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DPR primarily deals with advanced technology projects such as data centers as well as healthcare projects. They are a national company and have offices in over a dozen states

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We're a national technical builder specializing in complex, sustainable projects that utilize our in-house expertise and passion for measurable results.

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Fluor is the one of the largest publically traded companies when it comes to construction, engineering, and project management as works all around the globe. One of their major projects is the 800 mile Trans Alaskan pipeline

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Fluor - Global Engineering and Construction Company - EPC Services

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Fluor, a leading engineering construction company, provides engineering, procurement, construction (EPC), maintenance and project management services worldwide. Contact us to discuss your next project.

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The largest construction and civil in the US responsible for national and international projects. They cover a wide variety of areas including infrastructure, mining, tunneling, environmental as well as defense and nuclear security

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Engineering, Construction & Project Management

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Learn why Bechtel is one of the most respected engineering, construction, and project management companies in the world.

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In addition to the change of scenery you're working in tools and technology in construction are constantly changing as well. Use of electronics, GPS, and high tech machines will most likely change greatly throughout our careers

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Construction technology is an interesting term that can mean anything that relates to the industry. In this instance it is being used to reference the growing application of electronics and wireless communication to the earthmoving world.

The application electronic technology goes back at least 40 years when the big controversy for equipment manufacturers was, "Do we use gauges or lights on the instrument panel?" On much of today's equipment you can select what you want on the instrument cluster monitor and in the language of choice.

It was only a few years ago that GPS was first used to guide a dozer's finishing touches on a project. Today a number of manufacturers have pre-wired their equipment so that machine controls and GPS systems can be added after the initial purchase.

"A term you will be hearing used more frequently is telemetrics. It's not new. Telemetrics is a technology that involves the automatic measurement and transmission of data from remote sources. The process of measuring data at the source and transmitting them automatically is called telemetry. The two terms, telemetry and telemetrics, are often used interchangeably. In general, telemetrics works in the following way: Sensors at the source measure either electrical data (such as voltage or current) or physical data (such as temperature or pressure). These are converted to specific electrical voltages. A multiplexer combines the voltages, along with timing data, into a single data stream for transmission to the distant receiver. Upon reception, the data stream is separated into its original components and the data are displayed and processed according to user specifications.

"In 1912, the first telemetric application in Chicago used telephone lines to transmit operational data from a power plant to a central office. Because telemetry was originally used in projects like this, the first telemetry systems were called supervisory systems. In 1960, the interrogation-reply principle was developed, which allowed a more selective transmission of data upon request.

"Modern-day telemetrics frequently uses wireless communication. Telemetric applications include measuring and transmitting data from space flights, meteorological events, wildlife tracking, camera control robotics, and oceanography studies. Videoconferenceing and the Global Positioning System (GPS) are also considered to be telemetric technology." (Source: Whatis.com)

Qualcomm has developed several telemetric products. The one most interesting to our industry is GlobalTRACS. GlobalTRACS is an equipment management system that automatically collects, wirelessly transmits and manages critical operational data - giving the contractor the ability to manage the equipment, not just track it.

The system tracks engine hours; GPS location; user-defined management and maintenance reports; multiple maintenance profiles and notifications; virtual fences and after-hours security alerts; driver directions and instructions; critical machine-health monitoring; easy back-office software integration; message delivery; and ruggedized construction.

Zonar Systems is another telemetric company but it specializes in over-the-road truck operations. Zonar Systems is in verified visual inspection technologies, helping companies capture, communicate and analyze information about the condition of their vehicles and other assets. Its products use radio frequency identification (RFID), wireless communication, web-based applications, and Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to enhance fleet utilization, safety, compliance, and employee satisfaction.

Zonar's High-Definition GPS system (HD-GPS) captures data every time in four dimensions, instead of the traditional three, and at a sample rate of one second. This can be integrated with other company systems.

HCSS has launched an integrated GPS feature that significantly expands the capabilities of its resource management software, The Dispatcher ™. Managers can now make better decisions based on accurate information from the field, helping them utilize equipment more efficiently, lower fuel costs, reduce cycle times, minimize theft, and identify underused rentals.

In addition to cycle-time analysis, the integrated GPS feature shows where equipment is currently located, where it has been, how fast it's been going, and meter readings of how long the equipment has been running. The meter readings, coupled with The Dispatcher's maintenance scheduling ability, help improve preventive maintenance on equipment. It can integrate with other company software.

Gomaco and Lieca - Stringless curb and gutter paving have become a reality. Gomaco and Lieca use a 3-D machine control system to simplify concrete jobsite logistics, reduce costs and improve quality. The system puts the owner's 3-D designs directly on the machine and controls height and steer, slope and draft of the paver automatically.

