How to Start a Construction Company?

Starting a construction company can be a profitable venture under the right circumstances. Construction is an industry that will always be in demand and will not yield easily to automation. If you have experience in construction and want to start your own company, be sure to research requirements, laws, and business basics before taking the plunge.

One of the first things to consider before starting your own construction company is financing. If you do not have available funds to purchase materials, tools, and labor, you will need to arrange financing for the start up of your company. You also need to make sure you have a contractor’s license and bonding insurance to protect you.

The amount of financing you need will vary greatly depending on the size of the construction projects you intend to start out with. If you are performing small jobs such as remodels, additions, or decks, you might be able to purchase materials and tools on credit. Remember that interest eats away at profit, so be sure that you can meet a completion date and collect your fees from your clients in a timely manner.

It is extremely important to have an understanding of cost estimation when you bid a project. Underbidding yourself to get jobs will soon eat away at your profits and eventually doom your success. However, if you bid too high, your more established competitors will beat you out. If you do not know how to bid competitively, you should either develop the skill or hire someone who is knowledgeable about construction estimation.

With funds available for purchasing materials, insurance to cover potential accidents, and clients, you will have to turn your attention to your craft force. If you plan to be on site at all times overseeing the construction process, you can easily manage your craft force. If you intend to work hands off, you’ll need to hire someone experienced at leading a crew of workers to make sure the job is done right and according to schedule.

Start with small jobs and advertise by word of mouth. Do a good job for your initial clients, and they will spread the word. Ask to place temporary signs at a completed site for advertising purposes as well. Make sure you have someone available to provide estimates for potential clients without holding up current construction projects. As your company grows, you can hire additional personnel to assist with certain jobs.

Be sure to develop a good relationship with building inspectors in your area and to have both a business attorney and an accountant at your disposal should you need their services. Careful planning and attention to detail will ensure that your construction company stays afloat during the roughest first two years of operation. With a qualified craft force and a desire to succeed, you can grow a solid small to mid-sized construction company within five years.

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ASTM International

ASTM International, originally known as the American Society for Testing and Materials, is an international standards organization that develops and publishes voluntary consensus technical standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems, and services. The organization’s headquarters is in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, about 5 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

ASTM predates other standards organizations such as BSI (1901), DIN (1917) and AFNOR (1926), but differs from these in that it is not a national standards body, that role being taken in the USA by ANSI. However, ASTM has a dominant role among standards developers in the USA, and claims to be the world’s largest developer of standards. Using a consensus process, ASTM supports thousands of volunteer technical committees, which draw their members from around the world and collectively develop and maintain more than 12,000 standards.

ASTM International publishes the Annual Book of ASTM Standards each year in print, CD and online versions. The online version was available by subscription and cost was based upon usage. For 2008, the complete set of books or CDs cost almost USD $9000 and included 81 volumes.

ASTM standards

The standards produced by ASTM International fall into six categories:

* the Standard Specification, that defines the requirements to be satisfied by subject of the standard.
* the Standard Test Method, that defines the way a test is performed. The result of the test may be used to assess compliance with a Specification.
* the Standard Practice, that defines a sequence of operations that, unlike a test, does not produce a result.
* the Standard Guide, that provides an organized collection of information or series of options that does not recommend a specific course of action.
* the Standard Classification, that provides an arrangement or division of materials, products, systems, or services into groups based on similar characteristics such as origin, composition, properties, or use.
* the Terminology Standard, that provides agreed definitions of terms used in the other standards.

The quality of the standards is such that they are frequently used worldwide.

The Annual Book of ASTM Standards covers 15 sections of interest plus a master index:

1. Iron and Steel Products
2. Nonferrous Metal Products
3. Metals Test Methods and Analytical Procedures
4. Construction
5. Petroleum Products, Lubricants, and Fossil Fuels
6. Paints, Related Coatings, and Aromatics
7. Textiles
8. Plastics
9. Rubber
10. Electrical Insulation and Electronics
11. Water and Environmental Technology
12. Nuclear, Solar, and Geothermal Energy
13. Medical Devices and Services
14. General Methods and Instrumentation
15. General Products, Chemical Specialties, and End Use Products
16. Index to all sections and volumes

ASTM Standards can be purchased as a digital library subscription or individually from qualified standards providers. When maintaining a large standards library, sometimes it is best to purchase a digital subscription to stay current on standards and in compliance with all copyright laws.

Four collections are now available via a dynamic, online portal. EHS Professionals can procure licenses to a Biodiesel portal (which includes the latest ASTM D6751-08 standard), Due Diligence aka Vapor Intrusion portal, Department of Transportation portal, or a Custom Collection portal that can be purchased by section and/or volume across disciplines or the entire compilation in its entirety.

