The first step when considering renovations on your athletic field is to consult with an expert in athletic facility construction. Who are these experts? Certified Field Builders (CFB), as certified by the American Sports Builders Association are the highest qualified individuals in athletic field construction. CFBs can help you design, build and then maintain your field at a pristine level.
The American Sports Builders Association (ASBA) is a national organization of 400 companies recognized as a centralized source of technical information about natural and synthetic fields, running tracks and tennis courts. ASBA works to raise professional standards and to ensure owners receive the highest quality services through a Professional Certification Program, Education Initiatives, Construction Guidelines Publications, and Awards.
Why is a Certified Field Builder important when looking at renovating or constructing your facility?
By having passed a rigorous comprehensive exam on field construction and maintenance, Certified Field Builders have demonstrated the highest level of expertise. CFBS must be well-versed in project planning, project administration, site work, sub-grade, base work, and maintenance. They must have at least three years of experience and at least twenty projects built, before even taking a three-hour comprehensive exam.
A Certified Field Builder can help develop a realistic budget, layout, and then build your facility to meet or exceed national best practices. They are best positioned to solve problems as they arise during construction, and adhere to Certified Builder Standards of Conduct. They are well positioned to walk your facility and provide expertise and solutions for drainage, pre-mature wearing and facility design.
By having specified a Certified Field Builder, you have prevented the average landscaper or a builder, who happens to have a little extra bandwidth, from cutting their teeth on your project. While landscapers may have knowledge of smaller field projects, they are not well-equipped to handle problems that may arise during construction, locate drainage issues, or provide high-performing solutions for your facility. This is why it is important to specify when bidding your athletic facility project that proposers are required to have a CFB on staff and on-site during construction. This prevents having less qualified bidders from offering a lower price commensurate with the quality of their work, which position elected officials to take the lower bid and suffer the consequences.
In summary, the simplest step you can take to improve the odds of constructing a great athletic field or running track is to specify that the contractor performing the work, and the superintendent onsite during the work, be a Certified Field Builder (CFB). The return on this simple investment will be measured over many years to come with a better performing and safer facility with fewer maintenance problems.
Sports Turf Company has been a specialty athletics construction company for 30 years. Sports Turf constructs the finest natural grass and artificial turf fields, tracks and tennis courts. The company has three Certified Field Builders and two Certified Track Builders, as recognized by The American Sports Builders Association (ASBA), making it one of the highest qualified athletics construction companies in the southeast.
