Trades

In this post we will discuss highway drainage at mountainous locations. Read More

In this post we will discuss one of the most environmentally friendly construction concepts, green roofs. The benefits of green roofs are so many that it is difficult to understand current policies being inadequate to support (or even mandate) this system, including in developed countries – of course there are incentives or certain programs that support this but in our opinion this is inadequate even in developed countries, not to mention the rest of the world. When you read the list below you might also agree. So let’s start listing the benefits. We plan to cover the construction of green roofs in another post. Benefits of Green Roofs: Green roofs […] Read More

When doing quantity takeoffs for masonry bricks, please make sure that you not only look at the plan and the exterior elevations, but also the flashing details as well, in the case of a building exterior brick. Those details will most probably show you the detail of where the brick is extending below the slab level – if any. This will not be visible from the exterior elevations and can lead to mistakes of a few percent in calculation. Another important factor to remember when doing brick takeoffs is that it is always necessary to include your waste factor. Brick is one of those trades that requires a 10% waste […] Read More

When a general contractor orders the materials himself, and hire an installer separately, with the hope of saving a little from the cost of materials, it is usually not worth it. From this post’s author’s experience, here are the reasons why: 1-First of all you loose your single source accountability during the execution of the job. 2-You loose your single source liability after the job is finished, when the installed material needs to perform as expected. If something goes wrong, your installer will most likely blame you about the materials or the way how you coordinated the installation. 3-You expose yourself to quantity takeoff mistakes. This can cause extra money […] Read More

Façade renovation job of an existing building,may consist of many items such as replacement of glass, plaster, canopies, screens, waterproofing, stone or tile application, entire new curtain wall systems, even the exterior studs or bricks that hold the facade materials. Facade renovation is important because it increases the value of the property, it provides better insulation, decrease maintenance costs, and simply will achieve a better look in almost all cases. In the most general sense, all surfaces must be cleaned to bare bottom, before application of any new materials. In some cases, as we mentinoed, this may even involve replacement of the exterior skeleton itself, it is is determined that […] Read More

Like all industries, construction is also being automated, but it is one of the slowest that experiences this. This is because the real life variables that come into play in construction are very high, and real life variables are very hard to predict. In other words, it is harder for AI to manage construction projects, than manufacturing cars in an assembly line, making diagnostics in healthcare, analyzing stock trends, cleaning floors, check credit card fraud, profile airline passengers, play chess, because all these tasks can be performed in highly controlled environments, with limited number of variables, which are all highly defined, given to the computer. Let’s think about one of […] Read More

Elevators are an important part of high rise construction. But how do they fit in the schedule and with other trades? As soon as we have the elevator opening shaft ready, we can start to install elevator rails. The items for making shaft ready include: all floors must be complete and the dimensions must be per the drawings of the elevator manufacturer. adequate storage space and access to the elevator shaft must be present, in other words, the elevator subcontractor must have enought space to place his stuff, and have enough space to work three phase and one phase power supplies must be complete, lifting hooks must be in place, […] Read More