Don't Ignore Two-Year Grads
A panel of constructors watched last month as Bolduc, a 22-year-old construction management major at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, played the role of president of a fictitious company. Pretending to respond to a request for
...
Publication Date: 26 November , 2002
|
 |
Engineering the Bottom Line
No, I am not talking about cooking the books. I am talking about planning, strategizing and putting resources where needed to achieve desired results. Does it sound like too much
Publication Date: 23 September, 2002
|
|
Single Building Code Needed
Building codes in the U.S. are at a crossroads. Until recently, we took the safety of our buildings for granted, confident that designs meeting code requirements would perform well. However, the collapse o
Publication Date: 09 September, 2002
|
|
Don't Believe Maglev's Critics
Maglev uses electromagnetic forces for vertical and horizontal support as well as for propulsion. Unlike traditional HSR with steel wheels on steel rails, maglev eliminates any contact between vehicles and guideways, and offers faster travel wit
...
Publication Date: 19 August , 2002
|
|
Rethink Social-Impact Fees
I didn't get into this business to be a social worker," a developer complained to me recently. After 30 years of helping builders bring projects to completion, I'm hearing more and more of them compla
Publication Date: 22 July , 2002
|
|
Twin Towers Demanded More
Along Exit 14B of the New Jersey Turnpike, you can see something even more distressing than lower Manhattan’s skyline. Mountains of metal rise from the scrap yards of Jersey City, where much of the st
Publication Date: 08 July , 2002
|
|
Bail Out Concrete Canoe Race
Although I don't speak for most of my faculty colleagues, I'm an advocate of student competitions such as the National Concrete Canoe Competition and the National Student Steel Bridge Competition. In each, student teams compete to build the fas
...
Publication Date: 24 June , 2002
|
|
Welcome, Space Cadets
BALANCE. For the past 200 years, researchers have been developing the field of hemisphericity. A breakthrough came in the late 1940s when neurosurgeons first successfully linked behavior to hemisphericity. Language
Publication Date: 10 June , 2002
|
|
Risk-Shifting Contracts Hurt
SURVEY. At Columbia University during my master’s program in civil engineering, I wrote a 30-question survey that I sent to contractors and facilities owners. I asked them about contract language that addresse
Publication Date: 27 May , 2002
|
|
Help Afghanistan Rebuild
CASUALTY. I've been lucky. I grew up surrounded by prominent builders and magnificent, inspiring buildings. In the 1920s, my grandfather helped build the once-prominent Ministry of Justice, across the street from wh
Publication Date: 13 May , 2002
|
|
Data Runaround Costs Clients
If you were to ask people, "What business is McDonald's in?" most would answer with little hesitation that it's in the fast-food business. But though its franchises are, the parent corporation is not. Rather, as Kiyosaki convincingly
...
Publication Date: 29 April , 2002
|
|
Don't Auction-Bid Contracts
"Although each bidding contractor's identity remains guarded, the low bid is immediately posted on the auction site...for all invited contractors to view," the rules stated. "Contractors are allowed to underbid...by any dollar va
...
Publication Date: 29 April , 2002
|
|
Prove Yourself: Take the Test
That unfortunate experience happened to Walter Nashert, founder of Nashert Constructors Inc., Oklahoma City. How did he respond? By laying the groundwork for the courts to recognize constructors as members of a profession. Nashert recruited the
...
Publication Date: 10 April , 2002
|
|
Prove Yourself: Take the Test
That unfortunate experience happened to Walter Nashert, founder of Nashert Constructors Inc., Oklahoma City. How did he respond? By laying the groundwork for the courts to recognize constructors as members of a profession. Nashert recruited the
...
