Excel Spreadsheet design with Civil Engineering

Civil engineers are professionals who have broad technical knowledge, possess strong problem solving skills and enjoy working with people. Their work is directly related to the public wellbeing and safety, and has a significant impact on decision making processes. This was part of a multi-sheet project for the complete design of an A-frame wood structure.

Originally, a civil engineer worked on public works projects and was contrasted with the military engineer, who worked on armaments and defenses. Over time, various branches of engineering have become recognized as distinct from civil engineering, including chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering, while much of military engineering has been absorbed by civil engineering.

Civil engineers usually practice in a particular specialty, such as construction engineering, geotechnical engineering, structural engineering, land development, transportation engineering, hydraulic engineering, and environmental engineering. Some civil engineers, particularly those working for government agencies, may practice across multiple specializations, particularly when involved in critical infrastructure development or maintenance.

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Tuhin Maity

www.quantity-takeoff.com

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Construction Specifications

A specification (often abbreviated as spec) can be termed as a type of a technical standard to be referenced by a contract or procurement document. It contains the necessary details concerning the specific requirements to be persuaded by a material, product, or service. The specifications are considered very important for suppliers, purchasers, and users of materials, products, or services in engineering, manufacturing, and business as these specifications cover up a extensive collection of general issues like definitions, bidding requirements, legal responsibilities, claims & payments; with details on specific items with respect to all construction project.

CSI (Construction Specifications Institute) is a renowned association that provides the standardization of construction language related with building specifications. CSI offers prearranged instructions for composing specification in their Project Resource Manual. CSI published MasterFormat, an indexing system for categorizing construction data as well as construction specifications. It consists of 50 Divisions, to be applied for integrating facility life cycle and maintenance information into the building knowledge base. Almost the entire CSI approved sections contain performance and safety obligations produced by agencies like the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and several other federal and professional organizations. CSI also publish GreenFormat, an online database that includes sustainable product attributes. Manufacturers associated with the construction industry will be able to register product information based on 5 categories in a widespread online questionnaire. All kinds of product information referenced by MasterFormat divisions and titles will be available to designers, specifiers, and building constructors. Given below the detailed lists of construction specifications :-

General Requirements - Division 01

This specification will include particular administrative and procedural requisites that belong to all of the Technical Specification sections. The General Requirements consist of specifics relevant directly to a particular project and written independently for each project. These will develop the expansive administrative and procedural conditions inscripted in the General and Supplementary Conditions documents. These will be applicable to the work of ALL Technical Specification sections. This document also sum ups the scope of work, exercise of the site, owner occupancy of building throughout construction, Phased construction activities, numerous prime contract requisites and eliminations and additions to be connected with the Plans. The General Requirements narrate the Contractor's administrative, procedural and other activities which should be submitted by the Contractor. In General Requirements section the following categories will be available.

Administrative

01010 Summary
01020 Allowances
01030 Alternates
01040 Coordination
01060 Regulatory Requirements
01080 Identification Systems
01090 References
Procedural
01025 Measurement and Payment
01035 Modification Procedures
01050 Field Engineering
01100 Special Project Procedures
01200 Project Meetings
01300 Submittals such as Construction Schedule, Logs
01400 Quality Control
01600 Material and Equipment
01650 Facility Startup/Commissioning
01700 Contract Closeout
01800 Maintenance
Temporary Activities
01500 Temporary Facilities
The Contractor's Responsibility is to comprise these items in Overhead.
Technical Specifications
Divisions 02 - 16 is known as the Technical Specifications. These construction specifications consist of the written description of the specific requirements regarding with a specific product or system. The specification provisions characterize and set up the quality level processes, standards of work and material standards. Each subsection will describe the scope, technical requirements, performance requirements, material suppliers, and quality requirements. The Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) has build up the following standard MasterFormat numbering system that includes the following Continue

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Published By

Tuhin Maity

www.quantity-takeoff.com

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A new standard of 3D-modeling for civil engineering projects

The Korea Institute of Construction Technology is going to unveil a new standard for 3D-supported construction planning for civil engineering projects like bridges and tunnels.

