The preparation of the construction site is the first real activity to be carried out and decides the fate of the entire project to be carried out. Bring it on with the right excavator attachments and equipment.
Site preparation: essential activity for the success of a project
The construction site is a provisional or transitional work whose duration, functional to the realization of the engineering work, is equal to the course of the works to carry it out. The construction site can be mobile or fixed, large or compact and can be set up more or less close to urban centers, always in relation to logistical, budget and design needs. Whatever the characteristics of the construction site, it must undergo a preparation process that is usually not one of the most fascinating activities, but is one of the fundamental ones for the success of a project. When the site preparation is carried out correctly, in fact, all the activities to be carried out subsequently are simple. The design of the construction site must be carried out before the construction process and consists of a sequence of actions aimed at defining, among other things, the equipment, the material storage areas, the processing areas and the transit areas. Based on this design, the construction site must be prepared accordingly. Site preparation has so much value in construction that some construction planning software has come up to help in this process.
Construction site preparation: five basic steps
The design of the construction site can be conditioned by external factors that can lead to the implementation of different organizational choices. In general, the construction site preparation procedure can be divided into five basic steps:
For example, if new construction projects need to be carried out on a site that was partly used as a gymnasium, the old building must be removed. In this way a new building will be erected and site preparation will be simplified.
- Construction site clearing: this is the first step to make the site area free, bare and ready to accommodate the vehicles and scheduled work. In this phase obstacles (such as trees) are removed, buildings and any underground structures not useful for the project are demolished
- Construction site surveying: it is the activity managed by the surveyor, who is responsible for verifying the exact area in which the project is to be developed and who detects whether the land may or may not be suitable for the type of work to be developed
- Soil testing: consists of examining the soil to test, first of all, its ability to absorb water and resist the structure. It is one of the most critical tasks and it is the construction site engineer who has to manage this step, performing all the necessary soil test procedures before starting any structural activity. It is from the soil examination that a land may not be suitable for the type of project, forcing those responsible to search for another more appropriate land
- Site plan design: after carrying out the soil tests, all the necessary drainage structures and septic tanks are installed and their underground positioning must be indicated. The recording of underground areas changes daily, because the rock formations in the subsoil often change just as often. Since what changes underground also leads to changes above ground, the site plan is also updated practically on a daily basis, having to report new storage and transit areas.
- Construction site investigation: it is nothing more than the geotechnical survey performed to characterize the conditions of the rock, soil and groundwater of the entire site area. A geotechnical investigation is the key to gaining correct site information and designing the foundation of a structure
Site preparation is a precise process which, although it can be summarized in five steps, is also lengthy. Most residential construction projects take a month or two of preparation; for larger projects, even more time is required.
Excavator attachments and equipment for construction site preparation
To carry out the activities related to the individual preparation steps and carry them out avoiding errors and minimizing delays, it is good practice to use management and design software, able to accurately monitor every detail of the preparation.
One way to carry out the preparation correctly and in a simple way is to use specific means and equipment suitable for the purpose.
Among the equipment used during the very early stages of the construction site, the most useful and those recommended by Tecnoter are:
- suitable bulldozer excavators: they are the host machines par excellence, capable of performing the work that man is not able to complete with his little strength. If chosen wisely, paying attention to size, power and weight, they can make the difference in the timing of the work. Using standard machines that are not suitable for the building project, on the contrary, can lead to delaying the delivery times of the work and, worse, compromising the vehicle itself, increasing wear and maintenance interventions, with a large expenditure of capital beyond that of time
- demolition grabs: although useful in demolition processes, some grabs are designed to clear the construction site and move materials from one area of the work area to another. Also in this case, as for excavators and bulldozers, this accessory must be tailored to both the project and the host machine.
- hydraulic compactors: these excavator accessories are essential for leveling the ground, but also for compacting trenches and embankments and preparing the soil to house the foundations of the structure to be built
- hydraulic magnets (preferably permanent hydraulic magnets): leading products in the Tecnoter catalog, they represent the ideal equipment for selecting, extracting and positioning ferrous waste to be recovered and in general for handling materials to be used and not. They allow to make the construction site and work areas safer, clearing it of waste and allowing a peaceful transit of vehicles and people
For the preparation of your construction site, contact us: we will be able to indicate the best attachments for your needs and together we will design those to be tailored to your project