News

Walking into Pleasant Grove Elementary, you’d hardly know it’s under construction. (A handful of craftspeople in hi-viz hoodies walking the halls are the only clue.)

Students and teachers smile as the construction crew passes, but the work site remains hidden behind a locked door and a temporary wall. The provisional structure looks more permanent than makeshift, and there’s hardly a dusty boot print on the carpet outside the work zone.

“We wanted to build a solid wall to separate us from the students and to keep the noise and dust down,” said Dave Neff, RLTurner superintendent. “We built it sturdy and smooth because we didn’t want kids snagging their shirts or trying to poke holes in it.”

Tucked between the gym and cafeteria, the RLTurner crew tackles the noisy work before the students begin their first class of the day. The truly high-decibel work, however, took place on a couple of Saturdays and during spring break.

They saw cut through a concrete floor, which sat atop 70 cubic yards of pea gravel. Rather than remove the subbase with shovels and wheelbarrows, Max Azula, RLTurner craftsperson, came up with a better idea. “Max had removed pea gravel with a hydrovac truck on an earlier project,” Neff said. “So we brought in a truck and it worked great here, too, and saved us a bunch of time.”

With the aggregate removed, the crew moved on to building the block wall next to the gym. Being proactive, Neff locked in Hensel Construction’s masons a month ahead of spring break. While the teachers and students vacationed in Florida and other warm locales, the masons built the wall from Friday to Monday. As soon as the wall was done, the RLTurner team then prepped the new concrete slab on Tuesday and poured it on Wednesday.

“The cafeteria attendants and the gym teacher were surprised and appreciative when they returned from break and saw our progress,” Neff said. “The custodial staff was surprised, too, and thanked us for how clean we’ve kept our job site.”

As guests at Pleasant Grove, we want our hosts to be happy with our visit. Trael Kelly, Pleasant Grove’s principal, said that our team, Dave Neff in particular, has been “absolutely fantastic.”

“His willingness to be flexible and work around the daily changes in an elementary school is nothing less than phenomenal,” Kelly said. “I have been involved in at least five different phases and worked with numerous contractors, but hands down, Dave has been the best. He is kind and considerate to my staff, and in response they let me know of their approval.”

Mission accomplished.