Construction is about building, and not only in the sense of infrastructure: building professional and cordial relationships between the three principals on a project results in a better facility constructed on time and within budget. The relationships between the owner (or developer), the contractor, and the engineer (or other design professional) are defined by the General Conditions of the Construction Contract, published by the Engineers Joint Contract Documents Committee (EJCDC).

The time between receiving bids (or a proposal for sole source work) and the start of construction is a busy time for the contractor, the owner, and the design professional. The design professional must quickly check the bids and verify that the low bidder truly has the qualifications to do the work, then prepare the contract documents for signatures. The owner needs to proceed through the necessary steps to award the project, which include having financing ready. The low bidder must begin to expand upon the data assembled during the bid phase and prepare for mobilization.

Tell someone that you work in construction -- heavy construction, that is -- and they most likely will have a mental image of earth-moving equipment, trenches, concrete, and asphalt. Paperwork may not come to mind, nor contracts or documents. Yet the success of a construction project depends not only on the work at the site but also on the paper documentation that defines what must be done.

I learned a hard lesson regarding the required use of spreader bars when lifting heavy angular objects with a crane: I was placed in harm’s way and witnessed the destruction of over $20,000 worth of property during a construction mishap. Fortunately, following some tense seconds, there were zero injuries and several lessons learned.

Advancements in technology have revolutionized the way we do business, but we must not lose sight of the benefits of personal interaction. I find myself getting more and more email every day and having less time to actually talk to or even see the people I am working with. I am probably more guilty of this then many because I am what you might call a “satellite” project manager,  working remotely on out-of-town jobs.

The project was a seismic retrofit of a 15-story building constructed in 1991. The steel portion of the project consisted of systematically strengthening the moment connections throughout the building and installing over 200 dampers in a 750,000 sq. ft. office building without interrupting the operation of the tenants. The contract dictated that the work would start in the basement, progress through the ground floor and the parking garage (floors 2-5), and then continue through the occupied office floors (6-15). The contractor could only occupy three half floors at any one time and a set number of parking spaces due to contract restrictions. The contract also restricted work hours, noise levels, and delivery times. These restrictions would drive the pace of the work.

The all-inclusive, load-bearing design of structural insulated panels (SIPs) offers an energy-efficient, quiet alternative to conventional wood framing methods. In recent years, SIPs have increasingly grown in popularity as builders strive to provide more durable products, use more environmentally sustainable building methods, and reduce costs. According to AMA Research, SIPs are now the fastest growing new building method on the market.

Unlike many other industries, the construction industry is, by nature, required to be highly mobile and portable. In major commercial construction projects, hundreds or thousands of workers converge on a specific geographic location for a period of time lasting from a few months to a few years. Then, everything is packed up and relocated to a completely different location. Due to the dynamic nature of industry relationships and projects, many of the workers will actually be spreading their time across multiple job sites at any one time.

Ted Kokenos is a veteran construction cost estimator. He initiated a transition from pencil and paper cost estimating to computer-based while working for a construction company employing about 60 people. His experience might inspire some construction firms that have been thinking about making the leap to computer estimating to finally go for it!

The Vancouver Convention Centre, which was featured on the Go Green channel as a case study in April, has an extremely unique design feature – an artificial reef (also referred to as a “habitat skirt”). The concrete habitat skirt steps down in five tiers from the underside of the public walkway into the harbor. The skirt was designed with input from marine biologists and other consultants to make it mimic a natural environment.

Recently, I had the opportunity to observe firsthand the installation of an underground water storage tank for the purpose of fire-fighting in rural western Howard County, Maryland. An underground water storage tank can serve as a water source for firefighters in an area where hydrants connected to water mains are either unavailable or located at great distances from each other. Underground water storage tanks provide greater fire safety, are more compact and visually unobtrusive when compared to aboveground models, and could represent cost savings to local government agencies as well as homeowners.