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The Danbro Difference & The IDEAL Advantage:
Helping Installers Win Projects
While Maintaining Margins
For marketing slogans to be effective, they must portray an accurate reality. If GEICO can’t save you 15% or more on car insurance, they shouldn’t say it. The truth will get out! At Danbro, we rely on two slogans to convey our simple truth to our installers and would-be customers. “The Danbro Difference” is our commitment to provide the service and support to our partners to help them win jobs and complete them successfully. Danbro was hatched from a contracting hen, D’Angelo Brothers, and it is that experience and background that drives our actions in support of our customers. One of our customers from Boston summed it up nicely in a July 13th email: “You have a great staff and are very helpful because of your great support … Thanks for the help over the past couple of years. I was nervous when Ideal told us about working with you guys, but it is working out great.”
Which brings us to our other slogan “The IDEAL Advantage”. We have represented two manufacturers in our 25+ years as helical distributors and have been fortunate with both relationships. A superior product with all the necessary certifications and evaluation (ICC, ISO 9001 etc.) allays professional and owner concerns. The IDEAL Group brings some additional 
advantages to the table as it relates to high capacity product ratings and a large, diverse inventory. In addition, they are customer/project-focused and nimble enough to produce special orders that help our Installers compete, as illustrated by a couple of recent jobs.
A five-story residential apartment building on the water in Quincy, MA required a deep foundation for the WOH soils to 40 feet. An 8” helical pipe pile was overkill for the 80-kip load, but necessary for lateral in the poor soils. However, the cost was prohibitive, and our installer was in danger of losing the job. Danbro suggested a 3 ½” pipe pile with a 10” grout column to handle the capacity while alleviating lateral concerns. 
Since it was their first Grouted Helical Micropile and a load test was required, Danbro’s Nick Gill provided on-site training and support to the installer. IDEAL chipped in by custom fabricating the leads and extensions with the displacement plates welded directly to the pipe. This eliminated a lot of production down time and speeded the installation, further enhancing the economic viability of this pile system. Click here for additional project information
A manufacturer in Maine was retrofitting a former warehouse to convert it into their new corporate headquarters. H-piles were specified both inside and outside the structure but were problematic in the interior due to vibration and overhead concerns. Helicals were deemed a better alternative, but raised some concerns with
inconsistent soils overlaying glacial till. IDEAL valued engineered the job and custom fabricated a 5.5” pipe pile with J-teeth welded to the base of the lead section to help cut through some dense soil layers and ultimately bite into the till layer. The installation contractor has extensive experience with helicals and soil conditions in New England and upstate New York. They immediately recognized an innovation that works for them and have since used this IDEAL “specialty” pile on two other occasions. Click here for additional project information
“I think one of the things that definitely sets us apart and that all of our customers benefit from, is that despite our exponential growth, we have remained a family business,” explained Glenn Stroyer of the IDEAL Group. “With the family dynamic comes an energy, a level of buy-in, and dedication, that is hard to come by,” he continued. “It doesn’t matter how big the order is. If a job isn’t going right, somebody will jump in a car and drive to NYC or take the next flight out to Texas. If production is being hit hard, we’re happy to change out of our office clothes after work, grab our welding masks and few cases of Redbull, and do a night shift. We don’t have a corporate hierarchy, and everybody is in it together!” Glenn concluded.
Contracting is a tough, competitive business. Anything you can do to get an edge and help the owner, GC or developer succeed will win friends, influence professionals, and establish yourself as a “can do/go to” contractor. These two jobs are examples of how Danbro, and our supply partner, IDEAL, will go the extra mile to help our customers win projects and successfully complete them with outside-the-box thinking and technical innovation.
by Pat Haffert
Danbro Vice President
August, 2020
