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Louisville, Kentucky

Building & Earth Sciences is proud to serve Kentucky and Indiana through our Louisville office, led by Malcolm Barrett, P.E., P.G., a University of Louisville graduate with 35 years of professional experience. The Louisville office provides construction testing and special inspections, geotechnical engineering and environmental consulting services. Licensed in both Indiana and Kentucky, Mr. Barrett and the Building & Earth team provide these services throughout our operating area.

Our Louisville team has the extensive geologic and geotechnical engineering practical knowledge necessary to provide well-informed, state-of-the-art, and cost-effective solutions for your projects. Supporting our geotechnical engineering service, Building & Earth provides subsurface exploration through our in-house geotechnical drilling operations, geophysical exploration, including REMi, one- and two-dimensional seismic refraction, and ground-penetrating radar. We are also supported by a full-service geotechnical laboratory.

Building & Earth construction materials engineering services provided through our Louisville office address all Kentucky, Indiana and IBC special inspections requirements, in addition to typically required construction materials testing services. Our field testing services are provided via highly competent personnel who are fully trained and certified under ACI, IBC NICET, AWS, ASNT and other governing bodies. Building & Earth construction testing services address earthworks, reinforced concrete, structural steel, light gauge framing, roofing, and more. Additionally, we provide floor flatness testing, dynamic pile-driving analysis, thermal imaging, and cross-hole seismic inspection of built earth structures.

We would love to work with you—our team of professional engineers and CMT experts look forward to learning how we can help you build Kentucky and Indiana. Visit our Services page to learn more about the solutions we provide, and consider partnering with us—fill out our simple Request a Proposal form today.

What Louisville Has to Offer

Interested in pursuing career opportunities with Building & Earth’s Louisville location?
You’ve made the right choice! Kentucky’s Derby City is rich in heritage and local culture. Louisville was recently named one of the “10 Best New Food Cities” in America, and for good reason—the city boasts a wide variety of eateries and craft cocktail bars. Many famous foods originate from Louisville, too, such as Derby Pie and the Kentucky Hot Brown.

Attractions such as the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, the Urban Bourbon Experience, and Churchill Downs draw thousands of visitors each year, but the city isn’t just made for visiting. Louisville holds spots on the U.S. News’s “Best Places to Live” and “Best Places to Retire” lists. The city has a metro population of 1,269,550 and is Kentucky’s largest city. Additionally, Louisville is also the home to the Cardinals of the University of Louisville, a well-respected institution of higher education offering a variety of courses of study.

Want to explore a career with Building & Earth in Louisville? See Louisville job openings on our Careers page. Click the links below to find out why Louisville could be your next home:

What We Do

Construction Materials Testing

Building & Earth provides a full range construction materials testing (CMT) services including Laboratory and Field Testing, Soil Testing, Asphalt Testing and Concrete Testing.

Field Testing

  • Compaction and Moisture Testing of Soil and Base
  • Foundation Observations
  • Concrete testing including Slump, Air Content, Compressive strength
  • Masonry Testing and Observation Services
  • Asphalt Testing Services

Soil Testing

  • Modified & Standard Proctor
  • Swell Testing of Plastic Soils
  • Classification Tests (Gradation/Atterberg Limit Tests)
  • California Bearing Ratio
  • Limerock Bearing Ratio

Asphalt Testing

  • Superpave Mix Evaluation
  • Stability & Flow
  • Marshall Density
  • Bulk Specific Gravity
  • Extraction/Gradation

Concrete Testing

  • Compressive Strength
  • Flexural Strength
  • Unit Weight
  • Mix Design
  • Splitting Tensile Test

Drilling and Coring Services

Our drilling and coring services team has vast knowledge of testing and evaluating subsurface conditions and materials.

  • Split Spoon and Shelby Tube Sampling
  • Rock Coring
  • Concrete Coring
  • Mineral Investigation

  • Borrow Pit Investigation
  • Well Monitoring
  • All-Terrain Drilling Capabilities

Environmental Services

To avoid the cost and stress of dealing with hazardous materials Building & Earth provides Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Assessments (ESA) as well as lead and asbestos surveys.

  • Geological Investigations
  • Site Selection Evaluation Studies

  • Phase I ESA
  • Phase II ESA
  • ESAs to comply with National Environmental Policy Act

Geotechnical Engineering Services

Our professional geotechnical engineers possess significant experience with the unique subsurface geological conditions of each region we service.

  • Geotechnical engineering
  • Geotechnical consulting
  • Geotechnical Engineers staffing
  • Subsurface exploration
  • Geophysical seismic site classification
  • Dynamic soils properties (seismic and cyclical)
  • Ground penetrating radar (GPR) studies
  • Site excavation planning including dewatering design

  • Engineering geology/geologic studies
  • Mechanically-stabilized earth fill design
  • Sinkhole exploration and remediation recommendations
  • Impoundment liner design
  • Field permeability testing
  • Field soil strength testing
  • Geotechnical instrumentation and monitoring

Inspection Services

We offer a broad array of special inspection services including: structured steel inspections, masonry inspections, coatings inspections, roofing inspections, pavement inspections and failure investigation and analysis.

Structural Steel Inspections

  • Certified Welding Inspectors
  • Audit of plant and field procedures to determine conformance
  • Destructive and nondestructive testing
  • Welder and procedure qualification
  • Prepare and evaluate welding procedures

Masonry Inspections

  • Reinforcing steel observation
  • Preparing and testing mortar and grout specimens
  • Concrete block, brick and masonry prism testing
  • Observation of conformance with construction documents
  • Absorption and Efflorescence

Coatings Inspections

  • Fireproofing-thickness, density, adhesion/cohesion
  • Intumescent Paint
  • Paint – wet and dry film thickness

Roofing Inspections

  • Roofing Inspectors
  • Evaluation of roofing materials and specifications
  • Application and conformance monitoring

Pavement Inspections

  • Pavement management services
  • Pavement Condition Surveys and tests for functional and structural distress

Failure Investigation and Analysis

  • Evaluate distress in architectural and structural materials
  • Provide litigation support and expert services

Special Services

  • Seismic Site Classification utilizing shear wave analysis (Re-Mi)
  • Non-invasive studies utililizing StructureScan/UtilityScan ground penetrating Radar (GPR)
  • Floor Flatness Profiling utilizing FACE Dipstick Device
  • Thermal Image Scanning utilizing FLIR
  • Slip Resistance Testing
  • Concrete Floor Gloss Testing (Static Coefficient of Friction)
  • Condition Survey of Structures

Featured Project

Kentucky Locks - Quality Assurance Testing

Kentucky Locks

Location: Grand Rivers, KY
Project Value: N/A
Project Scope: Building & Earth is providing quality assurance testing for the Tennessee Valley Authority’s project to build a second, larger lock to facilitate boat and barge traffic on the Kentucky Dam in Grand Rivers, Kentucky.