What is Soil Nailing?

Slope Stabilization for Homeowner in Ohio

My wife and I live in Ohio and we are residential clients of GSI. Your team has been securing our lakefront cliff face over the past two weeks. I am writing you today to commend you on your outstanding team members.

We had three rows of soil nails installed across about a 170' cliff edge overlooking Lake Erie. These were connected with a steel mesh, and the shotcrete facing is being finished as I write. We have been nothing but pleased with the results. In general, I can tell you that your crew has been dependable, respectful, friendly, polite, and quiet (at least as quiet as they can be). They have been flexible in their plans, and they have worked extremely hard. They even clean up after themselves after work each day. I have to say that I wasn't sure what to expect, but we have been pleasantly surprised.

The project manager, Jared McDowell, has really kept the project moving -- they will finish almost a week early. There have been some roadblocks along the way - like locating a private underground natural gas pipeline in the yard and dealing with trouble getting machinery due to hurricanes - but Jared found a way to keep things going in the right direction. He was personable, and he listened to our concerns and answered our questions. I also appreciate the fact the he never gave the impression that he was too busy to talk to us. The other primary crew members Dylan Battaglia, Michal Kopij, Aaron Cordova are tremendous workers and nice guys. We would gladly work with them again if the need ever arose.

I would also like to make a special note about our project development engineer, Greg Bachman. Thank goodness for him. We live at the end of a cul-de-sac, and we needed written permission from our neighbor to cross part of his lawn. Let's just say that our neighbor is a challenging person, and leave it at that. Greg spent several weeks meeting with different local engineering firms because our neighbor trusted their opinions and would not sign until the local firms saw our plans. I think most other compaines would have bailed at that point, but Greg stuck with us. Greg then had a face to face meeting with our neighbor and even agreed to have the GSI legal team simplify the contract language for Al's benefit. He also managed all the dealings with the city for permitting and the SWPPP plans. We are so grateful to have the GSI solution implemented as it was really the only cost-effective option available to us -- other than letting our property fall into Lake Erie. Greg went WAY above and beyond, and we can't thank him enough. I told Greg that if he ever needs a reference, we are here for him.

This has been a really long endeavor, and we are so pleased to have the solution in place. It is a great feeling to know that our family and friends will be able to enjoy the view and feel completely safe. Thank you for your solution and congratulations on fielding a great team. Best of luck to you in the future.

Soil Nail Wall Construction in Pennsylvania

As told by GSI Project Development Engineer: We have a SN wall job going on in central PA. Our client is a design build general contractor who is building a distribution center for the owner. I knew our job was finishing up soon, so I called the client on Friday to make sure he was happy. He said that both he and the owner are ‘extremely pleased’. A bit of back story on this one…karst site, and the line blasting for the cut wall was done poorly to boot. So, the excavated face was very difficult to work with to say the least. The client and owner were very skeptical that we could pull off a stable wall that looked ‘good’. Well, one day when Matt Crouch and his crew were working hard on the wall, the owner was out on site with our client looking at the wall area. The owner said to our client “geez looks like these guys aren’t fazed by anything”. Given the client and owner experiences, they are used to subcontractors complaining or making excuses. Well, Matt and the guys kept their head down, went to work hard, and got the job done. The client went on to tell me later that he would recommend us to anyone.

Retaining Wall Repair in Pennsylvania

I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation for the expert design and construction work performed by your company on our [Retaining Wall Project]. On the design side, I was truly impressed by how quickly and efficiently you and the other engineers responded to the need to revise the original design due to conflicts that arose with many of the proposed soil nails and the locations of the existing underground utilities. The problem was recognized on a Friday and the project was redesigned, new calculations performed, and revised design plans prepared before the weekend expired. Obviously, you and others worked through the weekend to keep the job moving forward and on schedule. Thanks to you and your firm for the professional and courteous performance of both the design and construction work. I would not hesitate to recommend your firm to anyone who may have a need for the specialized types of services that your company is not only capable, but expert in performing.