Drainage, drainage, drainage.Then rock. Then asphalt.
An old superintendent answered every question about roads that way, and he was right: water is what takes a road apart, and everything above the ditch line is just the part you can see. North State Construction grades sites, builds and paves roads, puts in the water, sewer, and storm drain under them, and runs the trucks that feed all three.
A public street a city will accept for maintenance. Built to the standard plan, inspected at every lift.
Typical R-value design for a residential street. The soils report sets the real numbers.
Feeds it8″ of base over 1,000 sq ft is about 48 tons, or 2 transfer loads. Our trucks, our rock.
Eight divisions, priced the way they are measured
A general engineering licence covers fixed works: roads, earthwork, pipe, drainage, and the structures that hold them together. These are the eight we self-perform, with the unit each one is actually bid in.
The trucks are ours
On a dirt job the haul is usually the biggest single line in the bid. When the trucks belong to somebody else, that line carries a broker's margin and a dispatcher who has never seen your site. Ours do not.
Transfers, end dumps, belly dumps, ten-wheelers, water trucks, and lowbeds, running out of the Chico yard. We deliver base rock, drain rock, sand, and topsoil by the ton, haul spoils and demolition debris off, and move equipment for other contractors when they need a truck for a week rather than a year.
Six truck types
The right one for the access. A transfer needs room to set the trailer down; a ten-wheeler fits a driveway.
Ton or hour
Aggregate delivered per ton with the scale ticket. Spoils and equipment moves hourly, portal to portal.
Water trucks
Two and four thousand gallon, for dust control, moisture conditioning, and the fire watch clause in your contract.
Dates we can hold
Dispatch is in the same building as the estimator, so the start date in the bid is the start date on the calendar.
| 10-wheel dumpTight sites, driveways, short hauls | 10 CY | 8loads |
|---|---|---|
| End dumpSpoils and demolition debris | 18 CY | 5loads |
| TransferThe valley workhorse for base rock | 22 CY | 4loads |
| Belly dumpWindrowing base along a road on the move | 24 CY | 4loads |
Planning numbers, not a quote. Weights move with the pit and the moisture. Rock and soil you buy are figured loose, because base shrinks about a quarter when it is rolled and the finished thickness is what you measured; material you dig is figured with swell, because a hole never gives back the yards it measured. Tell us the job and we will price it by the ton or by the hour.
How a site goes in, bottom to top
Sitework is four or five trades stacked in a fixed order, and every one of them buries the one below it. Read this the way the work happens: from the ground up.
Final grade, striping, and the punch list
Shoulders dressed, landscape areas brought to grade, striping and signage in, as-builts submitted, and the walk with the inspector.
Paving
Asphalt at the mix and lift thickness the spec calls for, laid at temperature and rolled to density before the mat cools, with the longitudinal joint given its own rolling pattern.
Aggregate base
Rock in lifts, watered, rolled, and trimmed to grade. This is the structural layer. A half inch short here is a thin mat and a short pavement life.
Joint trench and structures
Conduit and boxes for the dry utilities, then manholes, inlets, curb, gutter, sidewalk, and ADA ramps to the agency standard detail.
Wet utilities
Sewer, water, and storm drain, deepest first. Bedding, pipe, shading, and backfill in compacted lifts, because the trench is the part of a street that fails first.
Rough grade
Cut and fill balanced on site, fills placed in lifts and compacted, subgrade shaped to the design surface with GPS machine control.
Demolition and clearing
Existing pavement, structures, and vegetation out. Concrete and asphalt crushed on site where the spec allows recycled base, which deletes two truck movements per yard.
Erosion control, before anything is stripped
Silt fence, inlet protection, and a stabilized entrance go in first. Installing them after the site is open costs twice as much and works half as well.
