What we do...
Construction engineers plan and manage the construction of highways, bridges, airports, railroads, buildings, dams, reservoirs, building systems, etc. Construction of such projects requires professionals with a strong fundamental knowledge of engineering and management principles and knowledge of business procedures, economics, and human behavior. Construction engineers engage in the design of temporary structures, cost estimating, planning and scheduling, materials procurement, equipment selection, and cost control. Construction engineering graduates find career opportunites with all of the participants in the project delivery process including: owners, construciton management firms, design consutlants, design-build firms, and constructors.
The construction industry continues to progress through improvements in equipment, planning, and construction methods.
All the parties involved in a construction project -owner, designer, supplier, constructor, and end user-strive for the same goal: a facility meeting the expectations of the owner and end user. Concepts expressed by the owner are turned into design drawings, specifications, and purchase orders by the designer. Materials and equipment are purchased and shipped to the construction site. Construction is the step in which the plans, specifications, materials, and permanent equipment are transformed by a constructor, usually called a contractor, into a finished facility.
Construction of engineered facilities requires the utilization of construction equipment. Construction equipment planning and selection begin long before a constructor moves onto the construction site.
The construction industry in the United States is a $400 billion industry, with over one million constructors employing five million people. The industry is unique in several respects. First among the factors which make the construction industry unique is that constructors strive very hard to work themselves out of a job. The faster and better they perform, the sooner they will be looking for another project to build. The word cyclic takes on a much larger meaning in construction because work is often boom or bust.
Construction Contract Administration
An understanding of construction contracts is essential for the proper management of a construction project, and the engineer/architect contributes an important service in developing the contract. Constructors tend to specialize somewhat in various types of work. Although there are no clear-cut lines seperating the many fields of construction, they may be divided into residential, building-commercial, industrial, highway-heavy, and specialty. Specialty constructors are numerous and include those involved with pipeline, power, transmission line, steel erection, railroad, offshore, pile driving, concrete pumping, to name a few. The reasons for specialization involve complexity and uniqueness. Few constructors are large enough to have the necessary expertise and sufficient inventory of expensive construction equipment to engage in all types of construction.
By the nature of the product, the constructor works under a unique set of production conditions which directly affect the selection of construction equipment. Whereas most manufacturing companies have a permanant factory where raw materials are transformed into permanent products in a repeating, assembly-line process, a construction company carries its factory to each job site. At each site the constructor erects a construction plant specifically designed for that project. While a manufacturer can "fine tune" his manufacturing prcoess to eliminate waste and to increase productivity, the constructor has little opportunity for such fine tuning.