Construction

For other uses, see Construction (disambiguation).

Cranes are essential in large construction projects, such as this skyscraper

In architecture and civil engineering, construction is the building or assembly of any infrastructure as well as the application of finishes and material conditions to create a desired physical environment. Although this may be thought of as a single activity, in fact construction is a feat of multitasking involving many skilled trades. Normally the job is managed by the construction manager, supervised by the project manager, and approved by the design engineer or project architect. While these people work out of offices, every construction project requires a large number of laborers, carpenters, and other skilled tradesmen to complete the physical tasks of the construction project.

For the successful execution of a project effective planning is essential. Those involved with the design and execution of the project must consider the environmental impact of the job as well as scheduling, budgeting, site safety codes, inconveniences posed to the public, construction delays, preparing tender documents and the overall impact to surrounding businesses.

In general, there are three types of construction: (1) building, (2) heavy/highway, and (3) industrial. Each type of construction requires a unique team to plan, design and construct the project.

Common elements of construction

Building construction for several apartment blocks.

Building construction is the process of adding structure to real property. The vast majority of building construction projects are small renovations such as the addition of a room or renovation of a portion of the rooms of the existing building. Often the owner of the property acts as laborer, paymaster and designer for the entire project.

All building construction projects include some elements in common including design, financial, and legal considerations. It is not an infrequent occurrence that projects of varying sizes produce undesirable end results such as structural collapse, cost overruns and/or litigation due to insufficient planning or the tendency for hired contractors to use insufficient materials to save on costs. For this reason, those with experience in the field produce detailed plans and maintain careful oversight during the project to ensure a positive outcome. Many states and jurisdictions have stringent codes for the use of materials, clearances and egress lanes to maintain fire and life safety.

For projects of large size and/or unusual type, the owner will likely establish a team of workers and specialists to create an overall plan. This ensures that the project will proceed in an orderly manner to a desirable end. While no set list would establish what is needed or advisable for a particular project, these roles frequently include architects, engineers, mortgage bankers, accountants, lawyers and insurance brokers. While their roles overlap, each area of expertise addresses an important element that will impact the building construction project.

Construction on the North Bytown Bridge in Ottawa, Canada. A crane is readied to lower a barge into the water. This barge will be placed under any cutting work on the bridge to lessen the environmental impact. Note the concrete barricades and snow fencing in place to protect the public and workers.

Residential Construction

More and more families are looking into building their own homes, or contracting to have them built. Construction practices, technologies, and resources are making Home Construction significantly easier to accomplish. In practice, a General contractor works closely with the owner to determine the exact needs and desires, and acts as an intermediary between the owner and the sub-contractors.

Heavy/Highway construction

Heavy/Highway construction is the process of adding infrastructure to our built environment. Owners of these projects are usually government agencies, either at the national or local level. As in building construction, heavy/highway construction has design, financial, and legal considerations, however these projects are not usually undertaken for-profit, but to service the public interest. However, heavy/highway construction projects are also undertaken by large private corporations, including, among others, the golf courses, harbors, power companies, railroads, and mines, who undertake the construction of access roads, dams, railroads, general site grading, and massive earthwork projects. As in building construction, the owner will assemble a team to create an overall plan to ensure that the goals of the project are met.

Authority Having Jurisdiction

In construction, the AHJ is typically the municipality. For a building that is contemplated, drawings are reviewed and must be accepted by both the buidling department and the fire department's plan reviewers, following the application of a building permit.

The AHJ during the construction of a building is the municipal building inspector, who is enforcing the local building code. Once construction is complete and a final inspection has been passed, an occupancy permit may be issued.

An operating building must comply with the fire code. The fire code is enforced by the fire prevention officer, who works for the local fire department.

Any changes made to a building including its use, expansion, its structural integrity, fire protection items require acceptance by the AHJ. A fire prevention officer may accept small changes, but anything affecting basic safety functions, no matter how small they may appear to the novice, may require the owner to apply for a building permit, to ensure proper review of the contemplated changes against the building code.

Routes into construction

There are several routes to the different careers within the construction industry. Craft industries offer jobs where employees train while they work through apprenticeships and other training schemes.

Technical occupations in England require GCSE qualifications or vocational equivalents, either initially or through on the job apprenticeship training.

Graduate roles in the construction industry are filled by people with at least a foundation degree in subjects such as civil engineering, building and construction management. Graduates often receive specialised positions and gain qualifications such as chartered status.

Construction industry qualifications

There are different types of qualifications and training programs for the construction industry. They include:

Apprenticeships
Construction Awards
Foundation Certificates
National/Scottish Vocational Qualifications (NVQs/SVQs)
National Certificates & National Diplomas
Foundation Degrees & Degrees
Professional Qualifications
Full time & Part Time Sandwich Study

Tender requirements

In many countries (such as the United States), public agencies must adhere to many legal requirements that require the project to undergo a public bid process. These laws stem from underlying norms that all constructors should have an equal opportunity to do construction for the public, and not those constructors who can influence monetarily (bribe) public officials for contract award. These laws stipulate very rigid procedures for soliciting, receiving, and awarding to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder.