Publication Date: 01 April , 2002
|
|
Construction Quality Stinks
DEFECTS. Almost every project that we build has construction defects. Some are fairly major, such as in a multistory building where a contractor failed to install 98% of the brick ties needed to keep exterior brick
Publication Date: 18 March , 2002
|
|
Data Runaround Costs Clients
If you were to ask people, "What business is McDonald's in?" most would answer with little hesitation that it's in the fast-food business. But though its franchises are, the parent corporation is not. R
Publication Date: 04 March , 2002
|
|
Don't Abuse Developing World
Injury and death from construction accidents are so common in Manila that many building sites there are described as "war zones." Similar situations exist in many other developing countries. Worldwide, construction accidents claim an
...
Publication Date: 18 February , 2002
|
|
Beware: Possible Stagflation
The first is "Guns for Butter." In the war on terrorism, government will dramatically shift expenditures from "butter"—education, infrastructure and health care. Architectural, engineering and construction firms with cl
...
Publication Date: 04 February , 2002
|
|
Don't Shortchange Students
Two years ago in the U.S., I began having discussions with some professors in construction programs at major universities who were teaching courses in computers and information technology (IT). They were teaching everything from how to use spre
...
Publication Date: 21 January , 2002
|
|
Blame Unions for Blackouts
If politicians really want to solve California's current energy crisis, they must undo the artificial shortage created by unions and project labor agreements.
Publication Date: 09 December , 2001
|
|
Don't Ignore Two-Year Grads
A panel of constructors watched last month as Bolduc, a 22-year-old construction management major at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, played the role of president of a fictitious company. Pretending to respond to a request for
...
Publication Date: 26 November , 2001
|
|
Escape From CAD's Chains
CAD-based software has had an almost hostage-like grip on companies. Anyone who uses computer-aided drafting has had a litany of complaints ranging from its lack of user-friendliness to the expense of its
Publication Date: 12 November , 2001
|
|
High Risk Industry Baits Kids
First, a personal disclosure: Construction accidents are a big part of how I make a living. I have been accused of profiting from other's misery. But after spending 26 years in the industry and the past 15 as a crisis-management consultant, I c
...
Publication Date: 29 October , 2001
|
|
Misogyny Hurts Craft Labor
Amazingly, contractors let this situation fester despite the industry's worsening difficulties in attracting and retaining craftworkers. Too many contractors still reach past more capable women to hire men, allow (or encourage) veteran tradeswo
...
Publication Date: 15 October , 2001
|
|
Risk-Shifting Contracts Hurt
For industry survivors to meet the Bush administration's ambitious energy goals, powerplant contractors need a robust industry. They need collaborative agreements with project owners instead of today's adversarial, risk-shifting, lump-sum, engi
...
Publication Date: 17 September, 2001
|
|
Wind Farms Need Tax Credit
Barely noticed by the Bush administration, evidence is mounting that large-scale development of wind energy is becoming much more feasible and economical. Once dismissed as the darling fringe technology of enviro
Publication Date: 13 August , 2001
|
|
Don't Let Yourself Be Dismissed
But instead of going mad, I returned to work and redoubled my efforts to prove two things: the importance of value engineering and the importance of women in the profession. Reinvigorated by my art, I fought and made dramatic presentations at wo
...
Publication Date: 30 July , 2001
|
|
Make Design Contests Fairer
This type of competition is intended to attract the world's best bridge designers, who often spend many months preparing their entries at great expense. Usually, clients make the process extremely competitive to find the best solutions aestheti
...
Publication Date: 16 July , 2001
|
|
Demand Documented Savings
I am not criticizing him. I believe that someone of Horn's caliber to be quite capable of the exercise. My assertion is this: He could not document the savings because there aren't any significant savings yet to report. Even if he had experience
...
Publication Date: 02 July , 2001
|
|
Earmark Public Funds for IT
TEAM EFFORT. Given the political realities, I see little chance of any such increase in funding for civil infrastructure at this time. But I do think that we could convince Congress to make better use of current le
Publication Date: 21 May , 2001
|
|
Learn from Israel's Mistakes
Unlike the US, Israel lacks unionized crafts. History dictated otherwise; Israel formed suddenly in 1948 when the British pulled out of Palestine. The task of building the new country fell to fewer than 1 million inhabitants, including concentr
...
