“You call these folks when you’re in trouble” - Seth Tandett, Concrete Logic Podcast
Dave Mulcahey, GPRS Sales Director, Western U.S., recently spoke with Seth Tandett on the Concrete Logic podcast to discuss the importance of utilizing best practices when cutting, coring, and working with concrete on the job.
While Mulcahey was there to promote the upcoming national Concrete Sawing & Drilling Safety Week (CSDSW), which GPRS sponsors and provides complimentary safety training for on jobsites across the country, the discussion quickly turned to when construction professionals usually call GPRS for their projects, the advancements in concrete scanning & safety technology, and its future in adaptive reuse construction.
“My experience with GPRS is that you call these folks when you’re in trouble – when you forgot to do something,” said Tandett, who works for Baker Concrete Construction and is based in Richmond, Virginia.
“Like you forgot to leave an opening… and it’s got to be there. There’s no getting around it. You’ve checked with your architect, your structural engineer, the mechanical engineer, and say, ‘Hey, we forgot to do this box-out. Is there another way?’ and they say no. So, you’ve got to go in there and cut it, and that’s when you call the GPRS folks.”
Mulcahey acknowledged that GPRS Project Managers are used to receiving the “Oh no! calls,” where they help customers find embedments and fix problems, but also offered that, “We are seeing far more customers get ahead of it. Where, once they pour the deck and before they even plan on where the holes are going to punch, they’ll have us come out and scan, and create an entire Revit BIM model of that space.”
He described the process from ground penetrating radar concrete scan, to mark-out, to 3D photogrammetry or 3D laser scan to BIM model, and discussed the level of detail GPRS Mapping & Modeling Services are able to provide. “We give you a model that’s three-dimensional – here’s where the post-tension cables are running, here’s a bundle of three, this is where it’s dipping up and down throughout the deck, this is where it’s waving back and forth… So you can plan all of your cores and your punches.”
“Everything concrete starts in Ohio,” podcast host Tandett stated, and where GPRS is concerned, he’s correct. The company that began in the trunk of President & CEO Matt Aston’s car, moved into its new 66,000 square foot corporate headquarters in Maumee, just outside of Toledo, Ohio, in June of 2023. GPRS employs over 800 people nationwide – 500 of those are Project Managers in the field – stationed in every major U.S. market, giving the company an unprecedented nationwide footprint and the ability to be on most jobsites within 24 hours.
Everything GPRS does on the jobsite is designed to clearly communicate the safest places to cut, core, or excavate. In the case of concrete scanning, GPRS Project Managers maintain a 99.8% accuracy rate, and the company guarantees it with their industry-leading Green Box Guarantee.
GPRS’ mission is to Intelligently Visualize The Built World® for its clients to keep jobs on time, on budget, and safe. Register for your complimentary Concrete Sawing & Drilling Safety Week talk below.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are some common safety hazards associated with cutting and coring concrete?
Pinch points, kickbacks, silica dust exposure, and slips, trips and falls when working around wet concrete sawing or drilling tools are some of the major risks to workers on jobsites. You can learn more about some of those risks, here.
What are some essential safety equipment and tools that should be used during concrete cutting and coring?
Wet saws, HEPA filter devices, and proper PPE are required if silica dust exposure levels exceed safe OSHA standards. Learn more about best practices for concrete cutting and coring, here.
How can workers protect themselves from inhaling hazardous dust particles generated during the cutting and coring process?
Silicosis is a deadly, incurable condition that affects thousands of construction workers who have inhaled respirable crystalline silica (RCS), also known as silica dust. You can read more about how to protect yourself from silicosis, here.
