The American Concrete Institute recently publish 318-11 building code

The American Concrete Institute has launched ACI 318-11 to be applied for all concrete design, construction, inspection, repair, and research professionals. The new publication includes most updated code necessary for concrete building design and construction together with the corresponding commentary.


ACI 318-11 will provide a great assistance to Engineers, architects, contractors, specifiers, building officials, students, and professors.


Key features of  ACI 318-11:
There are advancements for Reinforcement detailing for seismic applications which include reinforcement detailing for distinct segments of special structural wall systems, detailing of horizontal bars at special boundary elements, and tightened confinement details for flexural hinge regions of large beams.


In order to verify the concentration of dissolved sulfates in water, brackish water, or seawater, Test methods ASTM D516 and D4130 should be applied and to find out percent sulfate by mass in soil ASTM C1580 should be followed.


Recently accessible bend bar types are incorporated into proper provisions. Grade 80 bend bars in compliance with ASTM A615 or A706 should be utilized for non-seismic applications. Zinc and epoxy dual-coated reinforcing bars per ASTM A1055 are also now recognized.


Test records required to find out standard variation for a mixture design should be up to 24 months old. In order to execute acceptance testing of concrete  the testing agencies must adhere to ASTM C1077.


Detailing requirements for ties for circular columns have been explained thoroughly and addition made for minimum reinforcement of deep beams.


There are amendments for Detailing requirements of temperature and shrinkage reinforcement for post-tensioned slabs.

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DraftLogic Electrical & ConEst IntelliBid 7.0 are now integrated to make electrical estimating process 14 time faster

DraftLogic Electrical, the leading electrical design software is now seamlessly integrated with ConEst IntelliBid 7.0 to feed all line voltage elements of an electrical design into electrical estimating software mechanically. Now electrical systems design, takeoff, and estimating will be put in under one roof.   

This combination will provide some great benefits to electrical designers and estimators as they can easily verify and optimize their estimate because there is NO counting, NO scaling, NO measuring, and NO take off work for line voltage systems.

The electrical designers and estimators will be able to create a completed electrical design and estimate from an architectural floor plan fourteen times faster.  

By utilizing this combination DraftLogic Electrical users can export all elements (devices, feeders, and branch circuit wiring as well as luminaires, receptacles, and motors) of their electrical design with associated details into ConEst IntelliBid's count sheets to get rid of manual counting and data entry.

Panel schedules for every panel and every circuit are settled.  Every interconnection from every Branch Circuit wiring run is settled together with support for DraftLogic Electrical's multiple circuit home run groupings facilitating the estimator not to perform any take-off and scaling work.  Vast detail about each piece of switch gear, motor, and feeder is fed into their respective count sheets, saving thousands of keystrokes.


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Related Costs of a built construction

The owner should take into consideration the preliminary capital cost and the consequent operation and maintenance costs for a building construction. The cost component is formed with these cost categories.

The capital cost relates to the expenditures required for initial formation of the construction. The capital cost consists of land acquirement expenses along with assembly, holding and improvement, Architectural and engineering design, Construction financing, Planning and feasibility studies, materials, equipment and labor, Insurance and taxes throughout construction, Owner's general office overhead, equipment and furnishings not taken in construction, Inspection and testing.

The operation and maintenance cost over the project life cycle for succeeding years should comprise of relevant land rent, Labor and material for maintenance and repairs, cyclic renovations, Insurance and taxes, Financing costs, Utilities, Operating staff, Owner's other expenses

The extent of these costs varies according to nature, size and location of the project in addition to the management organization.

In order to compute the life cycle costs the owner should also consider the equivalent operation and maintenance cost of each alternative for a suggested construction.

In a construction budget there should be arrangements for allowance of contingencies or unexpected costs all through the construction process. This contingency must be contained in each cost item or incorporated in a single category of construction contingency. The amount of contingency depends on historical experience and the predictable complexity of a particular construction project. The contingency expenses for a construction may be associated with design development alterations, schedule adjustments, general administration changes (such as wage rates), contradictory site conditions for those anticipated, Third party obligations required for the duration of construction, as for example new permits.

