Construction Process 2

[Junior3ng]

Hello All,

Hope everyone is having a great holiday period,

As a new junior engineer without much construction experience, I wanted to ask whether there is a trustworthy resource which goes into a detailed narrative of the construction process, encompassing from the beginning paperwork, typical teams making up a project, steps and stages along the way and finishing the project, preferably from a structural consultant(if possible) P.O.V rather than, an electrical P.O.V, however, this is not that important.

And by detailed, I am more looking for typical steps done for each item. For example, for a slab on grade, it would outline those involved, the subbase, subgrade preparation (how its done, standards, etc), placement of any insulation or waterproofing, pouring concrete, placement for column dowels, etc. I mostly want to get into the mindset of thinking like the general contractors so I can better communicate during the construction process and design for before we enter into that stage.

This may be a lot to ask for but I was wondering if there is such a resource so I can learn the process in depth.

Thank you all for your help! Enjoy your holidays

 

[jayrod12]

I'm not aware of a good reference. Honestly the most I've learned that is useful is through talking with contractors, and listening to them. They know some things, more than we do in many cases.

The issue with your question is many construction processes are situationally dependent. A slab-on-grade project in one case, might be completely different from a slab-on-grade project at a different one. Some examples of the differences could be:
[ul]
[li]in-floor heat or no[/li]
[li]sub-slab insulation or no[/li]
[li]large volume sub-base removal or no[/li]
[li]Slab finish requirements, i.e. super flat, regular etc.[/li]
[li]Finish intent, i.e. steel troweled, broomed, broadcast sand etc.[/li]
[li]is there a coating?[/li]
[/ul]

And that's only a sample of the things that could be different. That doesn't account for the superstructure questions at all.

Regarding structural project process from start to finish, there's many different ways this happens, and it's often dependent on the project. Some projects are start with the structural design and the rest of the consultants work around us, others structural is the last consultant to get on board and have to make their stuff work around the others.

Two things to keep in mind. Structural designs top down, but the building gets built bottom up. And secondly, if you can't picture how you could personally attach items together based on your details, the contractor likely can't either.

 

[phamENG]

There are a few books out there, but unfortunately this industry isn't quite so clean and tidy as that. A lot of this stuff comes down to regional preference based on contractor experience and material availability. I designed an industrial slab once for a national company with design standards. They required diamond dowels in slabs rather than typical rod dowels. (That's a square plate vs a round rod.) The contractor on the job though it meant a square or diamond shaped rod. He'd never seen them before. Learning experience for everyone!

And then there's the not so popular case of 'this is the right way to do it!' which makes sens for a slab supporting forklifts or sensitive machinery, but there's more leeway for a slab in a retail store. You still don't want it to crack up or settle, but nobody wants to pay for super flat slab prep for something like that.

So the best thing you can do is find an engineer in you office who knows how building gets built, how they should be belt (on a relative basis), and how to handle contractors. Spend as much time on sites with them as you can observing and asking questions.

 

[Junior3ng]

I'm not aware of a good reference. Honestly the most I've learned that is useful is through talking with contractors, and listening to them. They know some things, more than we do in many cases.

I see, thanks for your reply, I guess the only main resource for getting this knowledge is through experiencing it first hand, questions and see if any engineers in the office can provide information,

Regards,

 

[Junior3ng]

There are a few books out there

Could you please provide a few resources from above? I would like to check them out to see how they are,

So the best thing you can do is find an engineer in you office who knows how building gets built, how they should be belt (on a relative basis), and how to handle contractors. Spend as much time on sites with them as you can observing and asking questions.

I see, I hope to get out to construction sites more frequently,

Thanks for your help

 

[jayrod12]

I hope to get out to construction sites more frequently,

Do indicate this to your superiors. The more you can get out and see things, the more knowledge you'll gain.

 

[Enable]

I'm a professor of construction project management, and I have yet to find textbook(s) on contract / project management that don't suck. Most are either very superficial in nature or provide very detailed descriptions about how things should be done, but don't cover how they are done in practice. The estimating textbooks are the worst sinners in this respect (the target accuracy they usually suggest for detailed cost estimates would make any real contractor laugh). So....if you find one that's good please do let me know. I'm actually very keen to find one myself!

For building construction fundamentals, which by the sounds of your second paragraph you are partially looking for, one of the best for the North American market is "Fundamentals of Building Construction: Materials and Methods" by Edward Allen and Joseph Iano. It covers all manner of typical construction techniques and how they are performed. It's written by Architects but don't let the dissuade you, it's first rate.

Another textbook I like very much is "Principles and Practices of Commercial Construction" by Ronald Woods, Cameron Andres, and Ronald Smith. It's similar to the one above. It has less coverage, but the areas it does cover, it tends to expand in greater detail. In addition, it has some topics not covered in the book above such as contract admin (first chapter), and specifics on site layout. As it happens the new edition was co-written by one of the regular contributors here at EngTips!

I'm actually introducing a new Building Fundamentals class to my program next year, and I am torn between which of these texts to assign.

 

[phamENG]

Could you please provide a few resources from above?

Enable beat me to it.

 

[Junior3ng]

"Enable" and "phamENG", thank you very much for your responses and references, I will check them out,

Happy Holidays

 

[HTURKAK]

I will suggest the following books,

- Construction Planning, Equipment, and Methods, ( Robert Peurifoy,Clifford J. Schexnayder,Robert L. Schmitt, Aviad Shapira )
The old edition of this book was the text book when i was a student early 70's , IMHO ,still a reference book )
- The same author , Formwork for Concrete Structures

If you are interested with cost estimation,

- Construction Estimating Using Excel (Steven J. Peterson )
- FUNDAMENTALS OF CONSTRUCTION ESTIMATING ( David J. Pratt )
- ESTIMATING AND TENDERING FOR CONSTRUCTION WORK ( Martin Brook )

I must add the proverb '' Experience is the best teacher ''

Use it up, wear it out;
Make it do, or do without.

NEW ENGLAND MAXIM