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The Importance of Designing Team in Construction Process

In the modern industrialized world, construction usually involves the translation of designs into reality. A formal design team may be assembled to plan the physical proceedings, and to integrate those proceedings with the other parts. The design usually consists of drawings and specifications, usually prepared by a design team including surveyors, civil engineers, cost engineers (or quantity surveyors), mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, structural engineers, fire protection engineers, planning consultants, architectural consultants, and archaeological consultants.

The design team is most commonly employed by (i.e. in contract with) the property owner. Under this system, once the design is completed by the design team, a number of construction companies or construction management companies may then be asked to make a bid for the work, either based directly on the design, or on the basis of drawings and a bill of quantities provided by a quantity surveyor. Following evaluation of bids, the owner will typically award a contract to the most cost efficient bidder.

The modern trend in design is toward integration of previously separated specialties, especially among large firms. In the past, architects, interior designers, engineers, developers, construction managers, and general contractors were more likely to be entirely separate companies, even in the larger firms. Presently, a firm that is nominally an “architecture” or “construction management” firm may have experts from all related fields as employees, or to have an associated company that provides each necessary skill. Thus, each such firm may offer itself as “one-stop shopping” for a construction project, from beginning to end. This is designated as a “design Build” contract where the contractor is given a performance specification and must undertake the project from design to construction, while adhering to the performance specifications.

Several project structures can assist the owner in this integration, including design-build, partnering and construction management. In general, each of these project structures allows the owner to integrate the services of architects, interior designers, engineers and constructors throughout design and construction. In response, many companies are growing beyond traditional offerings of design or construction services alone and are placing more emphasis on establishing relationships with other necessary participants through the design-build process.

The increasing complexity of construction projects creates the need for design professionals trained in all phases of the project’s life-cycle and develop an appreciation of the building as an advanced technological system requiring close integration of many sub-systems and their individual components, including sustainability. Building engineering is an emerging discipline that attempts to meet this new challenge.

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Free Construction Software

When searching for construction software to help run your business cost should not be your ultimate concern because the old adage is true – you really do get what you pay for. Just as you wouldn’t hire a high school kid to do your accounting because you could get him cheap, you also shouldn’t pick a software package based solely on price. After all, this is your business you’re dealing with.

That said, there are many affordable (and even free) construction software packages out there. A business software application that is totally free, however, may raise a few red flags. How good can it be if they are giving it away? Can I get by without any product support? Do I really want to entrust my business to an untested product that I got free off the Internet? These are very good questions that you should ask yourself before choosing a free construction software program.

But your quest for free construction software does not have to end there. There are software companies that will allow you to try their product for a trial period absolutely free. This is an invaluable service because it allows you to test their software to see if you like it without having to risk anything financially. If a company is willing to offer their product to you for free it shows not only a strong belief in customer service, but confidence that those potential customers will choose their product over a competitor.

Choosing software to run your business is a critical decision. While most people acknowledge the need for such software, they do not always know the best way to go about it. Trying an application on for size before you commit to buying it will relieve the anxiety about making a final decision, and allow you to become comfortable with the software before buying. Seek out these free construction software trials and get on the road to streamlining your business and maximizing your potential.

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Project management software

Project management software is a computer program that serves to streamline the process of running a project from conception to completion, taking out many of the detailed steps that are usually required. Project management, as the name suggests, is meant to deal with the proper management services and scrutiny of various projects, starting from web projects to construction projects. Nonetheless, project management is a particular discipline of defining and achieving targets. At the same time, its primary purpose is to optimize the varied utilizations of resource based facilities including the resources such as energy, space, time, people, technology and many others.

But for every project management, time constraint plays a major part in the whole process. For every project management, work is conducted under the supervision of an individual project manager. It is the responsibility of the project manager to head the whole project without even participating in the whole work. This is due to the software designed specifically for project management.

Present day projects include the engineering and construction of various public or consumer products, including buildings, vehicles and electronic devices. They are modeled through project management software. All the project works are primarily planned through the application of software. They not only give the virtual image of the whole project, but also the errorless measurements, the cost factors, the management planning, etc.

Although the best project management professionals are hired for the projects, computer software gives the detailed analysis of the plan including the calculations and statistical implications. There is even web-based software to manage and facilitate projects.

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Create a Gantt Chart Using Microsoft Excel

A Gantt chart is a graphical representation of the duration of tasks against the progression of time. A Gantt chart is a useful tool for planning and scheduling projects. A Gantt chart is helpful when monitoring a project’s progress.

