Today, Steve Bubalo Construction Company, with offices in Monrovia, completes general engineering specialty projects in public works throughout Southern California. They specialize in larger pipeline installation, such as storm drains, water lines and sewers, grading and roadways. They install pipe of all sizes, from 8-inch water lines to the largest pipe they ever installed, 144-inch reinforced concrete pipe for the South Upland Storm Drain.

One such specialty project is the ongoing landslide repair in Laguna Beach’s Bluebird Canyon. Steve Bubalo Construction Company was contracted to complete repairs associated with the landslide, including excavation, backfill, and compaction to stabilize the perimeter of the slide, replacing the destroyed underground water and sewer systems, installing a new storm drain, and lastly, removing and recompacting the landslide material.

Steve Bubalo Construction Company crews installed a new 72-inch reinforced concrete storm drain to replace the natural runoff area, which was covered by the slide.

The pipe for the storm drain goes through the toe of the landslide area and is 600 feet long. The company is installing 3500 lineal feet of smaller storm drain pipe—a 16-inch water line and 8-inch sewer line—throughout the rest of the slide area. They used a Caterpillar 365BL excavator to excavate and install the storm drain line.

The final stage of the project is the tedious work of removing the landslide material. Because they had no way of knowing exactly what geological formations were underneath the slide area until they actually exposed them, the overall plan for removing the slide has had to remain flexible. The project was initially scheduled to be completed in the spring of this year, but due to geological features uncovered during the excavation, landslide material removal and replacement, more removals have become necessary. The completion date has been pushed to August, John Schiller, President and General Manager of Steve Bubalo Construction Company, says.

Steve Bubalo Construction Company has been working closely with the representatives of the City of Laguna Beach. Bob Burnham is the city’s Project Manager and Craig Greenman, of The Moote Group, is the Senior Construction Manager.

Steve Bubalo Construction Company has recently completed, and is working on, a variety of other projects. They completed a project in the Rancho Cucamonga area that involved installing an 8-foot by 8-foot reinforced concrete box storm drain.  The underground system transitioned to an existing open channel. The boxes were installed throughout the public streets, which used to serve as the overflow for storm water runoff. Steve Bubalo Construction crews installed 4,400 feet of box in this $3.5 million project.

(Top) Aerial view of  the 72” storm drain installation in Bluebird Canyon.

Another recently completed project involved the installation of 25,000 lineal feet of 78-inch mortar-coated steel water line in San Bernardino. In addition to installing the water line, the crews constructed two large valve vault structures. This was a $25 million project for Steve Bubalo Construction Company.

The company performs almost all of its own concrete work, including catch basins, manholes, junction structures, and reinforced concrete boxes.

In addition to new underground installation projects, Steve Bubalo Construction Company does many rehabilitation projects on existing lines. There are various methods they use for rehabilitating existing lines including inserting fiberglass pipe in existing concrete lines and lining concrete structures with PVC liners that act like a protective skin from the sewer gases.

The different types of pipe, both for use on new installations and rehabilitation of existing lines, depending on the job and the application, John says. Most all sewer lines used to be made of clay or concrete.

Now there are also products made from PVC or fiberglass. He says that storm drains are typically reinforced concrete, while water lines tend to be welded steel, plastic, or ductile iron.

In addition to these materials, Steve Bubalo Construction Company also works with fused HDPE. 
A HDPE storm drain was recently installed along a steep canyon slope in the City of Laguna Beach.  Steve Bubalo Construction Company used 30-inch HDPE to divert an active stream in Thousand Oaks and also recently to divert storm flow in Laguna Beach’s Bluebird Canyon while the permanent 72-inch RCP storm drain was installed.

John joined Steve Bubalo Construction Company in 1984. In his more than 20 years with the company, John says that the means and methods for underground construction haven’t changed much, but the amount of regulations and restrictions has increased greatly.

He has been involved in his share of memorable projects in the time he has worked for Steve Bubalo Construction Company. A job the company completed in Thousand Oaks was particularly challenging due to the environmental sensitivity of the area. The sewer line, which runs beneath a streambed, broke in the winter. Bubalo was charged with diverting the water flow and keeping the sewer system working during repair by building bypasses for the sewer and pumping excess ground water out of the area. Once a new sewer system was installed, the company had to recreate the original stream that runs through the canyon area. In some areas that meant reconstructing the streambed with concrete and making it look natural.

“We had a good team on the project and some great representatives from the city. Everyone worked well together,” he adds.

Another memorable group of projects were in West Hollywood in the mid-80s to 90s, where the company installed several large reinforced concrete boxes under the residential streets. Challenging factors on these projects included ground water, traffic restrictions and installation depths up to 40 feet.

John feels that what sets Steve Bubalo Construction Company apart is the fact that they have a great deal of experience completing specialty projects, those that are just a little different from the norm. They do all their own shoring and dewatering, which enables them to complete some of the tougher projects, John says.

“We have a partnering philosophy where we want to work with the owners to identify problems ahead of time and tackle them head on,” he continues.

John says that Steve Bubalo Construction Company has a quality workforce, with many of the employees being with the company for 15-25 years.

“Our workers are proud of their work and they work in a safe manner,” John says.

All of these factors contribute to outstanding work quality, which John feels, is the company’s number one asset. Cc