Mission Impossible: Successful Installations

When landscape contractors are faced with impossible landscape conditions, whether flooding from poor drainage, uncontrollable weather, a cramped site condition, a tight deadline or a tree transplant that amounts to Herculean proportions, they have some design and installation challenges ahead of them.

On the following four projects, contractors explain how they worked with challenging site conditions.

MISSION 1: Moving a Forest
Developers of the University of Virginia Foundation, Charlottesville, Va., ran into a dilemma when they began planning the school’s Research Park at North Fork. They needed to incorporate 3 million square feet of office, retail and industrial buildings into more than 500 acres of forest.

Their solution presented Davey Tree Expert Co.’s northern Virginia office with its largest tree-relocation project to date when developers contracted the company to move 3,000 trees from development sites to a mile-long stretch along Louis & Clark Drive, the Research Park’s main road.

To complete the four-month project that began in February 1999 and ended in May 1999, Davey Tree’s Virginia office teamed up with its Wooster, Ohio residential office for two weeks to enlist the help of a two-man crew and a few large tree spades to move the 3- to 4-inch caliper and 4- to 6-inch caliper trees. The 11-man Virginia crew was responsible for hand digging the larger 6- to 8-inch caliper trees and three 10- to 15-inch caliper oak trees and then putting the rootballs into burlap and wire baskets and transporting the trees to their new locations, explained Robert Craft, assistant district manager at Davey Tree Co.’s Virginia office.

“We did a lot of the digging by hand with the use of a backhoe, shook the trees and then wrapped them in burlap, hand-lacing them to make sure the rootball was secure,” Craft said. “Then we would lift each tree up with a crane and put it on the back of a tractor and take it to the roadway. The tree spade was used on the smaller trees because it was more efficient.”

The crew members moved more than 2,500 cedar trees and 500 other deciduous trees. Many of the cedar trees were moved to a 1½-acre hillside instead of along the main road. “We actually had to blast through a rise because of the bedrock in there and slope the hillside so it wasn’t left vertical,” Craft pointed out. “Then we planted the cedar trees on it. We planted 6- to 8-inch caliper trees at the bottom, 4- to 6-inch caliper trees in the middle and then 2- to 4-inch caliper trees at the top of the 35-degree hill.

The challenge didn’t come from the number of trees moved, but from their location – hidden in the Research Park’s heavily wooded acres. Working with the road crew was also a challenge because the Davey Tree crew had to wait until sections of the road were completed before they could move the trees, some of which reached 60 feet in height.

“The bulk of the time spent on the project was dedicated to hauling the trees to their new locations,” Craft said. “The trees weren’t moved very far – no more than a quarter mile in any direction – but because of the size and number of them, we worked for several months moving and replanting them.”

Also, the crew needed to move the trees before they came out of dormancy, which usually happens in mid-April.

After the trees were transplanted, Davey Tree did installation work on the site, as well, including the installation of 900 2½-inch caliper trees, such as maple, oak and dogwood. After the creek running through the site was realigned to make room for a roadway, the crew also had to reforest along the stream bank with wetland plants.

So far, the trees are enjoying a 98 percent survival rate, according to Craft.

MISSION 2: Battling Mother Nature
As a landscape contractor working along the Columbia River Gorge, one has to know a few things about the wind, according to David Snodgrass, president, Dennis’ Seven Dees Landscaping, Portland, Ore.

“Along the river exists an extreme microclimate with steady winds,” Snodgrass explained. “In the winter, those winds come from the east and are cold. Working in those elements can chill you and tire you out.”

This area sets the stage for the $1 million landscape project Dennis’ Seven Dees did for the $40 million Marine Park Water Resource Area development project for the city of Vancouver, Wash. The project included an extension of the Columbia River Renaissance Trail, improvements to Marine Park and construction of the Marine Park Water Reclamation Facility and Water Resources Education Center. The 73-acre site includes a 40-acre wetland, 5 acres of wildflower meadows and 9 acres of finished landscape.

When working on the planting areas not open to the public, employees at Dennis’ Seven Dees used effluent water straight from the sewage treatment plant that had not been through the entire water treatment process and could not be drunk. “We had to be very careful when using that water,” Snodgrass said. “Employees had to wash their hands after using the water at safety wash stations and we held many safety meetings as a reminder.”

