction and earthwork recommendations and then um we provide what kind of materials you need to use for the embbackments and then embed constructions. So um if they have um any uh like below gate construction excavation uh involves we provide the temporary excavation supports um and then underpinning and then uh if your site has um more than 15 ft of fill. So we we recommend to um establish u the um settlement monitoring hubs. So, so um so once we provide the uh give you the proposal to uh do the geotech report and then once we get your appro so of course and then we um then we register our prop as a the project and then first
Segment 8: 07:30 - 10:00 thing we do is the um of course review the scope again and if there are any
Segment 9: 10:00 - 12:30 changes uh based on your site plans and then if you need it and then we reach out to you and then discuss before before we uh move forward and uh then we call 81 ticket to clear public utilities and then uh if you have private utilities we get the private utility locator to um check the uh underground utilities around the uh bings and then we use um um get the dr rig to uh for this site explorations. And then uh um so of of course we review the history or the available geological information. Uh and um so we get the durig uh to the site and then do the test borings. Um and then sometimes we recommend to do the test bits to get the bigger picture uh of the soils um um subsurface conditions. Um and then if rockaring is needed so we do the rockaring and then institute testing um like um permeability test um and then uh um and then uh if we need it we can provide the geopysical service like ge velocity test and then u uh and then from the past experience we use those experience uh those data uh with the our has experience to write the report. So um in the geotechnical report so see then we have the introduction and then we give the what is the exploration procedure what kind of dur we use what what kind of test we we did and then uh and then the results um of the um the test that we during the explorations and then we use those um test results and then uh and then analyze them and then use th those results to make our recommendations. Uh so and then at the end we have appendices. Uh that's where you can see the site location diagram and where the site is and then boring location diagram and then boring logs and then the cross-sections on the um this is the example of a boring logs u boring
Segment 10: 12:30 - 15:00 location plan. This is very important as a contra contractor uh for you for you guys. Um so the during the our proposal phase uh we use site plans to pro uh develop our uh boring location plan and so um for some reason if the site plans change that our findings it's not valid. So um because then you need to reach out to us and then any any changes to the site plan reach out to us and then check check to see that uh our recommendations still valid. So >> yeah and seem to be pretty close together but then you don't have any porings on the right hand building. What's the rhyme or reason for why you've put some closer together versus a more scattered approach? >> You need to repeat it. >> H okay. So the question is um for the um some borings we have for examples we have MW2 and the B4 and the B2 they are close to each other but we don't have um any borings on the upper right uh corner. So this example is compound years ago. But the way I think like maybe the this corner the bottom uh left corner there may be some more loadings it related to the loading of the um structural load from from the from the the structure. Uh maybe we put more borings or um or the uh maybe we have some of the other data from the previous on the for the uh area the upper uh right corner >> the ranging I added this picture in there and and just for point of clarification I'm John Arnold I'll be the follow-up speaker and I slipped a few things in. If you look down here in the bottom it talks about monitoring well. So the fact that these are together, there's a boring for getting soil data, monitoring well and a monitoring well up there. So we got monitoring wells on the top of the site, bottom of the site, and that's for checking the water. Okay? And that's what that's for. The boring is
Segment 11: 12:30 - 15:00 different. And otherwise, the borings are laid out pretty good for the building. And then you've got the parking lot area where we've got one boring. But that's that's sort of sorry to add that in. But but yeah, the the the descriptions of what those are makes a big difference on the MW versus the B.
