A track is only as good as what’s underneath it. Long after the ribbon-cutting and the ceremonial first race, what determines whether a track performs for twenty years or starts failing in five comes down to the work nobody photographs: the excavation, the subsurface drainage, the aggregate base, and the grading tolerances measured in fractions of an inch.
That’s the work Fahs Construction Group leads on every track and field project we build.
Our latest completed project sits on the east side of Binghamton University’s campus: the newly rebuilt East Gym Track & Field, an outdoor athletic facility featuring an eight-lane, 400-meter rubber-surfaced track, a multisport synthetic turf infield, and separate throwing areas, built to NCAA competition standards.
As general contractor, Fahs led the transformation from the ground up. Our self-perform sitework crews handled excavation and grading, subsurface drainage, aggregate base installation, and asphalt paving to form the track’s foundation, then carried the project through reconstructed long jump, triple jump, and pole vault areas, a new multisport synthetic turf infield, upgraded lighting and safety systems, and renovated stands.
You can watch the transformation in the reel above, shot on-site as work progressed toward NCAA competition readiness.
Most general contractors subcontract sitework and paving out to third parties, then manage the schedule from a distance. Fahs doesn’t build that way, and on a track and field project, that difference shows up in ways owners can measure.
Tolerances have nowhere to hide. An NCAA-standard track has strict grading and drainage tolerances built into every lane. When Fahs self-performs the excavation, grading, and paving in-house, the same crew that cuts the subgrade is accountable for the finished surface. There’s no handoff between subcontractors where tolerance creep goes unnoticed until the surfacing contractor shows up and finds a problem they didn’t cause and can’t fix on their schedule.
Drainage is the difference between a track that lasts and one that doesn’t. Water is the single biggest threat to a synthetic track and turf system. Subsurface drainage has to be right the first time, because once the surfacing goes down, correcting a drainage mistake means tearing out finished work. Our sitework teams have built this kind of drainage across school districts, colleges, and municipal fields throughout the Southern Tier, and we carry that knowledge from project to project instead of relearning it with a new subcontractor each time.
You keep one point of accountability and one line of cost. When Fahs self-performs sitework and paving, you’re not paying a general contractor’s markup on top of a subcontractor’s markup for the same scope. You get tighter cost control and a general contractor who can adjust the schedule in real time, because the crew doing the work reports directly to the same team managing your project.
Binghamton University isn’t the first track and field project Fahs has delivered, and it won’t be the last. Earlier this year, our teams completed major athletic upgrades for the Bainbridge-Guilford Central School District, where Fahs served as site contractor across both the high school and elementary school campuses.
That project came with real challenges: severely damaged existing track conditions, heaved fence posts, and extremely wet field soils. Fahs delivered anyway, on time and in line with the district’s capital project goals, with turf field prep, complete track resurfacing and drainage, updated field electrical and communications, a steeplechase pit, new parking, sidewalks, and a signature entry archway.
That’s the pattern school districts, colleges, and municipalities across the Southern Tier and Central New York have come to expect from Fahs: we solve the site conditions nobody wants to inherit, and we deliver a facility that performs.
You can see more of our site and civil work across the region on our sitework project portfolio.
Fahs Construction Group is 100% employee-owned. Every person on our sitework and paving crews has a direct financial stake in the quality of what they build, not just a paycheck for showing up. That ownership culture is part of why districts and universities come back to us project after project: the crew grading your track’s subbase today is the same crew that will still be with Fahs in ten years, and they build like it.
Some contractors send workers. Fahs sends owners.
Planning a track and field upgrade, new construction, or capital improvement project? Contact Fahs Construction Group to talk through your site conditions, schedule, and scope.