Post-Summer Update: The Shauger Group

By Alexandra Gakos

Summer has wrapped up, fall is here, and The Shauger Group, Inc. has been hard at work throughout it all! Following a busy and active winter filled with many snow events, The Shauger Group has kept the pace going with a full schedule all year long. With a diverse array of service capabilities to offer, The Shauger Group has been focused on a variety of projects in all of its divisions, including those handling construction, emergency response services, condominium maintenance, and landscaping.

Maintenance, Construction, and Emergency Response Work

In the spirit of generosity, The Shauger Group continues to offer the services of one of its employees, a site technician, once per week to West Orange’s Our Lady of Lourdes R. C. Church. The Shauger Group has been donating the handiwork to the parish for years, in order to attend to any minor maintenance concerns that arise. The Shauger Group is also contracted to perform the landscaping and snow removal for the parish throughout the year, as it has done for several years. Its services include mowing, seasonal cleanups, mulching, and plant installation.

At the parish, The Shauger Group has done a variety of parking lot, masonry, sidewalk, drainage, and catch basin repair projects over the years, as well as installed new doors, frames, and hardware at the church’s entrances and interior rooms. The Shauger Group has also repaired the gym floor at the church’s Rooney Center and installed railings.

Earlier this year, The Shauger Group was awarded a two-year sewer main and water main replacement project in East Orange with the East Orange Board of Water Commissioners. During the contract period, The Shauger Group will perform repair and maintenance work on an emergency and as-needed basis. As with all emergency projects, time is of the essence, so The Shauger Group will work to remediate all situations with the fastest response time possible. The Shauger Group's diverse scope of work under the contract will include miscellaneous manhole repair and installation projects, sewer and water piping work, installation of catch basins and pipe connection repairs, masonry repairs, grate installation, and roadwork.

For a shopping plaza in East Orange, The Shauger Group performed parking lot repairs: The Shauger Group re-pointed existing cobblestone curbing and curb joints, as well as installed new ones where needed. Additionally, The Shauger Group restored asphalt for seven pothole locations. Meanwhile, elsewhere in East Orange, The Shauger Group was also awarded a contract to perform fence and landscape improvements at a County of Essex building on Clinton Street in East Orange.

On August 2, The Shauger Group was awarded a two-year Plantwide Roadway Repair Project for the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission. For the duration of the PVSC project, The Shauger Group will repair paved roads, curbs, and building walkways on an as-needed basis. The Shauger Group will be available seven days a week for any on-call or emergency service work that arises and requires The Shauger Group’s attention and expertise.

The Shauger Group has also been busy working with Spiniello Construction on a major project, Jersey City Municipal Utilities Authority’s Phase 3 & 4 Sewer Rehabilitation Project. The Shauger Group has been replacing and installing sewer mains, storm drains, and water mains, demolishing and removing old pipes and replacing them with new ones. Additionally, The Shauger Group has been furnishing and installing new manholes and catch basins, removing existing ones in the process. The Shauger Group’s manhole rehabilitation work has included replacing manhole frames and covers, as well as sealing any designated joints, surface defects, and holes. Also under the project, The Shauger Group has been performing pavement, sidewalk, and concrete curbing restoration work; excavating test pits; and handling a variety of other work, including backfilling, providing stone foundation and sheeting as needed, excavating, sawing pavement surfaces, and doing site preparation and site restoration.

Prepared and ready to step up at a moment’s notice, The Shauger Group has also been on-site for countless emergency response projects, such as broken water main and sewer main projects, over the past several months. Always available 24/7, 365 days a year, The Shauger Group has responded to recent emergencies in multiple counties across New Jersey.

Condominium Work

This year, The Shauger Group renewed a contract to perform maintenance work, and will continue its contract to provide landscaping work, for a West Orange condominium complex. Under the new maintenance contract, which extends through the end of 2020, The Shauger Group will regularly examine the site and communicate with the management company on both preventative and scheduled minor maintenance issues. On-site minor maintenance will include debris pickup; roof and deck maintenance; minor chimney and masonry patch repairs; window caulking; and fixes to siding, trim, windows, doors, and signage. Any major projects outside of the realm of minor maintenance will require proposals before work can commence.

For the same complex, The Shauger Group was also called in on an emergency basis to address a few emergency situations: The Shauger Group addressed storm-related damage on multiple occasions by removing trees and tree limbs, including trees that fell on top of a building and close to the pool area. With the expertise of its landscaping division, The Shauger Group performed plant replacement throughout the condominium complex, while seeding and removing tree stumps at the same time.