More explanation of Gantt Chart:

A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule. Gantt charts illustrate the start and finish dates of the terminal elements and summary elements of a project. Terminal elements and summary elements comprise the work breakdown structure of the project. Some Gantt charts also show the dependency (i.e, precedence network) relationships between activities. Gantt charts can be used to show current schedule status using percent-complete shadings and a vertical “TODAY” line as shown here.

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Construction Accounting Software

Construction Accounting Software that does not include the capability of capturing payroll figures and data in real time might be comparable to using a cordless drill without a battery. Basically, it just does not work very well!

Indeed, since payroll is an inherent piece of any construction project accounting, reflecting construction manpower labor costs, it is paramount that it be as up to date as possible, to ensure charges to projects are properly directed, and to help project managers and company financial folks keep abreast of day to day project cost impact from payroll figures.

Additionally, depending on specific company structures, some construction companies might have graduated payroll impacts based on employee skill levels and actual pay. Thus, up to date, accurate payroll data keeps the construction project actual costs in view at all times, without the need to extrapolate, interpolate, or otherwise estimate up to date figures.

Real time data is always best, if available, since it leaves little question or confusion about the overall project accounting from day to day or week to week. If the data is days, or even hours old, it can lead to ineffective monitoring and poor accounting controls of the overall project package; which then can lead to unacceptable outcomes with regard to profit and loss.

Many of today’s Construction Accounting Software packages typically offer as much real time data as is practically available, for good reasons. Today’s market economy demands no less, since everything is moving at such high speed and projects are always under great potential for risks, if the data is anything less than spot-on.

While it is necessary to maintain accurate construction project costs, real time data can also become an administrative nightmare, as it relates to manpower allocations and the like.

For example, we know that very few construction projects are actually executed exactly as they are initially planned and estimated, due to last minute on-the-job changes in equipment or manpower availability or other similar unforeseen glitches common to such projects.

If a field supervisor needs to get a particular piece of a construction project completed at a particular time, and the only personnel available are not the ones initially planned (and monetarily accounted for in the project budget), actual costs for that piece of the project might reflect over or under charges, depending which personnel were utilized, with real time payroll data collection.

It goes without saying that some measure of flexibility must be built into any effective Construction Accounting Software package for reasons like those mentioned above. Field supervisors need to be able to deviate somewhat from the initial plans, so they can continue to move forward toward project completion on time and, hopefully, within budget!

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How to Invest Construction Software Effectively

The use of software in Construction Companies becomes more and more common these days. This article try to point out some important factors that should be noted and reviewed before invest a Construction Software.

1. Factors Need to Consider and Evaluate before invest a Construction Software

1) Product varieties – How many are there? What makes them different?
2) Vendors – How many are there? What makes them different?
3) Product history – look for testimonials from trusted sources or check construction software reviews
4) Vendor history – testimonials
5) Product functionality – while most software does the same “stuff” the manner in which it does it will be different. What is right for one company may not work for another.
6) Product protocols – what reports are standard? Can it create the custom reports you need?
7) Product interface – this will come down to personal preferences more than anything, but is important that you choose software that is the most user friendly for your set of users. Again, this will vary based on your unique company.
8 ) Product integration – will there be any issues integrating it with your current processes? Do you need to change processes or search for a different piece of software?
9) Other – This will depend on the unique organizational structure, personnel, and processes of your organization.

2. Who are involved the Construction Software

1) End users – this group consists of anyone that will be responsible for using the software, particularly those responsible for inputting data
2) Management – Mid and upper level managers will be the ones that use the software primarily for reporting purposes. As such, it is important to know what kinds of data are relevant for the particular company.
3) Accounting – Changes in software will impact how data is recorded and reported for accounting purposes. Thus, the accounting department (or third party accountant) will need to be involved in identifying the best software.
4) Payroll – Regardless of if your company has an internal payroll department or uses an external payroll service, they will need to provide valuable input in terms of selecting new construction accounting software.
5) IT (Information Technology) – Your IT department will play an integral role in installing the new software while allowing the company to not miss a beat. Thus, they will need to know what is required from them for any potential software solution to identify areas where current hardware may not mesh with the new software.
6) Other Departments – this includes any other departments in your company that will be impacted by new software. Which departments these are will depend on your organizational structure and company size.
7) Sub-contractors – These individuals need to be aware of how your change in software will impact their business operations with your company.
8 ) Suppliers – as with sub-contractors, your suppliers will need to know what changes are required on their end to allow you to make the most of your new software.
9) Vendors – When selecting software, be sure to pay as much attention to selecting the right vendor as you do selecting the right software. Check their service history, ongoing relations with clients, and so on to ensure you aren’t without the support you need down the road.
10) Other members, as deemed necessary based on the size of your company and your company’s unique operational procedures.

