Construction Site Materials Testing

Our field personnel provide a range of quality assurance Construction Site Materials Testing and Observation services before, during, and after construction. These services include on-site materials testing, observation and monitoring of materials during placement/construction, and evaluation of placed/constructed materials. Materials and structures typically covered by these services include earthwork, foundations, concrete, wood, masonry, structural steel, sprayed-on fireproofing, and asphalt pavement. 

Our Construction Site Materials Testing and Observation services are closely interlinked with many of our other services. For example, many of the materials we test in the field end up in the laboratory for further testing and verification and our special inspectors typically work with field technicians during the observation of construction processes.

Owners, architects, civil, and structural engineering firms can reduce their construction project risk by using these services during construction, in order to verify that contractors are adhereing to project specifications. The quality of construction materials is a major component of building and infrastructure durability over their service lives.

Our seasoned personnel have performed construction site materials testing and observation on a multitude of institutional, governmental, municipal and private development projects throughout Alaska with over 135,000 man hours of field work successfully completed over the past ten construction seasons. Our staff works closely with owners and project engineers/ managers, as well as contractors before, during and after the construction phase, providing responsive and constructive communication along with timely observations, accurate laboratory and field test results. 

Proficiency demonstration in soils, aggregate, concrete and asphalt is a required standard for all our field personnel. In addition, all our construction materials personnel are Western Alliance for Quality Transportation Construction (WAQTC), American Concrete Institute (ACI), and Troxler nuclear densometer trained and certified. 

The following sections list some common Construction Site Materials Testing and Observations services that we perform (along with the ASTM number where applicable). This list constitutes a small portion of the materials and services that we offer under this section, if you think you need a service not already listed below, please contact us and we would be happy to discuss your specific needs.

Soils
  • Subgrade and bottom-of-hole verification
  • Representative sampling of materials for laboratory testing
  • Compaction quality control - Standard Test Method for In-Place Density and Water Content of Soil and Soil-Aggregate by Nuclear Methods (ASTM D6938)
  • PID Screening of Excavated Soil

Concrete and Masonry
  • Standard Test Method for Temperature of Freshly Mixed Hydraulic-Cement Concrete (ASTM C1064)
  • Standard Practice for Sampling Freshly Mixed Concrete (ASTM C172)
  • Standard Test Method for Slump of Hydraulic-Cement Concrete (ASTM C143)
  • Standard Test Method for Density (Unit Weight), Yield, and Air Content (Gravimetric) of Concrete (ASTM C138)
  • Standard Test Method for Air Content of Freshly Mixed Concrete by the Pressure Method (ASTM C231)
  • Standard Test Method for Air Content of Freshly Mixed Concrete by the Volumetric Method (ASTM C173)
  • Standard Practice for Making and Curing Concrete Test Specimens in the Field (ASTM C31)
  • Standard Test Method for Compressive Strength of Hydraulic Cement Mortars (Using 2-in. or [50-mm] Cube Specimens) (ASTM C109)
  • Standard Test Method for Measuring Moisture Vapor Emission Rate of Concrete Subfloor Using Anhydrous Calcium Chloride (ASTM F1869)
  • Standard Test Method for Determining FF Floor Flatness and FL Floor Levelness Numbers (ASTM E1155)
  • Standard Test Method for Preconstruction and Construction Evaluation of Mortars for Plain and Reinforced Unit Masonry (ASTM C780)

Asphalt
  • Standard Practice for Sampling Bituminous Paving Mixtures (ASTM D979)
  • Density QA/QC control during placement (ASTM D6938)
  • Temperature QA/QC control during placement
  • Representative core sampling - Standard Practice for Sampling Compacted Bituminous Mixtures for Laboratory Testing (ASTM D5361)