Segment 12: 15:00 - 17:30 Okay. >> Yeah, that's my bad. Um I mean the reason I told you that was one of the reasons too. Okay. So um to um during the um field exploration so we use uh speed um we call standard penetration test. There are some other test uh corn penetration test and then but for this area we use most of the projects we use and we use about 2 in diameter like um cube um and the speum sample is look like this. So uh so the SPT test it is um uh we use that like sample that used on the previous picture. But uh before we start testing so we have to make a hole we use auger uh through the soils. Um so the when you do the testing we do the testing at the different depths. So when we first we auger to um uh we go to um 1 foot and then we start uh to testing from 1 foot and then we drive that uh speed some sample for 18 in and then we then we count the blow count to how long how how many blow counts it will take to drive 6 in. So then we have a three values block counts during that 18 in and then we use that last two num block counts to get the valable end values. So that's what you see in the boring logs and values. Uh and um for for upper 10 upper 10 ft we take four samples one at uh 1 to 2.5 and then next samples at 3.5 to 5 and the next one 6 to 7.5 and then 8.5 to 10. So after that we take one samples at every 5 ft. So uh this is how the boring logs um look like from there where so you can see the the your client information and then what is the name driller who perform the um the drilling and then our
Segment 13: 17:30 - 20:00 informations and then most important uh thing that you need to look for the the report is um You start from the from the uh you can see that over here. So you can see start from here. Um look at the top soils and how much top soils we have. So when you look at this top soils, we don't recommend for you to use this one for your estimation for purpose or anything because we take this number from the driller's information. So we don't go go there and actually measure it. So the dealer based on his their information they they observe then not that out but for this is it's approximate but if you want like a more uh details and you need to get that number for yourself uh but for the estimation purpose it's okay but don't just um but you need you need to u u you need to use your judgment and then verify that with by yourself. So for over here and then you have the depth and then these columns you have sample numbers and then we call it SS for the split spoon and then uh so the the recovery depth you have the 18 in C and then the sample depth and uh here you have the soils descriptions. So what we do is based on the uh samples that we uh visually classified and then we divide into straight up. So we take samples for every 5 ft um of course for the for the first 10 ft we get four samples after that every 5 ft and then based on the visual classifications we divided that soils to straight if we have the same type of soils. So we divide it into different depths and uh and then we have um we have the those are the n values num n values that um I talked about earlier and next at the bottom you can see the if it's if the groundwater encountered and then you can see the the uh groundwater depth over here Um uh so um you can when you look at the report you can see the site location uh
Segment 14: 17:30 - 20:00 and the description and then you then
Segment 15: 20:00 - 22:30 you can see the review of the site geology. Um we use the available data to uh to describe the site site site uh geology. Um so then then if if the uh so then you can see the subsurface soils then we provide you the summary of the what kind of soils we have it's a the clay or the um or the silt or the um the sand um and um so this information actually valid uh over here the surface and boring depth and the number of borings that means the num uh boring depth is depend on the type of the construction that you're doing and then also the same like number of boring the size of the size of the um property or size of the construction that you are doing. So this information should be verified I mean before we actually um do the uh start start the project if you uh don't know if you don't have a understanding about the subsurface conditions of the site and then you go there and just build something and then you will see this kind of early of the failure. Uh so um so that's how you need to understand uh what kind of um soils that you have in the site if it is the if it is the plastic soils and it it's hard to work with and then you can plan ahead and then also the during the design and um you know to understand about what is a um CBR value California bearing uh ratio um we provide those information for the designer um to do uh for him them to use it. Um nobody wants to see this kind of failure. So once we have the new new payments, right? Um okay. Um so the um those are the specification that we provide. Um so we we have the um you we need to rei review the bing logs
