The Construction Industry Introduction – Civil Engineering Lectures and notes
The construction industry is one of the largest segments of business in the United States, with the percentage of the gross national product spent in construction over the last several years averaging about 10%. For 2001, the total amount spent on new construction contracts in the U.S. is estimated at $481 billion [ Engineering News Record,
Nov. 19, 2001]. Of this total, about $214 billion is estimated for residential projects, $167 billion for nonresidential projects, and the rest for nonbuilding projects.
Construction is the realization phase of the civil engineering process, following conception and design. It is the role of the constructor to turn the ideas of the planner and the detailed plans of the designer into physical reality. The owner is the ultimate consumer of the product and is often the general public for civil engineering projects. Not only does the constructor have an obligation to the contractual owner, or client, but also an ethical obligation to the general public to perform the work so that the final product will serve its function economically and safely.
The construction industry is typically divided into specialty areas, with each area requiring different skills, resources, and knowledge to participate effectively in it. The area classifications typically used are residential (single- and multifamily housing), building (all buildings other than housing), heavy/highway (dams, bridges, ports, sewage-treatment plants, highways), utility (sanitary and storm drainage, water lines, electrical and telephone lines, pumping stations), and industrial (refineries, mills, power plants, chemical plants, heavy manufacturing facilities). Civil engineers can be heavily involved in all of these areas of construction, although fewer are involved in residential. Due to the differences in each of these market areas, most engineers specialize in only one or two of the areas during their careers. Construction projects are complex and time-consuming undertakings that require the interaction and cooperation of many different persons to accomplish. All projects must be completed in accordance with specific project plans and specifications, along with other contract restrictions that may be imposed on the production operations. Essentially, all civil engineering construction projects are unique. Regardless of the similarity to other projects, there are always distinguishing elements of each project that make it unique, such as the type of soil, the exposure to weather, the human resources assigned to the project, the social and political climate, and so on. In manufacturing, raw resources are brought to a factory with a fairly controlled environment; in construction, the “factory” is set up on site, and production is accomplished in an uncertain environment. It is this diversity among projects that makes the preparation for a civil engineering project interesting and challenging. Although it is often difficult to control the environment of the project, it is the duty of the contractor to predict the possible situations that may be encountered and to develop contingency strategies accordingly. The dilemma of this situation is that the contractor who allows for contingencies in project cost estimates will have a difficult time competing against other less competent or less cautious contractors. The failure rate in the construction industry is the highest in the U.S.; one of the leading causes for failure is the inability to manage in such a highly competitive market and to realize a fair return on investment.
Category: Civil Engineering