It allows operators to be self-directing and eliminates the need for layout and staking personnel. Using this approach, pre-production planning is kept to a minimum.

PaveSmart, as the system is called, uses Leica's TPS and GPS; is compatible with data from a wide range of design and CAD systems; and is also compatible with major GPS base station systems.

Some of the obvious advantages are that the system makes sense of digital data, directly from the designer's survey equipment. A definite big plus is that it eliminates staking out and stringline setup errors since no stakes and stringlines are required.

Truck site access is a lot easier since drivers don't have to watch for the stakes. It allows for jobs in narrower work corridors and eliminates waiting for the surveyor to check grade and make certain stakes have been moved. The system is ideal for highway work as it improves safety.

The system is designed for curb and gutter, barrier, and monolithic and sidewalk paving projects.

Curb and Gutter: parking lots, residential subdivisions and commercial developments.

PaveSmart 3D takes the owner's CAD plans directly onto the job site. Your operator simply sets up the position sensors, picks the required task, enters any working offsets if needed, and you're ready to go to work. The system even brings the machine automatically onto line and grade, ready to start paving - a faster and smarter way to work.

Barrier: restricted access, "live" highway possessions, urban and narrow-corridor or zero-clearance projects.

Project logistics are made much simpler when you can throw away the stringlines. Get your concrete trucks in and out faster, with no risk of damaging the stringlines and stopping production. Site safety and setup time for stringlines are also big concerns for projects surrounded by live traffic.

Monolithic and Sidewalk: Pave any shape in any configuration.

The system is as flexible and reconfigurable as your machine. Simply attach your new mold, set the new machine information into Leica PaveSmart 3D and you're ready to go back to work.

Some of the PaveSmart's features include improved accuracy. According to Leica PaveSmart 3D delivers grade and steer accuracy to millimeters with All-Trac Steer and All-Trac Grade.

It uses a combination of slope sensors, total station and/or GPS data to continuously calculate the position, height, orientation, cross-slope, and draft of the mold as it is working. It automatically regulates all points of the mold relative to the 3-D design, and allows offsets to be adjusted "on the fly" by the operator.

The Gomaco GT3200 single-track-steer, the Gomaco GT3600 with front steer, the GT3600 all-track-steer, and the Commander III are all designed and progammed to use the PaveSmart system.

Caterpillar's Accugrade - Most new models of excavating/dozing machines are being offered with an AccuGrade Ready Option (ARO). A machine equipped with ARO has all of the wiring and mounting brackets installed where they are protected and will perform reliably. The ARO fully integrates the automated blade control with the machine. Part of that integration enables a lockout system that keeps the blade from moving when the operator isn't at the controls.

As part of that integration, new models of machines that often are assigned finish grading tasks are designed to perform precisely when controlled by AccuGrade. For example, the M-Series motor graders have electro-hydraulic blade control that enables the system to react quickly and precisely to automated control inputs. Similarly, the new D6K tractor has electro-hydraulic blade controls and electronically controlled hydrostatic drive.

Other machines, too, are now available with AROs. Many of the Cat tractors now have AROs, and the new Cat excavators and most of the backhoe loaders also have AROs.

The second major thrust that Caterpillar is taking to implement GPS-based machine control and guidance is training. Cat has identified the distribution of GPS-based systems and training of customers as a bottleneck in applying this productivity-enhancing technology. As a result, Cat has put a great deal of effort into training dealer personnel to sell and support machine guidance systems. In North America, Cat has trained 1,500 salespeople, 300 product support people and 120-plus technology specialists. More than 200 hours of curriculum have been developed for web-based training and instructor-led training.

John Deere and QUALCOMM announced an alliance to create an equipment and machine monitoring and information delivery system that will be sold across North America by certified John Deere construction and forestry dealers.

JDLink automatically collects, transmits and manages information about where and how construction and forestry equipment is being used, as well as critical machine health data for superior equipment utilization, improved productivity and increased revenue. The system leverages QUALCOMM's GlobalTRACS® equipment management system to provide customers with vital information about equipment location, machine health and service status. Additionally, it issues special alerts to notify customers if equipment moves outside pre-set boundaries.

Four levels of service will be offered with JDLink. The Standard level will provide owners with machine location status, machine service hours and location monitoring capabilities. The Advanced levels of service provide customers with the Standard level, plus dash indicators and fuel and equipment utilization information via engine load monitoring. The Ultimate level of service expands upon these offerings by adding current and stored monitoring of component pressures and temperatures, and fuel consumption, as well as transmission gear selection and full-featured diagnostic information retrieval. The Direct level enables customers to download machine operating history and diagnostics directly to a laptop. The Advanced, Ultimate and Direct levels of service will be available in 2007 on select models of John Deere construction and forestry equipment.