Segment 16: 22:30 - 25:00 and then um earth specifications and then you have idea. So what kind of site are they look that you are expecting and then if you have the high plastic soils like um ch the fat clay m we call um elastic silt um so we don't recommend to build your uh foundation on top of those soils and then uh we recommend to uh do the remediate uh that remove the uh remove and replace the structural fuel um or the um uh during the constructions and if you if you find out if the soft soils or the unsuitable soils and we make recommendation during the construction. And then if you see the uh we have the rock uh and then based on the um the um speed uh values that we are getting during the um site field explorations and then we provide recommendations what kind of equipment that you need to use uh uh uh to excavate. So those information and you can learn more um with uh from John's presentation later. Um so um so now you can see that um why the um geotech report is more important um design or or the u build anything. Um so again we this is the summary of the report that that um you can see in the report report. So um we include um subsurface soil conditions and then u that means so what kind of soils we have let's say 0 to 5 ft down and then um and then if you have the shallow um shallow groundwater and then if you have the shallow rock and then we provide that information and then you can plan based on that um otherwise I mean if you don't do the geotechnical explorations and you I don't know what what you have uh what kind of size you are dealing with. Um so um the um doing the geotechnic person always important we can because you can
Segment 17: 25:00 - 27:30 identify unforcing um conditions site conditions and then uh you can plan ahead. So um John is going to u continue with the mass screening and complexion. Thank you. Good morning. My name is John Arnold. I'm a U principal engineer in the construction materials testing group over at ECS. And obviously has discussed with you u the aspects of the geotech report. The intent here and I get the easy part is to teach you or at least discuss with you the integration. In other words, what do you get from this and what does that address as you're going forward? I'm going to simplify this and I'm probably wrong but I'll say it anyway. I think in terms of landmark as being estimators, okay, project managers and superintendent. I know there's a whole lot more than that, but when I think about it, that's what I look at, okay? And so when I'm discussing things and I discuss this on as far as grading and how we get the geotech report ties into it, that's how I'm going to do it. And if somebody wants to clarify for me and say, "No, John, you're wrong." Please jump in and let me know. Okay. So, we'll start there. All right. Mass grading. All right. You do a geotech report. Big thing on a geotech report is when you get one, do look at it. Okay. Two things. Look to see what the front says. It says preliminary or it says geotech report. It's a big deal. Okay? It's a big deal because if it's a preliminary geotech report, you probably ain't got nothing in it. Okay? because the owner didn't want to spend the money, okay? And he just basically got a preliminary, four holes, cloud of dust. Hey, you got dirt, okay? That's what you got. Preliminary is not going to give you good recommendations. Now, those recommendations really play to the to the structural engineer, okay, on the project. But if he doesn't have the
Segment 18: 25:00 - 27:30 information, he's making assumptions. If he's making assumptions, they're probably conservative. Okay? So, that's how you start. Now, I'm thinking estimator first. you're looking at this job, what do you look at? Okay. Well, if you're going to look at the job, you're going to look at the drawings and you're going to be taken off from there. So, you're going to be looking at the civil drawings. You see you've got situations that you got to deal with and those situations may be cut fields. Okay? If you'll take the geotech report out,
Segment 19: 27:30 - 30:00 okay, and hopefully it's not preliminary, but it's a final geotech. All right? And and a preliminary may be just because they didn't know the layout, okay? It may have good information in it, but they didn't have a layout, so they called it preliminary. Okay. Uh, a final geotech report should have a good layout. So, the layout should match up. You should be able to check cut fill. And for me, the biggest thing at that point in time is what's the cut and feel. Okay? If is it more than 15 ft? If it's more than 15 feet, you have potential settlement issues right off the bat. Okay? Why is that a big deal? It's a big deal because you got to wait. Okay? you get the field done and you need to wait. You do need to do settlement monitoring depending on soil types we get. We got three different types of soils. Okay? And I'm not following this outline at all. You can tell cuz I hadn't even started it yet. But that's okay. Um you get into you get into your sands, which is coastal. You get into your silts, which we have here, okay? And then you get into clays and you may get into some bullow, okay? Marine clays, that type of thing. So you got three different types of materials, okay? and they settle differently. So, if you're using them and you got deep fills and what's deep fill, okay, if you're over 15t, if you're over 10, you're starting to get into a question. If you're over 15t, you got to cut sight. You got 40 feet, you got problems. Okay? And you better realize, I need to think about that in my schedule. Okay? Now, it may be a hard money job and you're bidding it tight and you're putting in exceptions. Okay? Okay, we take no responsibility for settlement issues. Okay, that must be the geotech's fault. Something like that. Or if you're negotiating a job, and I know y'all do a lot of that, you're making the owner aware you can't go too fast, okay, on this,
