Somersett Master-Planned Community

Q&D worked closely alongside the development team to plan, estimate and then perform all grading and infrastructure for this planned community with more than 2,600 home sites, an 18-hole golf course, 9-hole executive golf course and a retail center. Work included roadways, drainage and utilities, mass grading, and home site grading.

In building the road into the community, which has a bowl-like topography, Q&D cut through 100-foot tall sections of solid rock. This road cut required more than 500,000 cubic yards of blasting. Q&D retrofitted a piece of equipment designed for mining to speed excavation of blasted materials. Q&D also innovated by blending the Talus Method of rip-rapping with Great Basin native landscaping materials. Q&D also innovated by rough cutting and power spraying the road to maintain the community’s raw beauty. Careful planning has enabled Q&D to balance the site and utilize all rocks in landscaping and rockery walls. Q&D used several strategies to maintain an excellent safety record despite the site’s many risks: a high-pressure 500-PSI petroleum line only 5 feet deep, a fiber optics line, a 1,000,000-volt power line, and dozens of pieces of big yellow iron working a hilly site. To reduce the impact of construction on the environment, Q&D cut down on street traffic and fuel consumption for trucking by pumping water from on-site wells for dust control, and used primarily Caterpillar pulls that enable us to move more water with less fuel and fewer air particulates. Q&D began providing preconstruction services four years before breaking ground including budgeting, value engineering, and constructability review.