The partners discuss SWC's project in a good-natured manner that is typical of seasoned professionals who remain undaunted in the face of a challenge. Ask about how work is progressing on the Canada Line, for example, and MacCara replies, "Well, the wettest winter on record didn't exactly help when it came to water accumulating in the trench. But they pumped it out and work proceeded smoothly." The "trench" he refers to is not a typical urban dig, but a massive channel stretching from West 41st to West 65th Avenues in Vancouver.
Similarly, SWC's two-year stint excavating and site prepping for the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre expansion is described by Froese in an almost off-hand manner: "We were excavating in the tidal foreshore of Coal Harbour that required lowering the ground by an additional three metres around the piles upon which the Centre will sit."
Most of the work took place at night during low tide and included placing a riprap rock cover over the five-hectare site to control erosion, and installing saltwater intake lines, chilled water lines, and a network of bioswales to support marine life.
As for the five-acre Sute Brook site, all three partners smile when Froese remarks, "The area was total marshland, just saturated clays, silts and water. Over the years numerous developers had looked at the site and said it couldn't be developed economically. Through the use of shoring techniques new to the region, along with utilizing ocean-dumping scows for the disposal of the excavation material, the project was successfully completed."
While each of the partners already had considerable engineering prowess when they joined SWC, they frequently mention the four Geransky brothers in conversation and hold them in fond regard.
"Their father Phil made dug-outs for water and Lloyd, Wes, Cliff, and Richard all had performed brush clearing and other labour intensive tasks on the family farm," says Ronning. "They were old-school labourers who worked under tough conditions, nothing like what youngsters are exposed to today. And I think the accompanying mindset that this created added a great deal to the kind of company Southwest was to become."
Although SWC's initial success was based partially on the skill with which the Geranskys operated their D6 and 955, the company eventually helped change the excavation market by being one of the first firms to use excavators instead of track loaders on job sites. "That occurred in the 1970s during a period of rapid development, but by contrast, the early 1980s was a disaster because of all the work for engineers in B.C. dried up," recalls Ronning, who earned his engineering degree in 1980 and joined SWC in 1985.
SWC survived the lean years thanks to the Geransky's securing grading and utilities work in Prince Rupert on the grain and coal terminals sites and then on the Coquihalla Highway, a $9 million multi-year job that Ronning regards with considerable reverence.