Segment 20: 27:30 - 30:00 okay? Now, I know y'all do it and I know it's occurred on different jobs and different situations. These things come up, okay? But you want to be aware, okay? So if you see on the civil drawings cut field pretty deep, you want to go and look just at least the executive summary. Okay, in the front of the thing, flip to the first few pages, executive summary. What does it say? Okay, and it says you have settlement potential issues and we should know what the cut field was. All right, so just a little bit of information from the front from there. And now I'll go into what I'm supposed to talk about. All right. Okay. a mass grading compaction. In the
Segment 21: 30:00 - 32:30 1800s, what do we do? 1800s, they just used to side dump. They had a big truck or they had a big cart and they would side dump and dump it over and they would fill it in. All right? And engineers at that time were real smart. They knew that all they had to do was wait for for water and time and things would settle and that might take a hundred years, but hey, who's in a rush, right? As far as that goes, we moved a long way from that. Okay. So in early 1900s we came in and we started doing different analysis and tests and by the time we got in the 40s and 50s and that's a long time ago. All right, not for not as much for me as it is for y'all but but but it it it it was there. Okay. And so we get into the 40s, the 50s, we start developing different types of pieces of equipment to get compaction. Why is compaction important? because we're trying to put buildings up, okay, structures up. We need to be able to know we got a fir firm base to work off of. And we're here up in the Pedmonts and I know coastal it's different. You don't have the cut and field depths. So you get into different materials, how they going to respond. Okay? And then how well can you compact them? Okay? Whether you're using sheets foot, whether you're using the sheet roller, whether you're using vibratory static roll, all of those different things come into play. And that's that's where I'll make the pitch. Brian did a good job of making a pitch at the front for ECS. What we do, ECS is a consulting engineering company that helps you with your situation in the field. So now we start moving to the project manager and the superintendent. Okay, you get through those first pages of of setting up, figuring your pricing, figuring your schedule on the job. Now you're getting into the activities. Okay, how you going to do the compaction? what's it going to be necessary? And it's great that you have a subcontractor who's who's a uh
Segment 22: 30:00 - 32:30 soils guy and he knows everything. Okay, he may not quite know everything. You have a lot of the confidence in him, but there's nothing wrong with at the at the beginning of the job. As a matter of fact, with special inspections, we get into the whole as aspect of having a pre-construction meeting. Okay? And you can do it for soils and you can have one for concrete. I I have a feeling y'all definitely do it for concrete. You're going to discuss the different types of materials, stuff like that. You can have the same kind of discussion at the beginning of the job on the soils. Okay? Good time to do it is when you're
Segment 23: 32:30 - 35:00 starting to clear the site. You're doing clearing, slication, erosion control. You don't need us. You might need us for cutting your BMS, verifying your subgrades on your ponds, those types of things, but you typically don't engage us too much. and the grading guy is not interested in us engaging at that point in time, but y'all are in control. You're the general contractor. You're in a position to say, "Hey, let's let's have a meeting. Let's just go over. There's a few things in the executive summary." If you will at least read the executive summary on the Geotech report, you're ahead of the game, okay? And then as you go into it, company like mine, we want to engage. We want to talk to you. We want you to say, "Hey, can you come out for a meeting?" Okay. All right. Now, if it turned out that uh we did the geotech and you've got a different company doing all the rest of it, now you're getting into who's who you going to be able to talk to. Okay. And for me, as long as I get a barbecue sandwich out of and I'm good if we even discuss it over lunch. Okay. And we didn't get the job. All right. ECS wants to engage the contractor, wants to be involved. I do from my position as a principal. Okay. is the only way to have a good working relationship and to move forward and do work. Okay? So, keep that in mind. Don't think like you get a geotech report from us, you ought to be able to call up somebody and talk to them. Okay? And if the geotech engineer won't talk to you, I will cuz I don't mind talking if you ain't figured that out yet. All right? So, compaction. All right? Real simple. Soil. You got a pile of dirt. All right? It's got three things in it. It's got soil. Okay? It's got water and it's got air. Okay? And when you go to compacting it, what are you trying to do? You're trying to get the air out of it. All right? That's all you're really doing. So, your soil
Segment 24: 32:30 - 35:00 model, okay? Now, you compact it and you really you're not changing the water, you're not changing the soils. Now, the problem here is you get into if you got too much water. Okay? If you get too much water, you get a problem with regard to the fact you've got all the air out of it and now you got a mudpie. Okay? So, that's where you need to recognize and that's where we start testing. We're grabbing samples. We know um how much water should be in there and we're checking the amount. Now, um we talked about the fact deep fields, okay, on your geotech. All right. Now, there's another one, buzz word, moisture sensitive soils. What does that mean?
