The recession may have been a mild one for the U.S. economy as a whole, but certain parts of the construction industry have taken a beating. Equipment makers are consolidating, rental firms are reorganizing or conserving cash and some contractors think that now might be the best time to get good equipment deals. There seems to be more than enough to go around. With about 75% of the firm's costs "fixed or semi-fixed...we get creamed in a recession," says Brad Jacobs, chairman of Greenwich, Conn.-based United Rentals Inc., the nation's largest rental shop, with about 471 outlets. But the bright
In what may be an industry first, industrial owners and contractors in Southern California are close to signing an agreement to share the cost of training craft workers. The work force development program comes from the Industrial Owners Council of the Western Council of Construction Consumers, Torrance, Calif. The plan was presented on March 4 at the council's annual meeting in Irvine, Calif. Richard A. Igercich, mechanical manager of ExxonMobil's Torrance refinery and chairman of the IOC, said area owners know it's not easy to staff up for major turnaround projects. "Several years ago, we began an initiative to improve
About 60 kilometers north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, the pavement ends. From Edmonton, the 440-km highway to Fort McMurray is a busy artery filled with construction workers shuttling to work in the oil-sands developments at the beginning of the week and home again at the weekend. Trucks crowd the road, carrying supplies to the burgeoning operational base. Wide and high loads are common for transporting oversized pieces of equipment or process vessels for installation. The attraction is oil. Alberta contains one of the world's largest deposits of oil sands—an ore consisting of sand bound with clay and water coated with
MEMORIAL HALL Architectural gem gets costly, structurally unobtrusive retrofit. (Photo courtesy of William Porter) For years, many national contractors steered clear of construction work at the University of California's Berkeley campus, citing contracts that even school officials described as risky and unfair. But when the university launched a $1-billion-plus seismic retrofit program four years ago, they knew they needed more–and more qualified–bidders to save taxpayer money. So they began experimenting with contracting strategies new for the public campus. Unfortunately, the experiment may not be working as well as expected financially, based on experiences on UC's first seismic project now under
In a tight and uncertain economy, companies are using Web conferencing to avoid time-consuming and expensive travel and to enhance staff training and interactions with clients. "Reducing the travel cost has been one of the biggest benefits," says Cheryl Jenkins, enterprise solutions manager at Lockwood Greene Engineers Inc., Spartanburg, S.C. "There are definitely tremendous savings." Web conferencing can add many layers of data to basic conference calls. Arrangements can range from a single presenter, such as a CEO delivering a live video and audio talk to far-flung office locations, to several presenters–even hundreds–sitting at their computers simultaneously sharing, marking up
Many Monty Python fans rank the Spam Skit, where a waitress recites a litany of breakfast options featuring spam, among their favorite sketches from the troupe's 1970s heyday. Somewhere along the way a cunning linguist in Silicon Valley transformed the brand name of the processed meat product into a common noun for unsolicited electronic mail. (Illustration by Nancy Soulliard for ENR) Most who receive e-mail today are very much like the hapless wife in the Python skit: doomed to be served spam, stunning amounts of it, whether we want it or not. Opening the e-mail seems to take longer every
In the ongoing quest to improve project planning and anticipate field problems before they occur, a growing number of construction professionals are using computer technology to build projects digitally before actual construction begins. Four-dimensional CAD, which combines 3D computer-aided design with the time element of scheduling software, is gaining a foothold at construction sites after years of incubation in academia and niche sectors of the construction industry. New PC-based 4D tools are helping designers, contractors and owners visualize how projects are built. But major time investments required to build 4D models may limit widespread acceptance. Early adopters say 4D is
Long before the first U.S. soldiers hit the ground in Afghanistan, military construction specialists began studying, analyzing, calculating and planning for the support the troops would need. Military engineers are using the information technology tools of the 21st Century—geospatial data mining, digital collaboration, remote sensing and imaging and satellite communications—together with intelligence in the classic traditions of the cold war to take on an enemy whose tactics range from driving bomb-laden camels toward their foes to crashing hijacked airliners into the towers of lower Manhattan. It is a story that may never be fully told, but from a series of
After more than two decades of cataloguing its vast stock of rundown neighborhoods, the U.S. may be starting to get serious about cleaning up after itself. When President George W. Bush signed the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act on Jan. 11, he implemented a long overdue change in the way the federal Environmental Protection Agency looks at depressed properties. IT'S GOOD University of Louisville converted CSX rail yard into football stadium with EPA Project XL assistance (Photos courtesy of Law Environmental) The measure enjoyed broad support, combining House and Senate versions that sailed through their respective chambers
(Photo courtesy of Michael Dickter/Skilling Ward Magnusson Berkshire) A megatruss redesign slashed $4 million from the cost of the grandstand roofs. An inventive use of seismic isolators sliced another $2.5 million off the budget. A tucking and reconfiguring exercise squeezed 250,000 sq ft out of the original 1.75-million-sq-ft program. At a $430-million football-soccer stadium in quake-prone Seattle, budget necessities were the mother of invention. "We guaranteed the public would have to spend no more than $300 million," says Bob Collier, vice president of First & Goal Inc., the affiliate company of Allen's Vulcan Inc., set up to develop and operate
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