The Buck family has been involved in asphalt and concrete paving services for the Toledo, Ohio, metropolitan area since 1947. As fifth generation owners of Buck Brothers Asphalt Paving & Concrete, Chad Buck (founder), Jacob Buck, and Zach Buck have a solid foundation in asphalt paving and milling tools and techniques as well as a clear understanding about the importance of continuous improvement.
About a year ago, the company sought to resolve some inefficiencies that had begun to emerge in the firm’s paving practices. For many years, crews relied on manual lasers and an old asphalt paver to achieve grade. However, a diminishing workforce created some real challenges when performing fine grading in the company’s conventional way.
"We didn’t have graders or dozers at the time, so we would run stone through an old asphalt paver to achieve grade,” Jacob said. “While it worked, it was difficult to achieve a perfect grade. It became a ‘guess and check’ process that requires considerable skill.”
Jacob knew the company needed to find a better way to fine grade, particularly on larger projects.
“It was either learn machine control or learn to manually operate a grader/dozer. It made more sense to go the machine control route,” he said.
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| Brandeis Machinery |
In 2023, Jacob reached out to the SITECH Ohio team, his local Caterpillar dealer, to get started.
“They initially suggested a laser system, because — at the time — I had no AutoCAD or 3D experience,” he said. “I didn't even know what a data collector was or how to use a total station. But I wanted the full experience.”
After some discussion, Jacob opted for a Trimble SPS930 Universal Total Station (UTS) because it is both a survey and machine control instrument, providing very high precision measurements (in the 3 mm range). The robotic and reflectorless solution is ideal for capturing field conditions like parking lots with speed and accuracy.
After a quick training session, he immediately put the instrument to work on a job. Jacob surveyed an entire project and then sent the data back to Trimble Business Center, where he modeled it.
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“Remember, I went from no 3D experience to creating a full survey and grade model, plus learning machine control,” he said. “The instrument was easy to use, but I needed to think more carefully about model development.”
His next step was to connect with Trimble and SITECH specialists as well as Alan Sharp from Rockpile Solutions, an authorized software development and consulting partner for Trimble.
“With help from all of them, I was able to get a model built in one day and begin establishing a good surveying and modeling workflow," Jacob added.
He would spend the next year perfecting that workflow and is now teaching other team members.
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| Brandeis Machinery |
For new construction, Jacob will set up the UTS and survey existing curbs, and surrounding surfaces and structures.
“I shoot everything including curbs, drainage, flush surfaces, utility lids, etc.,” he explained. “I send that data to Trimble Business Center to be cleaned and modeled. Then, I can establish a grade off of that model.”
That model is then sent to a compact grading machine equipped with the SPS930 UTS for blade control.
“The finished surface is always accurate because I’m working directly from as-built conditions, so our drainage, flushes, and transitions are all going to be exactly right,” Jacob said.
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For a reconstruction, like a mill and overlay, where crews need to remove the top few inches of an existing asphalt lot and then put a fresh coat of asphalt on top, the process is somewhat similar.
“Before we mill it, I'll survey the existing lot and then model it in Trimble Business Center, again paying particular attention to drainage,” Jacob said.
Subsequently, the crew mills with Trimble 3D Roadworks on a Caterpillar PM820 and then paves to depth with Trimble 2D Roadworks on a Weiler P385B Asphalt Paver with sonics.
Not every job is modeled. “If it’s a sizable job, 25,000 square feet or more, or a more complex job with drainage issues, then I’ll model,” Jacob said. “There are many times I’ll model seemingly simple driveways, because drainage was not considered in the initial design. We can fix those problems with re-grading.”
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In the two short months before the season closed in 2023, Buck Brothers was able to fine grade over 300,000 square feet of stone base before paving.
“We literally cut our prep time in half and delivered effective drainage in every situation,” Jacob said.
Those benefits continued in 2024. For instance, Cornerstone Church in Maumee, Ohio, had a 20-year-old parking lot that deteriorated fast and a number of drainage issues that led to potholes and unsafe conditions. When complete, the Buck Brothers crew had regraded the 100,000-square-foot area to 1/16-inch precision. The curbs and islands were optimized for drainage, and they had created 24-foot drive lanes for improved access and safety. Notably, this project was nominated for the Pavement Maintenance & Reconstruction 2024 Award.
Another project was a 50,000-square-foot freight yard, a unique effort because instead of asphalt, the surface was all stone, and well above grade. Conventional methods would have required that the crew mill and pave multiple times to achieve the desired thickness.
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“I knew we needed to come down about 4 inches, but what would that do to the drainage?” Jacob said.
Instead, he surveyed the existing conditions with the Trimble SPS930 UTS and modeled the final surface, drainage included. A Caterpillar PM820 Cold Planer equipped with the Trimble Roadworks 3D Paving Control Platform was then used to mill the stone parking lot to the specified grade.
“Since we are able to mill 3D, it is considerably easier to pave to depth than using traditional paving methods such as checking depth with a dipstick or using sonics,” Jacob added. “We completed the work on time and to exact specifications, all while working around the client's ongoing operations."
While Jacob has not run any official numbers to measure the success of the company’s technology enabled workflows, he said, “for me, it’s more of a reality that I can't do things the way we did before anymore; I needed a different solution. That said, I see value every day in this current workflow.”
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According to Jacob, that value can be seen in the greater efficiency of materials, along with his confidence in the final results.
“With this modeling workflow, I know we’re not going to be over on asphalt,” he said. “The cost savings on materials alone likely pays for the technology investment. ... Our old methods were inefficient, and sometimes inaccurate, which required rework. Now, I know that everything we pave is at the right thickness and is going to drain correctly — and that’s big in the asphalt world. I can't picture us ever going back to the way we did it before.”
The satisfaction and comfort of using the 3D-modeling workflow over the past year has prompted Jacob to begin training others in the organization how to build the models. He is also looking to invest in other machines including a dozer and excavator. Additionally, customer satisfaction is at an all-time high.
“My customers, both owners and general contractors, are kind of in awe of what they're seeing,” Jacob said. “Many people assume this technology is only for large scale construction sites and workflows, but we’re finding it has huge benefits for smaller sites where precision and material yields are equally important.”
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| Brandeis Machinery |
Photos courtesy of Buck Bros.
