Who does the soil proctor tests? The geotechnical engineer, or the construction materials tester?

[randymel]

My current company provides geotechnical engineering recommendations and laboratory soils testing, but we do not have any field technicians or field testing equipment. In the past, I have worked at places that provide both. Is it up to the geotechnical engineer to run the proctor analysis on the soil, or is that up to whomever my client hires to do the construction materials testing?

 

[cvg]

It sounds like you are doing only design phase work. Most geotechs do both design and construction. You don't always need proctor testing in the design phase, mostly just construction. Many projects have a Quality Control (QC) and Quality Assurance (QA) lab both running tests during construction. The QC lab is usually hired by the contractor. The QA lab is hired by the owner and does acceptance testing. Both labs would have field technicians sampling and testing the fill material and the compaction.

 

[darthsoilsguy2]

CMT definitely do lab proctors and preferably supplement with field proctors. No proctor testing or only field proctors provides inaccurate results and is a lawyer layup for construction litigation.

Geotech designers should. it is such a cheap test to perform and it informs the GE and others about the suitability of on-site soils.

 

[oldestguy]

Your firm apparently does the first phase of the job, in the design part. There may be a delay before construction actually starts, so at least it would be helpful that the testing firm personnel have a copy of your report, which might include info on what to look for in OKing the bearing capacity. Even within the same company I have seen a "waterproof wall" between design folks and the testing group. Having two different firms adds to the troubles that can come up during construction.