You want someone to design and build a residential dock or a concrete seawall in the Tampa area so the first thing you do is fire up Google search and start typing.
There are a few things you notice right away if you’re want to build a residential seawall in particular, but also a saltwater dock for your home:
- There aren’t too many choices that are actually IN the Tampa Bay area
- Yellow Pages (YP) still exists on-line. Who knew?
- The actual professional local builders that are listed have “Marine Contractor” somewhere on their resume
This particular use of the word Marine refers to the application in this case, not the military personnel.
Tampa Marine Contractor Definition
If being a General Contractor is like being a General Practitioner (Doctor), then being a Marine Contractor is like being a Specialist. Like a Cardiologist or Surgeon.
You have to be a Doctor first before you can be a Specialist.
You have to be a licensed Contractor in Florida first before you can be what most people call a “Marine Contractor”.
So all of the necessary skills, tests and requirements for being a building contractor must be fulfilled. Then you get wet.
And there’s a lot more to know!
[Tampa Dock & Seawall is, of course, is a business built around a licensed and insured Contractor in the State of Florida]
So a Marine Contractor CAN build almost anything, but chooses to focus on things like:
- Building Concrete Seawalls
- Residential and Commercial Seawalls
- Seawall Design
- Commercial Docks
- Residential Docks
- Dock Repair
- Seawall Repair
- Deck Design
- Seawall Design and Construction
Dock Building and Seawall Building Equipment
It’s not just knowledge and focus that sets a Marine Contractor apart from a home-building contractor. You also have to have a few pieces of special equipment to complete the job properly.
The Barge – [NOT 1985 “Rhythm of the Night” singer DeBarge] Not the most attractive tool in the dock and seawall business, but arguably the most useful.
A Tampa Dock’s barge is the platform our team uses to do their work. Very little of the construction process for a dock, or doing dock repair, happens from the shoreline. So the barge ends up being both our construction trailer and our work platform.
*A new barge was added to the Tampa Dock fleet in 2019!
Drop Hammer – you’ll definitely recognize the drop hammer when you see it. It’s a large metal cylinder that is used to drive pilings in. A drop hammer is often called a “pile driver”.
When you have a dock built in Tampa Bay, that drop hammer is used to drive the poles into the ground underwater.
You’ve probably seen them doing something similar during highway construction. Picture those huge metal towers in the construction zone and the rhythmic “clang” as they drive a support pole into the ground.
It’s the same principal when we build your dock.
Mini-Excavator – these are the commercial excavators designed to do the shore side work of installing a seawall.
Vibratory Hammer – A “vibratory hammer” is a tool used to drive piles in or out of the ground for building marine docks, bridges, buildings, roads, rail, walls, and other types of foundations. Vibratory hammers can drive pilings very quickly, extract old pilings out of the ground, and can be used underwater. The are also lightweight, protect the environment (especially animal life), can be used in close proximity to residential areas without noise complaints.
Tampa Dock and Seawall – Marine Contractor
As you can see, there’s a lot that goes in to becoming a marine contractor. A professional that repairs and installs docks and seawalls.
Here at Tampa Dock, we make sure that our team-members are licensed, insured and certified to do just that.
Make sure you choose a marine contractor to build and maintain your property where it meets the water.
Contact Tampa Dock & Seawall today to get started.