I Need to Get in on This Action…..

 

So a North Dakota company named Fisher Sand and Gravel has won a $400 million contract to build … wait for it … 31 miles of border wall.

Some thoughts:

That’s around $12.9 million per mile or $2,444 per foot.

If that budget is accurate then we are only looking at around $6.5 billion for the entire border. I know there isn’t going to be a wall on the entire border plus some sections would obviously be harder than others but I was just curious how the numbers looked.

Actually, I would love to see the scope and specs on this to see what was actually priced.  That’s a bunch of money (seems like about twice what tilt wall concrete would be) but no one works cheap for the government and their specs can be ridiculous.

It says in the article that the company “claimed” that they can build the wall faster than the Corps of Engineers. I would say this is more a statement of fact than a “claim.” The Corps is part of the government and the government does not do “fast.”

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  1. Full Size Tabby Member
    Full Size Tabby
    @FullSizeTabby

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    I thought someone suggested sharks.

    And crocodiles, both in the moat dug in front of the wall.

    Funny anecdote in my memory from when I lived in Orange County, CA, so this is at least 25 years ago: A smuggler took a load of illegal immigrants around the Border Patrol checkpoint on I-5 where it passes through Camp Pendleton (U.S. Marine Corps) by taking them out in the ocean on a boat. But when they came ashore north of the checkpoint, they just happened to pick a beach area in which the Marine Corps was conducting an exercise. For a few weeks anyway illegal immigration was discouraged by stories of tanks and artillery lining the beach.

    • #31
  2. Full Size Tabby Member
    Full Size Tabby
    @FullSizeTabby

    Concretevol: Actually, I would love to see the scope and specs on this to see what was actually priced. That’s a bunch of money (seems like about twice what tilt wall concrete would be) but no one works cheap for the government and their specs can be ridiculous.

    Yeah, you want to know what the specs are. A commercial company that made electronic image processing devices and for which I worked some years ago saw news stories about the very high price the military was paying for some similar-sounding electronic image processing equipment. But then we looked at the military specs, and the image resolution requirements, and the required image processing time were so much beyond the capabilities of our inexpensive commercial device that we why meeting the military requirements would get very expensive very quickly.

    I suspect as others have noted that the specs are for more than a simple tilt wall concrete structure. 

    • #32
  3. Concretevol Thatcher
    Concretevol
    @Concretevol

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):

    Concretevol: Actually, I would love to see the scope and specs on this to see what was actually priced. That’s a bunch of money (seems like about twice what tilt wall concrete would be) but no one works cheap for the government and their specs can be ridiculous.

    Yeah, you want to know what the specs are. A commercial company that made electronic image processing devices and for which I worked some years ago saw news stories about the very high price the military was paying for some similar-sounding electronic image processing equipment. But then we looked at the military specs, and the image resolution requirements, and the required image processing time were so much beyond the capabilities of our inexpensive commercial device that we why meeting the military requirements would get very expensive very quickly.

    I suspect as others have noted that the specs are for more than a simple tilt wall concrete structure.

    No doubt….plus any time you do a state/federal job you have to price it higher just because they usually have people on the payroll who seemingly have no other purpose than to stop the project and/or cause you to lose money.  

    On a typical Dept of Energy job (that is a mandatory union job), bids are commonly tripled before turning them in.  This is 100% due to lack of production vs an open shop job on a non-federal site.  

    • #33
  4. Concretevol Thatcher
    Concretevol
    @Concretevol

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):

    Concretevol: Actually, I would love to see the scope and specs on this to see what was actually priced. That’s a bunch of money (seems like about twice what tilt wall concrete would be) but no one works cheap for the government and their specs can be ridiculous.

    Yeah, you want to know what the specs are. A commercial company that made electronic image processing devices and for which I worked some years ago saw news stories about the very high price the military was paying for some similar-sounding electronic image processing equipment. But then we looked at the military specs, and the image resolution requirements, and the required image processing time were so much beyond the capabilities of our inexpensive commercial device that we why meeting the military requirements would get very expensive very quickly.

    I suspect as others have noted that the specs are for more than a simple tilt wall concrete structure.

    One thing I would point out however is that any typical tilt wall concrete structure is more complex than a steel bollard fence construction.  I would imagine that type of fencing is mostly just “assembled” in the field and pre-made offsite.  That would make the process faster and cheaper. 