The owner can avail the contingent amounts not expend for construction near the end of construction to the owner. These amounts can also be considered as additional project elements.

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Carbon Footprint - A brief overview

A carbon footprint is the total assessment of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced through transport, land clearance, the production and consumption of food, burning of fossil fuels, like natural gas, crude oil and coal, manufactured goods, materials, wood, roads, buildings, and services. It is generally expressed in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide, or its alike other GHGs (methane, ozonem, nitrous oxide), emitted. These greenhouse gases are converted into the amount of CO2 affecting the global warming.

The carbon footprint is a division of the ecological footprint and of the more comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment(LCA). A carbon footprint is calculated for the time period of a year.

A carbon footprint is categorized as the primary footprint and the secondary footprint.
1. The primary footprint arises from direct productions of CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels together with domestic energy consumption and transportation (e.g. car and plane).
2. The secondary footprint arises from the indirect CO2 productions with the whole lifecycle of usable products related with their manufacture and eventual breakdown.

Carbon footprint provides great effect on population, economic output, and energy and carbon intensity of the economy. So once the carbon footprint is set up, some steps should be taken to decrease the amount of carbon footprint. These steps range from technological developments, better process and product management, development of substitute projects like solar or wind energy or reforestation, changed Green Public or Private Procurement (GPP), decrease the amount of energy for production requirement, decrease the reliance on carbon emitting fuels, carbon capture, carbon offsetting, consumption strategies.

In the medium- and long term, the carbon footprint has to be diminish to less than 2'000 kg CO2 per year and per person for a sustainable living.

Once the greenhouse gas emission is ascertained, they should be converted to CO2 equivalencies. Suppose one has 100 grams of NH2, then you have to convert applying a conversion factor so that it is in terms of CO2. Emission factors (grams per mile) are available from different ranging from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Energy Information Administration (EIA), and the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

If you get the emission factor (e.g., 200 grams/mile) and the activity (e.g., 100 miles), the greenhouse gas emissions can be easily calculated (i.e., 200 x 100 = 20,000 grams). Each of the emissions that are calculated is specific to a pollutant (e.g., CO2, CH4, etc.).

Few people prefer to convey their carbon footprint in kg carbon rather than kg carbon dioxide. One is able to convert kg carbon dioxide in kg carbon by multiplying with a factor 0.27 (1'000 kg CO2 equals 270 kg carbon).

Carbon Footprint Calculator :
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How to prepare a bid estimate to win a project

A bid process is required to award the most jobs in construction industry. In a bidding contest the lowest bidder will be awarded the contract. Estimating a construction bid involve some knowledge of the building process.

The bid estimate is specific to the project conditions illustrated in the plans and specifications. The bid estimate is required by contractors and subcontractors for bidding purposes or the owner to appraise bids.

In order to prepare an accurate construction bid, the most current drawings, project specifications and copies of any addenda or change bulletins that have been issued are required. The company who is calling for the bid should render all of these documents. In case the drawings are submitted from a plan room, the addenda and bidding requirements should be checked properly.

Review the drawing and floor plans. Then review the title and symbols pages for any general project requirements.

Review the project specifications for getting most sets of construction documents. Read the section related with your trade and read the prelim section featuring general project conditions.

Measure material quantity by executing a material takeoff. As for instance, an electrical contractor should take into consideration the receptacles, switches, junction boxes, light fixtures, and length of wires and conduits along with panels, transformers and any electrical connections for equipment or mechanical work. These estimates will sum up the total material price.

Work out the labor costs. Find out the time frame for completion of the job and multiply this number of hours with the average wage plus any labor burden to ascertain the total labor costs.

Put material and labor costs together and comprise any special fees like permits, wage scale, bonds, insurance premiums or other costs. Multiply the total dollar figure with an appropriate percentage to contain overhead and profit.

Finally prepare your bid form putting price, complete scope of work and the name of the project.
In case the project is different from typical designs, the contractor should evaluate the actual cost of construction by taking the actual construction procedures to be used and the related costs.

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