The standard will be very useful for 3D blueprints. The construction professional can easily detect issues with the visual data throughout construction while working with 2D plans. They can interpret blueprint efficiently and quickly find out if any inconsistency exists. It can result in minimizing building costs by 5 to 8 percent.

The standard will also provide other significant benefits like firmly incorporating multifaceted factors along with material properties and supply-cost information.

The institute is also considering to widespread the range of the 3D-modeling standard to other building sectors.

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Published By

Tuhin Maity

www.quantity-takeoff.com

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Concrete Estimate Construction Template

Concrete Estimate template is designed to assist in taking-off a variety of concrete applications, such as, Footings, Thickened Edge Footings, Concrete Walls, Columns and Paving.

It generates take-off quantities automatically based on the information the user inputs into the various template form fields. For example, the template will calculate the amount of steel reinforcing in tons for any given application.

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Published By

Tuhin Maity

www.quantity-takeoff.com

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Construction Specifications

A specification (often abbreviated as spec) can be termed as a type of a technical standard to be referenced by a contract or procurement document. It contains the necessary details concerning the specific requirements to be persuaded by a material, product, or service. The specifications are considered very important for suppliers, purchasers, and users of materials, products, or services in engineering, manufacturing, and business as these specifications cover up a extensive collection of general issues like definitions, bidding requirements, legal responsibilities, claims & payments; with details on specific items with respect to all construction project. CSI (Construction Specifications Institute) is a renowned association that provides the standardization of construction language related with building specifications. CSI offers prearranged instructions for composing specification in their Project Resource Manual. CSI published MasterFormat, an indexing system for categorizing construction data as well as construction specifications. It consists of 50 Divisions, to be applied for integrating facility life cycle and maintenance information into the building knowledge base. Almost the entire CSI approved sections contain performance and safety obligations produced by agencies like the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and several other federal and professional organizations. CSI also publish GreenFormat, an online database that includes sustainable product attributes. Manufacturers associated with the construction industry will be able to register product information based on 5 categories in a widespread online questionnaire. All kinds of product information referenced by MasterFormat divisions and titles will be available to designers, specifiers, and building constructors. Given below the detailed lists of construction specifications :- General Requirements - Division 01 This specification will include particular administrative and procedural requisites that belong to all of the Technical Specification sections. The General Requirements consist of specifics relevant directly to a particular project and written independently for each project. These will develop the expansive administrative and procedural conditions inscripted in the General and Supplementary Conditions documents. These will be applicable to the work of ALL Technical Specification sections. This document also sum ups the scope of work, exercise of the site, owner occupancy of building throughout construction, Phased construction activities, numerous prime contract requisites and eliminations and additions to be connected with the Plans. The General Requirements narrate the Contractor's administrative, procedural and other activities which should be submitted by the Contractor. In General Requirements section the following categories will be available. Administrative 01010 Summary 01020 Allowances 01030 Alternates 01040 Coordination 01060 Regulatory Requirements 01080 Identification Systems 01090 References Procedural 01025 Measurement and Payment 01035 Modification Procedures 01050 Field Engineering 01100 Special Project Procedures 01200 Project Meetings 01300 Submittals such as Construction Schedule, Logs 01400 Quality Control 01600 Material and Equipment 01650 Facility Startup/Commissioning 01700 Contract Closeout 01800 Maintenance Temporary Activities 01500 Temporary Facilities The Contractor's Responsibility is to comprise these items in Overhead. Technical Specifications Divisions 02 - 16 is known as the Technical Specifications. These construction specifications consist of the written description of the specific requirements regarding with a specific product or system. The specification provisions characterize and set up the quality level processes, standards of work and material standards. Each subsection will describe the scope, technical requirements, performance requirements, material suppliers, and quality requirements. The Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) has build up the following standard MasterFormat numbering system that includes the following Continue ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Published By Tuhin Maity www.quantity-takeoff.com. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Quantity-take-off Sheets

Quantity takeoff or estimating sheet is the general form of listing and taking off types, sizes and quantities of material required in a bidding process of any construction work. This quantity takeoff sheet also includes ductwork, piping, labor, risk cost and summation of all the estimated expenditure.