What shows up on the job
Every division needs a particular set of machines, and the quickest way to lose a week is to bring the wrong size. This is the equipment the work runs on, listed by class rather than by count, because what matters to you is whether it fits your access and your spec.
| Excavators5.5–36 tSized to the access, with thumbs and grade control |
| DozersD4–D6GPS blades for finish grade |
| Motor graders140-class3D machine control off the design surface |
| ScrapersPull typeLand leveling and long on-site hauls |
| LoadersWheel and skid steerLoading trucks and moving material |
| Smooth drum rollers84 in to walk-behindBase and asphalt, down to a trench patch |
| Rubber tire rollerNine wheelSealing the mat behind the breakdown pass |
| Sheepsfoot compactorsPadfoot drumThe only thing that compacts a clay lift |
| Asphalt paver8–15 ft screedTracked, for streets and lots |
| Cold planerHalf laneGrind and overlay, digouts, and butt joints |
| Transfers22 CYThe valley standard for base rock |
| End dumps18 CYSpoils, and anything wet or sticky |
| Belly dumps24 CYWindrowing base along a road on the move |
| 10-wheel dumps10 CYDriveways and tight access |
| Water trucks2,000–4,000 galDust control and moisture conditioning |
| LowbedsTo 55 tonMoving the machines above |
| Trench shoringTo 20 ftBoxes and hydraulic shores |
| Survey and grade controlGPSRovers, base station, machine control, as-builts |
| Traffic controlPer planSigns, plates, flaggers, and detour phasing |
| Light plants and generatorsNight workFor closures that have to happen after hours |
The work, roughly
Placeholder photography until this company has its own. Every caption says what the photo actually shows rather than claiming it as our job.
Photos are stand-ins until our own job photos are up: public domain images from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Park Service, plus freely licensed photos from Wikimedia Commons (CC0 and CC BY-SA 4.0).
Who we work for
Four of these five have a bid process and a compliance package. We are set up for all of them.
Public works
Cities, counties, Caltrans, school and special districts
Hard-bid and CUPCCAA work: road rehabilitation, storm drain, ADA ramp packages, parking lots, and basins. Certified payroll, prevailing wage, and the daily reports an inspector expects.
Send the bid packagePrivate development
Developers, builders, general contractors
Subdivision and commercial sitework from the demo through final grade. We hold our own schedule and we do not disappear when the paving subcontractor does.
Request a proposalAgriculture
Growers, ranches, packing and hulling operations
Land leveling, ag roads, ponds and tailwater returns, orchard removal, and yard rock. Work that has to happen between harvest and the first rain, and we plan around that calendar.
Talk to us before harvestUtilities and energy
Water districts, irrigation districts, utility contractors
Pipeline trench, pump station sitework, access roads to towers and pads, and pole line grading. Traffic control and encroachment permits included in the number.
Ask about a packageEmergency and recovery
Agencies, insurers, and property owners after fire and storm
Debris removal, road reopening, culvert replacement, and slope stabilization. The North State knows what a wet January after a burn scar does to a road, and so do we.
Call the yardWhat comes with the bid
- Licence
- Class A General Engineering
- Public works
- DIR registered, certified payroll
- Grade control
- 3D machine control and as-builts
- Trucking
- Our own trucks and drivers
- Schedule
- Weekly look-ahead, one superintendent
Licence, DIR registration, bond capacity, insurance certificates, safety program, and a project reference list go out with any prequalification package. Ask and it is sent the same day.
Built around the valley calendar
Dirt work in the Sacramento Valley has a season, and pretending otherwise is how schedules fall apart. Heavy valley clay will only take compaction in a narrow moisture window; too wet in February, too dry and hard in August without a water truck on it. Asphalt plants run April to November. The wet season starts October 1 whether the erosion control is in or not.
We plan around that calendar rather than discovering it. Grading and paving get scheduled into the dry months, underground and rock work fill the winter, and erosion control goes in during September on a dry site, by a crew that is not also trying to finish the paving.
The other thing that shapes work here is water. Every road failure has water in it somewhere, and in this valley there is a levee, a canal, a ditch, or a burn-scar watershed near most of what we build. Drainage is not a line item we add at the end.
What people ask before they call
Seven counties, one yard
The yard is in Chico and the crews work out of it. Mobilization is a line on the bid rather than a reason to say no, so if your job is past the edge of this list, ask.
Sutter and Yuba
Tell us what the job is
Scope, rough quantities, the town, and when the site is available. If there is a bid date on it, put the date and time in and we will confirm receipt the same day.
- The yard
- (530) 555-0142
- Bids and plan sets
- bids@northstateconstruction.com
- Where we work
- Butte, Glenn, Tehama, Colusa, Shasta, Sutter, and Yuba counties
- Yard at 4180 Midway, Chico, CA 95928
CSLB Class A General Engineering · license pending, expected June