Fast-track? Design-build? What the Salesmen Don't Say By Don L. Short II There are salesmen in our industry who sell their clients or acquaintances on a project delivery method that is the most expensive in construction today. They say you can have your project sooner. They say the method has few risks. They say it will save money. Their clients want to and do believe them. Then the same clients find out they have a mess on their hands that can take longer and cost far more than they ever contemplated. Short The salesmen sell fast-track, design-build and/or multiple prime
Skyscrapers After 9/11 Despite all the angst on the fifth anniversary of the event, and contrary to popular belief, the 9/11 attack and the collapse of the World Trade Center towers did not transform the design of tall buildings. It's still business as usual in the world of skyscraper design and construction. And that's the way it should be, for 9/11 was a security failure, not a building performance failure. + click to enlarge The lesson from 9/11 is not that buildings should be designed to withstand attack by airplanes; it is that criminals should be prevented from flying airplanes
By Don L. Short II In My Estimate, I'm an Architect's Best Friend I am an estimator. I have been estimating for about 35 years. I am a professional estimator and certified by the American Society of Professional Estimators. I am also an arbitrator and serve as a Neutral on the Panel of Arbitrators through the American Arbitration Association. There are not too many project types that I have not worked on during my career. I have been fortunate to be able to work on projects on all continents except Antarctica. Short Early in my estimating career, and it has
Front-end loaders on U.S. side reinforced stressed levees. (Photo courtesy of Rudy Gutierrez/El Paso Times) The summer's disastrous flooding in West Texas raised serious questions about whether traditional flood control systems are still viable. El Paso's rapid recent growth in private and public construction has been spurred in large part by expansions at the U.S. Army's nearby base at Ft. Bliss. This in turn put added strain on the city’s infrastructure and sparked debates about issues such as whether the city can handle the additional stress on its water, roads and other infrastructure and whether development on the city’s arroyos
The "Spanish Imposition" Hits San Diego The immigration issue in the construction industry in San Diego is something that is on the minds of everyone that is in the construction industry. This is also true in Los Angeles as well and many other parts of the country. . THOMAS Union Ironworkers have about 35% to 40% Hispanics working in our trade today. Union Ironworkers have a pretty decent market share of union construction in San Diego. However, we do not control the housing, tilt-up, and metal building markets in the San Diego area. The union ironworkers are doing around 95%
You ask about jobsite quality of life and comforts for workers, and whether those words mean much to an ironworker and ironworker superintendent like me. After all my years in the field, I want to say that pride and safety matter as much or more than comfort. Patchin Part of the comfort of the job is having clean toilets and wash stations and access to good drinking water. Something other than the hose at the gas station you drove past to get to the job. Part of comfort is knowing that the excavation you are going to go into is
Patchin Here’s something that doesn’t happen very often to an old ironworker (or any ironworker for that matter). I live and work in the San Francisco area and recently I was at Laguna Honda Hospital and the contractor, Turner, was letting Timberland , the shoe and clothing company, do a photo shoot for their new line of boots. One of the assistant superintendents for Turner, a guy named Cory, asked me if he could borrow some tools and a couple of dirty and worn-looking vests for their models to look authentic. So I gave them my tools and some stinky old
McLaren The water quality in major U.S. harbors has improved drastically over the last 15 years thanks primarily to the strict standards established by the federal Clean Water Act of 1972. An unfortunate by-product of that effort, however, is the resurgence of micro-organisms that feed upon submerged wood, commonly called marine borers. These creatures have caused the collapse of dozens of piers in New York Harbor, as well as marine structures on other waterfronts. Two types of marine borers are responsible for most damage. Limnoria are shrimp-like crustaceans that swarm around piles of wood and eat it from the outside,
BRUCKNER Gary Tulacz’s article, “Worrying about Labor Shortages,” in ENR’s Top Owners Sourcebook 2005, reflects the deep misgivings of leading owners regarding the current and future labor shortages in construction. Quite accurately Tulacz stated that “if there is a universal concern among large corporate owners, it is whether there will be enough people available to do the work on future projects.” And the same concern is voiced by major contractors and builders in the U.S. I recently spoke with many heads of construction management departments at U.S. schools. They all had the same plea: “Help us attract new talent to
Art Fox The world’s best-known mining engineer must be spinning in his grave as the keeper of a gold medal in his honor–the Hoover Medal Board of Award–goes year after year tangled in procedural underwear (and maybe inter-association conflict), failing to give the medal. The board has been unable to award one of the engineering profession’s highest honors in three of the past seven years. And now it has put aside yet another time a deserving candidate for the medal, deciding to make no award in 2006. I find this particularly offensive. I am the nominator of the candidate who