Segment 25: 35:00 - 37:30 Okay. Moisture sensitive soils. All soils are moisture sensitive to some degree, right? Well, there's ones that are going to be a royal pain and as an estimator, if you know you going into a job, okay, and you going to start in November, okay, you're going through the winter and you're going to be doing your dirt work in the winter and if it says moisture sensitive, you got to be figuring, wait a second, this may not go well. Okay, this may not go well at the beginning. All right, now soil properties by compaction. Okay, we get into it and this is a list and I don't even know if I can repeat that. No other construction process that no no other construction process that is applied to natural soils produce such a marked change in their physical properties at so low a cost as compaction. What has a lot um big thing compaction we get density density we get stable base for parking okay for for parking lots and this the like we also get bearing capacity okay if you got a building you're going to put spread footings on you want to be able to have good solid material with regard to that you reduce potential settlement all right permeability comes into play corrosion shrinks well and I think those to me the biggest um settlement and shrinks Well, baron's a given. You're going to get 2,000 3,000 baron. That's pretty much not more than that with regard to it, but you do get into these items that are affected. So, um that's what you get by getting good compaction. Um couple of physical pictures here. Just a leaning tower of Pisa. Obviously, that was a long time ago and they didn't appreciate that and they didn't have a good base and one side consolidated over time and now you got a leading pet leading building. There's a few buildings around town I probably know about. Uh they're not as as as big as this, but uh I know one in particular
Segment 26: 35:00 - 37:30 near Thway Shopping Center that um we uh we didn't plan for exactly right. They modified the building. It was a different situation and when they did the ceiling lay in uh there was a two and a half inch difference from one side to the other. Okay. Now the brick work looked fine on the outside of the building and everybody was happy in the end. But it got a little ticklish. Okay, as far as that goes. U but I won't mention any more because otherwise I'm probably in trouble with whatever agreement my company was which was not
Segment 27: 37:30 - 40:00 ACS at the time. Okay, we all have a little variety of experience. Uh the other thing is um something that really is not a big deal in this area but we do get into it and there's always concern from the geotech side shrink swell. So if we really don't know a lot about the soils we're not really going we're going to assume shrink swell. So you get things compacted in you get moisture in it suddenly it swells up. You get something like this where you got you know pavements cracking these types of things. shrink swell is a it's always a big concern for the geoteex. Y'all typically don't see a lot of it because we really don't have a big problem with it. So, we're for the most part overly cautious with regard to that. It's an item to discuss. And where does this come up? Uh you got a building, you read the geotech report in the front and it says that on existing soils that we expect, the geotech expects to have a twoft separation from your footing. So that means you got to go in there and cut everything two extra feet. Okay, on on materials where you've got uh not field soils, but on your existing soils, you got to cut two feet and you got to do a flow fill or stone or whatever. That's not an item to miss on the estimating side. Okay, so you want to be aware of that. All right, that's just it's a concern from the geotech side. There's ways to look at it, but just anyway, am I doing okay on time? Okay. All right. If I'm going too slow, let me know. All right. All right. >> Say about fill or something along those lines and you want to make sure that you capture that. You could restate that. >> The the question that was asked was what what did I mean? What did I say when I was talking about um undercutting footings, okay, and putting in flow field stone like that. And and what we're talking about is um when we get into our soil types and
Segment 28: 37:30 - 40:00 I'll I'll have a slide here come up shortly that'll show your soil types. You you've got in this well the I'm going to speak generally. There's three soil soils you're going to deal with. You got clays, you got silts, okay, and you got sands. All right, the silts and the clay have shrink swell potential. All right. So, you go in in there and you cut a site and suddenly um you have a drought. Okay. Not that we ever have a drought, but we have a drought or you have a wet season. Those soils have the
Segment 29: 40:00 - 42:30 potential to swell when they get moisture in them or shrink when they dry out. And what happens is that when we see that we have those materials on a site, we will turn around and in the geotech report recommends that you have to undercut all footings 2 feet. Okay? And that's that's that you that's a standard answer you'll see in a geotech report. Moisture sensitive uh moisture sensitive soils, high shrink swell potential. Didn't say it will, but high shrink swell potential. And therefore, we recommend undercutting all footings, okay? And basically going back with a material that's not going to shrink swell, like a flow field or a 57 stone or ABC. Now, you know, flowfield is expensive, but it's easy to do. Okay? All right. You can get into um 57, which has a potential of having water held in it. Okay? But but you don't have to do any compaction or ABC where you got to go back and do compaction. you're doing it in two foot lifts. So if you see that in the geotech report, okay, and in you're in a bid job, okay, where it's a hard bid money, you're going to exclude it, okay? I mean, you're just going to exclude it. Say, uh, this has been excluded. We seem we don't have to do that. All right? And that'll be in your notes and that'll keep your bid down. But if you put it in there in a in a hard money situation, somebody excludes it, you got it in there, you're not going to win the bid that way. All right? So you get into hard money versus negotiated. Negotiated. Hey, this is what your geotech has recommended for us. We have to deal with this. Okay. Does that help clarify? >> And I thought that I may but I'm glad that you went. >> Okay. All right. Just clarification to make sure that I did answer the question and at least in the in the in the uh when the second location I did. I hope I said something about estimating and making sure that we had it in there.