Publication Date: 07 May , 2001
|
|
Avoid Unscrupulous Claims
In this era of lawsuits by contractors with claims for delays and unabsorbed overhead, many facilities owners insist on getting a detailed schedule for critical path management before permitting any construction work to start. But do they deman
...
Publication Date: 23 April , 2001
|
|
Charm Your Way Through Asia
OBEDIENCE. Having been born and raised in Asia, I know how much the culture values obedience. Asian construction management typically mimics that of a well-trained military. Just as a good soldier strives to follow
Publication Date: 09 April , 2001
|
|
Accounting Rule Fixes Roads
For too long, public infrastructure has been built without regard for the long-term costs of operations and maintenance. This is because funding and program responsibilities have been fragmented between capital a
Publication Date: 02 April , 2001
|
|
Quit Following Marx's Advice
Consider a recent experience of mine: While visiting a powerplant project, I listened to a familiar claim: "We’re giving it 100% and when we’re held up, it’s not our fault," a foreman told me as we reviewed what was wron
...
Publication Date: 26 March , 2001
|
|
Let's Derail U.S. Maglev Plans
Want to take a fast multibillion-dollar ride to a dead end? Taxpayers soon will if the Federal Railroad Administration continues to railroad through plans for the nation's first commercial train operated w
Publication Date: 26 February , 2001
|
|
Cut Hair? Lift Iron? Licensed?
Imagine working under 200 tons of structural steel being hoisted by two cranes. One operator has the skills to safely operate his crane. But the second operator, untrained and unskilled, accidentally drops
Publication Date: 12 February , 2001
|
|
McGraw-Hill Construction | ENR - System Automates Motion Detection
But there have not been many other options. Over the years, civil engineering and surveying firms and their customers have come to accept inferior output from CAD-based design software on the theory that it performed at least some necessary fun
...
Publication Date: 04 February , 2001
|
|
Blame Unions for Blackouts
If politicians really want to solve California's current energy crisis, they must undo the artificial shortage created by unions and project labor agreements.
Publication Date: 29 January , 2001
|
|
Teach Faculty Constructibility
Let me give you an example. We were asked to install drilled shaft foundations for a large power transmission tower in the Midwest. Drilled shafts are great foundations for these towers. They're relatively straightforward to design, and we've in
...
Publication Date: 15 January , 2001
|
|
McGraw-Hill Construction | ENR - System Automates Motion Detection
When will the water industry shape up to protect public health? When will utility officials realize that lax water-treatment procedures and a reluctance to upgrade facilities can result in illness? How many more customers must die from waterborn
...
Publication Date: 18 December , 2000
|
|
McGraw-Hill Construction | ENR - System Automates Motion Detection
I was at a jobsite recently where it was clear that the job trailer has become little more than a large container for drawings, specifications and every other form of paperwork imaginable. I don't mean to be old-fashioned, but where we once wor
...
Publication Date: 04 December , 2000
|
|
McGraw-Hill Construction | ENR - System Automates Motion Detection
Having a check thrown in my face by a surly waiter wasn't pleasant, but it was an exception to my otherwise positive experience while working in Latin America. My experience—and the reports of other women at my company—provide evidence
...
Publication Date: 12 November , 2000
|
|
Lab Work Is Already Tough
Last month, details of a federal probe into alleged environmental data fraud by a Texas laboratory were splashed across the front pages of the national press (ENR October 2 issue p. 12). Prosecutors said the possible faulty data by Intertek Test
...
Publication Date: 06 November , 2000
|
|
McGraw-Hill Construction | ENR - System Automates Motion Detection
Publication Date: 29 October , 2000
|
|
| |
| Viewpoint |
 Previous 1 | 2 | 3 Next  |
| |