The water, which at the effluent stage is high in minerals, was dispersed on the plant material. The water would then leach through the soil, go through the wetland area and into the river, being cleansed through the process. “Being a water resource area and being located in a sensitive planting area, the site offered education opportunities on wetland pollution and polluted water, and the clients wanted to build up the landscape area around the facility to show this,” Snodgrass explained.

Because the project took place along the river, the weather varied. Dennis’ Seven Dees employees worked through heavy rains and snowfall that fall and winter. Melting snow in February combined with the heavy rains added difficulty to the job, Snodgrass said.

The project had to be completed in eight months to meet a Feb. 23 grand opening deadline. Eleven days before this date, the 100-year-flood hit, drowning the entire area with water and causing damage to already completed landscape areas. The site was evacuated.

When employees returned, they had to focus their attention on protecting the buildings and plant material from water. A 60-man crew filled bags with sand and dispersed them around the buildings for protection. While some plant material was damaged, the total loss was minimal, Snodgrass pointed out.

“We were lucky,” he said. “The water wasn’t moving at a rapid pace and it didn’t cover the plants longer than 10 days. If the flow was any faster, all the plant material would have been washed away. Even with flood-related delays, the project was completed by deadline.”

In an uncontrollable situation like extreme weather affecting an installation project, Snodgrass said the most important action a contractor can take is to budget for unusual weather beforehand by adding extra labor to the bid, especially if the area is prone to cold and wind. “Cold winds and varying temperatures are hard on your people,” Snodgrass said. “We know the Columbia River Gorge and we planned for some of the weather problems. In Oregon and Washington, contractors still have to perform in heavy rainfall, but the flood and excess snowfalls took us by surprise.”

MISSION 3: Dealing with Drainage
Last season, one of Perficut Lawn & Landscape’s maintenance clients asked for the company’s help.

For years, residents of a 10-acre condominium complex in Des Moines, Iowa, had been dealing with flooding in the basement and patio areas due to poor drainage.

“One part of the back of the L-shaped complex faces a large 70-degree hill and another part faces a 30-foot-high, 200-foot-long retaining wall that was not installed by our company,” explained Perficut President Kory Ballard. “On top of the hill is an irrigated apartment complex. The water would come down the hill and constantly flood the property. Only 3 to 8 feet of space existed in some areas between the retaining wall base and the patios on the property, so there was also water runoff from the wall that the builder did not originally plan.

“Each unit did have a sump pump that would run nonstop to control the water and keep the basement from flooding, but it pumped the water back into the backyard, further aggravating the problem,” Ballard continued. “Turf areas weren’t surviving because standing water in their patios and backyards, at all times, created insect problems.”

Even during maintenance, Perficut employees had to deal with the constant battle of mowing the flooded areas, including getting mowers stuck in the mud, Ballard said.

The condominium complex bid the project out and Perficut won the contract because of its existing relationship with the client.

Ballard said the first step of the project was to have an irrigation designer come up with a way to redirect the water flow on the property. There were two drainage areas on each corner of the complex, so the designer had to create a constant flow of water from the site into one of those two areas.

The solution was to dig a 1,440-foot-long trench along the back of the building and run a 1½-inch PVC pipe from the sump pumps into this trench, which was lined with perforated drainage tile, Ballard said. The Perficut crew also ran 3-inch solid tile from the downspouts that came in off the building’s gutters to the 8-inch tile they installed in the trench.

“After the pipe was laid and connected and once the tile was laid, we brought in 58 tons of pea gravel so we could cover the area up to 10 inches from the surface and then fill it with dirt so we could bring it back up to grade and resod the area,” Ballard commented. “The project was very labor intensive. We dug the 100 feet of the trench by hand when we couldn’t get our modified trencher between the base of the retaining wall and the decks or patios at the rear of the complex units. We also hand dug around phone lines. We couldn’t get dump trucks into the area either, so we had to carry a lot of that rock into the site.”

Perficut used from two to six employees daily throughout the duration of the project – a total of 480 man hours – which had to be scheduled in August 1999 because the area had to be as dry as possible so employees didn’t have to work in mud and swamp conditions, and to make sure machines wouldn’t get stuck in those conditions. “However, there were a few days of 100-degree weather and the crews were really suffering,” Ballard said.

The property was not irrigated, so after installing the 112 square of sod, Perficut employees spent a lot of time watering to make sure the roots got moisture. This added unexpected labor costs to the project, Ballard pointed out.

