SDilawri Automotive Group is Canada’s largest group of auto dealers with franchised dealerships representing 30 automotive brands throughout Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia. Its most recent venture is unfolding with the construction of a four-dealership auto mall in Barrhaven, Ontario.
Dilawri contracted Ottawa-based MB Ford Construction Ltd. as the general contractor and construction management firm for the project. MB Ford specializes in automobile dealerships and auto malls. The company, in turn, subcontracted the complete site-prep of the 350 meters wide, 450 meters long site to Rabb Construction Ltd., which is located in Richmond, Ontario.
THE PROJECT
The new Dilawri Auto Mall is a sizeable, heavy civil site work project for Rabb Construction. The facilities for the auto mall will be situated on the approximately 15-acre site. Rabb needed to level and grade the former stone quarry for the four auto-dealer elevated building pads and their surrounding inventory lots and customer parking. The Rabb contract also includes excavating three, approximately 2-acre stormwater runoff retention ponds. Rabb is also responsible for constructing the on-site sewage systems.
The project site was a rock quarry where blasting occurred to excavate out the bedrock, which was used to make crushed stone. The quarry was active in the 1970s. The very large open pit was converted into a dump site for clean fill, which benefited all of the local construction contractors.
“We were supplied a full set of design drawings, grading plans, stormwater management plans, and structural plans, which were completed by a team of consultants and designers,” states Brenda Burrows-Rabb, P.Eng., general manager of Rabb Construction Ltd. “Using this design information, we developed a 3D site model to use with our Topcon GPS machine control system on our equipment. This site model is also available on our Topcon Tesla tablet data collector hand-held rover. Having field access to the site model increased our efficiency and accuracy.”
LAND PREP ON A LARGE SCALE
Burrows-Rabb says: “We had a fairly aggressive timetable in order to accommodate the two dealerships that were to be built as soon as we finished the site preparation. Plus, there was a commitment for the third dealership, and we needed to complete enough work on the fourth location to help the owner market it.”
It was a frigid day, when Rabb Construction Ltd. first arrived on the snow-covered site. The dynamic compaction process was completed first, with the stone building pad elevated 1 to 2 metres above existing grade. Once the building pads were constructed, the site was ready for the initial site work to begin.
MATCHING THE EXISTING GRADES
To perform the earthmoving on the project, Rabb used four large Caterpillar crawler hydraulic excavators including a Cat 321D equipped with the Topcon X-53i excavator system and two dozers, a New Holland DC80 and a Cat D6R high-track dozer equipped with a Topcon 3D-MC2 systems. The contractor moved 20,000 to 25,000 cubic meters of material on the Dilawri Auto Mall site. The site is balanced, so it became a matter of relocating the fill material as per the design grades. The grade needed to match into the existing grades at all of the property lines.
“The Topcon systems helped us achieve grade on this challenging site and saved us a tremendous amount of time, which has helped us meet the tight deadlines,” Burrows-Rabb says. “The ROI on the technology was immediately obvious to us. We don’t feel a need to quantify what we already know, which is why we purchased a second unit as quickly as we did.”
Help in selecting the GPS machine control systems and with training was provided by GeoShack Canada, based in Ottawa. According to Burrows-Rabb, the operator training on the GPS controls, the training made a difference with the confidence for using the technology.
“We learned that the Topcon 3D-MC2 dozer system is the latest technology on the market and is said to be twice as fast as any other 3D dozer system. I don’t have enough experience with GPS machine control systems to verify. All I know is that it’s fast and precise. We’ve eliminated the necessity for multiple passes and there is no need to revisit any of our work.”
The X-53i 3D control for excavators helped increase the Cat 321D’s versatility. According to Burrows-Rabb, the system’s 3D positioning capabilities helped the excavator for sewer installation for bedding grade, rough grade, and “just about every task—it is very useful.”
MACHINE CONTROL WORTH INVESTMENT
“We knew about Topcon machine control for some time; however, it is an expensive investment,” states Burrows-Rabb. “It became evident as we used it that it is completely worth the capital investment. Our efficiency has greatly improved. For example, with the grading of the parking lot stone, the D6R dozer with GPS control can be operated without foreman supervision. This frees up key personnel to complete other required work.”
For Rabb Construction achieving the correct grade according to the provided design drawings and elevations was critical, since they were preparing the subgrade for the asphalt paving and concrete contractors. All quantities of crushed stone, asphalt, and concrete materials to be supplied are based upon the Rabb-produced subgrade elevation. The elevation needed to be accurate and match the city-approved grading and servicing plans.
Additionally, elevation accuracy on the auto mall site was critical for stormwater management and for the septic systems.
CHALLENGES MET
The project has progressed and the end is in sight. The Chrysler dealership and the Mazda dealership are now open for business. Nissan, the third dealership, is scheduled to open in June 2017. The building on the fourth stone building pad is currently in the design stage.
As Burrows-Rabb reflects, “We were met with difficult site conditions and a very aggressive schedule. Certainly, having the machine control technology has helped us tremendously. Without it, we would be less efficient and it would have been more difficult to meet the timeline pressures. I’m proud that we’ve done good work here.” ■
About the Author
Jeff Winke is a business and construction writer based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He can be reached through jeff_winke@yahoo.com.
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Modern Contractor Solutions, September 2017
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Contractor Preps Site for Large Auto Mall
