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After drilling 32 piles and excavating the basement, Ekedal Concrete poured a waste slab, then installed the waterproofing membrane and a cover slab before installing the rebar and pouring the mat slab. "The reason we sandwiched the waterproofing was to protect it from being punctured from the rebar placement," says Vice President Ryan Ekedal.

But the sea wasn't the only location challenge. Since this house was in a residential neighborhood, next to other high-end homes and the ocean, the contractor had to ensure structural integrity of the surrounding properties along with being conscientious of the neighbors. They had to maintain strict scheduling of pours and material drops because there was no room on site for storage. The tight quarters also restricted the construction of poured-in-place walls, leading Ekedal Concrete to form shotcrete walls instead.

Ekedal Concrete's winning project in the over 5,000 square feet category was the Villa Del Lago Residence in Newport Coast, Calif. This home, at 23,557 square feet, required 1,700 yards of concrete, 297,000 pounds of steel and required 500 pages of detail sheets for the deck and walls. The project took seven months to complete.

The contractor's job consisted of pouring the basement foundation and walls as well as the structural deck above it, which was designed with a camber to compensate for the massive house which sits above it. To make the project more challenging, it featured about 60 corners and angles, Ryan Ekedal says.

Other details of the project included battered basement walls, which at some points went from 16 to 10 inches. The heavy steel beams used in the structural deck required the use of different mix designs in order to get the concrete between all the steel, which consisted of spacing at 4 inches on center, Ekedal says.