BULLDOG CONTRACTING,INC.  is a full service Excavating / Snow and Ice Management Company.

List of services:

• Excavating
• Demolition
• Commerical Snow Removal
• Land Clearing
• Dry Wells
• Trenching
• Stump Removal
• Drainage Systems
• Pool Ripouts
• Building Ponds and Waterfalls

In winter we service the Hauppage Industrial Park area to have your company open for business.

Our team of snow and ice professionals will clear your lot quickly to make it safe as possible for you and your employees. We also apply salt and sand to your cleared lot to melt the remaining snow and ice.

BULLDOG CONTRACTING,INC.  is always fully insured to help you to be at ease.

We have all the necessary equipment to service your properety. Pick up trucks, Dump trucks, Pay loaders, Skid steer loader and now provide snow removal from your properety (no snow on your lot means little to no snow) melting and refreezing of snow and ice prevents slip and fall accidents.

BULLDOG CONTRACTING,INC.  prides it self on having to customer to open for business and make your business safe for all.

We are pioneers in our work on drywells, land clearing, foundations dug, swimming pool rip outs, new swimming pools dug, stump removal, grading, top soil, sod installations, retaining walls, commerical snow plowing and salting / sanding snow removal, snow removed from property and street sweeping.

Written by Ryan Johnson
Grading & Excavation Contractor May 2010 Issue

A former part-time job is now a full-time occupation for Chris Hembury,  a retired New York City police officer from Nesconset, NY, who served for 20  years in the police department and worked at ground  zero for three consecutive months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. 

Hembury picked up part-time equipment operation jobs to earn some extra money when he wasn’t on duty as an auxiliary coordinator in the NYPD. It is quite common for police officers and firemen, according to Hembury, to supplement their income on days off with construction, landscaping, or carpentry jobs.

After some “stick” time in the seat of a skid-steer loader, Hembury purchased a compact loader and started his own company to boost his income potential. He bought a Bobcat 863 skid-steer loader for construction applications, such as excavating and grading, and snow removal in the winter.

“I got started with a skid-steer loader right from the get-go to make extra money, and then it started snowballing on me,” Hembury says. “People asked me, ‘Can you do this? Can you do that?’ So I started grading peoples’ properties at first.”

Hembury expanded his part-time occupation to a full-time construction company after he retired from the police department, and Hembury and his wife named the company Bulldog Contracting Inc. She’s responsible for the day-to-day administrative area of the business. “I told myself, if I don’t take a chance and try it, I’ll never know if I’m going to fail or succeed,” he says. “I saw the potential to be in business for myself and be profitable.”

Business picked up even more, and soon Hembury was renting a Bobcat 442 excavator from his local dealership for excavating and demolition projects. Demolition seemed like a natural addition to his portfolio, with the right-sized compact equipment to fit in the confined spaces where swimming pools or houses needed to be demolished and materials removed quickly.

Excavator Purchase

There was enough business for Hembury to eventually purchase a new E80 excavator from Bobcat of Long Island.  It was exactly what he needed, with a minimal-tail-swing house configuration to minimize hitting any adjacent objects while working in tight areas, especially in Hembury’s demolition applications. It also has more dig depth—19 inches, to be exact—than the 442 to improve his productivity when he’s excavating with his 3-foot bucket. Also, the E80 has 7 more inches of reach than the previous model to dig, lift, and place dirt or demolition material in a truck or roll off container. This means less machine repositioning to get the work done faster.

Hembury has carved a niche on Long Island with his grading, excavating, and demolition expertise, as well as his compact equipment.  He hires firemen and police officers as laborers  and, eventually, as equipment  operators—the same way he learned  the business—to give them construction and equipment experience, to give them some additional money, and to keep his construction projects moving on schedule.

“Most likely, everyone’s moonlighting somewhere in New York to try to get into something else; either to set themselves up after retirement or just to make some more money,” Hembury says.

Demolition Assignment

On one demolition project Hembury utilized the E80 and the clamp attachment to demolish an 800-square-foot home in Nesconset. “The demolition was the simple part,” he says. His next step was to dig a foundation for a new home, remove 400 cubic yards of material, while minimizing disruption to the nearby homeowners’ properties.