In a general bidding process of any construction work, the project estimation is the most vital thing to win the process. An almost accurate quantity takeoff sheet helps the architects, engineers and contractors to win any bid. So it is very important to get an almost accurate estimation of the project.

An estimating is very much important for contractor to record a description to calculate material, man hours, labor, equipment and subcontractors totals.

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Published By
Tuhin Maity
www.quantity-takeoff.com
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Special Interest Efforts to Subvert Energy Efficiency Bill in Federal Buildings Opposed by Groups

There is a new step in the approval process for developers who are looking to establish their business to Carrboro.

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and more than 1,000 businesses around the country has asked the Congress to decline the special interest efforts to cancel the law setting goals for minimizing the use of fossil fuel in federal buildings by 2030.

The response is based on report regarding the incorporation of a repeal of Section 433 of the Energy Independence and Security Act, by the gas and oil lobby, in the bipartisan Shaheen-Portman energy efficiency bill.

The AIA CEO Robert Ivy, FAIA informed that the demand of removing federal energy laws through in the Shaheen-Portman bill by the fossil fuel industry is an unfortunate incidence. He also added that they are in support of the original bill with various admirable provisions as Sens. Shaheen and Portman has spent more than 2 years to craft a bipartisan energy efficiency bill. They cannot support the legislation that weakens the laws meant to support the federal government in saving taxpayers money by conserving energy.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee had earlier approved the bipartisan Shaheen-Portman bill that encouraged families, businesses and the government to conserve energy. It is still unknown if the revised bill advance any further in its current form. Ivy assured that they are committed to find a solution that would lead to the improvement of Section 433. But he also added that as long as the opponents ask for a complete repeal, the bill can probably not serve the interests of the public of America.

The design and construction companies in and around the country are designing buildings that meet and often exceed the present targets in Section 433. Due to Section 433, design companies are capable to generate new design strategies that are employed to support clients from private-sector to minimize their energy loads.

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published By

Tuhin Maity

www.quantity-takeoff.com

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Carrboro in Need of a Construction Management Plan

There is a new step in the approval process for developers who are looking to establish their business to Carrboro.

The Carrboro Board of Aldermen has approved of an amendment to the land use ordinance of the town to demand town approval of a construction management plan for developments with an important effect on public streets and other nearby properties.

The Carrboro Board of Aldermen has approved the text amendment with a hint of requirement for more meetings to be held between town staff, the developer and Carrboro residents. It has been notified that if there is a requirement of a construction management plan due to the development, a meeting will be organized by the developer after the permit is issued. And before the construction permit is issued a meeting will be held with other members of town staff. As per the text amendment, no construction on new developments can begin before the town agrees the construction management plan of the project.

It is notable that the board has discussed on changes and modifications to its land use ordinance on water quality buffers. The board has also asked the town staff to continue work with representatives from the Orange Water and Sewer Authority to decide on the width of sewer easements in the town.

The town’s development review administrator, Marty Roupe, said that town staffs have struggled to develop the apt language for the construction management plan text amendment. He also added that this amendment would fit the board’s objective for development in the town.

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Published By

Tuhin Maity

www.quantity-takeoff.com

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Signs to Know You Need Construction Management Software

It is a known fact that capital projects are more complex and hence, while using construction management software, it is very important to ensure that it is the right solution for the project. The rise in the complexity of projects are due t various factors like incorporating advanced construction and engineering methods, increasing material & labor costs, sophisticated workforce, and bigger expectations of built assets.

The project teams are larger now, as the team members come from various organizations and work together and share project information and processes in a controlled environment, which leads to higher project risk and difficulty to manage. The project team members now have more project information to process, various RFIs and other communications among themselves and more documents and drawings, multi-dimensional models, with BIM gaining momentum around the globe. This requires rigorous management and any error can lead to adverse consequences, affecting delivery schedules, budgets and margins.

