By Keighla Schmidt, Staff Writer

When Rob Fendler read his alma mater was planning to install synthetic turf, he prepared to take the field.

“I thought it would be a good project to do,” Fendler said. “It was really a project that interested us.”

“Us,” Fendler said, meant he and his business partner, John Patterson and their company, Fendler-Patterson Construction. The pair was itching to install the turf at Burnsville High School for a few reasons.

Fendler, along with his three children, graduated from BHS. His son, Brad, was a football captain and Fendler spent time volunteering as a booster parent.

Patterson currently has two children, Alan and Alanna, entering their junior year at BHS.

“Al thought it would be pretty cool,” Patterson said of his willingness to lay the field. “Also, we wanted to get it because he (Fendler) has strong ties here.”

To make sure School District 191 awarded the bid to their company, “we had to sharpen our pencils and make sure we were low,” Fendler said.Synthetic turf: John Patterson (left) and Rob
Fendler are the general contractors for the
 synthetic turf installation at Burnsville High
School.

School District Business Manager Mark Stotts said the project was slated to go to the lowest bidder, regardless of the ties the company had to the school.

“It was always going to go to the lowest bidder, but the fact that it went to a local company is an added bonus,” Stotts said.

“We took it thin,” Fendler said of the company’s $794,000 bid. “We wanted to do it, it’s not like this is going to be a big money maker for us.”

Other bids came in as high as a St. Paul company’s $1,117,000 proposal and the closest bid to Fendler-Patterson’s was $817,935 from a company in Rogers, Minn.

Pride

When the partners take a step on the in-progress field, pride and ownership over the project become obvious.

“We’ve never done one like this before, this is our first time (working) on a football field,” Patterson said. “We’ve done ice arenas, but never a football field.”

Fendler added while it is exciting to take on the project, it could be an investment, as well.

“As a company to have this experience, it could possibly lead to another like it,” he said.

Playing on an artificial turf field may feel similar to a grass playing surface, but what’s underneath is not similar.

The project, which started on June 8 is on track to be finished Aug. 17, Fendler said. About half of that time will be spent excavating the sod and base before the installation of the actual turf is started on July 20.

“It’s a big project, but it’s not a complex one,” Fendler explained.

The first step was clearing the field of the grass and sand base. A three-foot hole was dug inside the track to line it with sand.

On top of the two-foot sand base, six inches of granite rock are laid. Atop the granite rock is an additional two-inch layer of trap rock, Fendler said.

Then the synthetic turf will be laid out, glued together and nailed to a side board. Inside the beds are coils to drain the field. Points will be installed as the field is laid out for soccer and lacrosse boundaries. The football lines and a 30-foot Blaze logo will be on the field as it’s installed.

For curious onlookers watching the field progress, they’ve seen piles and rows of dirt, rock and sand.

Fendler explained it’s easier and more cost efficient to have rented trucks deliver all the supplies laid out at one time rather than doing it in pieces.

The sub-contractors have worked from the north end of the field down to the south end and currently, the north end is ready for the turf.

“It’s like painting your way out of a room – that’s what they’re doing here,” Fendler said.

The project was approved by the School Board in February. To fund the stadium project, the district is using lease/purchase agreement where it will levy to lease for both principle and interest payments annually.

Keighla Schmidt can be reached at kschmidt@swpub.com