A guide for the general contractor, but contains information useful to subcontractors, owners, architects, realtors, appraisers, and others concerned with buildings. The sections cover legal and practical relationships, construction management, and materials and methods. Comes in a plastic binding to protect against work-site conditions. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This Field Guide provides important checkpoints for the general contractor, the subcontractor, owner, architect, and others involved in construction projects. The Guide will also prove helpful to realtors, appraisers, property claim personnel, and to lawyers.Section I, Legal and Practical Relationships, reviews the important aspects of contracts and documents, such as: -- Specifications-- Building codes, permits, and inspections-- Construction financing-- Insurance and bonds-- Labor-management relationships and legislationContract documents and jurisdictional disputes are examined: resolution options are offered along with helpful hints for solutions. Project safety and health programs are outlined with a comprehensive checklist for guidance.Section II, Construction Management, offers a guide for planning and scheduling the construction project and includes the Critical Path Method (CPM). Progress estimating and cost control are discussed and appropriate measures suggested.Section III, Construction Materials and Methods, reviews the fundamentals and principles of estimating construction costs. It suggest ways to avoid errors in scoping and estimating materials and labor.This section contains tables and formulas for rapidly determining material quantities and approximating productivity of workers. It covers major trades from construction site exploration through the complete erection and finishing of a building project. Several figures illustrate construction process. Numerous examples and checklists to guide the reader are included. A review of mathematics is presented in the last chapter.

From any perspective, the ideal construction project is one in which the contractor shows up on your doorstep with the right price and all of his tools, people, and equipment ready to start, and builds exactly what you want for the price you want and finish on schedule. Everyone then goes away, happy as clams. This is the ideal, but it never occurs. The world is a competitive place; to survive, contractors must think competitively in order to win work. They must find a way to complete a quality project for the lowest price. Circumstances can easily derail even the best plans and contractors, but with planning, delays and cost overruns can be minimized. This handbook helps guide the construction manager through the trials and tribulations of selecting, expecting, rejecting, prompting, requiring, and documenting what the contractor produces on the project. Contracts can be written that foresee common problems and provide the construction manager with their resolution. The concepts in Field Guide for Construction Management can help you do just that.

For more than thirty years, Construction Project Management by Clough and Sears has been considered the preeminent guide to the Critical Path Method (CPM) of project scheduling. It combines a solid foundation in the principles and fundamentals of CPM with particular emphasis on project planning, demonstrated through an example project. This Fifth Edition features a range of improvements. New pedagogical devices improve absorption of the material. Updated labor, material, and equipment pricing is incorporated into the text. Coverage is enhanced by discussions of contemporary planning and management methods such as Work Breakdown Structures (WBS) and the Earned Value Management System (EVMS). A highway bridge with a complete cost estimate, including SI units, illustrates each of the principles of project management. Using this basic information and the case studies in the appendix, readers are given project management problems and hands-on project management experience. The Fifth Edition features include: Complete coverage of planning and scheduling principles that apply to every type of construction project Expanded coverage of production planning Large foldout illustrations conveniently integrated throughout the book Thorough and up to date, Construction Project Management, Fifth Edition is a superb text for students and an indispensable on-the-job reference for builders, architects, civil engineers, and other construction professionals.

The turnover rate for companies in the construction industry is high. This book identifies the ten key elements of contractor failure and shows how to avoid them. Each element of failure is defined, illustrated by real examples, and ways are discussed to avoid or minimize the risks involved. The final chapter shows how to bring all these elements together to develop a positive and workable management strategy. This survival guide should prove invaluable to the 1.4 million individual construction-industry businesses in this country.

Save 30% on home construction! Whether you want to take on all the responsibility of contracting your home or simply want to intelligently communicate with your homebuilder, The Complete Guide to Contracting Your Home can help you save 30% or more on the cost of home construction by teaching you the ins and outs of managing your construction project. Learn how to get your project off to a solid start. Get financial and legal details in language you can understand. Learn what to consider when selecting a lot and how to deal with suppliers, labor and subcontractors. Gain understanding of building codes and inspections so you can manage with authority, confidence, and efficiency. This extensive guide walks you through each phase of construction including preconstruction, foundations, framing, roofing, plumbing, electrical, masonry, siding, insulation, drywall, trim, painting, cabinetry, countertops, flooring, tile and landscaping. Completely revised and updated, this edition includes a new section on sustainable building as well as the most comprehensive building resources section ever compiled. You'll find schedules, order forms, control logs, contracts and checklists to help keep your project on track.