Industrial construction

Industrial construction, though a relatively small part of the entire construction industry, is a very important component. Owners of these projects are usually large, for-profit, industrial corporations. These corporations can be found in such industries as medicine, petroleum, chemical, power generation, manufacturing, etc. Processes in these industries require highly specialized expertise in planning, design, and construction. As in building and heavy/highway construction, this type of construction requires a team of individuals to ensure a successful project.

Design team

A construction crew

In the modern industrialized world, construction usually involves the translation of paper or computer based 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 architects, interior designers, civil engineers, cost engineers (or quantity surveyors), mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, and structural engineers. 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 surveyor. Following evaluation of bids, the owner will typically award a contract to the lowest responsible 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.

A construction worker working with rebar that will be used in a column.

Financial advisors

Many construction projects suffer from preventable financial problems. Underbids ask for too little money to complete the project. Cash flow problems exist when the present amount of funding cannot cover the current costs for labor and materials, and because they are a matter of having sufficient funds at a specific time, can arise even when the overall total is enough. Fraud is a problem in many fields, but is notoriously prevalent in the construction field. Financial planning for the project is intended to ensure that a solid plan, with adequate safeguards and contingency plans, is in place before the project is started, and is required to ensure that the plan is properly executed over the life of the project.

Mortgage bankers, accountants, and cost engineers are likely participants in creating an overall plan for the financial management of the building construction project. The presence of the mortgage banker is highly likely even in relatively small projects, since the owner's equity in the property is the most obvious source of funding for a building project. Accountants act to study the expected monetary flow over the life of the project, and to monitor the payouts throughout the process. Cost engineers apply expertise to relate the work and materials involved to a proper valuation.

Large projects can involve highly complex financial plans. As portions of a project are completed, they may be sold, supplanting one lender or owner for another, while the logistical requirements of having the right trades and materials available for each stage of the building construction project carries forward.

Legal considerations

A construction project must fit into the legal framework governing the property. These include governmental regulations on the use of property, and obligations that are created in the process of construction.

The project must adhere to zoning and building code requirements. Constructing a project that fails to adhere to codes will not benefit the owner. Some legal requirements come from malum in se considerations, or the desire to prevent things that are indisputably bad - bridge collapses or explosions. Other legal requirements come from malum prohibitum considerations, or things that are a matter of custom or expectation, such as isolating businesses to a business district and residences to a residential district. An attorney may seek changes or exemptions in the law governing the land where the building will be built, either by arguing that a rule is inapplicable (the bridge design won't collapse), or that the custom is no longer needed (acceptance of live-work spaces has grown in the community).

Also, a construction project is a complex net of contracts and other legal obligations, each of which must be carefully considered. A contract is the exchange of a set of obligations between two or more parties, but it is not so simple a matter as trying to get the other side to agree to as much as possible in exchange for as little as possible. The time element in construction means that a delay costs money, and in cases of bottlenecks, the delay can be extremely expensive. Thus, the contracts must be designed to ensure that each side is capable of performing the obligations set out. Contracts that set out clear expectations and clear paths to accomplishing those expectations are far more likely to result in the project flowing smoothly, whereas poorly drafted contracts lead to confusion and collapse.

Legal advisors in the beginning of a construction project seek to identify ambiguities and other potential sources of trouble in the contract structure, and to present options for preventing problems. Throughout the process of the project, they work to avoid and resolve conflicts that arise. In each case, the lawyer facilitates an exchange of obligations that matches the reality of the project.

Interaction of expertise

Design, finance, and legal aspects overlap and interrelate. The design must be not only structurally sound and appropriate for the use and location, but must also be financially possible to build, and legal to use. The financial structure must accommodate the need for building the design provided, and must pay amounts that are legally owed. The legal structure must integrate the design into the surrounding legal framework, and enforces the financial consequences of the construction process.

Construction trades

Brickwork
Carpentry
Cladding
Drainage
Elevator Mechanic
Firestopping
Fireproofing
Framing
Glazing
Heating, Ventilation, and Air-conditioning
Insulation
Joinery
Masonry
Painting and Decorating
Plastering
Plumbing
Roofing
Electrician
Iron worker
Heavy Equipment Operator (see: Engineering vehicles)
Stonemason
Cement Mason

Construction materials

Concrete
Wood including Lumber and Timber
Steel
Stone
Glass
Drywall
Straw-bales
Adobe (sun-dried mud)
Brick (kiln oven-baked clay)
Rammed earth
Ferrocement
aggregate (composite)
slipform stone
Asphalt
Structural insulated panel (composite)

Structural elements

Foundations
- Floating-raft system
Roof
Wall

External links

Construction Equipment Guide
What is the Culture of Building? by Howard Davis.
Link to dmoz directory of construction weblinks

Credits

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