Essay Sample on Construction Site

Introduction

The location of the construction site was almost flat; hence the need for levelling was not that high. The preparation of the field was therefore not very hard since the land in Utah is generally flat. The main issue that the contractor faced was the problem of trees in the area. As he explained, the land where the building was to be set up had several trees that needed to be uprooted. The pictures were taken of the land before the construction also show several bushes and thickets which must have been cumbersome to remove. During the visit, we found the construction at the finishing process. Upon proper evaluation, there were eleven trained laborers who were each assigned a semi-skilled laborer. In addition to that, the site had five extra semiskilled laborers.

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The contractor had employed three machine operators in charge of the concrete mixer. They, however, came only three times since those were the only times that needed their labor. The first time was during the foundation set, the second was during the making of the pillars that supported the house and when the house was at the lentil stage of construction. The mixer had come in handy during these times especially because the labor force was not enough for such a demanding task. In a conversation with the contractor, he emphasized that the work schedule for all the workers was from 8.00 am to 5.00pm on weekdays and 8.00am till 12.00noon on Saturdays. The job on Saturday was counted as half a day; hence the wages were paid halfway. He also said that during the three stages when the house needed a lot of labor, foundation, pillars and lintel, the workers had a pay increase for the large labor demand.

Engineering Evaluation

Basing on the advantage that the owner had at the beginning of the construction there was no need for a grader to level the land. This is a big economic save considering the cost of hiring grader. In most of the firms that have such machinery, a grader goes for about $60 per hour. The machine rate of the grader is about $0.6 per meter cubed. In addition to that, there are additional costs such as fuel and labor costs since the owner has to pay the machine operators. On average, the grader would be paid for six hours to complete the job and come up with a level field ready for construction. The costs were however reduced to three hours to get rid of all the vegetation on the land.

Another important machine that is used in the compaction of the land after it has been levelled is the compactor. For the case study trip above, the contractor employed a Pad foot compactor to compress the soil before the beginning of the construction. It was a sure way to enhance stability by making the ground more compacted. In addition to that, the contractor applied the concrete for the foundation using basic equipment such as wheelbarrows which also had to be hired. The building also required cranes to lift the concrete when it came to the lintel levels. The cost of hiring a crane for a small construction site is about$1500 per week (CranesCrew, 2018). Considering that the building was to be built for two months, the framing part would last for about a month, and that was when the crane was used. It was essential in lifting material from the ground to the higher levels of the ground where the construction was still ongoing. The cost of the crane was therefore about $6000 for the whole of the construction. It was a cheaper option to employ the use of the crane for two about three weeks only when the roofing was ongoing and after the lintel level. Before the building reached the lintel level, the workers would have used stands made of metal that was readily available from the contractor at a lower price. In addition to that, the crane should have been smaller compared to the one used since it was a residential house and did not go that high.

The contractor also ordered material only when they were needed. An excellent example of such a case was ordering 300 bags of cement only when the house was at the foundation. Considering that the foundation consumed all 300 bags the idea was not economic. It would have been wiser if he ordered the material all at a go from one wholesale dealer. It would be a guarantee of significant discounts as well as ease the transport costs. In addition to that, he would have looked for hardware that had almost all if not all the materials needed for the needs of the construction. It would ensure that the client gets an average price of the goods since the dealer is likely to benefit more from the sale of the material in larger quantities even if it is at smaller profits per good.

The project had no harm to the environment in accordance with the plan that the contractor had set. To begin with, all the wood chips that had no use could be used as firewood for the owner, and they were therefore set apart for later use as willed by the owner of the building. The bags of cement were also set aside and were to be collected by The Rocky Mountain recycling plant on weekly basis. There, the bags would be used for other purposes such as making tents or sacks that could be used for other activities (Pandey et al., 20018). In addition to that, the stone and concrete that remained were crushed and used to make the gravel paths around the enterprise. This measure saved the owner a lot of money that would have been used in the finishing up the construction. The stones and slab chippings were also compressed using the compactor that had been hired at the beginning of the construction.

Other waste matters such as the dust and sand particles collected were also reused after sieving to remove the gravel pieces which were too big. The idea was very economical.

Conclusion

Basing on the above data, the construction site was successful despite some of the errors. In addition to that, the building took a shorter time since that labor was divided and each person was supposed to know their role in the process. The skilled personnel selected one of them to report any incidences in the job to the contractor who found a solution to any problem encountered. The idea of working on Saturdays also proved very helpful since it saved the employer a week of labor which would have cost higher charges especially on the machinery that they used. In general, the planning and execution of the plan were excellent.

References

CranesCrew. (2018). How much do tower cranes cost?. Retrieved from https://www.cranecrews.com/crane-blog/how-much-do-tower-cranes-cost

McKinnon, M. (2015). Five Stages of Home Construction - Infographic. Retrieved from https://www.aussie.com.au/blog/five-stages-of-home-construction-infographic/

Pandey, R. U., Surjan, A., & Kapshe, M. (2018). Exploring linkages between sustainable consumption and prevailing green practices in reuse and recycling of household waste: the case of Bhopal city in India. Journal of Cleaner Production, 173, 49-59.