Strong Foundations

Strong Foundations

Ray and Susan Woolever serve the Gulf Coast in filling

sinkholes and developing quality standards for the practice.

Former electrician and foundry worker Ray Woolever started a sinkhole-filling business in 1989 in Brooksville with his father-in-law and wife, Susan.

He didn't know that 20 years later, L.R.E. Ground Services Inc. would have more than 100 employees, 15 work crews and 40 trucks doing that work from Naples to Gainesville and that his company would work to set quality standards for the industry.

"It was the right niche," says Ray Woolever, 54, the chief executive officer and president.

Sinkholes are gaps in the soil caused by limestone and the aquifer, the underground source of Florida's drinking water, below it. Limestone keeps sand out of the aquifer. Sometimes tiny cracks develop in the limestone. Sands filters through. The cracks grow bigger and bigger, and that affects the ground above.

Woolever's wife, who used to work for a Tampa engineering firm, actually knew more about the sinkhole phenomenon than Woolever did.

But Woolever, who worked as the quality control manager for a Tampa steel foundry, saw the opportunity to start his own firm.

Most sinkholes on the Gulf Coast are in Pasco County. Most Florida lakes were sinkholes at one time.

L.R.E. actually started as Lar-Ray's Excavating Service. The company did a variety of ground work, from site development to backhoe services. But as the sinkhole work grew, Woolever transitioned the firm to just sinkhole work in 1990 and changed its name in 1992.

Business has been steady, and L.R.E. has added new equipment and designed its own equipment over the years. About 90% of its business is with insurance companies.

In 2008, L.R.E. billed about $16 million in business, up from $14 million in 2007 and $13 million in 2006. It has pumped profits back into the business and added crews.

Both residential and commercial properties get sinkholes.

The usual scenario is that a homeowner will see a crack in their wall and call their insurance company. The insurance company sends an engineer to evaluate the cracks. They do standard penetration tests, drilling into the ground and classifying soils to find out what is causing the settlement.

L.R.E.'s repair method is called compaction grouting. It involves pushing 25 to 35 metal pipes, each 5 feet long and 3 inches wide, into the ground about eight to 12 feet apart, around a house and pumping a special mix of concrete into the limestone underneath the home. The process takes about seven to 10 days.

That fills in the sinkhole, seals the limestone, fills any voids above the limestone and compacts the soil.

Besides doing its own work, Woolever and L.R.E. have been active in establishing standards for the industry. Over the years, more companies have gotten into the sinkhole business - some of them not as qualified.

"We've got some aluminum screen porch companies trying to go into the sinkhole business," Woolever says.

Woolever is the founding member of FAS3, the Florida Association for Sinkhole Stabilization Specialists. Its members include engineers and geologists. Its goal is to set standards for conduct in the industry through workshops and business practices. He started it about two years ago.

His biggest job: In Woodland Waters, in Hernando County, L.R.E. pumped more than 1,200 cubic yards or 120 concrete trucks full of concrete, below a home.

L.R.E.'s biggest challenge has been keeping up with growth. Other than constant competition from about a dozen other sinkhole companies in Florida, LRE is sometimes challenged in finding and training competent employees in this specialized field. The company has also expanded to include pre-construction soil stabilization and underpinning work for developers.

- Dave Szymanski