G.A. Blocker Grading Contractor can provide you with full service building and foundation excavation and backfill services.  We have vast experience excavating for formed walls and footings, trench footings, interior column piers, thickened slabs, complex basement foundation systems and countless single family home slabs, crawls and basements.  We have worked on commercial, industrial, health services, residential and environmental foundation excavation projects.

In addition, we also have experience excavating and backfilling various site features including complex retaining wall systems, driven h-pile walls, overflow wiers and spillways, poured in place box culverts and other intricate designs.

We have experience with the excavation for and installation of driven steel sheet walls for cofferdams, piers, barge slips and marina features--both permanent and temporary.  We understand the special risks associated with working in and around water and have expert knowledge of the design and installation of dewatering systems and methods to minimize the risks for our clients.

G.A. Blocker is equipped with the manpower, equipment and skill to provide a broad expanse of roadbuilding services:

• Earthwork for roadway and ditch subgrade construction
• Earthwork for bridge cone sections, embankments and abutments
• Roadway base stabilization
• Fine grading for pavements, curbs, sidewalks and other surfaces
• Placement and fine grading of aggregates
• Backfill of pavement areas
• Pavement removal, grinding, recycling

Through our involvement on roadway projects, we have knowledge and experience relating to the coordination and sequencing which is required between the many trades involved. 

The key to a successful construction project is based upon the ability of all parties involved to work together towards a common goal.  Our experience on a vast array of construction projects since our company was formed has provided us with the expertise to work together with many different specialty contractors concurrently with our own operations on any given project.  We are able to leverage this experience and expertise by often acting as a general contractor, construction manager or consultant on virtually any size and scope of infrastructure project.  We have acted in any one of these roles on varying projects such as small commercial strip center projects, complex intermodal sites, sanitary sewer forcemains, watermains, airports, marina construction, golf courses, community parks and athletic field complexes.

By contracting G.A. Blocker Grading as your infrastructure general contractor, you are able to achieve a true "one stop shop" for a turn-key infrastructure construction solution based upon your plans and specifications.  This allows you to focus on other aspects of your project, yet maintain the piece of mind that G.A. Blocker is ensuring your project is proceeding efficiently.  All parties will benefit from the level of experience and communication that our project managers will bring to the project.

In a similar manner, G.A. Blocker is able to act in a construction manager role on projects of any size, scope or duration.  By contracting your project through a construction manager arrangement, an owner can benefit from the expertise of coordination and cost management from the CM, but yet still assume the Contract risk, thus saving on cost and fees.  In addition, through proper management the project can be more easily fast-tracked, with overlap between the design and construction phases of the project.

Often, we act in a consultant role, providing advice and direction to an owner/developer through the design and construction phases of a project to mitigate risks and to implement value engineering concepts.  We have encountered many different situations over the past 40+ years of being in business and we are able to incorporate this experience into your project.

Another key consulting role we often perform is related to the design, implementation, maintenance, monitoring and reporting of your site specific Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP).  Our employees are certified to provide these services for you and understand the importance of maintaining a balance between responsible stewardship of our natural resources and the construction site.  We are able to guide you through this ever changing and important process, assisting in the procurement of permits, formation of plans and reporting of activities to ensure that you follow the proper procedures and best management practices in order to avoid costly fines and expenses. 

Whatever your desired method of contracting and management of your project, our managers and staff can adapt our approach to best serve your needs.

There is always a delicate balance that is required to be achieved between construction/development and the native environment.  Increasingly, conservation of our natural resources plays a major role in the design of project sites through the incorporation and/or enhancement of wetland areas and native prairie. 

G.A. Blocker has completed many successful wetland remediation, mitigation and enhancement projects throughout northern Illinois.  We are able to utilize the knowledge, equipment and technology that we have in-house to ensure that the proper and design features of these often fragile ecosystems are properly constructed, protected and maintained.  We often provide detailed and extensive reporting and monitoring services in conjunction with the construction, ensuring that the wetlands continue to thrive after we have moved the earth.  Our employees have training and experience on complex habitat restoration projects requiring close coordination with governmental and quasi-governmental bodies, including the US EPA, IL EPA, IDNR, USACE, and local soil and water conservation districts, among others. 

We understand the important role that wetlands and native vegetation areas play in ensuring that our watersheds remain of the highest quality by filtering out pollutants and filtering pollutants and sediment, while providing important habitat to a variety of species.  We use this understanding to ensure that the areas that we construct function properly.

Due to our comprehensive fleet of earthmoving equipment and technical expertise, we are able to provide a vast array of services complimentary to the mining industry, including:

• Overburden stripping, removal, grading and stabilization.
• Reclamation of previously mined areas in compliance with required remediation plans
• Reclamation of abandoned mined lands, proper stabilization of high walls and slopes, capping of mine shafts
• Excavation, hauling and segregation of natural resources
• Adapting previously mined areas for additional uses through regrading and subgrade soil remediation

We have, on staff, experienced miners and have a fully implemented, filed and approved MSHA Training Plan to ensure, in conjunction to our MSHA compliant equipment fleet, that we are able to provide these services as may be required.

Over the course of the last 40+ years of being in business, G.A. Blocker Grading and our affiliated companies have developed many beautiful and successful real estate projects as either as sole owner or as a member of a partnership.  Our capitalization allows us to participate on many levels on various projects and our expertise in infrastructure construction brings value to our relationship.

We have extensive experience on the many facets of private development including:

• Evaluating locations and sites
• Preparing pro-forma financial information
• Assembling up front due-diligence items
• Identifying market risk and assessing the profitability of a proposed development
• Working with governing bodies to procure the necessary entitlements and permits
• Working with consultants to maximize the return on an investment in a particular site
• Managing all aspects of construction
• Securing financing from equity sources, lending institutions and public/private partnerships

In the past we have developed industrial parks, single-family residential subdivisions, multi-family residential subdivisions, marina and golf course developments.  We understand how to bring conceptual dreams into reality and are always looking for unique opportunities to do so.

We are able to provide a wide range of underground utility installation on public or private projects of virtually any size or scope.  We have extensive experience in the construction of:

• Storm sewer
• Box culvert installation--precast and cast-in-place
• Sanitary sewer--gravity and forcemain
• Lift station instllation
• Watermain installation
• Electical conduit installation

We have knowledgeable and experienced employees who are able to utilize our fleet of equipment and tools in order to ensure that your project is completed on time and in a safe manner--no matter the size, complexity or depth.