English
Street smarts
Winter 2013
When it comes to road repairs and street work, Dean Black knows his stuff. But Black's smarts don't start and stop simply with streets. Black defines the company he founded in 1977, Black Construction, headquartered in Devils Lake, N.D., as a complete construction management contractor that will tackle everything from utilities to landscaping.
Black's construction instincts — especially his grading, excavation and aggregate skills — date back to childhood, and the influence of his father. The senior Black had started his own company nearly two decades before his son, who later followed in his father's footsteps. Black has fond memories of the early days.
"My father had a small business he started in 1958," Black says. "It was just him, a loader and a dozer. He worked really hard and never let anybody down. I would help him in the spring and summer while I was in high school, then went on the road to work for other contractors in the early to mid-'70s. He passed away the same year I started my own company, but he certainly paved the way - no pun intended - for me to get a good start on my own."
In the black
Black Construction has grown considerably since its humble beginning more than 35 years ago. Today, the company ventures within a 100-mile radius of home to complete a variety of construction jobs, including site preparation, aggregate, demolition, grading, landscaping, pavement repair and utility installations. The company employs anywhere between 10 and 30 people, depending on workload and season. Things for Black slow considerably as the often ruthless North Dakota winters envelop this otherwise thriving economic climate - one of only a handful of states that currently enjoys a budget surplus and the nation's lowest unemployment rate.
North Dakota is experiencing an energy boom similar to the one Wyoming enjoyed several years ago, and lawmakers are in the enviable position of determining which investments are most prudent for spending the state's surplus — now estimated to be approaching the $2 billion mark. Fortunately for companies like Black Construction, last November the state legislature allocated an extra $370 million for road repair and construction. Some $340 million will go to schools over the next two years to help reduce property taxes, while $22 million will go toward a disaster relief fund for a state that has been inundated with floods in recent years.
Among the many fortunate recipients of the state's economic boom was the tiny community of Minnewauken (pop. 224). Situated on the shores of scenic Devils Lake, this small community realized it would be more efficient to combine elementary, junior and senior high students in one facility, and decided to move forward with construction of a new school. Black Construction was chosen to handle all site preparation, including grading, footings, utilities installation and preparing the aggregate specified to serve as the foundation of the new school's paved parking lot. The company also engineered and installed the footings that serve as the foundation for the new school.
The boss of the aggregate pit is the newest wheel loader in Black's equipment fleet — a Doosan DL300 wheel loader with 4-cubic-yard bucket. Black selected the DL300 loader after operating several Doosan loader models, as well as competitive brands, at the Doosan Real Operation Center (The ROC), just outside Tucson, Ariz.
"The DL300 loader is the ideal weight, horsepower and size for my needs," Black says. "I also like the way it is balanced and proportioned. I had the opportunity to operate both Doosan and other manufacturers' loaders, and the DL300 had the best torque proportion for my needs. It's also reliable, fast and easy to operate. You don't have to worry about spinning the wheels when trying to load the bucket; everything is proportioned just right."
Soggy, soggy site
Perched high atop a hill overlooking North Dakota's scenic Devils Lake, preparing the soggy hilltop school site posed greater challenges than the actual grading, foundation and utility work. Several thousand feet of drain tile — positioned 6 to 8 feet beneath the entire 80 acres — was installed first before excavation and dirt-moving equipment could even access the site and grading work could commence.
"All jobs have their own unique things, and the most unusual about this project was the wet conditions that one doesn't normally encounter at the top of a hill," Black says. "It's hard to describe how the water perches itself up there, way above the water table. That had to drain for at least three months before we could even get up there to dig footings. The biggest challenge was to get access to it. Once we got things dried out, we were able to establish good roads to and from the site."
Once drained and dried, Black's excavation crews got to work. All told, more than 60,000 yards of dirt were scraped, loaded, hauled, replaced and leveled before the footings for the school's foundation could be dug. Aside from the actual school building site, Black Construction was also responsible for preparing the 550-foot-long, 180-foot-wide parking lot, a process that involved installing more than 3,000 yards of gravel aggregate fabric — including storm sewer — beneath what was to become, in its final, finished form, a smooth paved surface with the capacity to accommodate 150 vehicles.
Aggregate art
The specified aggregate was to be composed of a precise mixture of various sizes of crushed stone, sand and gravel. The first step in the art of aggregate preparation is to locate a pit for producing the gravel to the specified size. As an expert in aggregate preparation, Black is often forced to import rock or other materials to achieve specifications.
Once all of the materials have been secured, it's a matter of crushing, measuring, blending, binding and spreading. The materials are blended together and run through a screen after the crusher. The crusher crushes the rock to desired particle size, which is then blended back in with the other gravels. A screen downsizes the mixture to ¾-inch particles, required for Class V aggregate. The mixture is then tested using the "sieve analysis with wash" testing method, which shows the percentages of the materials passing five sieve sizes.
These gradations should fall within the corresponding range for each sieve size, as outlined in the aggregate size specifications. "Once you run it [the materials] through the crusher, everything is thoroughly blended and combined," Black says. "The aggregate is then tested by an independent laboratory to make sure the mixture meets specs. Aggregate mixing is no guessing game. It's checked continuously to ensure every batch meets standards."
According to Black, the Doosan DL300 was instrumental in preparing the aggregate more efficiently, allowing his crews to produce more than 1,000 yards of finished product within a typical workday. In a matter of three days, Black's crews had loaded, crushed, mixed, blended, hauled and positioned the aggregate foundation in final preparation for a visit from the paving crew.
"Since we've had the DL300 loader, we don't have to worry about keeping the aggregate plant going," Black says. It's got the bucket capacity, the traction, the horsepower and the quickness to keep the loading process moving forward. The cab is so comfortable and has great visibility. This loader is an integral part of why our company operates so efficiently."
Next up ...
Having recently finished their multi-task role at the school, up next for Black and his team of excavation, installation and aggregate preparation experts is a street repair gig in nearby Maddock, N.D., some 30 miles southwest of Minnewauken. This will be a return visit for Black, whose company completed a forced main line sewer job there previously.
"The street repair project in Maddock is the type of work that is really turnkey for us," Black says. "We have the milling machines to remove the old asphalt, the excavators to dig it out, the gravel pits to make the aggregate and the rollers and dozers to apply it. So it just kind of fits us. We've been fortunate here that the jobs just keep coming our way. Things are booming here in the great state of North Dakota. We've got it pretty good up here right now."
