Construction Commonality

4/21/09 Site Visit: Basketball Facility & New Residence Hall

 

Similarities:

- Both projects are using the same materials for construction. (Steel framing, hokie stone and precast concrete for exterior ...)

- They're both at the same stage of completion (almost finished with exterior of building moving onto interior components)

- Similar equipment and tools can be found on both job sites. 

Differences:

- Site Utilization (each project has a different layout and uses space differently than the other)

- Labor (there appears to be more workers present on the Residence Hall project)

- Access to the site (While the basketball facility is located in a large open space, the Residence Hall is located in a more confined area)

- Temporary structures (The residence hall appears to still have much of its scaffolding still up on many parts of the building, while the basketball facility only has scaffolding around the back)

- Cleanliness of worksite (The residence hall worksite has a lot of loose materials and trash surrounding the building than the basketball facility does)

Industry Day

Industry Day

Equipment:
At the first stop we checked out the the motor-grader and the crane. Graders are commonly used to level out surfaces on a job site. Some of the group took turns operating the crane under close supervision.

Permatile – Concrete Product Company:
Moving on from the equipment we met Bill Canter whom graduated from Virginia Tech in 1970 with three different majors, non of which include construction. The company has a plant in Bristol, VA where they produce most of their precast concrete components. Such components include, wet and dry walls, storage and multi-use vaults, electrical manholes, box culverts, cable concrete, superboxes (Hy-span), traffic barriers, and evergreen retaining walls. Permatile has been making precast walls for 7-8 years now and come ready for insolation. The walls are delivered to the sob site and can be set right n top of most any kind of footer. One of the major advantages of using precast walls on a project, according to Bill, is that it allows for better compliance with codes and inspections of the building. The difference in price between going precast of a more traditional poured wall can range about 5% either way. Most of the work the company has done is with large organizations like P-DOT with site development. The company has started to go green with providing erosion control systems that provide barriers on a job site to keep the ground from moving. When time is a concern of a project, Bill says precast in the way to go because of its ease putting into place and is much more efficient. Using precast concrete for piping, which this company makes, can provide a 100 year lifespan verses other materials that wont last as long and need replacing more frequently.

Vertexico:
This company provide a demonstration of a rough corridor section. The model allowed use to see how all the components in the ceiling and walls of a building come together. Some of the components that were present included the heating and cooling system, water pipes, and electrical piped and boxes. The open ceiling showed us come you coordinate pipes so they don't run into each other on a project. Currently the company is working on a medical hospital and the company representative showed us some of the software they have been using on the project. Primavera has created an online schedule and project organized called Expedition that allows excess of project information from anywhere you can find and internet connection.

Spectra I.S.:
New technology has certainly made its way to the construction industry. This company showed use of they are using wireless technology and GPS to view project sites and evaluate progress. Instead of sending someone out to the site to get an update of a project, they can view the site in real-time on the internet. Drawing can then be created at the end of each day to study progression. Representatives of this company explained how most larger construction these days is going design-build because of the ability to monitor the project so closely now. The GPS technology in one of their hand held devices is accurate by the hundredths of a foot and comes at a cost of around $25,000.

Marshal – a division of Chandler:
Located right in Christiansburg, VA, Marshal provides cement block and ready mix concrete to project all over the area. Much of the block seen on the Virgina Tech campus is made at their plant and they are providing much of the block for the New Residence Hall currently being constructed. They also do residential work and provide blocking for foundations. Stacy operated the flatbed truck and Ricky drives the ready mix concrete truck, both have been with the company for many years.

Takeoff from BC assignment

Sketches For Class

New Site Visit: New Residence Hall

Most of the work that was being done involved the finishing stone that will make up the outer shell of the building. Workers were busy hand chiseling the "hokie" stone while others moved various materials and fittings into place. 

Research & Development Facility Estimate

Here is an estimate done for the foundation of the second phase of a research and development facility. Each part of the foundation was broken down into sections and units. With the help of costworks.com prices were assigned to the different building materials and amounts for each part.

Parts: concrete slabs, stem wall, stairs, footings, column footings, formwork, reinforcements...

Wall Section: In class 02/24/09

The figure shows a typical wall section that one would find for a large commercial structure. The layers that make up a wall are all shown from the outer shell to the inner wall surface.