“We definitely underbid the project,” Ballard said. “The problem wasn’t with the material costs, but with the labor costs. We didn’t take into consideration the extra watering time and the heat. And we don’t specialize in drainage tile work. We also had to haul a lot of material out of the complex, such as the 6-foot-wide and 1,400-foot-long old sod.”

While the job was a success, Ballard warned contractors of the risk of taking on installation jobs that include specifications that aren’t a company specialty. “Adding an extra percentage for unexpected costs to the bid is always a good idea,” Ballard suggested.

MISSION 4: Cramped Site Conditions and a Condensed Deadline
Chicago’s oldest major open-air shopping mall had fallen on hard times by the 1990s. Old Orchard, which was built in 1956, was small compared to contemporary mall standards, had declined below an acceptable level of market share and looked dated.

“The mall was old,” explained Dan Nitzsche, senior project manager, Church Landscape – a TruGreen LandCare Co., Lombard, Ill. “The 30- to 40-year-old trees on the site were dying and the site had paving and parking problems. Current tenants weren’t happy and potential tenants weren’t interested. Being located amongst competitive indoor malls on the high-end north shore of Chicago made Old Orchard seem even more out of place. The mall needed to look more like Disney World and less like a rundown shopping center.”

High-end department stores like Nord-strom and Bloomingdale’s knew the potential of Old Orchard and its location in Skokie, Ill., and agreed to open up shop there if the owners would renovate the property, Nitzsche said. The owners agreed. And a simple renovation turned into a $25- to $30-million dollar construction project, including a $1.8-million landscape installation done by Church Landscape.

“But the shopping mall owners wanted Old Orchard to be open for business by the holiday shopping season – around the end of September,” Nitzsche said. “Because of other construction, we couldn’t get in there until July, giving us four months to finish the project by Oct. 1.”

Access was also a big problem. To get machinery and many 8-inch-diameter trees into the site, Nitzsche said he had to meet frequently with other project construction workers to coordinate schedules and make sure the large trees could get into the site before the fountains and other hardscapes.

“The site included a total of 47 shade trees moved without a tree spade or winch, 81 6- to 12-foot ornamental trees and 50 one-of-a-kind specimen dwarf conifers,” Nitzsche pointed out. “We had about 30 feet to work with from building to building when we started. After the building canopies were installed, the 30 feet of space became 10 to 12 feet. Some other structures, such as existing hardscapes, were also hard to get around.”

“Access was so limited that at one point we discussed using a helicopter to bring in the larger trees so the steel workers could keep going and not lose any time,” Nitzsche continued. “But we opted against that and just made sure we worked together while planning. I really had to speak up at these meetings and let the other workers know that the landscaping needed to fit into the schedule. Otherwise, they would have planned without us.”

Underground obstructions were just as unpredictable since utility lines ran through planting areas – many of which were 40 years old – with no accurate record of location. Because of this, hand digging was required for planting all the trees, Nitzsche said.

Each major garden court was given its own identity, Nitzsche explained, meaning uniform plant material was not an option. Some of the plant material used on the site required special attention. The dozen sensitive, 7-inch pear trees had to be dug in early spring and then put in a holding area at Church Landscaping set up with above-ground drip irrigation so they could be cared for and kept moist. Due to timing, the trees weren’t planted until September, Nitzsche pointed out. Other trees were dug in the heat of July – “a very high-risk time to dig because it can be detrimental to a tree’s survival,” Nitzsche said. “The trees had to go from the nursery to the planting hole the same day. Luckily, we had 80-degrees-Fahrenheit temperatures instead of 95 degrees Fahrenheit. We had to do this with about 35 locus trees. We took five or six trees on every truckload and moved two truckloads each day.”

Existing canopy columns were given a garden appearance by enclosing them with trelliswork and training temporary morning glory and permanent clematis and wisteria vines to crawl up the columns for the illusion of a vertical landscape. Plantings included 160 species of perennials, grasses and vines, 25 varieties of roses and 581,000 annual seasonal plantings. Black grid matting made of recycled rubber/PVC was installed over the turt in high-traffic areas to ensure a non-slick surface and protect the turf from wear and tear.

At any given time during the project, including a few 15-hour Saturdays and Sundays at the end, Church used a crew of 30 people to get the work done, Nitzsche said.

Despite deadline and access challenges, the project was successfully completed on time. According to Nitzsche, all of the trees survived the first year after transplanting.

The author is Associate Editor of Lawn & Landscape magazine.

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