Contrary to popular belief, the main cost associated with erosion and sediment control on construction sites is not the initial ESC design and monitoring costs - but rather the ESC measures specified on the plans that require installation and maintenance over the course of the project.Of course there are some costs associated with ESC design and monitoring; however, the real savings when dealing with erosion and sediment control is to have a competent ESC professional design a set of plans for your site that are well thought out and are not carbon-copied from another set of plans with the intention of just obtaining ESC approvals from the local Municipality.
All ESC professionals that are designing a set of plans for your project must visit the site prior to putting pen to paper (or opening AutoCAD). If they do not visit the site beforehand, then they are not the ESC designers that you should be using for your site, as their lack of site-specific knowledge will directly increase your cost of ESC materials you will be installing.
As a Certified Professional in Erosion and Sediment Control (CPESC), when I design ESC plans for a given site, I always visit the site with the developer or contractor to go over the timing and order in which the construction will occur, and to get a feel for how aware the contractor is when dealing with ESC issues. Simple things like keeping the street swept and covering disturbed areas with straw is sometimes all that is needed - and if you can relay this point to them, you can often omit many costly ESC measures on the plans.
I have seen sites with ESC budgets up in the $80,000 for a 2-acre site, whereas I have also completed projects of the same size for less than $15,000. Which would you rather spend on ESC for your site? If the plans are done properly at the beginning, then costs can be kept low; but if the ESC plans are done behind a desk without anybody visiting the site beforehand, I can guarantee that the overall erosion and sediment control costs will be significantly higher.
Give All-Terrain Consulting Ltd. a call at (778) 230-4174 for your next project involving ESC to discuss what is required, or even to get a second opinion or proposal to compare the overall costs.
