Bringing it Home

On neighboring projects, a pair of Flagstaff contractors ramp up efficiency to create much-needed affordable housing.

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Surrounded by lush pine forests, majestic views and unspoiled land that extends as far as the eye can see, it’s tough to imagine the city of Flagstaff, Arizona having a housing crisis. But the beauty of those natural surroundings has lured tourists who, enamored of the area, have been buying homes, driving up their cost. How serious is the situation? The median home price for a single-family house in Flagstaff is roughly 40% higher than the statewide average, resulting in a drastic need for affordable housing in the Flagstaff area. Regional developers and local branches of national organizations have been answering that call with developments designed to get people back into home ownership. Working on a pair of such projects, which demand efficiency to keep costs down, local contractors Mountain High Excavating and 108 Excavating have done so through use of a small — but invaluable — equipment/control solution.

The hills are alive with the sound of progress.

A Great Fit

The need for efficiency cited above was an ideal fit for Mountain High Excavating as it began site work for “Sky Cottages at Timber Sky,” a 23-acre development consisting of 210 eco-friendly, affordable, apartment homes. Established some 22 years ago, Mountain High has, over time, established itself as a specialist in site prep throughout the area. According to Jake Apfel, one of the company’s superintendents, their size belies the breadth of their expertise.


“We employ about 50 people but have done some sizeable projects including the High Country Conference Center, here in Flagstaff,” he said. “Because we have a proven level of expertise in so many facets of site work, we were a perfect fit for the work at Sky Cottages.”

 

At that job, Mountain High was responsible for all the site/civil work, which entailed the wet/dry utilities, all the grading, paving and all the concrete. “We essentially did everything but the actual house pads and the internal work on each structure,” said Apfel. 

 

"Immediately, that huge challenge was made simple.”

– Jake Apfel

Smaller is the Answer

With each structure measuring roughly 1200 sq. ft. in size, some of the demands at Sky Cottages differed greatly from those Mountain High faces on a regular basis. While much of the large-scale grading, for example, could be done using their Cat 140M equipped with a Topcon MC-Max Grader solution, similar work for each cottage demanded an equipment downsizing.

 

“About a year ago, knowing we would be doing this job, we recognized that we needed an alternative approach,” said Apfel. “The challenges were obvious from the start, the number of different elevations for each cottage, for example. So, working through RDO, our equipment dealer, we purchased a SharpGrade B87 HD box blade attachment for our Cat 990 compact track loader and control it using Topcon MC-Mobile. Immediately, that huge challenge was made simple.”

The MC-Mobile solution he cited, optimizes a machine — in this case, Mountain High’s track loader — providing the positioning and control needed for the job.  While the solution is available for use with LPS, Apfel said they instead opted for use with the GPS they already own.

“We’ve been using a Topcon HiPer GPS base and rover for about three years now, both as a survey tool and for machine control on our large Cat grader,” he said. “We already knew how much it’s streamlined our workflow, so it made sense to go that route with the SharpGrade unit as well. Given the varied elevations throughout this site, without MC-Mobile, we’d need two guys — an operator and a grade checker on the ground constantly verifying where we are at. Now, it’s a one-man operation, it’s fast — easily 50% faster — it’s accurate, and it’s efficient. Everything we need to keep costs down on this job.”

"Given the varied elevations throughout this site, without MC-Mobile, we’d need two guys — an operator and a grade checker on the ground constantly verifying where we are at. Now, it’s a one-man operation, it’s fast — easily 50% faster — it’s accurate, and it’s efficient. Everything we need to keep costs down on this job.”

– Jake Apfel

Support Loyalty

Both Mountain High Excavating and 108 Excavating rely upon the Phoenix branch of RDO Equipment for their Topcon and SharpGrade support, and value the service they receive.

“RDO, and particularly Rob Binder (construction technology account manager), are a critical part of the equation for us,” said Mountain High’s Apfel. “Rob builds our digital models for us and is such a part of our team that we followed him to RDO from his previous employer. RDO is always there for us and gives us the response times we need to keep productive. Their support has been outstanding.”

More Next Door

Immediately to the west of Sky Cottages is another specialty housing project in its closing stages. There, 108 Excavating, also Flagstaff-based, is doing site work for a series of mini-homes called “Habitat for Humanity, Timber Sky.” When complete, it will provide housing for 40 families in a unique payment agreement that paves the way for full-time home ownership elsewhere in Flagstaff.

“They broke ground for this 3.3-acre development in July of 2024,” said Colton Goode, 108’ Excavating’s project manager. “This is a very unique site, in that each home would fit the description of a ‘tiny house’ with a footprint of 483 sq. ft. that bumps up to 503 sq. ft. when the bedroom/loft is factored in. But they are very comfortable units and will play a vital role in addressing the crunch for affordable housing in this area.”

When 108 first came onsite and began mass grading, they encountered so much rock that they had to blast for roadways and utility paths. Seeing an opportunity where others might see a problem, they brought a crusher onsite, crushed the rock and stockpiled it for later use as a city-spec AB subbase. “Doing so, we minimized the need to import or export any subbase material,” said Goode.

In Tight Spots

Obviously, given the site’s small size, operating space at Timber Sky was at a premium, making the size and capability of their Case TV 450B — also equipped with a SharpGrade B87 HD blade and the MC-Mobile solution — a boon to productivity. Any contractor will readily say that, as the paving date approaches, the stress factor onsite rises with a host of trades rushing to get jobs done prior to that date. Timber Sky was no exception. According to Billy Todd, 108’s owner, a series of onsite parking lots were a perfect case in point.

 

“We used the CTL with MC-Mobile alongside our Case 865B motor grader to lay down the AB subbase and fine grade for paving,” he said. “There was a serious time crunch on that parking lot — we had two days to lay material down, then fine grade and compact it prior to paving. In many cases, we were grading up against curbs that were poured the same day. So to be able cut the time needed to get road base down — and do so by a pretty sizeable factor — is huge.”  

Because they rely heavily on GPS for their other machine controlled equipment, 108 Excavating went with a GPS-based solution for the small machine as well. “In that way, we just load the job into the machine and get running within minutes,” said Todd. “And we know we can always connect to our Topcon layout navigator and use it with LPS if needed.”

Todd sees their small machine making a big contribution well after the Timber Sky project is done. “This machine will excel on projects that have long given us headaches. For example, because of city regulations, most parking lots have multiple landscape islands that make it tough for a conventional size motor-grader to maneuver and still maintain grade. This machine is super agile and, with MC-Mobile controlling it, holds grade exceptionally well.”

Mountain High expects to be working on and off at the Sky Cottages project for the next year, while the Habitat units which have been 108 Excavating’s focus, will be move-in ready by the end of 2025. Both projects, by nature of the time-saving, highly efficient, grading technology employed on them, will have kept costs down, helping make affordable housing in the Flagstaff area, once again, a reality.