The term "site preparation" covers a large variety of possibilities. We may have a contract for construction of a new golf course in a rural countryside or perhaps our contract is to rehabilitate the site of a recently demolished building in an urban area. In either case, site preparation is the key to a successful project. Somewhere in between these two possibilities, we might have won the contract for preparing a site for a new housing development in a suburban area. How did we win the contract?

When estimating the site work on a project we have many variables. The type and volume of material to be moved, of course, is one. If we have rock, we have to consider drilling and blasting or using the high-tech impact breakers. Drilling and blasting may include a pre-construction survey of all surrounding structures to preclude any damage claims from blast vibrations. Where will we haul the excavated rock? The ideal would be to process it on the site and use the crushed stone for our roadway base course, drainage or other uses. Other options are to haul it to a nearby waste area or haul it to a processing plant. Under each of these conditions we must consider the excavation equipment and the haul distance, which will determine the size and the number of haul units. There are lots of variables. All these can be entered into the site work estimating program.

Further considerations are: what's the availability of your own equipment? Even though it might be less efficient, it might be better to use your own equipment than having it stand idle in your yard while you rent the equipment for the perfect match.

All the legal stuff has been done. We have approval from the local planning board, the environmental board, the historical society, the highway and police departments, and any other agencies that may apply. Before starting any construction operations, we must locate identify and protect any utilities — underground and overhead. Most areas in the United States now have a one-call telephone number that alerts all utilities in our location before we scratch the earth. Another site prep consideration is hazardous waste. I've witnessed serious soil contamination resulting from leaking underground fuel tanks. In demolition of buildings, you must consider asbestos and lead paint abatement among other hazardous materials. These problems must be remedied early in our operations.

Let's get on with the work. Layout is the first step. Now we're ready to send out the survey crews with transits, tapes and leveling rods — no, not today! Today with computer software, lasers and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) we have a totally different site work operation control without line and grade stakes. The excavation and grading equipment can be equipped with an antenna that picks up the line and grade information transmitted from satellites. All the line and grade work has been done on the site work plans in advance on a computer program. Now the buckets and blades are controlled within fractions of an inch from outer space. If you don't want to get this complex, there are laser-guided systems that can be used for excavating, grading and paving.

Clearing and grubbing comes next:

• Which trees can we protect and save?
• Can we salvage any lumber or firewood?
• Do we grind stumps or grub and haul them away?

Now we're ready for the roadways. We may never find the exact volumes and types of materials we estimated. A balanced cut and fill with granular material would be great. Let's hope we come somewhere close to our original estimate. We may even be lucky with a better balance of material than estimated. This has only happened to me once before.

Once the cut and fill for the roadways is complete, we must consider the new underground utilities. Most new housing developments require all utilities — sewer, water, gas, and electric — to be provided underground. Finally, we're ready to prepare the base for the roadways on our project. Once this is complete, we have easy access to all the other site work operations.

Perhaps playgrounds and playing fields are part of our housing development. The scheduling of grading, topsoil, seeding, sodding, irrigation systems, and fencing would now come into play. This public area would also require a parking lot. Our contract may require new trees planted along our paths and roadways. This may require a landscape specialist. A community swimming pool may also be included in our site work contract. This, again, requires a specialist. Throughout all these operations, adequate drainage for all areas is a high priority. Far too often we see puddles in the most inconvenient locations after a rainfall.

Speaking of puddles, one of our contracts required the remediation of a muddy swamp. We dredged the swamp and provided a lovely one-acre scenic pond with a picnic area and a ball field. This particular pond had a natural water stream entering and exiting so that it did not require a plastic liner to maintain a constant water level.

Estimating, planning, scheduling, and executing efficient site preparation, clearing and remediation are the keys to a successful project.