    • #34
  5. Concretevol Thatcher
    Concretevol
    @Concretevol

    Ok found some details about a 20 mile section they were installing on New Mexico’s border.  This is apparently an area with a serious drug trafficking problem.  The barrier (tired of the wall vs fence fixation) is 18 ft tall, 6 ft in the ground, and the steel “bollard” segments are filled with concrete and rebar.  The rebar seems redundant to me since the casing is steel but whatever. lol  Looks like the basically just dug a 6 ft deep trench, erected/braced/plumbed the segments, poured concrete in the trench to lock them in, and then welded on a 5 ft “anti-climbing” plate at the top.  Pretty good plan if you ask me other than it’s probably not too pretty.  I think it would be faster to pre-weld it in like 8 ft sections or something so you don’t have to stand it all one piece at a time but the trench idea is simple and easy.  

    Here are some pics:

    Looks like it is shipped as individual pieces but it could have welded on bracing already.

    Easy peezy….no doubt an inspector in the background making sure the trench isn’t 5’11” instead of 6′.

    A couple sections with the “anti-climbing” plate installed.

    This is a section of the existing “pedestrian fence” they are replacing…….so basically they are using the honor system. haha

     

    • #35
  6. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Concretevol (View Comment):

    The best thing we could do to stop illegal immigration is elect one of those lunatic dems running for president. When the economy tanks we may be all sneaking into Mexico at some point. hahaha

    Too true.

    • #36
  7. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    I am pretty sure that that company has no ownership shares by left-handed lesbian dwarves of color or disabled trans veterans.  How they got a federal construction contract is a mystery.

    And I would like to see the environmental impact statement. There are a number of species of endangered fungi and intestinal parasites found in that region.  I am willing to bet that no consideration was given.

    Also, it is clearly foreseeable that somebody is going to use a pole vault or makeshift ladder to get over that new wall.  Has the ground along the US side been padded to avoid injury upon landing?  “Cha-ching” is the technical legal term for what might happen.

    There must be some Obama or Clinton appointed federal judges with jurisdiction there.  George Soros is probably writing a retainer check for the firm that will move to block this tragically unjust project even as I type this…

     

    • #37
  8. Boss Mongo Member
    Boss Mongo
    @BossMongo

    Concretevol: Actually, I would love to see the scope and specs on this to see what was actually priced. That’s a bunch of money (seems like about twice what tilt wall concrete would be) but no one works cheap for the government and their specs can be ridiculous.

    If you do some digging, you should be able to find it.  With certain obvious exceptions, once a contract is awarded, it is by law in the public domain.

    • #38
  9. Concretevol Thatcher
    Concretevol
    @Concretevol

    Boss Mongo (View Comment):

    Concretevol: Actually, I would love to see the scope and specs on this to see what was actually priced. That’s a bunch of money (seems like about twice what tilt wall concrete would be) but no one works cheap for the government and their specs can be ridiculous.

    If you do some digging, you should be able to find it. With certain obvious exceptions, once a contract is awarded, it is by law in the public domain.

    Yeah, haven’t seen the exact specs but if you see my comment above it sounds like it is going to be something really similar to this example.  I think it’s pretty good.  Even though it is significantly different than the prototypes that Trump unveiled recently that were more big hunks of concrete I think this method is better when it comes to speed, cost, and also visibility through the wall/fence.  Now……did that steel come from China??   hehe

    • #39
  10. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    Concretevol (View Comment):
    Now……did that steel come from China?? hehe

    Unlikely.  Most steel consumed in America is made here, and China isn’t even in the top ten list of countries we import steel from.  Or at least that was the case before Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs went into place.

    • #40
  11. Concretevol Thatcher
    Concretevol
    @Concretevol

    Randy Weivoda (View Comment):

    Concretevol (View Comment):
    Now……did that steel come from China?? hehe

    Unlikely. Most steel consumed in America is made here, and China isn’t even in the top ten list of countries we import steel from. Or at least that was the case before Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs went into place.

    Yeah, that was tongue in cheek.  Given the tariffs and whatnot I figured it was not.  :)  

    • #41
  12. Concretevol Thatcher
    Concretevol
    @Concretevol

    Old Bathos (View Comment):
    I am pretty sure that that company has no ownership shares by left-handed lesbian dwarves of color or disabled trans veterans. How they got a federal construction contract is a mystery.

    @oldbathos well it was reported on one “news” site that Trump picked them because he had SEEN THEM ON FOX NEWS!!!  Oh the humanity!  I think one of the owners had been on a show and said they could build it faster and cheaper than the government could (that has to be the case).  The news report went on to criticize the company for any dirt they could find on them…..EPA violations and the like.   

    • #42
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