For a Mahwah condominium complex, The Shauger Group was brought in to perform emergency sidewalk repairs. Meanwhile, at a condo complex located in Fairfield, The Shauger Group has been removing existing wood decks at each residence and installing brand-new composite decks with vinyl railings in their place. For both standard-sized decks and large ones, the existing deck framing, deck boards, stairs, and concrete footings will be replaced with new ones.

Landscaping

Once again, The Shauger Group is performing landscape maintenance for New Jersey Transit stations. The Shauger Group is working at the following stations on the Morris & Essex Line and Gladstone Branch: Summit, New Providence, Gladstone, Peapack, Basking Ridge, Maplewood, Millburn, Chatham, Convent Station, Morris Plains, Highland Avenue, Morristown, and Mountain Station. Additionally, in May 2018, The Shauger Group helped furnish a chipper crew at Summit and Chatham stations to clean up—and dispose of—tree-related debris.

A continuation from 2017, The Shauger Group is in the midst of a couple of multi-year landscape contracts. Since August 2017, The Shauger Group has been performing landscaping services for the Essex County South Mountain Recreation Complex in West Orange. Under the terms of the contract, The Shauger Group has performed landscape maintenance at several West Orange sites: Treetop Adventure Course; Education Center at the Turtle Back Zoo; Richard J. Codey Ice Arena; Office of Emergency Management; miniGOLF Safari; McLoone’s Boathouse Restaurant; Regatta Playground; Paddle Boat Area and Clipper Picnic Pavilion; and Orange Reservoir and walking path.

Similarly, The Shauger Group was awarded a landscaping contract by the Essex County Department of Public Works for six parks throughout the County of Essex. The contract will extend until 2019, during which time The Shauger Group will be responsible for lawn, garden bed, and leaf maintenance at Belleville Park (Belleville, NJ); Branch Brook Park Extension (Belleville, NJ); Eagle Rock Reservation (West Orange, NJ); Verona Park (Verona, NJ); Grover Cleveland Park (Essex Fells, NJ); and Riker Hill Art Park (Livingston, NJ).

Earlier this year, The Shauger Group started a new multi-year contract to perform landscape maintenance services at the Manor, Pleasantdale Chateau, and Highlawn Pavilion in West Orange. The locations are widely recognized for their stunning appearances, picturesque atmospheres, and excellent fine-dining reputations; in fact, a New York Times review of the Manor even said it was “as close as one can get to perfection in ambiance, service, menu selection and fine food.” Whether The Shauger Group is mowing, edging, pruning, or performing various other landscape maintenance tasks, The Shauger Group will continue to keep the properties beautiful and pristine, maintaining the bright and colorful appearances consistent with the reputations of the scenic locations.

For the last few years, The Shauger Group has had a yearly contract to do landscaping for a chain of rehabilitation facilities. Renewed for the fourth straight year, The Shauger Group’s contract covers the landscaping maintenance concerns at three of the company’s locations. The Shauger Group provides general seasonal cleanups, as well as other landscape maintenance tasks, such as mowing, trimming, edging, fertilizing, treating weeds, and pruning. For the company’s Chester location, The Shauger Group’s spring landscape improvements included the installation of vinca. The Shauger Group also performed special projects for the other locations, including excavating test pits to locate water service, performing an emergency leak repair at the pharmacy in one of the facilities, and tending to a parking lot drain project.

For West Orange’s Essex Green Shopping Center, The Shauger Group is responsible for maintaining the existing landscape and providing weekly maintenance until the end of November. The Shauger Group will provide cleanups, mulching, pruning, grass cutting, and turf maintenance. For a spring flower project at the site, The Shauger Group planted begonias and vinca in planting beds and entrances. A few miles down the road, at the Orange Elks, The Shauger Group is taking care of similar landscape maintenance tasks, such as planting flowers, controlling weeds and insects, doing seasonal cleanups, mulching, pruning, and mowing.

For the Newark Housing Authority, The Shauger Group is currently under a yearly contract to provide landscape and lawn maintenance. It covers spring cleaning in the central, north, south, and west districts of Newark. The Shauger Group has also performed other work for Newark Housing Authority this year, including emergency jobs to clean up downed trees and tree limbs.

The Shauger Group performed lawn repairs for a Newark public school this spring to fix the school’s damaged front lawn. The Shauger Group is also in charge of all landscape-related tasks for the school under its landscape maintenance contract; the contract also covers irrigation work, including pressurizing the system for the season and checking for leaks.

Always putting the needs of its clients first, The Shauger Group approaches every project with the goal of providing high-quality service, both on time and on budget. The Shauger Group is always grateful to work on a wide array of projects, which serve to benefit communities and people across New Jersey!