Given below are 13 indicators that would help to assess the current level of project control and would suggest if the construction management software used provides the correct solution to manage the complexity of projects-

• RFIs take several weeks or months to process through to closure
• Design reviews drag out as the clashes are not detected and resolved immediately
• The project team works with incomplete and inaccurate documents that are not updated as well
• The project team does not receive significant emails and fails to respond in time
• Limited or no visibility of the activities of the project team
• Project workflows break down, which cannot be detected until deadlines are missed
• Field inspections lead to an enormous paper work due to unresolved issues
• At the end of each project, the handover of operation and maintenance manuals are haphazard
• Project information cannot be located whenever required
• Key milestones in project schedules miss
• Incurring additional project costs and running over budget
• Built assets have quality and operational issues
• Projects have more excuses and conflicts than on-time deliverables

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Published By

Tuhin Maity

www.quantity-takeoff.com

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70% Global Construction Growth Expected by 2025

Based on the research and analysis by Global Construction Perspectives and Oxford Economics, the world’s largest construction markets rank in the year 2025 are expected to be China, U.S., India, Japan, Indonesia and Russia.

This report, sponsored by Aconex, estimates that the construction volume all over the globe will grow up to $15.0 trillion in 2025, as the industry’s contribution to the worldwide gross domestic product (GDP) increases from 12.2% to 13.5%.

Global Construction 2025 considers construction markets in 46 countries that create 85% of world output. It is a precise report with 328 pages including 683 charts and tables, besides the executive summary offers a comprehensive overview in a quick read.

The regional forecasts of the report reflect the trends seen in the business scenario over the years. As per the report China, India and the U.S. are the three countries that will be accountable for 60% growth from 2012 to 2025, with China being responsible for more than 25% of the global volume. India is expected to grow faster than China, overtaking Japan for the third position. By 2025, the report predicts, Indonesia will grow annually by 6% to attain the position of world’s fifth largest market. Australia is forecasted to expand at 1% annually as the mining activity shifts from infrastructure development to production.

The North American market is also supposed to grow by about 40%, representing a rebound of construction in the U.S. as well as the improved infrastructure and oil & gas related building in Canada. The Western Europe is supposed to contract by almost 5% from its peak in 2007, with the U.K. as the only area of growth, at more than twice the average for the complete region. The Eastern Europe as well is said to grow by almost 5% on an annual basis, driven by Turkey and Russia. Besides, Russia is supposed to become the world’s sixth largest market. The report projects, Qatar and Nigeria as the world’s fastest growing construction markets for 2025 with a growth of 10% and 8% per year, respectively.

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Published By

Tuhin Maity

www.quantity-takeoff.com

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The applications and advantages of construction cost estimating software

Presently, lots of contractors, architects as well as civil engineers utilize construction cost estimating software for determining the approximate cost of any construction project. Construction cost estimating software facilitates to prepare proper bid and budget. Construction cost estimating software is widely utilized to provide input concerning some fundamental data like size, material and finishes related to a building project. With this input data, the construction cost estimating software can produce a full pricing of the plan along with expenses of labor, materials as well as other overhead charges.

The construction cost estimating software allows a contractor to figure out how much material is necessary for the whole building. As for instance, for verifying the amount of board and piping needed to include a heat installer in a room, just put input size of room and based on this data the calculated amount will be generated automatically.

The construction managers extensively use it to appropriately find estimations of labor work, permit fees for different sub-jobs, and the final cost to arrival at estimation.

The construction cost estimating software can provide the following benefits:-

• The software can save huge time by allowing the users to put an estimate in shortest possible time. User only has to provide the input needed for the formula to execute job correctly.
• The construction cost estimating software even helps the managers and contractors to perform the repeated work of estimation setting and consequently no confusion is raised due to duplicate budgets. The construction cost estimating software supplies the project information one time and continues updating it as the project is going on.
• The most updated version of construction estimating software contains lots of scheduling tools for complex project work. So the contractor will be able to plan schedules properly and organize with subcontractors as well as inspectors to ensure that all works carry on efficiently devoid of any loss of time.
• The latest construction estimating software even works out the allowances for the contractor at the time of planning for project's final estimate. With this method the contractor get updated with all the expenses incurred from his pocket like gas for generator, etc.
• Some advanced versions of construction estimating software has the ability to download material and other costs from the particular websites associated with that project. This is the finest method to guarantee the most precise costs of material and other things.
• The most recognized characteristic of construction estimating software is material list generator which minimizes the wastage of the products.

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Published By

Tuhin Maity

www.quantity-takeoff.com

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