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Construction Cost Estimation Software

Numerous computer aided cost estimation software systems are now available. These range in sophistication from simple spreadsheet calculation software to integrated systems involving design and price negotiation over the Internet. While this software involves costs for purchase, maintenance, training and computer hardware, some significant efficiencies often result. In particular, cost estimates may be prepared more rapidly and with less effort.

Some of the common features of computer aided cost estimation software include:

• Databases for unit cost items such as worker wage rates, equipment rental or material prices. These databases can be used for any cost estimate required. If these rates change, cost estimates can be rapidly re-computed after the databases are updated.
• Databases of expected productivity for different components types, equiptment and construction processes.
• Import utilities from computer aided design software for automatic quantity-take-off of components. Alternatively, special user interfaces may exist to enter geometric descriptions of components to allow automatic quantity-take-off.
• Export utilities to send estimates to cost control and scheduling software. This is very helpful to begin the management of costs during construction.
• Version control to allow simulation of different construction processes or design changes for the purpose of tracking changes in expected costs.
• Provisions for manual review, over-ride and editing of any cost element resulting from the cost estimation system
• Flexible reporting formats, including provisions for electronic reporting rather than simply printing cost estimates on paper.
• Archives of past projects to allow rapid cost-estimate updating or modification for similar designs.

A typical process for developing a cost estimate using one of these systems would include:

1. If a similar design has already been estimated or exists in the company archive, the old project information is retreived.
2. A cost engineer modifies, add or deletes components in the project information set. If a similar project exists, many of the components may have few or no updates, thereby saving time.
3. A cost estimate is calculated using the unit cost method of estimation. Productivities and unit prices are retrieved from the system databases. Thus, the latest price information is used for the cost estimate.
4. The cost estimation is summarized and reviewed for any errors.

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Construction Project Management Software

The importance of software for construction Project Management

Construction Project Management includes getting construction project leads, selecting the construction area, design, architecture, cost involved and other aspects. With the use of construction project management software, it has now become easier to feed relevant information about the project in a single database and to build the reports for a client presentation later. Further, it helps to prevent and avoid mistakes by using construction software.

Benefits of Construction Project Management Software

Construction management software have many benefits besides reducing the need of paperwork and preventing logjams. It is the increased demand of real time data that has zeroed the paper reporting work. With real time reporting, contractors can track the cost of the project instantly as well as review the updated cost of the job from anywhere. In this way, you can monitor the construction budget more closely and effectively that further helps to provide clear updates to clients.

Together with making the payroll and tracking the job cost, a construction software also works for projects that include documents like submittals, RFI’s and change orders. These days construction software’s allow the paperwork to be created, reviewed, submitted and approved online, which removes the need to take print outs of documents and keeping a hard copy. The software not only makes the process easier and efficient, but also reduces the chances of errors.

You can also manage the documents that are now produced within the software through construction management software. After scanning the document, attach it to the transaction record and you can easily refer to it for answering queries.

How much does construction management software cost

Years ago, project management software were extremely costly and only big construction companies can buy them. But the increasing competition has dropped down the price of these software. These days, construction companies in any scales can invest construction management software for their efficient and successful business.

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Benefits of Project Management Software

There are many benefits of project management software that can help to enhance several aspects of a business’s day-to-day operations. Available in many cost variations including programs for small businesses which can start at $50 or less, all the way up to programs capable of keeping a corporation in business that can cost as much as $20,000 or more.

Having this sort of software program in place won’t help project managers be more effective, but it will allow them to have access to more data, which may in turn make them more efficient. They still need to know how to communicate to the project head and be clearly able to make definitive work assignments to the project team members.

The program must be able to allow for juggling of multiple assignments that can meet a variety of needs for the project. In this way, the program can best help a project manager do his job. It’s essential that all managers be able to manage their projects. Most project management programs address many of the following:

- Managing events which depend on each other in different ways
- Being able to schedule the various members of the project team, including specific tasks for each member
- The ability to predict and deal with uncertainties and emergency situations which may arise during the project
- Making certain that tasks are finished on time and that new tasks are assigned

To determine which project management software is right for your particular project, you need to know several important factors. If your business or organization routinely plans and schedules events that need tracking of costs and services, then a program that addresses this aspect of your project will be best.

Many project management programs can detail every aspect of a project from task management to budget needs and everything in between. It’s important at the initial stages of decision that your business doesn’t take on a program that is too much for it. This will only end up bogging down the flow of data every project manager needs.