Segment 30: 40:00 - 42:30 definitely triggered up into >> right and and the other statement was that um I I it's why at the beginning of the conversation I talked about my keeping it simple for me estimators project managers superintendent okay and and because I want I want to direct the conversation to you as an individual if that's your function now if I missed some functions
Segment 31: 42:30 - 45:00 I apologize but but I wanted to make sure that I make points like that because that's the only reason this is of a value. We come in here and we discuss it and say how does it apply to you? So that's that's why I bring it up that way. Okay. All right. Um back in the early 1900s, uh guy by the name of what RR Proctor, okay, came up with a test. The Proctor test. Everybody hears the Proctor test. They have no clue what it is. It's an arbitrary mold size, an arbitrary hammer. You pound in material. You pound it into a mold and you weigh it. Okay? And you weigh it and you check the moisture level. And so you have moisture, you have weight. And what's interesting when you do this, soils have an interesting property. Okay? Be it be it sands, silts, clays, as you add moisture, you get denser. Okay? until you get to an optimum moisture and then you get too wet and then you're dropping down the other side. Okay. So, when we go into a job and we're on site and no, we don't do this during the geotech phase. I mean, geotech what 8 10 holes maybe 20 holes, I don't care. 4 inch diameter hole, 40 ft down, 20 ft down. That's all you got for 10 acres. Okay? It ain't going to tell you much. All right? you get into the job site, you get on the job. During that first phase when you're doing your clearing and grubbing, that's a great time to go in there and dig out some samples because it takes us a week to 10 days to turn a proctor, okay? So, if you want a real proctor, okay, or modified proctor, get a proctor. It takes 7 to 10 days, okay? So, hey, we need you out today. Give us answers. I can't give you any answers. Okay? Now, there's some shortcuts, but they're not get a court of law. They don't work too well. So, so we we hesitate to use those, okay? Using a one point, okay, as far as that goes, but with proctors, it's 7 to 10 days. So, we like to get ahead, go out, grab a bucket, and it takes a bucket bucket to
Segment 32: 42:30 - 45:00 do a proctor, a five gallallon bucket. All right? So, we want to do the proctors and then that gives us the data to understand. Now, one thing that didn't get sort of mentioned here is the magic number in this area and the whole southeast if you can get is 90 lbs. Okay, 90 lbs. All right, if soil isn't
Segment 33: 45:00 - 47:30 90 lb weight, dry weight, okay, geotech don't want to use it, okay, for back fill. Okay, so you get into that light a soil, okay? Okay. And if you look at this graph, you'll see that the uh the dry density is on the left hand side, the moisture is on the bottom. All right? So, what we do is you figure you got moisture in it that's got weight to it, but it's a dry density. And when your dry density drops below 90 lbs, okay? And that what you get with that is you get into a site that's got a real fine silt. Okay? Real fine silt material. Well, when when you go below 90 lbs, Geoteex and it'll be in a report. Okay. We saw tendencies of potential lightweight materials. Okay. They didn't do any proctors and they said there's a potential and this this um uh last fall I had a job where it was a school and the whole hot the whole site was 90 lb and less material. Okay. And it was a hot discussion right off the bat. Okay. It was a school job over in Guilford County and the grader said, "I assume we can use all the material." And guys, the geotech report tells you 90 lbs. We're getting 85 86 lb material, okay? You're not going to be able to use it. Now, there are ways to negotiate and work around some of that, but you don't use that in structural field. Okay? And so that's where you get into compaction, the importance of it, identifying the materials. This is where you come into some things that can really impact a job. Okay, this is where you make statements. You read a geotech, you read the executive summary, it will say these things in it, just the executive summary. And as soon as you read it and you see some buzzword, moisture sensitive soils, lightweight materials, okay, these types of things, the geotech should want to talk to you. Okay? And if it's a geotech from ECS and they don't want to talk to you, then call me. Okay? >> The 90 is the weight, pounds per per
Segment 34: 45:00 - 47:30 cubic foot. Okay. question was what was a 90 I was using and I apologize I didn't clarify very well 90 pounds per
