Tilt Constructions QLD was successfully awarded the Tilt Panel works for this project back in March 2017 with Hutchinson Builders – Toowoomba Division as the Head Contractor. Due to a hold up on development approvals the project was not able to start until late April, Simon attended a meeting with the Site Manager Brett Washington on May 3 to assess possible casting locations which would allow Tilt Constructions QLD to get in early and start casting.
The project consisted of 25 panels totaling 382m2, Tilt Constructions QLD split the panels into stacks of 3 at the start of the project but would later expand this to 4 to ensure an early finish. It was agreed with Brett Washington that May 10 would be the official start date of the tilt panel works and a proposed lift date of May 24.
Chris Vidulich was the site representative for Tilt Constructions QLD, the tight construction schedule was easily managed by Chris, utilizing many years of experience to communicate concrete pouring times and mix’s depending on the varying weather conditions allowing all 3 panel stacks to be poured each day. The casting beds went in on Wednesday May 10 as per schedule, on the Thursday it was time to set the formwork and place the steel reinforcement ready for the first set of panels. This usually takes a full day, it starts off by organising the required materials to complete each stack keeping in mind that pre-planning the next panel pour is a key requirement to make the casting schedule as efficient as possible. Each stack is marked out on the casting bed, checking each measurement carefully and the panel for square. The formwork work is fixed into place as per the plans and Sure Lift J6 Bond breaker is applied to the panel surface to prevent the concrete from sticking together, The steel reinforcement is then placed inside the formwork and the Contracted Engineer is required to inspect each prepared panel and give their authority to pour the panels prepared.
With 25 panels in the project it would normally take 1 day for casting beds, 1 day to Box and steel for engineering approval, 9 days to cast and another 2 days to strip and setout ready for the lift, this schedule would not work. We had 14 days in total which included panel curing time. Chris and his team, which included Bruce Henderson, Dion Salmond and Simon Vidulich, worked effectively to have all 25 panels poured in just 7 days and the site striped/cleaned/setout in just 1 day. This had us well within our target and allowed 4 days curing to reach the minimum 25mpa concrete strength requirement for lifting.
The project schedule was successfully maintained and product quality highly kept, during the course of casting Hutchinson Builders Quality Manager attended the site and gave nothing but praise to Chris and his team, The lift went as per schedule with the help of QLD Cranes and in particular Gordan Pye. All 25 panels were lifted in 1 day, the site cleaned, all formwork materials loaded into our container and removed the following day allowing for the next wave of trades to come onto the site. The temporary tilt panel props were removed 16 days after the lift and all patching works inclusive of tilt panel joint sealing was completed within 28 days.
Since effectively completing the Shell Service Station Booval project for Hutchinson Builders – Toowoomba, Tilt Constructions QLD has successfully been awarded the 7-Eleven Service Station on Wondall Road, Tingalpa. We look forward to providing another quality project and strengthening our partnership with Hutchinson Builders
Below is Brett Washington’s Testimonial on working with Tilt Constructions QLD:
My name is Brett Washington and I am a Site Manager for Hutchinson Builders. I have worked in the construction industry for 21 years with the last 14 years being employed by Hutchinson Builders.
I have recently had the pleasure of working on a project with the crew at Tilt Construction QLD. During this time I found both management and site workers to be of a very high standard and exceptional quality.
Tilt Construction QLD were awarded the job to construct the Tilt panels for a recent Shell Service station in Booval. These works were carried out in a very professional manner, with a very high standard of finish achieved. This was the first time I had used this company and I will continue to use them as they required very little supervision. The project had tight time frames and a high level of quality assurance required for the job.
The crew onsite completed their works ahead of time frame and with no quality issues. Hutchinson Builders Quality manager inspected the site while these works were being carried out and commented on how neat and tidy their work area was and also the high quality of finish on the Tilt panels.
In summary, I highly recommend Tilt Constructions QLD to other companies and will continue to use them myself on future projects. They are one of the most professional sub-contractors I have worked with.
Kind Regards,
Simon Vidulich – Owner/Director
