“Landslides are rock, earth or debris flows on slopes due to gravity. They can occur on any terrain, given the right conditions of soil, moisture and angle of slope.” –United States Search and Rescue Task Force website.

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), landslides commonly occur in connection with other major natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanoes, wildfires, and floods, but the growth of urban areas and expanded land use have increased the incidence of landslide disasters throughout the United States. The USGS says that expansion of urban and recreational developments into hillside areas results in ever increasing numbers of residential and commercial properties that are threatened by landslides.

Remedial Civil Constructors (RCC) has built its business around the repair of landslides in the southern California area, working from the Santa Barbara area to the north to the San Diego area to the south. The company’s co-owners, Web Wiley and Robert “Rob” Russell, have nearly 40 years of experience with landslide repair between them.

In a project that RCC has been working on for a year, the landslide occurred between a $5-6 million home and a several million dollar home lot in Malibu, threatening to compromise the home’s structure. Initially, the geologist thought that the slide comprised 30,000 to 40,000 cubic yards of dirt. Instead, the company has moved 150,000 cubic yards of dirt up and down the hill to repair the slide area.

“It turned into a massive project for us,” Rob said. “Until the geologists come out and evaluate the slide area, it’s hard to tell how deep it is and how far into the hillside it is.

“The geologists tests tell us how deep the slide plane is—the point where the slide meets existing bedrock—and they give us a plan for reconstruction,” Rob continues.

The Volvo A35D articulated truck waiting to be loaded. (Below Left) RCC removing slope failure down to bed rock.

The process for fixing a landslide starts with moving dirt from the bottom of the slide, which unloads the weight so that the slide stops moving. RCC rented Volvo off-road articulated haulers from Mathews Machinery to transport the dirt. According to Volvo’s website, the haulers have “a new patented Load & Dump brake and faster dumping hydraulics.”

Once the dirt at the bottom of the slide was moved to the top of the slide, RCC constructed a keyway 40 feet deep to the bedrock so that the dirt could be brought down to fill up the slide and then recompacted. RCC also had to construct 16 concrete piles, some under the home, to shore up the slide area. The slide length, from top of the hill to bottom of the slide, was 1,000 feet.

Once the slide repair is completed, RCC will repair the street at the top of the slide, the drainage structures near the street and the back yard of the home. The company is working directly for the homeowner—who was able to continue living in their home during the slide repair—and the lot owner on this project. The project volume is typical of a majority of the work RCC completes, although, according to Rob, the slide on this project is somewhat bigger than their typical project. The company has had about 14 people on the job at any one time.

RCC purchased a Volvo EC460B crawler excavator and L110E wheel loader from Mathews Machinery in order to complete this project.

“This was our first venture with Volvo equipment,” Rob says. “The salesman at Mathews Machinery was very persistent trying to get us to demo their loaders and excavators.

“When we finally agreed to demo the units, we realized that Volvo equipment is designed and manufactured as well, if not better, than any other equipment we own,” he continues. “It is also cost effective for our small company to purchase Volvo Equipment. Volvo, and Mathews Machinery, are much more willing to work with us.”

(Top) RCC”s Volvo EC460B Excavator getting ready to load the Volvo trucks. (Below Left) RCC uses the A35D to fill and re-compact the slide area.

The company owns 20 to 25 pieces of equipment, but this is their first venture with Volvo equipment, and Rob says that everyone at the company is happy with the new equipment.

According to Volvo’s website, the L110E wheel loader has both power and flexibility. It’s powerful enough for earth moving and loading trucks with its 7-liter, 6-cylinder turbocharged diesel engine. Yet it can also be used in a variety of other ways with its numerous attachment options. The website says the B-Series excavators are among the fastest and most powerful in the world. They have a technologically advanced electronic system that stores all machine information and outlines service needs on the external service display.

In addition to the current project in Malibu, Rob says that another memorable job for the company was a slope repair in Duarte that had a home on either side of the slide. The company had to import 45,000 cubic yards of dirt for the repair.

RCC, which has been in business since 2003, has its office in Montrose, California. Eighty to 90% of the company’s work is public works projects, with the remaining work done for private clients.

As is typical in a newer company, Rob says one of their challenges is keeping cash flow positive, especially working on large public works projects.

“The growing pains of doubling or tripling every year sometimes leads to a cash flow crunch,” Rob explains.

Similar to other contractors, Rob says finding good people is an ongoing challenge. They are always looking for talented people to join the company. RCC currently has a good group of operators, foreman and laborers on board.

Rob thinks that RCC is known for taking on projects that other contractors might pass on. They enjoy building the riskiest, most difficult, complex jobs they can find. They like to focus on large slope repairs that are equipment-intensive. The company is generally working on three to four such projects at any time. He says they have the labor and equipment to handle any kind of project that comes up, from a $10,000 driveway repair to multi-million dollar slope repair.

“Our knowledge of our customers and our experience as owners is what sets us apart,” Rob says. Rob and Web have actively pursued work in the public works sector, securing work through being the lowest responsible bidder on projects.

“We had to grow to where we are today with all of our equipment in order to survive,” Rob says. “But we don’t want to grow too large because we think that’s hard to control.

“We both like to be involved in the day-to-day operations of the company,” he continues.

Rob met Web while working for his company in college. Upon graduation from California State University Monterey Bay with a business degree, Rob went to work for a general engineering contractor for six years prior to starting RCC. He says that he always wanted to own his own company.

“Web and I have a great working relationship,” Rob says. “I can not think of a better person to be partners in business with.”

For more information call: (818) 952-6752. Cc