Having a program that can manage the basic details of your project may be the best thing for your company if your users aren’t comfortable with the aspects of the more complex programs. However, if your company is on a growth curve, it makes little sense to tie it down to a program that can’t keep up with the expected growth of your business.

As the company projects grow, so does the workload of the project managers within the company. This is why it’s important to have a program that can easily keep up with the changing needs of today’s businesses. In this case, it may be better to purchase the more complex program system and simply pay extra for employee training on the new system.

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4 Common Mistakes By Construction Business When Considering Software

It is getting very hard to run any form of construction business without some form of software to help you get the job done. Unfortunately most of us don’t have the experience to know what construction software is right for us. Worse than that, we don’t even know what is available. Managing your company as it grows means you need to get the job done while you try and come to terms with changing structural needs in your company. Many construction businesses cannot grow because they don’t have the tools, from simple accounting software, to complicated solutions with ERP software (Enterprise Resource Planning). Here is a look at some of the common mistakes we make when arranging our software needs for a growing construction business.

• Avoidance. If someone is going to implement new software and changes in the way they do things, it will probably mean they will need to get a considerable amount of education. Learning on the fly is often not an option. Many business owners will feel the task of acquainting themselves with new technology will drain their resources and take up too of their much time. Avoiding the change will actually make the situation worse. If your business is growing, and if it is growing particularly well, no matter what area you are experienced in, there will be areas that you just have to learn. Investing in understanding and learning about potential software benefits to your business is often necessary for many modern businesses. Simply put, you will have to face this issue, sooner or later.

• Not Looking Ahead. If any of your software is to be truly useful, it will need to have the ability to grow with your business. Buying business software that cannot expand and grow with your business is a very common mistake. If you are buying business software, you should understand you need to be getting your software from a company that has clients in your peer group. This means they have experience with your type of business and how it will potentially grow. It is only their experience that allows them to make provisions for the future in their software packages. An excellent way to grow and adapt can start with an accounting software package that can grow to include many other areas of your business. As your understanding improves, and you become more comfortable with using it, you can add more modules to encompass other areas of your operations. Another way to help stream line the performance of the different areas of your business is to utilize a third-party logistics company. This can significantly increase the efficiency of your company which in turn could help your business become more lean.

• Not Trying Before You Buy. If you are going to commit to the financial investment of your software, you need to truly understand what it will do for your business. This cannot happen during a small demonstration. You need to use that software for some time. 30 days is considered a normal period for anyone to understand the value of any software package. Don’t believe all of that sales hype. Try before you buy.

• Listening to Sales and not Consultants. There is a big difference between sales people and consultants. Consultants will look at your situation and give you recommendations. A sales person has a specific task, and that is to sell you something. If you are in construction business, it is worth getting the help of a construction business consultant who is independent, and can advise on what direction you can take with your IT and business support. Consultation for your business, in particular, is always the most important. A good consultant will have a huge range of options, and have previous client testimonies, to back up their reputation. A good software supplier will have a range of compatible software, of which the right components, can be chosen for you.

Never jump into getting construction software for your business, and at the same time, never neglect to understand what it can do for you. Converting your business over, to one that operates more efficiently and effectively, will take some time. Your first steps include developing your own understanding and cultivating the right consultant relationships that work with your business. Implementation without a good understanding will not work.

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Steps to Successful Schedules in Project Management

If you search internet with “Steps to Successful Schedules“, you will find millions of results. There are tons of resources that claim the perfect ways of scheduling.

Here is some steps for schedule creation that project managers can follow for their successful management.

1: Define the Schedule Activities

Take your Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) work packages and decompose them further into schedule activities.

Take each WBS work package, and decide what activities are required to create that package. For example, if your work package is “configure new computer hardware,” your schedule activities might include “set up network configuration,” “install the video card,” “install applications,” and then “set up mail client.”

2: Sequence the Activities

Remember back in grade school where you were given a bunch of pictures and you had to figure out their order. You had to decide which picture represented the 1st activity, the 2nd activity and so on? Well, that is exactly what the second step is all about. In the second step we sequence the schedule activities by simply placing them in the order in which they need to happen. For example, perhaps we need to install the video card first, then set up the network configuration, install applications and then finally set up the mail client. In some cases two or more activities can be done simultaneously. Perhaps we can set up the mail client while other applications are being installed. This step is where we look at the different types of schedule dependencies such as finish-to-start, start-to-start, finish-to-finish, and start-to-finish to figure out how each of these activities relate to each other.

