Step by Step
Screw Pile Installation Guide
Step 1: Engineering, Building Permits & Planning
Before you contact the Edmonton Screw Pile Pros to book your screw pile installation, it is important to ensure that all necessary building permit applications have been submitted and have been approved by the City of Edmonton. The building permit process can take a significant amount of time, so it is always a good idea to apply as early as you can. This part of the process will identify if there are any engineering or environmental requirements that have to get sorted out before work gets scheduled. In some cases, like uncovered residential decks below a height of 0.6 metres, a permit is not required.
With all your planning in order, engineering designs finalised, and building permits approved, you’re ready to break ground on your project.
Step 2: Click Before You Dig
After the planning and permitting phases of a project have been completed, the next step is to get the foundation in place so you can build on it. But first, before any screw piles can be installed, a utility line location must be completed.
To prevent serious damage to property or even injury or death to personnel, all utility lines in the area around your construction project need to be identified and located. To do this, you can request a free utility from Utility Safety Partners (formerly Alberta One-Call). Through Utility Safety Partners, the owners of the utilities on your properties will be notified of your work activity, and a line locator will show up at your property to identify and mark your utility line locations.
Will All Utilities Be Located Through The Utility Safety Partners Free Locate Service?
No, it is a common misconception that a free line locate through the Utility Safety Partners will identify and mark all lines on your property. Though these utility locations will mark the locations of all gas, power, telephone, and fibre locations, the city water, sewer, and any privately owned lines will not be located.
It is the responsibility of the property owner to ensure that all lines, including those not located by the Utility Safety Partners, are located, identified, and marked. Not only is there a safety risk in not identifying all lines, but the cost to repair any damaged utilities is the responsibility of the property owners.
If you suspect that there are water, sewer, or private lines located anywhere near your project location, a private line locator service can be hired to probe these utility lines and mark their locations.
How Long Does It Take To Get A Utility Locate Done?
After submitting a request through Utility Safety Partners, it can take a minimum of three days to respond to a routine locate request, BUT during the months of May through September, requests can vary and take significantly longer. It is recommended that requests be submitted two weeks in advance during busy months to avoid any delays waiting for a location to be completed.
Private-line location companies can often respond much faster and provide locations in only a few business days.
After all utility line locates have been completed you will be provided with a report. In the case of the Utility Safety Partners, you will be provided a ticket via email. The ticket from the Utility Safety Partners will have an Assigned ticket number to your locate request. If you have not yet received your locate report or your ticket number, your line locate has not yet been completed and the registered asset owners with buried utilities may not yet have been notified of your activity.
Screw Pile Installation can not begin until all utilities have been located, the asset owners have been notified, and you have been assigned your ticket number and received your report.
Please Be Aware: You are not clear to install Screw Piles or Excavate until all utilities have been located & a ticket has been issued.
How Long are Utility Locates Valid for?
Utility lines located by the Utility Safety Partners are valid for 30 days after being issued. Screw piles can only be installed during this validity period. If your utility locate ticket is going to expire before your installation can be scheduled, you will need to contact the Utility Safety Partners to have your ticket extended. If screw pile installation or excavation occurs outside of the valid 30-day period, the insurance provided by the Utility Safety Partners to cover their locate is not valid. This means that if the Utility Safety Partners mislocate a utility line and that line is damaged outside of the valid 30-day period, the excavator (property owner) is responsible for the damages.
Step 3: Schedule Your Screw Pile Installation
Once all planning, engineering, and utility locates have been completed and you have all the associated documentation, it is time to contact the Edmonton Screw Pile Pros to schedule your screw pile installation.
Please note that any engineering and utility location documentation will need to be submitted to the Edmonton Screw Pile Pros at the time of requesting installation. Our team will review your engineering foundation design and line location reports prior to booking. Crews will not be dispatched to your site until all required documents are in order. If there are any issues with your documentation (which happens), the expert team at the Edmonton Screw Pile Pros will help guide you through the process.
Ready To Book?
Ready To Book?
How Far Out Are You Booking?
Most residential screw pile installations can be scheduled to be done within a week’s time. If you wish to have a screw pile installation done within a week, there are usually 3–4 spots set aside each week to manage these short-term requests. The only way you can be guaranteed one of these spots for your job would be to have all the valid permitting, engineering, and utility locate documentation on hand. To efficiently schedule your installation within this timeframe, all your required paperwork must be valid and submitted for review. Our quoting system is very self-explanatory and gives you all the information you need to book your screw pile installation project with us.
Am I Guaranteed a Day & Time for Screw Pile Installation?
When scheduling screw pile installations, jobs are booked based on the number of screw pile installations that can be completed during a week. This weekly queue of jobs is allocated on a first-come, first-served basis (documents permitting). For example, if we have your job scheduled for installation on a Thursday morning at 8:00 and Wednesday’s jobs were not completed by the end of the day due to unforeseen circumstances, the crew will be required to complete Wednesday’s jobs before they can move onto Thursday’s work schedule. Despite this being an uncommon occurrence, scheduled work may need to be put on hold because of events outside of our control. Rest assured that your screw pile installation is held in the queue and that the priority of your project is maintained.
In the event of a delay in the work schedule, you will be notified either via text or phone as soon as possible. At that time, you will be provided with a new projected time for your helical pile installation. Alternatively, if another job project cannot be done for any reason, we will also do our very best to move your job up in the queue.
Because of the many factors and unknown circumstances that happen in construction work, it can be difficult to get an exact schedule confirmed. However, at the Edmonton Screw Pile Pros, we respect the time of our customers and strive to do our very best to communicate with them about any changes that may occur with the work schedule. We do our very best to stay within our planned work schedule, and through phone calls and texts, our team promises to provide you with the most up-to-date information regarding your screw pile installation crew’s arrival and status.
Step 4: Prepare Your Site
Now that your screw pile installation has been scheduled, it is important to prepare your work site for the arrival of your Edmonton Screw Pile Pros installation crew. Please make sure the following have been done before the crew is scheduled to arrive:
- Have a clear path from the access road to the work area. This path must be free from hazards and obstructions and be large enough for the required screw pile equipment to get through.
- Be aware of any soft ground that can be damaged by heavy machinery and use wood, dunnage, or distribute machine weight over sensitive
- Clear the work site of debris that may restrict access to pile locations.
- If required, have your pile locations clearly marked so the crew can easily see where you want your screw piles to be placed.
- Make sure all utility markers or flags from your utility locate are in place and visible.
Step 5: Enjoy Your New Screw Pile Foundation
Construction work is always an invasive event, and at the Edmonton Screw Pile Pros, we do our best to make your installation experience as easy as possible. Once installed, your screw pile foundation will give you many years of maintenance-free stability to build your new structure on.
If you have any questions regarding the process of booking a screw pile installation for your new construction project, please do not hesitate to contact the Edmonton Screw Pile Pros today; we are here to help.
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