General Contractors

Your Schedule Is the Constraint, Not Ours

On a general contractor's site, utility installation is almost never the critical path by itself. It becomes critical when it slides into somebody else's window. The bore that had to happen before base was placed, the conduit that had to be in before the sidewalk was formed, the service that had to be pulled before the building could be energized.

We plan around those interlocks. Before mobilization we want to know what happens immediately before us and immediately after us, what has to be inspected between those steps, and who signs it off. Then we commit to a window and hold it, or we tell you early enough that you can resequence rather than absorb it.

Owned equipment matters for this reason more than any other. A crew that depends on a rental yard cannot promise a Tuesday when the site needs Tuesday.

Working Inside an Active Site

An active site has other trades, deliveries, inspections, and an owner walking through. Utility work has to fit into that without generating incidents. That means locates before digging even when the site is already disturbed, potholing where the plan puts us close to an existing line, and keeping spoils, drill fluid, and equipment out of the way of everyone else's work.

Fluid management is where most complaints start on a job site. Containment, cleanup, and disposal are planned rather than improvised, because a slurry track across finished pavement or into a stormwater inlet becomes the superintendent's problem within the hour.

Site access is planned in advance too. A bore setup needs a footprint for the rig, the fluid system, and the pipe, and that footprint should be agreed with your superintendent before the truck arrives rather than negotiated in the middle of a delivery window.

• Locates and potholing before excavation, including on previously disturbed ground.
• Bore crossings under drives, pavement, and hardscape that is already placed.
• Conduit, tracer wire, and handhole placement coordinated with grading and paving.
• Drill fluid containment and cleanup planned before the rig arrives.

Restoration to the Standard the Job Requires

Restoration is a schedule item, not an afterthought. Sod, pavement, curb, sidewalk, driveway aprons, and irrigation get restored to the site specification, and we would rather do it correctly the first time than argue about it during punch list.

That standard also applies off site. Where a bore pit or a receiving pit sits in adjacent right of way or on a neighboring property, it gets restored to the same finish. The complaint that reaches the owner about a neighboring yard reflects on the general contractor, not on the subcontractor who left.

Communication a Superintendent Can Use

You get one point of contact who is reachable during the workday and who knows what the crew is doing. Daily production reporting covers what was completed, what is planned next, and anything that changed in the field.

When a conflict is found underground, you hear it while the hole is still open, with a description of what was found and the options for getting around it. Discovering a conflict at the end of the week, after the concrete is scheduled, is how a two hour decision becomes a two week delay.

Our foreman can attend the weekly schedule meeting when the job warrants it. Conflicts between our work and another trade surface there as calendar items rather than as arguments on the morning a crew shows up to a work area that is not ready.

Closeout Without Chasing Paper

We deliver as-built drawings, photographs of installed and buried work, and the documentation the owner or engineer requires for acceptance. Those records are collected during construction so the package is ready when the job closes rather than reassembled from memory during retainage discussions.

If your closeout has a specific format, submittal portal, or set of forms, tell us at the preconstruction meeting and we will produce it that way. Rework at closeout is expensive for the general contractor and completely avoidable.

Callbacks get a direct answer. If something we installed fails, we come back and look at it rather than routing the general contractor through a process that consumes more of your time than the repair itself. Warranty terms are confirmed in writing for each contract.

When Does Utility Work Belong on the Site Schedule?

Utility work belongs at specific points in the site sequence, and each point has a cost if it slips. Conduit routes should be staked once rough grading is done, crossings under future drive lanes should be bored before base and paving, and structures should be set to finished grade before curbs and sidewalks are formed.

We ask for the site schedule at preconstruction and mark those points on it. If the schedule moves, we move with it, but the order does not change: boring under fresh asphalt or resetting a handhole after the sidewalk is poured costs more than holding the right sequence.

How Are Scope Gaps Avoided on a Utility Subcontract?

Most disputes between a general contractor and a utility subcontractor come from items nobody assigned. The bore pit that sits in city right of way needs its own permit. The irrigation and site lighting lines installed by another trade are not marked by Sunshine 811, because member utilities mark only the facilities they own. The pull string, the handhole lids, and the restoration of a neighbor's yard all need an owner.

We go through those items at preconstruction and put them in writing. A one page scope split costs an hour and removes the argument that otherwise happens on the morning a crew arrives and finds the item was never covered by anyone.