In the world according to Gary Rogers, president of Woodstone Earth, adversity and opportunity — while obviously different — are kindred spirits, each meant to be confronted and dealt with accordingly. So when the economic downturn hit the construction industry in the late 2000s and other earthwork contractors were backpedaling, his company, Woodstone Earth flew in the face of traditional thought and grew, grabbing whatever work was available.

The tactic worked; Woodstone is now one of Western New York’s most sought-after contractors for earthmoving and site work. Similarly, when pondering whether or not to augment his business with curb and gutter work, he not only answered in the affirmative, he punctuated his decision by making that process a stringless 3D machine control solution. With several curb projects already under their belt — and more on the books —it would appear that Woodstone is paving its way to another successful venture.

Woodstone operators have become familiar with the paver and stringless paving techniques.
Topcon Woodstone operators have become familiar with the paver and stringless paving techniques.

Curbside Service
Based in Palmyra, N. Y., about a half hour southeast of Rochester, Woodstone Earth was founded in 2004 and, since then, has grown in both size and range of services. According to Rogers, the company offers expertise in earthwork, land clearing, stream restoration; sanitary, storm and water utility work, creation of athletic fields; and more.

“But when it came to any sort of curb and gutter paving, we’ve always subbed out that facet of the job — about 10,000 feet of it every year,” he said. “However, I recently started thinking about bringing that service in-house. I saw how quickly stringless 3D technology was advancing and recognized that other contractors in this area had not made a move in that direction. I also had a level of confidence in the economy and felt that paving work was going to continue to come in for the foreseeable future. So the time to make a move seemed right.”

The situation was, in fact, ideal. While the potential for paving work looked positive, the company was not sitting on a backlog of paving-related projects. They do have some paving work — even a large project — on the books. “But the real goal was to purchase the machine, and get my guys fully oriented with it and the 3D system,” he said. “That way, when we subcontract ourselves out for a curb project, we will know we are ready. I am a firm believer that, if you do a quality job at an honest price, additional work will come. So we wanted to get up to speed at a pace that we could tolerate and do good work rather than take the position that this machine has to start making money now and have the work suffer as a result of it.”

Wanted Options
Transforming itself from a company with no paving experience at all, to one that runs the newest machine technology and employs the latest 3D GPS solution on that unit, involved a truly cooperative effort. Rogers had already been looking at pavers from a couple different companies — both of which had experience with 3D machine control. However, he wanted a machine that offered him a good deal of versatility as he looked ahead, and found that in a GOMACO model 3300 multi-application slipform paver.

The screen tells the operator where he is on the curb line, as well as vertical and horizontal, connection with GPS and the millimeter system. The system gives the operator control to move the curb line off from the design if an obstacle can be avoided with minimal movement from the designed location.
Topcon The screen tells the operator where he is on the curb line, as well as vertical and horizontal, connection with GPS and the millimeter system. The system gives the operator control to move the curb line off from the design if an obstacle can be avoided with minimal movement from the designed location.

“I liked the fact that, with this machine, we have the option to pour everything from conventional curb and gutter to sidewalk to a twelve foot-wide dolly pad in a trailer loading area,” he said. “And having the new paver — which, itself, offers a host of intelligent features — working in concert with Topcon’s Millimeter GPS system, ensured that we would be getting the performance and accuracy we need for all our concrete work. As we’ve done for all our GPS equipment, we contacted Evan Spencer from the Rochester branch of Admar Supply Company and he coordinated efforts between GOMACO and Topcon to make this all happen.”

In addition to the performance-based features, Rogers saw the move to the new technology as a real opportunity to land projects with area contractors with whom he is generally in competition. “We have some potential clients that do larger scale projects in the area — projects that we wouldn’t normally have an opportunity to get into because they self-perform their site work,” he said. “However, they still sub out the curb and sidewalk work. With this newly-added paving capability, even though we are competitors with them on the site-work side of things, we could land some sizeable curb/gutter or sidewalk work — particularly with companies who also place a value on employing the latest in technology. In a sense, it’s a great sales tool for Woodstone Earth.”

Taking the Leap
After using the 3D paver on a couple of smaller projects to gain some familiarity with the new solution, Rogers and his crew had a chance to put that new technology to work in earnest on a curb project that was already underway.

This worker near the newly placed curb is monitoring the machine's vibrator speed, machine speed, and the overall condition of concrete coming out of mold to see if any changes need to be made. This worker will be doing so less as he becomes more familiar with the process.
Topcon This worker near the newly placed curb is monitoring the machine's vibrator speed, machine speed, and the overall condition of concrete coming out of mold to see if any changes need to be made. This worker will be doing so less as he becomes more familiar with the process.