Segment 35: 47:30 - 50:00 cubic foot is the low weight when you go below that for soils you don't use it okay it's recommended by the geotech don't use it now there are ways do it in deep field then instead of going normally we look at 95% compaction as our criteria till we're in the top two feet maybe we go down deep deep fields below 5t and maybe we play games. Like for instance, instead of doing 95%, we go ahead and get it up to 100. Okay, which your grader is going to love me for that kind of comment. But guess what? By doing that, instead of the 95, I've got my weight up by going to 100. So there there's ways to play with things, but you're not going to see that in geotech report. Okay, that's on-site discussions about the work. Okay, so laboratory testing, we get into it. You can see you can see the sands. You don't need as much moisture in that. Okay. Silt a little bit more. It holds a little bit moisture more. And then you get into your clays which even hold more water. Okay. Um I'm I'm not diving into this and if y'all wanted to discussion this well I I hate to say it but I'll probably put you to sleep. But uh add butter limits with regard to your soils testing liquid limit plasticity index that's a different aspect of how you work with different soils okay on a site. So you get into that deep, you read that and and you read that in the summary where it starts talking heavy on that. You do need to have a discussion, okay, with your source people. All right, with regard to that, that's important. Okay, typically it's not that big a deal, okay? But for instance, you get into it and you may have silts and you may it may be a recommendation of lime stabilization, okay? As far as lime or cement, okay? And then there's different ones you want to use depending on the circumstances. These are all things you need to be aware of and and that you see
Segment 36: 47:30 - 50:00 them in the geotech report. You got questions, okay? And you should be asking us, you should be reaching out to us to discuss, okay? Um materials. As far as different types of materials, we get into um what kind of equipment you're using. Again, y'all typically you've got a grater. He's used to the area. He knows he needs a sheep foot or he needs a a smooth drum roller.
Segment 37: 50:00 - 52:30 And that's you got examples of both those in that picture right there. And then the the lifts typically 8 to 12 in. Um we do get into the different types of equipment. Okay. And these are just a couple of slides with regard to that. Brian, are we making the presentation available to them? Is that is that what we're doing? Okay. There's a couple I mean if if if anything you got out of this okay is these next two pages okay which are basically the same thing and they discuss the lift thickness they talk about the type of material you're dealing with and then the types of equipment that can be used effectively in this okay and that's that's this you can see with the uh gravel sand silt clay on the side and then the types and this just switches it around equivalent applications where they work test. Okay. Obviously, you get into high moistures. You don't want to do vibratory. Okay. Vibratory equipment in moisture draws the moisture up and then you just have a mess with regard to that uh static rolling at that point in time. But that's that gives you again a couple of good slides with regard to that. Okay. Um just a picture of of the different types of equipment. Most of this with the sheep's foot u they are talking about with fine grain soils you're looking typically at um I think when we say fine grain we're we're silts we're probably not using vibratory if it's sandy we don't feel like we have a problem with the moisture then we would we would basically turn these on to the vibratory side and then coarse grain obviously uh you don't need the sheets foot you can go with a with a a drum roller uh typically that's what you'll see f say Say you're putting ABC down aggregate based course underneath your your park and driveways roadways areas and then you're just going to use a she's foot or or a plate roller. Okay. Um we get into uh compaction
Segment 38: 50:00 - 52:30 obviously uh anytime you see a geotech report it'll talk about existing fill areas. They have existing fill they'll call it undocumented. Okay, that's our way of saying we ain't responsible. Okay. All right. So, you may have an area. If you got documentation of it, the lift thicknesses, the compaction test on existing field, then obviously that's something we would use in reference. Okay. But you got a site nobody knows,