3: Estimate the Resources Needed for the Activity

The third step involves estimating what resources will be required to accomplish each activity. This includes estimating needed team resources, financial resources, and equipment. These resource needs should be selected for each activity prior to estimating the duration of each activity which is the next step.

4: Estimating the Duration of Each of the Activities

This step requires you and your team to analyse how long it will take to accomplish each of the activities. These estimates can be quantified through the following tools:

• Expert Judgement: by conferring with someone who is familiar or experienced in what it takes to accomplish a particular activity.
• Analogous Estimating: a top-down estimation approach is taken by looking at similar projects within your organisation for estimates on how long a particular activity should take.
• Parametric Estimating: basically this is scaling an estimate. For example, perhaps you know it takes on average 10 minutes to install a software application. If the “install applications” activity includes the installation of 6 applications, you can use parametric estimation to estimate that it will take approximately 6 times 10 minutes, or 60 minutes to install all the applications.
• Three point estimation: sometimes referred to as PERT analysis, is a great tool for estimating activity durations. You basically take a weighted average of a pessimistic, expected, and optimistic estimate for the activity duration. This estimate is in the form of (Pessimistic + 4x(Expected) + Optimistic) / 6

5: Schedule Development

This step is the process where the sequence of activities, resources needed for the activities, and the duration of each activity is used to optimise the overall project schedule. Tools used in this process include critical path method, schedule compression, what-if scenario analysis, resource leveling, and critical chain methods. Each of these topics could have one or more articles dedicated to it, so we will not go into the detail of each.

Once the schedule is developed, it should be baselined to provide a snapshot of the original schedule plan of the plan.

6: Monitoring and Controlling the Schedule

The final step is monitoring and controlling the schedule. This step is performed throughout the life of the project and ensures that the work results lines up with the schedule plan. Schedule control requires the use of progress reporting, schedule change control systems, such as the use of project change requests, performance management, and variance analysis to determine if additional action is required to get the schedule back in line with the plan.

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Early strength development of sprayed concrete or shotcrete

Variable requirements for early strength development have to be met, depending largely on the point of use of the sprayed concrete or mortar. A distinction is made between:

• very early strength development in the range of a few minutes to about 1 hour

• early strength development in the range of about 1 hour to max. 1 day

After that we require of normal strength development, comparable with that of structural concrete. The strength development is influenced by the same factors:

• cement type and content

• water content

• temperatures in the concrete and the environment (substrate)

• layer thickness

• For sprayed concrete there is the added strong influence of the accelerator, which is intended to greatly increase the strength from the first few minutes to the first few hours.

Sprayed concrete or shotcrete is mainly used for stabilisation, but also frequently to grout or fill cavities. Mainly for rock and soil support and overhead spraying requirements for very early and early strength development are crucial and are generally specified.

Very early strength development

In the first few minutes after application of the sprayed concrete, the adhesive strength is decisive. Accurate dosage of the amount of air has here a great influence. It determines the rate of application (thickness). The consequence of insufficient air is insufficient concrete compaction which in its turn negatively influences final strength of the sprayed material.

Too much air produces much dust and high rebound losses. Fine cement and accelerator particles lost in the dust are important components missing for optimal strength development. Dust emission must also be avoided as much as possible for reasons of work hygiene (health protection). In any case, it is never possible to apply more sprayed concrete than the substrate is capable of absorbing, even as initial tensile force on the surface. The very early strength development determines the speed of advance and therefore the performance of the contractor .

A measurable compressive strength is obtained after about 1 hour (in special cases or in immediate stabilisation after only a few minutes). This strength development determines when heading can continue to advance. The early strength development determines the progress with tunnelling.

Final strength

Alongside the very early and early strength required specifically for sprayed concrete, there are mechanical requirements for the hardened sprayed concrete, just as there are for conventional concrete, generally after 28 days. The level of strength is based on the engineering by the design requirements. The compressive strength is measured on cores taken from the structure or from sprayed panels. Cube samples of the base concrete are sometimes used as  controls, but they cannot give meaningful results for the sprayed  concrete application because the characteristics may be changed considerably by the spraying process. The setting accelerators used and the skill of the nozzle man have a huge influence on the final strength obtained. Sprayed concrete is normally designed as a thin load-bearing skin and should therefore have ductile load-bearing properties. These can be obtained with reinforcing mesh, but the use of fibres for sprayed concrete and mortar reinforcement is ideal for flexible forming of the material. Steel-fibre-reinforced sprayed concrete is an extremely high-performance, load-bearing material.

