Waterside Construction

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Page

Building Related:

Will Waterside Construction (WSC) take care of permits and local codes?
Waterside Construction takes care of all governmental and lake/river/bay/ocean authority permits.  And that includes US Army Corps of Engineers permitting, which can be rather intricate at times.  In most cases, the individual landowner must do their own subdivision association or architectural permitting. We supply the design drawings for that purpose.  The end process is filling out the subdivision/architectural permitting forms and hand them in with our design drawings.
Which city/lake permits do you work with?
WSC works will all lake, river, bay and ocean authority permitting agencies.

What are the ways to protect my project?
Waterside Construction has many options available for protecting your investment. Please call our office for more information.

For my Boathouse and Pier, what would you suggest to seal the wood?
The Waterside Construction & Design warranty will have information on how to annually or after a couple of annual applications, semi-annually seal (how often depends primarily on UV exposure - and suspended particulate erosion due to wave activity, so the more protected you are, the longer the piles will last) or sealer stain the project.  We suggest CFW-5 by Flood, and Sikkens - both of which have websites with further detail.

How often do I need to seal my wood?
All marine timber structures and shoreline bulkheads have a minimum of 5-year warranty on sealers in most instances.

What type of lumber do you typically use?
Every single component of any Waterside Construction project will be built using treated lumber or the new composites available for decking and benches. All Waterside Construction boat slips will have safety rails to prevent falls into an open slip. Can you imagine what could occur during an accidental fall into a boat slip, especially with a steel lift frame suspended in it? As an added safety design factor, there are never any open inside 90-degree corners on a Waterside pier, boathouse, marina finger pier, etc. This simple design prevents accidents and greatly increases the safety factor of all of our projects. We have been doing this for many years now. This has an added effect of stiffening the entire project against wave and wind.

What type of treated packages for your wood do you offer?
Every single timber component of a Waterside Construction wood bulkhead will be of .60CCA or higher treatment level. We also offer an alternative treatment package for use on small private water bodies such as small ponds and lakes that will see very close repetitive human contact such as daily swimming by small children, and use of the water for the irrigation of food crops, and even eating the fish that come out of it. In these cases the normal CCA treatment may have a toxic effect on the water chemistry, so we just do not take the chance. For instance, a 200 feet long bulkhead on a static half-acre private pond may leach too much chemical into the water the first few years, especially if it is only a few feet deep. In cases such as these one should always consider the ACQ treatment as an alternative, which is much less toxic to fish and the general environment.

How are your bulkheads constructed and how are they made to last?
Any Waterside Construction bulkhead or retaining wall has always been built using only hot-dip galvanized steel rods, that are threaded each end which completely precludes the use of welding anywhere on the tieback system. These rods are specially designed for tying back shoreline bulkheads. Welding can create weak-spots, especially on a steel rod of only 5/8” to 7/8” in diameter or greater – and welds will eventually rust if buried. Some contractors have been known to use reinforcement rods (rebar) as a structural tieback system for shoreline bulkheads. Professional marine contractors are NEVER supposed to use “rebar” for tying back a bulkhead. The reason is simple. This type of steel is purposely made to be soft for bending and conforming into a reinforcement framework for concrete to be poured around. Rebar is also not designed to be welded on to begin with, and especially not buried in a wet environment afterward. Furthermore it should not be relied upon to hold back bulkheads, which can come under enormous pressure during heavy rain events. Simple research reveals all of this. Those broken welds are the number one reason that bulkheads and retaining walls fail.

Do you have an in-house designer to design my project?
We do all of our designs in-house and our marine designer has over 35 years of industrial, petrochemical, marine terminal, light and heavy commercial and residential design and construction experience.

What types of projects has your designer designed or been involved with?
I designed and supervised the installation of all of the heavy timber bridges and RV parking decks system for Center Hill State Park.  We design and build timber, concrete and timber, and timber and steel bridges for residential, county, and subdivision roads.  We also can design and build covered bridges for walking, golf carts, or full-sized vehicles.

I have been involved with several high profile design and construction projects.  The largest of course would be the Alaska Oil Pipeline and Prudhoe Bay Drilling and Pumping Facilities.  But other related design projects I have been involved with would be: The Valdez, Alaska Pipeline Terminal.  The Steelhead, Monopod, and Dolly Varden oil platforms in the Cook Inlet, Alaska.  I designed the complete submarine outflow header system for Haines, Alaska.  I have been involved with the installation of large sheet-piling and docks for numerous cruise ship, tanker, and commercial container ports and terminals.  Residential and light commercial is simpler, but never gets or remains easy. 

What is the typical project time for a boathouse?  bulkhead?  pier/dock?
Boathouses take a week for a simple single-slip flat-roof one, to a month or more for a 1,500 sq. ft. or larger project, depending upon the amount of amenities, which can include complex roof structures, cabinets, wet-bars, storage rooms, entertainment systems with surround sound systems and large flat screen TVs.  Its all about the complexity, and of course the weather to a large degree.  Wind can make matters worse quicker than rain.  You cannot drive pilings safely in heavy waves.  On the other hand, lightning will always shut everything down.  Sometimes we keep working through minor flooding - if we can get to the project.

Bulkheads generally take a week or so per 100-150 linear feet - depending upon the location and its attributes or difficulties.

Pier and dock time lines also vary greatly depending on the location and its attributes.

Do you have any time of year that you typically do not work?
We work year round, never slowing down.  We have no "low season".  In winter, we work in special 7mm cold-water wetsuits.  Someone from our company is in the water almost every workday.

Business Related:

Are you registered with any Special Commissions?
We have also been the only marine contractor that is/was a full member of the National Association of Home Builders. 

Are you a member of Any Chamber of Commerces?
We are long standing members of the Polk County, Livingston, Trinity County, and Trinity Chambers of Commerce. 

The mission of WSC is: "Simply the Best - Guaranteed" That pretty much says it all, because we truly are.