On Tuesday, April, 21st we were given the assignment of visiting the two construction projects on campus, the basketball facility and the new dorm. We were told to find some similarities and differences between the two sites. I think the motive behind this assignment was that most projects have basically the same tasks, but all companies have different ways of doing the same task. So the similarities between the sites were that:
-Both were in the same phase of their projects(finalizing the exteriors)
-Both were still using heavy equipment(B.B. used lifts while the dorm used heavy mixers for mortar)
-Both were using basically the same materials(hokie stone)
-Both had a couple small crews with two or three guys working on different jobs for the overall project
-Both had basic site utilization(gravel over entrance/exits, on site parking for workers)

Some Differences between the two sites are:
-The dorm had a lot of unused machinery laying around while the majority of the equipment at the B.B. were being utilized
-The sites obviously are going to be used for different purposes so they have different building requirements
-Heavy equipment was being used to lift materials up to workers at the B.B. while at the dorm materials were being cut up at the location they were being used
-The dorm still had a surveyor on site assisting the laborers putting hokie stone on the walls
-The dorm was overly populated and did not have much room for the workers to do their work(this could be a safety problem with too many people on scaffolding)

Today we were given a short lab day. Our assignment was to go to the first official career day held in front of squires. There I machines used in the construction industry, experienced new technologies that the industry is moving towards, and talk to professionals from the field. I have some pictures to the left of what I saw. First I nervously watched a couple of my classmates operate the crane that they had on display. They were only allowed to move the hook up and down so they couldn't do too much damage. Although the people studying in the library were probably not happy about the noise coming from the crane's motor. I was then shown a mock-up of a hallway by Mr. Depp. He described how much stuff is actually in a ceiling and wall that you can not see and how tight it can get. He then showed us a short presentation of program called primavera which he uses to keep all the paperwork for jobs organized. He explained how he can view his program anywhere in the world where he can get online. The next stop on the industry day journey was to tent where some survey and GPS equipment was set up. They explained to us how the industry is beginning to move to completely real time on job sites and showed us the reciever that can estimate to something like 5/1000 of a foot. I learned that he was able to do this due to a base unit that was mounted on top of one of his trucks. He said that the difference between the GPS in my car and his was about $25,000. This technology interested me the most out of the displays because it gave me some insight to the direction the industry is moving. Eventually you will be able to sit in an office and know exactly when a beam is being put in place or when a wall is going up. All in all I think the first Industry Day at Virginia Tech was a success. Given the fact that it was the first time the experience can only improve and bring more and more publicity to showing what the construction industry is all about and displaying new technologies that I will eventually be using when I get into the field.

Experience of Estimating

Last week we were given the task of estimating the concrete and supporting materials in a research facility in Roanoke. There were some problems but also a lot to learn. The take off is the first step and some problems arose with that. First the drawing we were using was in a very small scale and it was difficult to read the numbers for dimensions. Next we were to use the take off we did and RS Means website to get a unit and assembly estimate based on average building costs from Roanoke. Some of the problems with RS Means were that there were so many choices of materials and processes that it was hard to determine which ones to use since we were not given enough details. We then had to put in our number from the take off we did into the materials and processes in RS Means and it spit out a number for us. After that we exported that into Excel and manipulated the numbers of the materials to fit our project. Finally we put both estimates onto one sheet and save it, posted this to scholar and dropped a hard copy into the office. Above are screen shots of the unit and assembly estimates that I took from my Excel files that I posted to Scholar. The top one is unit and assembly is the bottom.

Wall assembly detail

This is the wall assembly of a simple concrete wall system. It consists of 2500 psi concrete and is reinforced with #4 rebar throughout the system. There is no view of the foundation underneath.

Link to site:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.energyblocksystems.com/Cross-Sections-Details/Wall_Assembly_Detail.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.energyblocksystems.com/details.htm&usg=__5FRFiBNoaiDoYv9k_dECJbKgiU4=&h=677&w=455&sz=40&hl=en&start=1&sig2=d_V12O0XdCwIew9sKbKL4A&um=1&tbnid=PkOWUtzMdCsB9M:&tbnh=139&tbnw=93&ei=WPGjSbKeD5bGtgfx55n7BQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwall%2Bassembly%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DX

attendance

I am in class today February 24, 2009

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Today I learned how to make a blog. This is the first youtube video that I put on here... don't do this