Hubbell Takes Hanah Country Club to Higher Ground

Mon July 01, 2002
Aggregate Equipment Guide

Water hazards are one thing, but when flooding damaged Hanah Country Club facilities in Margaretville, NY, in the late 90s, the investment group that owned the 50-year-old golf course complex decided it would be best to move the hotel, restaurant and spa to higher ground, away from flood-prone creeks nearby.

The Catskills area project began in March 2002 with the clearing of approximately 23 acres of land, which took three weeks.

Hubbell Inc., based in Margaretville, is handling the extensive site excavation, which includes 2,800 ft. (853 m) of roads, 6,000 ft. (1,829 m) 6-in. (15.2 cm) of sewer and water mains; four parking lots with a total of 100 spaces, 1,100 ft. (335 m) of cart paths, and 1,500 ft. (457 m) of underground utilities to be buried.

The contractor must make excavation cuts as high as 50 ft., and remove 135,000 yds. (123,444 m) of material. Nearly 60,000 yds. (54,864 m) of excavated material will be re-used onsite. And due to time constraints, the material needed to be moved in 30 days. What’s more, there was a discrepancy between the plan elevation and the actual elevation, which resulted in Hubbell having to move an additional 50,000 yds. (45,720 m) of material.

Close to 15,000 yds. (13,716 m) of select fill will be used to build filter beds for the sewer system. Two large water towers — one 16,000 gal. (60,565 L) and the other, 35,000 gal. (132,486 L) — will be filled from drilled wells onsite.

Because the Catskills are part of New York City’s watershed, contractors have worked closely with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection. The department has conducted daily inspections to monitor compliance in areas such as sedimentation control, which will be implemented through construction of two ponds of four acres each.

According to Hubbell’s President Rudd Hubbell, work with the environmental agency has gone extremely well. The entire project, which has run ahead of schedule, is slated for April 2003 completion.

Hubbell’s work at Hanah Country Club represents $2.5 million of a $10-million project. According to Rudd Hubbell, the facility relocation is the largest project the company has ever undertaken.

Founded in 1984, Hubbell Inc. focused primarily on logging in and around the Margaretville area. A few years later, the company expanded into excavation work as a progression from land clearing, starting out on smaller projects, but growing into larger ones.

In addition to contracting, the company also runs an equipment rental house in Margaretville known as Catskill Rentals that serves small contractors in Delaware County. It offers small dozers, backhoes, mini-excavators and tools.

On the contracting side, Hubbell handles projects in upstate NY counties in the Catskill region, and is currently working on a job in Syracuse.

To handle the massive Hanah project, the contractor has employed an army of equipment including articulated trucks, three excavators and three dozers.

Among the units Hubbell obtained from Contractors Sales in Albany is a 100,000-lb. (45,359 kg) Link-Belt 460LX. The unit’s 3.5-yd. (3.2 m) bucket was particularly helpful with transferring material into articulated trucks, the contractor said.

“It’s a very big machine, extremely roomy, comfortable and fast,” Rudd Hubbell said of the excavator. “It shows tremendous breakout force, and swings and loads very quickly.”

The contractor’s 50,000-lb. (22,679 kg) Link-Belt 210LX excavator was used during the land clearing phase of the project. Rudd Hubbell said the unit’s Geith grapple removed stumps so quickly that it helped move the job two weeks ahead of schedule.

As for the four Terex TA30 trucks Hubbell has rented from Contractors Sales, “in uphill climbs, they are faster than any other brand truck onsite,” Rudd Hubbell said.

Other than for the quality of the equipment, Hubbell attributes most of its successful experiences with Contractors Sales to the positive relationship the two companies share, and the service Hubbell receives from Contractors Sales staff including Gerard Calamari, president Steve Seaboyer and sales rep Scott Dubois.

“We met Scott when he worked for another equipment dealership some years ago, he introduced us to Contractors Sales, and we have used him very heavily and particularly for rentals ever since,” said Hubbell.

As evidence of the exceptional bond they share, Hubbell noted that Contractors Sales has even steered the contractor toward collaborative opportunities.

“Steve and Gerard have been very supportive of us, and they have been instrumental in helping us develop relationships with some other very substantial general contractors in New York State that we have been able to work with on re-rents or on various projects,” Rudd Hubbell said.

Although Contractors Sales is more than three hours away, physical distance has not materially hampered the two companies’ close relationship, Hubbell added.

“Contractors Sales offices are 160 miles away from us, but they have, in spite of that, given us extremely good service,” he said. “We have had situations where we have called their service department, and they have been in our yard within three and a half hours.

“Their service people know what they are doing, they know what needs to be done, and based on my description of a given situation, they show up at our site with the right parts the first time to get the job done.”

This story also appears on Construction Equipment Guide.