The properties of the sprayed concrete are tested on samples taken directly from the structure or from panels sprayed parallel to the application under conditions of maximum similarity and then taken for sampling without destroying the structure. Sprayed panels with defined dimensions are also used for the plate test to determine the tensile strengths and the ductilty of the reinforced sprayed concrete.

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Health and Safety Works in Civil Enginering

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is concerned business owners in the UK are not doing enough to prevent accidents in the workplace. Employers have a duty of care to reduce the risk of harm or injury to their employees. In work environments that expose employees to potential hazards such as chemicals or falling rocks, employers have a responsibility to provide the correct protective workwear.

Failure to provide appropriate workwear for employees can result in expensive legal action and bad press. In the most serious cases employer´s negligence is punishable by imprisonment. It is therefore in the interests of employers and employees to adhere to British safety standards.

Health and safety regulations

Safety in the workplace is regulated by The Health and Safety at Work Act and The Health and Safety Act or the Management of Health and Safety at Work Act. The laws stipulate that employers will be liable to pay their debt to society if they fail to reasonably provide safety and welfare in the workplace.

Although your insurers might cover legal expenses should a court action be brought against your company, they will put the premium up which will prove more costly in the long-run than ensuring you are providing a safe working environment and the right safety wear for workers.

It is advisable for companies to employ a professional with health and safety training to periodically check the work environment for potential dangers. If an area cannot be cornered off, it may be that protective clothing solves the issue.

Safety workwear

You can get all types of different safety workwear, from heeled shoes to full-arm length rubber gloves. Specialist manufacturers produce workwear for every eventuality so you have no excuses for providing the right protective gear.

It should also be noted however, that employees also have a duty of care to behave responsibly and prevent causing injury to themselves or others. Employees have a responsibility to wear the protective clothing and keep it in a good condition that it will continue to protect them. Failure to do so will be offset against any damages you are found liable for by the courts.

For example, if you provide a worker with a pair of safety goggles and the elastic grows old and loose, you could argue that an eye injury could have been prevented if the goggles were strapped to the employees head securely. Because the worker had failed to maintain his equipment to ensure it was safe for him to work an employee cannot be held entirely responsible.

However, employees must make it explicitly clear which safety clothing is to be worn in which areas and whenever possible the rule should be enforced. Therefore thinking about what potential risks you have in different areas of your workplace. Once an employee has been issued with PPE requirements, they are responsible for their own actions and any injury caused by their own negligence is not the fault of the company. As they old adage goes, it´s better to be safe than sorry!

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PRINCE2 : Project management training module

A project managers job is very essential to any affair since they are the ones that make  projects  successful tasks. Because that, it is important to get trained and to obtain some awareness on this career via some sort of training course like the PRINCE2 project management training module.

The PRINCE2 training module will help a project manager not only realize all the jobs he has to do but also how to do them with the greatest possibility of success.

The PRINCE2 project management training module gives the knowledge for project managers  to start, maintain and finish any project successfully.

Any project can be well managed as long as the project manager knows how to accomplish the stages involved in achieving success they will succeed. Prince2 project management training and education module  will help this to happen.

If you think about it daily life is all about project management anyway, all you have to do is realize that and you are already on your way to becoming a great project manager. Execute your natural ability of managing with the Prince2 project management training module and you will succeed.

Do you get problem pointing out what things you manage in your life like thinking of your kids, your pets, your bank account, paying your bills… You are managing all of things of your life. Everyday you begin a day, you go through your day and you finish your day with the knowledge and gratifying feeling that you succeeded in doing the things you wanted and had to do. There is no different with managing any project you just need the extra business training end of it, this is what training modules like the Prince2 project management training module involves.

Don’t wait to long until you join a certified training from Prince2 project management  module. Combine your natural ability of project management with the knowledge you got from the training and you will be successful at your project manager career.

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Communication Tips for Site Junior and Setting out Engineers

1. Communications are vital to your success, some engineers have a habit of waiting to be told what to do, often this entails a rush of setting out as concrete may have been ordered, or men are standing around waiting for your setting out, Its good practice to have a weekly meeting to discuss programme, and plan the works, this does not occur on most sites, or if it does the Engineer is not invited, here you need to be proactive, request the meeting, or at least get your Foreman or line manager to complete his daily planning board (if he has one), either way you should be a couple of days ahead of construction with your setting out.

2. Remember that you are a vital part of the site team, much of the work will fall on your shoulders, and increase the more senior you become, therefore you need to act as part of the team, many of you see things that are unsafe, or of poor quality, and fail to warn relevant persons of these problems, plan your work load, and not be bullied into rash decisions, The only way to obtain job satisfaction is to do your job well, and see the results of good planning and accurate work.