“This job, a fairly high-profile community center, was on the books when we bought the machine,” he said. “In fact, we’d already subbed out about 5,000 feet of curb at the time we brought the paver onsite, so this was a real opportunity to see its advantages on the 3,000 feet that remained to be done. It’s important to note that, not only did we have no experience with 3D paving, we had no experience doing our own curb work at all. I’ve prepped thousands of feet of curb for clients, and I’ve watched thousands of feet put in, but I’ve never personally done it, nor have my guys. This was all new to us.”

What was not new was Woodstone Earth’s experience with GNSS technology and Rogers felt that their familiarity with it was integral in their decision to take the leap directly to a 3D paver.

“In my estimation, the real key to success for an approach like this is found in the earliest stages of the project: when the actual digital model is built and the file for the machine is created,” he said. “We’ve been using Topcon 3D machine control in our dozers and excavators for some time now, so we actually have a good deal of experience with that phase of the technology. As is the case with our other machinery, we are putting all our faith in the solution and that starts with the file.”

Rogers added that unlike other paving companies who might be tempted to fall back to using stringline when they encounter a problem, Woodstone doesn’t have that option. “Ours is like entering into a marriage, we simply have to make it work and we’re fine with that,” he said. “In fact. I don’t look at our inexperience with 3D paving as a liability at all. I feel that my guys, being new to stringless paving, are more willing to embrace doing it this way and will be better for it in the long run.”

String Theory
In terms of actual production at the community center project, Rogers said that it would be tough to gauge just how much of a savings they are realizing with the new 3D paver. Much of that reluctance to estimate a figure stems from the fact that, right now, his team is just developing the savvy to know what’s required for the best results in slipform paving.

“There are a lot of variables to consider with regard to water content, slump, and so forth, to get the mix just right and ideal to form,” he said. “So that’s an area that will definitely improve as time goes on. I do know, however, that without Millimeter GPS, we would have easily needed a day or two with a surveyor staking just to get it ready for a string subcontractor to come in. And, because this job features so many long, sweeping radiuses, we would need a pin every five feet. That’s all been eliminated.”

Radius Advantage
The ability to create arcs, such as those that are so prevalent at the community center project, is an inherent strength gained by pairing up the slipform paver with the Millimeter GPS system. According to Brian Lingobardo, Topcon systems manager, the advantages become apparent in work involving radius pours.

With the right concrete mix, the resulting curb is smooth and perfectly aligned.
Topcon With the right concrete mix, the resulting curb is smooth and perfectly aligned.

“In order to pave arcs like Woodstone has out here, a surveyor would have to set hubs and segment it as best he could to fit the way the curve was engineered,” he said. When a paver using stringline attempts to do a tight radius, at the point at which the straight section ends and the curve begins, they have to switch to a secondary sensor located closer to the back of the mold to give them a much shorter orientation. Doing so is a manual process for the operator, who has to know when to trigger that move to get the curve right.”

By comparison, he added, the new GPS system does that all automatically. “It recognizes when the straight section is ending, when the curve is approaching and when to switch to the alternative sensor position. Once Woodstone starts doing some island work, the advantages they have will become immediately obvious.”

Leap of Faith
That Rogers and Woodstone chose the “baptism by fire” approach at the community center is admirable; that they did so with a 16-inch tall, no-gutter curb pour is downright impressive. Testimony, perhaps, to the successful pairing of the Topcon solution with the GOMACO paver.

“This paver is a huge step forward, in that everything that is hydraulically controlled provides a measurable feedback,” said Lingobardo. “So now, if the operator moves one of the legs, or slides the mold out, that movement gets fed back into the 3D system and adjustments are made if needed. That was not the case with some of the first generation machines with which we did stringless. On those, a leg or mold movement could potentially result in steering errors or other problems. With this model, GOMACO has taken the initiative to essentially make every cylinder a smart one, and it is a huge step forward in ensuring paving accuracy.”

Despite the substantial capital investment Rogers has made to add a paving function to his list of services, he insists that this inaugural year is about more than simply seeing a return on his investment.

“We want to really streamline the system: from getting the job, to getting the files built, to getting the site graded, to getting the machine onsite, to actual finalization,” he said. “If we can nail that whole process, no one will beat our prices and still be profitable. Yes, this was a huge move for us, but I feel it was a smart one. In ten years — possibly even less — I have no doubt that most larger paving of this sort will be stringless and we will have been far ahead of the curve in getting the technology to work for us.”

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