Key members of American Pile and Foundation’s team (from left to right): Drilling Manager Robert “BJ” Haegele, Vice President Edward Hardina, 
and President Gaby Antoun.

Work on the new Harrison, N.J., mass transit rail station required installing 52 caissons with a low headroom drill rig.

All of Gabriel “Gaby” Antoun’s work gets buried—literally. Unseen above ground. In a way, forgotten. And he’s OK with it. He knows that once it’s done and done right, the precise yet hidden strength of the work is the true measure of 
his success.

Antoun oversees American Pile and Foundation, LLC, one of the few companies that performs all aspects of deep foundation preparation. The Somerville, N.J.-based firm shows up long before most other subcontractors or trades at a construction job site to pound long piles deep into the earth (sometimes up to two-thirds of the length of a football field) to anchor and stabilize future buildings, bridges and other structures.

American Pile and Foundation’s services span the range of foundation needs: pile driving, drilling caissons and mini piles, sheeting and support of excavation, and load testing. It does more than field work, too, by providing engineering and design capabilities.

Despite producing results that few will ever observe, Antoun hasn’t eluded attention entirely. Now serving his second year as President, he has transformed the four-year-old business into one of the premier pile driving and drilling specialty contractors serving New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina and Washington, D.C.

How? He concentrated on one aspect of the company at a time, using well-honed project management skills to bring about incremental improvements.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

It was Antoun’s father who introduced him to the world of construction. Born and raised in Lebanon, the young boy admired his father’s abilities in stone masonry and carpentry, working with him on holidays and during the summer. By the time Antoun came to the U.S. to attend college in the late ‘70s, he was skilled enough to land a job constructing residential buildings. His experience complemented his attainment of a master’s degree in civil engineering from California Polytechnic State University.

Antoun has spent most of his life in the construction industry—33 years, to be exact. His career began on the west coast, but soon he moved to New York where he worked his way up to being the Vice President of Operations for a large New Jersey contracting company. He was 
instrumental in leading that firm to work with the company he would eventually head: American Pile and Foundation. Nelson Ferreira, Principal Owner of Ferreira Construction, started American Pile and Foundation in 2013. The groundwork was laid for big opportunities in the northeast because of the principal’s minority status, not to mention the company’s approvals to operate in New York’s and New Jersey’s major cities with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and also public utility companies and the New York City School Construction Authority.

“Most of the time we’re the one that the client calls first, so we have to be ready to mobilize immediately.” Gaby Antoun, President, American Pile and Foundation, LLC

Antoun was named American Pile and Foundation’s President at the beginning of 2016. He was a good match because throughout his career he has focused on civil infrastructure projects for public agencies. He also has extensive experience in project management and has successfully delivered major civil infrastructure projects on time, within budget, and with adherence to safety and quality goals. His duties as President include dealing with the various collective bargaining alliances for labor forces and their corresponding union organizations.

LEADERSHIP RUNS DEEP

Today, American Pile and Foundation provides service in all facets of foundation construction, including pile driving, auger cast piles, helical piles, drilled mini piles, sheeting and shoring, cofferdams, bulkheads, tie down anchors, caissons and drilled tiebacks. Its fleet includes hydraulic pile driving rigs, drill rigs, cranes, hammers of every size, excavators and loaders.

“We provide our customers with both innovative and economical foundation design and construction 
solutions,” Antoun says. “Plus, we have enough equipment—over 300 units—to keep 20 jobs going at one time.”

The company performed approximately $80 million of work in 2016. Before Antoun came on board, the average figure was just at $32.6 million per year.

One recent project was a new $600 million power plant in Sewaren, N.J., for PSE&G (Public Service Electric & Gas Co.), part of upgrades to the 
region’s infrastructure after Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Another is the 
$270 million replacement of a Harrison, N.J., mass transit rail station for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which required a low headroom drill rig due to the complex staging area. The company also is working on the new $350 million, 14,000-seat Louis Armstrong Stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, N.Y., which will open in time for the 2018 U.S. Open.

LEVELS OF ACCOMPLISHMENT

Once at the helm of American Pile and Foundation, Antoun focused on bettering the business one section at a time. He set his sights on the estimating department right away, realizing that a deep foundation contractor had to get the costs accurate first. Then, he worked with the engineering and management areas. Together, these areas—and the 100 employees that accomplish the work—could ensure a fast start on projects as well as on-time and on-budget completions.

“We have in-house evaluation teams to estimate jobs; they consider 
creative ways of doing jobs faster and on time for the developers and owners,” Antoun says. “We also look at geology with our experienced in-house geological 
engineers. We then work with developers or owners to make recommendations and, with the help of the design team, explore different methodologies for a more 
economical result.”

The company’s fleet complements its quick-start requirements. Its equipment includes six Junttan hydraulic pile driving rigs, a Bauer rig, a Mait rig and various Klemm and Casagrande rigs. It has various conventional and hydraulic cranes and also a large fleet of excavators and loaders.

“Most of the time we’re the one that the client calls first, so we have to be ready to mobilize immediately,” Antoun says.

Such an immediate and yet specialized approach puts the company in good standing with contractors. The $62.5 million, 100,000-square-foot Rutgers University-Camden Nursing and Science Building is one such example.

“We had a very tight schedule, but the firm did everything that was asked and more … allowing us to start cast-in-place concrete foundations ahead of schedule,” says Mike Tillou with Hunter Roberts Construction Group, Philadelphia, the general contractor on the project.

American Pile and Foundation also maintains good relations with regulatory agencies to ensure quality and to speed up work. Additionally, the company makes safety a top priority, evidenced by its Experience Modification rate (EMR) safety ratings of .82 in New York and .65 in New Jersey.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Antoun still has many goals for the company and plans to continue his incremental work to achieve them. He wants American Pile and Foundation to be ready for the massive infrastructure repair work that will soon hit nationwide. He knows that areas related to utilities, environmental 
sustainability and transportation are growing and he wants his team to be a part of that growth.

Much of this new business activity may take another five to 10 years to materialize. That gives the pile driving and drilling contractor a chance to get ready for possible growth. Antoun’s engineering staff is already licensed to work in 11 states, plus Washington, D.C. He wants to expand further and provide more estimating work in other states, hoping this effort will open doors of 
opportunity throughout the east coast.

For Antoun, a company that specializes in what’s below the surface has sky-high potential. “It’s our intention for American Pile and Foundation to become a national pile and foundation company in time,” he says.