3. Good Management encourage communications at all levels, your foreman and agent should be approachable, your contracts manager will be happy to talk about any problems you face on site, If you are experiencing safety problems and need a solution that is not forthcoming on site, contact your safety manager who should address your problems immediately.

4. If in doubt……….Ask! Some engineers are happy to coast along without a full understanding of aspects of the work, Site Management would prefer to help wherever they can, so don’t be embarrassed, discuss the problem. Coaching will be given, just ask for it.

Article compliments of Buildersafety.org

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Construction and Development Loans

Construction and development loans are loan options that are made available to businesses when there is a need to construct a commercial property, but there will not be any income generated until after the property is completed and capable of production or retail activity that will generate revenue. It is possible to apply for loans of this type from many banks and other lending institutions. The duration of the loan may range anywhere from a few months to several years, depending on amount of time required to complete the construction and allow the business to begin selling goods and services as a source of income.

The use of a C&D, or construction and development, loans is often an excellent choice for newly formed business ventures. The delay in beginning the process of repaying the loan allows the business a chance to establish a physical presence and begin the process of offering goods and services for sale. Many construction and development loans contain a clause that allows the debtor to have a short grace period after the anticipated completion date of the physical facility. This grace period can help account for any short delays in the construction process, as well as allow the debtor to open the facility and have time to begin accumulating sales that in turn create revenue that can be used to pay off the loan.

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Not only new businesses can make use of construction and development loans. Well-established companies often use this model as a means of opening new facilities in new locations, or to renovate or expand existing facilities. The structure of the loan is ideal, since it makes it possible to delay repayment until the facility is able to generate money on its own. This means that the business does not have to rely on income from its other facilities to carry the cost of the loan until construction is completed, and the new or refurbished facility is capable of engaging in productive efforts.

Because the facility under construction cannot reasonably be used as collateral for construction and development loans, banks and other lenders may approve the loan on some other basis. If the company owns other properties, these may be pledged as collateral. However, sometimes all that is required is a solid credit rating and a past history that assures the lender that the loan will be paid off according to terms.

A bank may offer what is know as a bridge loan, which is simply a construction and development loan of relatively short duration. The bridge loan may carry terms of several months, as in the case of expanding or adapting an existing property, or be written for three or so years when the construction involves the creation of a brand new building or series of buildings. As with all types of loans, any individual or business applying for one or more construction and development loans will need to comply with applicable national banking regulations and also meet the standards set by the individual lending institution.

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Urban planning 2014

Urban planning is a mixture of science and art. It encompasses many different disciplines and brings them all under a single umbrella. The simplest definition of urban planning is that it is the organization of all elements of a town or other urban environment. However, when one thinks about all the elements that make up a town, urban planning suddenly seems complicated – and it is.

Real urban planning is a relatively new concept. It gained popularity beginning in the mid-to-late 19th century, when it became obvious that there should be some kind of plan or larger goals for the growth of big cities like New York and Philadelphia. Before this time, cities very often grew as they had need, and the surrounding land was just swallowed up. London, Paris, Tokyo – none of these world cities had much urban planning, and even now, the addresses and streets in their older sections can be confusing even to natives.

Urban planning also became popular because of the growing need to get factory workers into healthier housing, rather than stuffing them into fire-trap tenements. With the advent of unions, workers had advocates to help lobby for better housing. Hence, “mill villages” and “steel villages” sprang up in larger cities.

Nowadays, urban planning takes all aspects of a city into consideration. It includes plans for safety, aesthetics and common sense placement of everything from houses to factories. Parents wouldn’t want their children’s playground next to the water treatment plant, for instance, and urban planning helps eliminate such problems. Goals for attractive architecture for city buildings are put into place and pleasing green spaces are planned. Good urban planning gets schools into the neighborhoods where they are needed most, places hospitals in centralized locations, allows for growth and plans highways accordingly.

Perhaps good urban planning is most evident in good highway planning in a city. Anticipating growth and traffic needs for a big city is crucial. Urban planners must consider how future growth will affect traffic flow and try to eliminate trouble spots before they become a problem. Even placing sewer systems and drainage systems is a necessary element of urban planning, albeit a less glamorous one. Urban planners must consider geography, the water table and numerous other elements of a city’s landscape in order to properly plan for this necessity.

Because so many disciplines make up the larger concept of urban planning, a group of urban planners may have widely divergent degrees: civil engineering, architecture, botany, landscape design, electrical engineering, business administration, and so on. Urban planners who are good at what they do are highly sought after by municipal governments. When efficient urban planning is used, cities are more attractive and serve their citizens to the best of their potential.

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