Commercial Construction & Contracting Resources

We’re happy to play a role, big or small, in the growth and prosperity of our hometown. That’s why helping Nucor Steel Marion, Inc. with various construction-related activities was such a no-brainer.

Civil construction projects require honest and upfront communication of your needs and how the contractor proposes to meet them. Both sides should come prepared to hammer out dirty details to achieve a squeaky clean project in the end.

Putting off routine maintenance WILL cost more in the long run. Instead of small maintenance tasks, you’ll need to completely replace your asphalt parking lot. This is expensive for a few reasons:

• Paving an entire parking lot is expensive. Period.
• Having sections of your parking lot (or the whole lot) unavailable can deter customers.
• You may have to temporarily shut down your business for the paving process.
• You’ll probably have to pay for patches and emergency maintenance before you can actually get it repaved.
• It’s rare (but possible) that you can run into liability issues if someone injuries themselves or damages their car due to your poorly maintained parking lot.

Click here for a printable parking lot maintenance checklist!

Editor's Note: This blog post was originally posted on March 30th, 2018 and was updated on July 16th, 2018.

Potholes in Central OH are a fact of life. Well, in reality, they can pop up pretty much anywhere there’s enough water to erode your asphalt and sub-base, coupled with enough traffic to speed up the destruction.

As another harsh winter comes to an end, commercial property owners now should begin looking at some parking lot maintenance tactics to repair the damage. After all, your lot is typically the first physical and visual point of contact customers and visitors have with a business or organization. Not to mention, potholes can be a serious legal liability if people are injured or vehicles incur damage on your property.

Commercial property owners typically begin a strong push for site improvement as winter ends and the weather permits spring construction.

You may be looking to repair damage to your asphalt parking lot after a harsh winter. Or perhaps you see this spring as an ideal time to upgrade your stone parking lot into an attractive asphalt lot. Either way, here are some great parking lot design tips to consider as the weather in Central OH breaks.

So many of us remember that feeling of uncertainty as we prepared to leave school and enter the workforce. Before landing a first construction job, or one in nearly any other profession, it’s common to wonder:

• Am I employable?
• Have I learned enough entry-level skills to be valuable?
• Am I prepared for this level of responsibility?
• Will my job pay well and help support my family?

Yes, let’s put it that way. A sinkhole will swallow your money for sure. So let’s catch it before it gets here.

Water is a destructive force of nature. It also acts covertly like a Navy SEAL team. It’ll go undercover underground to erode and destroy before anyone even knows it’s a problem.

Underground utility contractors can't just start digging. With high-powered construction equipment, we could easily hit an underground utility line and cause a serious problem. Since some utilities include gas lines, something could actually blow up. 

That’s why contractors use OUPS (the Ohio Utilities Protection Service) to assess project sites. Contractors are required to call at least 48 hours ahead of excavation.

Property owners can also use this service to scope out DIY digging projects and contracted underground utility projects. As a property owner, here's what OUPS can do for you.

There’s an old adage: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Underground utilities affect not only your commercial property, but potentially an indefinite amount of properties around you, as well. These aren’t merely pipe problems. Entire communities can lose power, water, electricity, gas, and more if your construction contractors are not careful. Negligence can even cause injury or death. That’s why we have common-sense regulations and processes for due diligence.