Segment 39: 52:30 - 55:00 but we drill it and it's clearly got 20 ft of field. Okay. It's undocumented field. Okay. That and basically users risk. Okay. At that point in time when we're going in and filling, obviously we're looking at doing lifts. We're looking at testing it. And as you do go up through that activity, you verified that you've got good compaction. And that's obviously I mean, think about it. Um 95% is typically what we use. 95% compaction on a proctor. All right? So whatever that proctor comes out as a 100%, you're going to use 95% as acceptable as you're filling. Okay. Now, what does that mean? If you want to say, well, you know, you could densify 5% as you fill. Okay. Well, then, okay. So, you got 10 ft 5%. What is that? 6 in. I don't know. Something like that. Um, you need to realize now you're actually getting densification consolidation as you back fill up. You're not looking at that as as far as settlement requirements, but the standard is 95% till you get the top two feet and then we use basically 100%. All right. Um, reasons for failed compaction, overcompaction. I don't know that I've ever seen that, but but uh I I've never seen a situation. I guess theoretically you could be over compacted. It could create some shooting situations under compaction. That's obviously the thing that we get into when they're getting out there and not being effective to get compaction too wet, too dry. And especially in the winter time, the silts, we have fits with regard to that. I threw a structural failure in here. Okay, I'm glad to talk about anything. Basically, what this is is they had a job. They were in a hurry. They didn't control their compaction testing. Um, they wanted to get open early. That never happens to you, right? You're never pushed on schedule, right? Never. Okay. Somebody has to say you can't do this or you're going to have to wait.
Segment 40: 52:30 - 55:00 Okay. and and the purpose on my side when I say look you're going to have to do some controlled monitoring it's going to take at least six in six six weeks to get you that kind of documentation okay and everybody has a hissy well they bought it if there's any problems might not be any problems but if there are it's because they had settlement after the fact all right because that's what'll happen with some of these soil types that we deal with okay um
Segment 41: 55:00 - 57:30 I pretty much. Hopefully this isn't the picture of y'all now. So anyway, I don't think it is. Um I'm here to answer any questions. Somebody got some questions from the perspective of what you're doing. Okay? And I and I'll be honest with you, whether you give questions now, um Brian's always a contact and if y'all had a job, you had a concern, you got a job you going into, okay? You read the report. I don't care if it's mine, okay? If if you got a question, that's that's the relationship that we need to have with Landmark is that you're not afraid to pick up the phone and say, "Could you look at this? I don't understand this." Okay? Maybe somebody else's report. Now, may not be a job I get anything out of. Okay? But I've been around long enough that it's a small world. Things come up. You know, we got a job going into it. There's some weird stuff out there. Hey, why don't why don't we see if ECS will be involved? Okay, that that's the advantage of doing that. Okay, that's just that's just way I was raised, where I came from and uh and I take that as one business. Okay, so any questions and put anybody to sleep, I hope. Nope. Okay, the question got well the statement got made is are we talking about communication and yes we are communication is critical. If you have something you don't know about either because you didn't look at it okay or you looked at it and you don't know. Yes, communication is the key. I mean, you get a report from ECS and it's a geotech, okay? I read it. I don't make any sense of it. Pick up the phone and call. If the geotech engineer listed on there won't talk to you, talk to Brian. Okay? Call me. Okay. I'm reading this report. Tell me what's items of concern I got. Okay. Well, it's the time of year. You got moisture sensitive soils. You got this. I can go into a whole different
Segment 42: 55:00 - 57:30 managerie of things. Okay. And and that goes in from the different phases as the estimator, okay, as the project manager, as you're moving into the job, as the superintendent. And you got one or two superintendent that I've worked with. And and they know I'll engage boots on the ground. Okay? I don't wear these
Segment 43: 57:30 - 60:00 boots just for show in the office, okay? That's for being prepared to go in the field. And whether I'm a principal or whether I'm a tech, I've always taken that approach. Okay? I appreciate your time. Thank you. Are we good, John? >> Thank you. Um, I just want to remind you if you're online and you haven't scanned the QR code so that we can get you tracked and if you need continuing ed, uh, send me an email, let me know. I'll get the certificate from Brian to you. And uh I appreciate it. Thank y'all very much.