Full Issue - Pile Driving Contractors Association

member profile – contractor
Company history
Founded in 1996 by Henry Brown Jr., Lally
joined Sea & Shore Contracting in 2001 and
later purchased the company from Brown in
2006. Choosing to focus on moderate-sized
projects, the company designs and installs
a wide variety of excavation support and
underpinning systems suited for specific site
and ground condition considerations. Types
of systems they work with include soldier
pile and lagging, sheet piling, timber sheeting,
soil nailing, concrete pit underpinning,
structural steel beam design, jet grouting
and other grouting applications.
“Our designs consider the need for
groundwater control, limiting lateral deflections
and ground movement behind the
support walls, site logistics and potential
impacts to adjacent structures/utilities due
to installation and removal techniques,”
explained Lally. “We have constructed hundreds
of systems for a variety of applications,
which include designing systems to
remain in place after construction as
permanent retaining walls.”
The firm also provides marine
construction services including
pile driving, pier and bulkhead
construction, sea wall
construction and maintenance,
bridge and
walkway construction,
demolition
as well as marina construction and development.
In addition, they also offer complete
commercial diving services such as underwater
cutting, welding, inspection and existing
condition surveys, salvage and demolition
services.
“We have also installed pilings for
Massachusetts, Connecticut and New
Hampshire Department of Transportation
bridges, large mall developments and commercial
projects, waterfront structures and
residential foundations,” continued Lally.
“And we offer complete design-build geotechnical
services for small to large-scale
projects including subsurface investigation
programs to develop cost-effective solutions
and for value-engineering analyses.”
With a company-wide philosophy to be
the “most trusted, reliable and creative construction
resource for challenging marine
and geotechnical projects undertaken by
our clients,” Sea & Shore Contracting has
been fortunate enough to have remained
busy and profitable throughout the recession,
even though revenue did drop 10 to 15
percent during 2009 and 2010.
“2011 was a very solid [year] for the
company that enabled us to continue our
growth and investment in our equipment
and a push into renewable energy,” Lally
said. “We credit this success mostly to our
strong client relationships and diversity.
While we would likely have had difficulty
keeping four pile driving crews or four
marine construction crews busy, we found
challenging and profitable work in both
the public and private sectors that kept one
pile driving crew, one site work crew and
one marine construction crew busy, while
enabling an additional crew to take on work
related to renewable energy or infrastructure
projects.”
He added that the firm has worked
hard to team with the right clients and to
select and bid public sector projects that
matched their skill set. While difficult, the
company has resisted the urge to take on
work that was outside of its comfort zone or
had too tight of margins in order to get by.
“We are fortunate to have found a good
balance of work to keep our pile driving,
marine construction and specialty site work
divisions active and profitable,” Lally noted.
Notable projects
With an impressive portfolio, one project
that the company is especially proud of is
its work in redeveloping an existing commercial
lot to enable expansion of a mall to
provide sufficient space for a Lowe’s Home
Center in Dedham, Mass., completed in
2007.
“The building itself required the
installation of over 1,400 concrete-filled
Driving piles to redevelop an existing commercial lot
48 | QUARTER 3 2012