Mass Earth Excav in winter condtions 1

[tucci]

I'm building a retail store in NY this time of year. The site is a balanced cut/fill but the existing materials are saturated. Most soil stabilization methods can not be done because of the weather. Any suggestions??

 

[dicksewerrat]

Dig out the cut and pile it up . Put a silt fence around it. Or look for a pit to fill. Import some good material.

 

[tucci]

The contractor wants to get paid to handle the material twice and the owner does not want to pay for imported material.

 

[GeoPaveTraffic]

The owner needs to adjust his expectations to reality. It is not resonable to assume that winter earthwork will not require more time and money than summer earthwork.

 

[tucci]

The owner has stated that in the documents the contractor is to carry money for winter conditions (soil stabliization) --Soil stabilzation cannot be used for mass earth excavation-- There was a geotech report for the project but was for information only to the contractor, not to use for bidding purposes. It did say the material was moist but suitable. Wouldn't you say that if your saturated beyond a certain point that this would be an unforseen condition?

 

[GeoPaveTraffic]

Did the contractor know when bidding the project that the work would occur during the winter months? If yes then he should have expected some additional costs that depending on the contract he should have included.

You make the statement that soil stabilization cannot be used for mass earth work. Why not? Was the "...carry money for winter conditions..." a pay item or was it incidental to other work?

All this together will indicate how this cost should be distributed between the contractor and owner. However, the reality is if the contract does not feel that he is being treated fairly then at best he will complete the work for no additional money very slowly. At worst he will test how NY treats the "... contractor not to rely on provided geotechnical information..." statement in the contract.

 

[66engineer]

If the contract documents clearly required the contractor to perform all moisture conditioning,i.e., drying, to acheive the proper compaction, the contract schedule has not been changed by the owner to put the work schedule into a different season, and sufficient geotechnical data was included with the documents that demonstrated the on-site soil conditions, then the contractor is probably on the hook to perform the work, whatever it takes....unless the contractor can prove that this season was "unusually" severe and could have a claim under "act of God". I've been through this one many times. If you have an understanding owner and a competent contractor, it might not get too nasty. Good luck.

 

[tucci]

The Contractor has stated you cannot stablize soils to this large of an area. There is an actual fill area for a DOT roadway if 15 feet. The entire parking area of the building is a cut/fill situation. The suggested stablization methods are: fly ash (town will not allow), lime (too cold), geotext fabrics, or bridge lifts. Could you even use these methods with soils that optimum moisture is 8% and we have 17%?