“Most properties are pretty small, so where I usually have issues is getting rid of the material and what I can still leave on the site without infringing on the property owners and their yards,” he says. “Some of the homeowners get antsy if anything is on their property.”

It took Hembury about half a day to remove the 800-square-foot house. He unloaded his roll-off container on the ground, not far from where he was working. He began knocking down the home with the E80 and lifted the debris directly into the container. “The length of the E80’s arm helps me immensely,” he says. “I can take numerous sections of the home from one location and dump it into the container without moving the excavator.”

In just three days, the house was demolished, materials were removed from the property, and a new foundation was dug. One of the biggest challenges, according to Hembury, was the soil on Long Island, namely the sandy soil that can collapse when the excavator is digging the new foundation.

“The new foundation is 9 feet deep with 3 feet exposed above the ground,” he says. “You always hope to avoid any soil collapses or running into some rock that the machine cannot pick up.  If there’s a rock that can’t be removed with the excavator, a demolition crew will come in and remove it for me.”

Swimming Pool Assignments

The types of jobs performed by Hembury keep growing as customers and fellow contractors see the potential of his compact equipment.  One area where his business is taking off is swimming pool excavation and demolition.

“Someone I know is a fireman, and he has his own swimming pool company,” he says. “He calls me to dig the pools for him. Additionally, a lot of older couples with in-ground swimming pools will call me to remove them. Local towns are forcing residents to utilize their pools or remove them because of West Nile virus.”

The rubber-track undercarriage, low ground disturbance, and compact size suit the swimming pool market well for Hembury. “There’s minimal access to people’s swimming pools, so often we can only work on one side when we’re removing them,” he says. “I could never reach the other side with my previous excavator because of the limited access around the pool. Now I can grab the concrete with the excavator and clamp, pull down the walls, and pick up the pieces to place them in the container.

“The longer arm on the E80 allows me to place more material without having to relocate it for a second time,” Hembury says. “If I’m sitting on the job site longer, I’m losing money.”

Underground Drainage Project Hauppauge, NY, boasts one of the largest industrial parks in the United States. There are more than 1,300 companies with 55,000 employees in that area of Long Island. Hembury was recently contacted about an underground drainage issue at one of the commercial buildings where roof water was being displaced in the driveways and parking lot, and causing problems for employees trying to access the building.

“The building and parking lot are on a downward grade,” he says. “Rain and snow from the roof travel through the building and shoot out on the parking lot about 100 to 150 feet from the downspouts,” Hembury says. “Whenever it snows, it melts and refreezes, and it causes problems in the lots.” The solution Hembury recommended was placing new concrete drainage pipes underneath the asphalt parking lot to help the water drain away from the area.

The precast concrete drainage pipes are 10 feet long and 3 feet wide, weighing approximately 4,200 pounds. Hembury will use the E80 excavator to dig through the asphalt and dirt below to create a trench for the new pipes. Once the pipes are installed, the E80 and 863 will backfill the trench, compacting and preparing it for a new asphalt overlay.

The experience Chris Hembury gained as a part-time equipment operator has paid dividends as a construction business owner. Two dependable compact machines and attachments have sustained his business through one of the most challenging economic times since the Great Depression. Now Hembury can share his knowledge with a new group of equipment operators and teach them the ropes.

Source

Chris Hembury - M-Series E80

Hembury is a 20-year veteran of the New York City police department. After the terrorist attacks, on September 11, 2001, he worked at ground zero as a police officer and moonlighted for construction companies. When he retired from the police department, he made construction his full-time job. He upgraded from his Bobcat 863 skid-steer loader to an M-Series E80. "The longer arm on the E80 allows me to place more material without having to relocate it for a second time," he says.

In addition to the extra reach of the E80's work group, he enjoys the extra space in the cab. "The visibility is phenomenal, and the new air conditioning vents make a world of difference. It's quiet, too. I have a Bluetooth in the machine, so all I do is shut the windows and doors, and I can have a perfect conversation with someone."

He's keeping busy with swimming pool excavation and demolition. "There's minimal access to people's swimming pools, so you can only work on one side. With a 442, I would never be able to reach the other side, because of the limited access around the pool. Now I can grab the concrete with the clamp and pull down the walls. I crush the walls with the clamp, pick up the pieces and place them in a container. The E80 has worked out better than I could have imagined."

Source to article on Bobcats website.