Foundation sector: from pile driver to high-tech partner

Anyone who glanced at the foundation industry some twenty years ago saw mostly a traditional branch of the sport. A client gave an order, the foundation contractor performed. Often without much questioning or thinking along. Today, the sector looks very different. The foundation world has grown up. We sit down at the table earlier, participate in the preliminary process and deliver a high-tech product. That should be seen more often. 

Because look where we are today. The foundation world was once purely executive. You got a job and did what the contractor asked. Done. Today, we join the drawing board. We think along in the preliminary stages, we deliver complete construction pits, including walls, anchors, excavations and sometimes even underwater concrete. What used to be the domain of the general contractor, many foundation contractors are now tackling as total providers. The contractor is increasingly becoming the generalist who organizes everything, while we foundation specialists are becoming more specialized and at the same time more coordinating. 

And fair's fair: that's not without controversy. Where previously each component was contracted out separately, you now see that one party is increasingly taking care of the entire cofferdam. That means you have to think about your project organization, managing subcontractors and controlling risks. It offers opportunities, more work and more influence, but also challenges. Organizing a total solution is a profession. It requires learning, but it does lift us to a higher level.

We should be more proud of where we stand. The outside world too often sees the foundation sector as a bunch of pile drivers driving piles into the ground. While the reality is much more advanced. In the morning, our drivers get into an installation that is 40 times more expensive than an average passenger car and are responsible for it. We work with sophisticated systems, perform monitoring to the decimal point and deliver a high-tech product that is literally the foundation of any building or work of art. It would do the industry credit to present itself more often as the expert it is.

And then sustainability. Sure, electrification is the magic word in construction. But let's also be honest: the focus is sometimes in the wrong place. The conversion of pile driving machines is insanely expensive, while it only produces about five percent of total emissions. The big gain is in concrete and reinforcement. That's where we can really make progress. So yes, electric machines and batteries are great, but as long as we don't see the bigger picture, we will be behind the times.

Finally, one point to note is that as an industry we could do with a bit more joint action. Take the new standard for pile class factors. Companies are now each carrying out their own expensive tests to determine their own installation factors in order to demonstrate that they are better than the standard. A shame, because working together would make us all stronger and save a lot of money. Ten companies funding one test together, instead of inventing the same wheel ten times, it sounds so logical, but in practice it is difficult.

So the call is clear: more pride, more collaboration and a broader view of sustainability. As a foundation sector, we have proven in recent years that we can innovate and have matured. Now is the time to take the next step together: not only as specialists under the ground, but as indispensable construction partners who may be heard above the ground.

The Pen - Jan-Wim Verhoeff – Director of Franki Grondtechnieken