The definitive contracting reference for the construction industry, updated and expanded Construction Contracting, the industry's leading professional reference for five decades, has been updated to reflect current practices, business methods, management techniques, codes, and regulations. A cornerstone of the construction library, this text presents the hard-to-find information essential to successfully managing a construction company, applicable to building, heavy civil, high-tech, and industrial construction endeavors alike. A wealth of coverage on the basics of owning a construction business provides readers with a useful "checkup" on the state of their company, and in-depth exploration of the logistics, scheduling, administration, and legal aspects relevant to construction provide valuable guidance on important facets of the business operations. This updated edition contains new coverage of modern delivery methods, technology, and project management. The field of construction contracting comprises the entire set of skills, knowledge, and conceptual tools needed to successfully own or manage a construction company, as well as to undertake any actual project. This book gives readers complete, up-to-date information in all of these areas, with expert guidance toward best practices. Learn techniques for accurate cost estimating and effective bidding Understand construction contracts, surety bonds, and insurance Explore project time and cost management, with safety considerations Examine relevant labor law and labor relations techniques Between codes, standards, laws, and regulations, the construction industry presents many different areas with which the manager needs to be up to date, on top of actually doing the day-to-day running of the business. This book provides it all under one cover – for the project side and the business side, Construction Contracting is a complete working resource in the field or office.

The most comprehensive guide to material selection & installation It takes a wise choice of building materials and details to create durable, attractive, and affordable custom homes and remodeling projects. Best Practices Guide to Residential Construction provides up-to-date, field-tested recommendations that help professionals balance cost and performance when designing and building residential projects. Steven Bliss, former editorial director of The Journal of Light Construction and founding editor of Progressive Builder, draws on his extensive knowledge as a practicing builder, designer, and construction editor to help building professionals select the right materials for every job and install them with confidence. This one-stop resource covers the real-world challenges of material selection and installation so designers, contractors, and building owners can make informed decisions for all major building components. Useful to architects, designers, and specifiers--as well as contractors, builders, and developers--Best Practices Guide to Residential Construction features: * More than 200 photos and illustrations of critical residential construction details * Installation tips and cautions that help prevent costly product failures * Descriptions of the latest composites and synthetics that are changing the way we build * Easy-to-use charts for making quick product comparisons * An authoritative guide to indoor air quality and healthy house construction

A MUST-HAVE, PRACTICAL GUIDE THAT CONNECTS SCHEDULING AND CONSTRUCTION PROJECT MANAGEMENT In A Contractor’s Guide to Planning, Scheduling, and Control, an experienced construction professional delivers a unique and effective approach to the planning and scheduling responsibilities of a construction project manager, superintendent, or jobsite scheduler. The author describes the complete scheduling cycle, from preconstruction and scheduling through controls and closeout, from the perspective of real-world general contractors and scheduling professionals. Filled with tools and strategies that actually help contractors build projects, and light on academic jargon and terminology that’s not used in the field, the book includes examples of real craft workers and subcontractors, like electricians, carpenters, and drywallers, to highlight the concepts discussed within. Finally, an extensive appendix rounds out the book with references to additional resources for the reader. This comprehensive guide includes: Thorough introductions to construction contracting, lean construction planning, subcontractor management, and more A comprehensive exploration of a commercial case study that’s considered in each chapter, connecting critical topics with a consistent through line End-of-chapter review questions and applied exercises Access to a companion website that includes additional resources and, for instructors, solutions, additional case studies, sample estimates, and sample schedules Perfect for upper-level undergraduate students in construction management and construction engineering programs, A Contractor’s Guide to Planning, Scheduling, and Control is also an irreplaceable reference for general contractors and construction project management professionals.