L&R Developers Limited
Civil Engineering in Jamaica
Roads, drainage, culverts and retaining structures designed for the rain this island actually gets. We survey it, design it and build it, so the levels on the drawing are the levels on the ground.
Sized for real storms
Drainage designed for storm intensity, not an average shower.
Surveyed first
Levels taken before anything is designed or priced.
Recorded before cover
Compaction and steel photographed before they disappear.
Free first visit
We walk the site and quote at no cost.
The service
The work that decides whether everything else survives
Almost every building failure we get called out to in Jamaica turns out to be a water problem. Water that was never given anywhere to go, or a slope that was cut without being held back. Civil works are the part of a project nobody photographs, and the part that decides how long the rest of it lasts.
We design and build access roads, parking areas, drainage, culverts, retaining walls and earthworks. Because we build what we design, the falls and levels on the drawing are the ones that end up on the ground, which is not always the case when those two jobs sit with different companies.
- Access roads, driveways, parking areas and hardstanding
- Surface water drainage, gullies, channels and soakaways
- Box culverts, headwalls and river crossings
- Reinforced concrete and gabion retaining walls
- Site clearing, cut and fill, grading and compaction
- Water and sewer connections within a site
What is included
What a civil engineering package covers
Everything below is part of the service. If your project needs something that is not listed, tell us and we will say plainly whether we can do it.
Survey and levels
We survey the site and take levels before designing anything, because you cannot plan drainage without knowing where the water goes now.
Drainage design
Falls, pipe and channel sizing, gullies, soakaways and outfalls, worked out for the catchment rather than copied from a standard detail.
Earthworks
Cut and fill, grading and compaction in layers, with testing where the job warrants it.
Roads and hardstanding
Sub base, base and surfacing, kerbs and channels, built to the levels on the drawing.
Retaining structures
Reinforced concrete and gabion walls designed for the retained height and the ground behind them, with proper drainage and weep holes.
Culverts and crossings
Box culverts, headwalls, wing walls and scour protection where a road has to cross water.
Why L&R
Why clients bring civil work to us
We design for the wet season
A drain sized for average rainfall is a drain that fails in October. We size for storm intensity, because that is the load that actually turns up and that is what washes out a driveway.
We look at the site in the rain
Where we can, we visit after heavy rain before we quote. Watching where the water actually runs tells us more in ten minutes than a topographical drawing does.
We work alongside your builder
Plenty of our civil work is on sites where somebody else is putting up the building. That is normal for us and we coordinate with them directly rather than through you.
Honest weather allowances
Civil work stops when it rains. We build that into the programme up front instead of discovering it later and asking for an extension.
How it runs
How a civil job runs
Every job follows the same order, so you always know which stage you are in and what happens next.
1
Site walk and survey
We walk the site, take levels and look at where water enters and leaves. On an existing site we want to see it after rain if the timing allows.
2
Design and pricing
Drainage, levels, wall heights and reinforcement designed for your catchment and ground, then priced as a written scope with any ground risk listed openly.
3
Construction
Earthworks, structures and surfacing built to the drawing, with compaction and reinforcement checked and photographed before anything is covered.
4
Testing and handover
Drainage run and checked, levels verified against the design, and the photographic record handed to you with the as built drawings.
In detail
The detail, discipline by discipline
The technical detail behind the service, for anyone who wants to understand what they are paying for.
We calculate the catchment feeding each drain and size the pipe or channel for storm intensity with a sensible allowance. Falls are set so the system self cleans rather than silting up, and outfalls are protected so the discharge does not simply cut a new gully somewhere else on your land.
Wall design depends on retained height, surcharge from anything sitting above, and what the ground behind will do when it is saturated. We design the reinforcement for those conditions and detail drainage behind the wall, because most retaining wall failures in Jamaica are water pressure failures rather than strength failures.
Fill is placed and compacted in layers to a specified density, not tipped and levelled. Badly compacted fill is invisible on the day and shows up two years later as a cracked slab or a sunken driveway, so this is one of the stages we photograph and record.
Sub base thickness is set for the traffic the road will actually take, including construction traffic during the build, which is often heavier than anything that follows. Crossfall is set so water leaves the surface quickly rather than standing on it.
Scope of works
What we are usually asked to price
We price every job from a written scope after seeing the site, so the figures below are quoted rather than listed. The first visit and the quotation cost you nothing.
-
Site drainage scheme
On quotationCatchment assessment, design and construction of drains, gullies and outfalls.
-
Access road or driveway
On quotationFormation, sub base, surfacing, kerbs and crossfall for proper runoff.
-
Retaining wall
On quotationDesigned and built for the retained height, with drainage behind it.
-
Box culvert or crossing
On quotationCulvert, headwalls, wing walls and scour protection.
-
Bulk earthworks and grading
On quotationCut and fill, compaction and level formation ready to build on.
Our work
Recent projects
Work at every stage, from the first cut in the ground through to handover.
Where we work
Civil Engineering across Jamaica
We take civil engineering work across Jamaica. Most of our projects are in Kingston, Saint Andrew and Saint Catherine, and we travel to the other parishes where the project justifies it.
Parishes we cover: Kingston, Saint Andrew, Saint Catherine, Clarendon, Manchester, Saint Ann, Saint Mary, Portland, Saint Thomas, Saint Elizabeth, Westmoreland, Hanover, Trelawny and Saint James.
Questions
Frequently asked about civil engineering in Jamaica
My yard floods every time it rains. Can you fix it?
Usually, yes. The first job is working out where the water is coming from, because the flooding is often caused by something uphill or by a blocked outfall rather than by the drain you can see. We will visit, work out the catchment, and tell you what it takes to move the water somewhere sensible.
Do I need a retaining wall or will a slope hold?
It depends on the soil, the angle and what sits above the slope. Some slopes are stable on their own and a wall is money wasted. Others look fine until the first heavy season. We will look at it and give you a straight answer either way.
Can you do the civil works if another contractor is building?
Yes, and we do that regularly. We coordinate directly with the building contractor on levels and sequencing so the two packages meet properly at the interfaces.
How do you price ground risk?
Anything genuinely unknown until we open the ground is listed as a provisional item with a stated rate, so you can see it in the quotation rather than meeting it as a variation later.
Do you work on unpaved or difficult access sites?
Yes. Access is one of the first things we assess on the site visit, because getting plant and concrete to a site can be a significant part of the cost on steep or narrow approaches.
Which parishes do you cover for civil engineering?
All of them. Most of our civil work is in Kingston, Saint Andrew, Saint Catherine and Saint Ann, and we take jobs across the rest of Jamaica where the project justifies the travel.
Get started
Tell us about the project
Send us the location and what you need. We will come and look at the site, and come back to you with a written scope and a price. The visit and the quotation cost you nothing.
Telephone
Office hours
Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 5:00pm
Request a quotation
Works with this
Services people usually pair with this
Structural Engineering
Structural design and checks for new builds, extensions and remedial work. Beam and column sizing, foundation design, and drawings you can build from.
Property Management and Development
Land development from raw title to serviced lots, and ongoing management of finished buildings for owners who are not on the island.
Engineering Consultancy
Site investigations, feasibility advice, cost checks, and a straight second opinion when a project is not going the way it should.