The Importance of Construction Materials Testing (CMT) Services
A finished building is much more than what meets the eye. Beyond the walls and flooring finishes, the building’s safety and structural performance heavily rely on proper placement and installation of a variety of construction materials throughout the construction schedule. Long-term building performance is a driving factor for property value and return on an owner’s investment. Construction Materials Testing also plays a necessary role in keeping your project on-schedule, within budget, and safe. Without construction materials testing and observation, the owner, builders, and engineers cannot have confidence that the quality of construction meets the project requirements.
A structure’s success first begins with the foundation support material. Prior to breaking ground on a new development, RMG – Rocky Mountain Group provides Geotechnical Subsurface Soil Investigations to explore the suitability and condition of a given site. During the exploration, subsurface materials are tested for their strength, swell, and settlement properties. Site specific recommendations are provided to mitigate risks the site may pose to your project. This due diligence service allows you to be aware of possible risks with developing the site, so you can budget for possible construction difficulties, and plan for a successful project.
Once ground has been broken on your project, RMG Construction Materials Testing technicians observe the site conditions compared to the soils report, to pro-actively apprise the owner of possible known/unknown hazards that may later result in construction difficulty or delay. Our construction materials technicians directly coordinate with our in-house Geotechnical Engineering staff to provide engineering solutions for construction/design issues that may arise. Our CMT technicians require a unique variety of knowledge and skill to understand the application of a wide range of construction materials. In-depth experience in construction material properties, construction processes, geotechnical engineering, geology, physics, chemistry, and mathematics is necessary to effectively diagnose problems and challenges that may arise during construction, and to identify possible solutions in the field. Timely service and verbal communication skills are necessary to effectively communicate our findings so that the owner/design team can make decisions accordingly.
Throughout the earthwork activities, RMG actively performs soil moisture and density testing to verify proper selection of material, correct placement, and adequate compaction. Undocumented, untested soil material has significant risk of future movement that may cause cracking or worse in foundations, pavements, floors, and walls. Structure serviceability and structural cracking issues can significantly reduce property value, and are expensive and difficult to fix properly.
Diligent materials testing helps to avoid future costly remedial work and repair. By pro-actively revealing issues relating to construction quality early in the project, it allows the design team to make educated decisions for the remainder of the project schedule. RMG – Rocky Mountain Group provides materials testing throughout the project on a wide variety of media including: soil subgrade, structural fill, utility trench bedding and backfill, reinforced concrete, concrete masonry unit (CMU) block construction, grout, mortar, structural steel, and asphaltic concrete pavement.
RMG – Rocky Mountain Group provides full service materials testing for commercial, industrial, municipal, residential, and government projects in the following typical roles:
As an Owner’s representative:
Inspection observations and test results are reported to the owner/design team to verify conformance with the project plans and specifications. As an Owner’s representative, these observations are also used to document pay item quantities and daily activities (i.e. equipment used, materials placed, tasks completed, etc.) so that the owner can be fully aware of construction progress without being on site.As an Independent Third-Party for Code Compliance:
RMG – Rocky Mountain Group provides third-party code compliance testing observations for builders and contractors required to meet certain specifications when working within a regulatory jurisdiction. Accepted on behalf of municipalities, building departments, and other regulatory jurisdictions, our CMT service reports are relied on by the regulating agency to verify conformance with applicable material and construction specifications.As an International Building Code (IBC) Special Inspector:
RMG – Rocky Mountain Group provides International Building Code (IBC) Special Inspection services to ensure critical structural items are in accordance with the project plans and specifications. Your RMG Special Inspector identifies and documents non-conformance items so that the design team and contractor may work together to find a solution to correct the deficiencies. Special Inspections are required by the IBC to verify that the building meets requirements prior to public occupancy.
