DMiller
Senior Member
Engas’ be Enga’s Near, enagnears!!
Elastic non compactable clay
Do you run into situations where a product like Tensar geo-grid is used, and if so what are your impressions of it? Other than it is very expensive.Yep. I am really surprised the concrete has held up that well with all the truck traffic over the years.
Best we could do was backfill with DGB and move on.
Do you run into situations where a product like Tensar geo-grid is used, and if so what are your impressions of it? Other than it is very expensive.
Here is another section of that same road in which after construction a spring lubricated the material and it slumped down onto the roadway. This photo shows where the hillside had sheared.
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We benched up onto it from below. The hoe was sitting on the bench when the entire bench began slipping.
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We used that one time. Much lighter than carrying woven fabric around. Kept getting my fingers caught in the hole when rolling out. Ouch.
Indeed, that was a first for me.That's a pretty impressive shear failure. That red clay looks like some we have here.
TBC is a steep learning curve.Same way. We hire out the model building and they send us a VCL file that we'll load up in the data collector, localize the site then load on the machine.
We are kicking around the idea of getting a TBC subscription but we don't do much design build work. 99% of what we do has design drawings so it's easier to send off the CAD file and control point file to the model builder and let them do it. It averages $1,000 per job for a 1-2 acre sized commercial job.
It's the time it takes to learn TBC. Currently we use Insite for quantity take-off and estimating models which my wife does exclusively. Insite does everything we need on the bidding side and the model builders are reasonable enough that it works for us at the moment. However on a larger job with a lot of change orders it would be nice to make those changes in the model and send it to the machine.
TBC is a steep learning curve.
Given the type of work you describe it's better just to let someone else handle it; especially at that price.
Having said that: Change orders...no problem, can have it back in a matter of hours; I do a lot of design build...priceless for that, especially when doing a lot of 'hey what's it going to cost to do xyz, and we don't have an accurate topo (or one at all)'
And as you say: on bigger jobs somethings always changing...and I hate to wait on people.
I forget how much the subscription option was....I just entered year 2, but I opted for the physical hasp key. I don't get updates but the software is fairly mature imo, and I don't use near it's full capability as it is. I think I break even year 3? Not sure; my guess is the subscription has escalated like everything else, so I like the fact I am locked in. My hope is that by the time my TBC is deprecated, all my GPS stuff is buggy and my tractors are all worn out; and then it's time to buy a boat and just go fishing...lol.Must be a full moon or something savman. Talked to Mike today about coming out to orient the guys on the 325 on a project in North AL next week and discussed a yearly subscription of TBC.
How are things down in s South GA?
My Cat dealer is having a demo day with one of those, probably just going through the motions but I will check it out if I am not busy. I've done without tilt buckets for a long time.315ng with a SteelWrist tiltrotator
I forget how much the subscription option was....I just entered year 2, but I opted for the physical hasp key. I don't get updates but the software is fairly mature imo, and I don't use near it's full capability as it is. I think I break even year 3? Not sure; my guess is the subscription has escalated like everything else, so I like the fact I am locked in. My hope is that by the time my TBC is deprecated, all my GPS stuff is buggy and my tractors are all worn out; and then it's time to buy a boat and just go fishing...lol.
I will say a lot of the benefit of owning TBC isn't as easily quantifiable as pay X amount for models. Aside from the speed and flexibility, I am to the point now where several of my customers know my capabiilities and will pay me to go 'figure it out' to get projects (or potential projects) out of a hole so to speak. Or I have had them call me when a project is going to be really technically tight, or super flat, or something changed or whatever hairy problem they have and they know I have the equipment and capability and everything is negotiated.
I have a few that will get on the phone and I will share my screen remotely and we will go over a few different scenarios in real time and find the best solution.
Upside is I have a steady stream of work; downside is I always jokingly say, they must give the all the easy work to someone else!
Last thing I'll mention on the issue is I have the base/rover, d3 gps, 315 gps, and a SPS930 robotic total station, and d3 UTS machine control; so I'm always using TBC now.
My Cat dealer is having a demo day with one of those, probably just going through the motions but I will check it out if I am not busy. I've done without tilt buckets for a long time.