Topcon's new 3-D steep slope add-on kit gives control on more job sites. The new 3-D steep slope add-on kits for motorgraders from Topcon Positioning Systems (TPS) gives contractors a wide-range sensor that allows 3-D use of these machines even in steep applications.

The slope sensor allows for precise measurement of up to 100-percent cross slope whenever needed by a Topcon System Five 2-D or 3-D application.

"We've found that this type of technology is needed as more and more contractors are using 3D-GPS+ motograders in applications with steeper slopes," said Jason Killpack, Topcon senior product marketing manager. "Topcon created the new kits, which have a wider range slope sensor than the standard add-on kits, to provide superior accuracy and response on more job sites and applications."

The new kit is compatible with all System Four, System Five and 9168 control boxes and features a temperature-compensated sensing element to enhance its use in any weather condition.

Interesting application

Grant Garrett with Garrett Excavation, Inc., of Hot Springs, Ark., bought a Topcon 3D-GPS+ system to put on a single bulldozer six years ago. Today the company has a full complement of 3-D and 2-D machine control systems, GPS rovers and base stations, total stations, and all types of laser instruments. He firmly believes that "Without GPS capabilities, we wouldn't even be in business. Satellite technology provides us the competitive edge we need to continue to grow out business every year."

Since last fall, a 15- to 20-man Garrett crew has been "attacking" a 122.5-acre plat in West Little Rock, moving massive amounts of dirt for a multipurpose development. The largest and hardest part of the job was a 50-acre section in the middle of the development dedicated to a 200,000-square-foot church.

Garrett's crews relied on two CAT D-11 dozers and a D-9 to do the major earthmoving chores. "We slapped GPS+ on the D-9 and one of the D-11s and got to work."

The initial church pad portion of the job was located on a former dairy farm. The hilly site presented its own special problems: Some areas required more than 30-foot cuts; others needed fills of more than 25 feet.

Garrett solved the problem of moving more than 170,000 yards of dirt in a short time span. The crew finished the work in less than 30 days. (The total job will entail moving more than 800,000 yards of dirt.) In the rough grading phase, crew members ran the three bulldozers side by side using the two Topcon-equipped GPS-controlled dozers to set the angle and depth of the cuts; the third dozer shadowed the movement of the other two with amazing results.

The result was a 57-foot-wide, 9-foot-high "wall of dirt" moving across the pad site. "I've been around dirt work all my life," Garrett said, "and that even impressed me."

Due to the contour of the site, the "shadow" dozer operator "eye-balled" the blade position in relationship to the position of the other blades of the GPS+-equipped dozers. When the machines were close to final grade, the two GPS+ dozers were used and "we were within 0.10-foot consistently," Garrett said.

The church pad was finished three days early. "Without using GPS technology, the 30-day limit to finish the pad would have been impossible," he said. "But using satellite positioning, ingenuity and the right people on the crew gave us a big productivity edge."

Komatsu's KOMTRAX provides not only location and hour meter updates, but additional invaluable information regarding machine health and productivity.

The system was designed to give owners the information they need to make strategic business decisions regarding machines and their operations.

KOMTRAX relays basic and critical performance data from a machine to the owners' computer as well as to the local distributor. Owners receive detailed information in easy-to-read daily, monthly and annual reports about both basic and more advanced aspects of machine performance.

Lists and charts are great, but they don't mean much unless owners can easily adapt that information to more efficiently use their equipment. Because one key way to lower costs is to reduce machine idle time, the KOMTRAX system has a feature that differentiates between idle hours and actual working hours.

KOMTRAX has been standard on most Tier 3-compliant Komatsu machines since early 2006 which have provided revealing analysis of machine idle time statistics for thousands of machines. According to those data, 20 percent of 20-ton class excavators idle more than 50 percent of their service meter hours, and the average idle time for this machine class is 36 percent of the time. But some operators idle far less. By using the data provided from the remote monitoring system, 20 percent of the operators have reduced idle time to fewer than 20 percent of operating hours.

Over a machine's life, idle time typically accounts for nearly 20 percent of the machine's total fuel burn. By eliminating 50 percent of non-productive idle time, fuel costs can be reduced by 10 percent. And, in today's environment of rising fuel costs and increased concern about global warming and diesel engine emissions, this kind of reduction is significant.

Reducing idle time saves on fuel costs, but one of the main hidden costs of excessive idle time is reduced residual value of a machine. For example, if two machines actually work 600 hours per year doing identical work, but one idles 40 percent of the time and the other idles 20 percent of the time, these machines will accumulate service meter hours at a different rate. After five years the machine that idles 40 percent of the time will register 5,000 hours, while the one idling 20 percent will have less than 4,000 hours. All other things being equal, the machine with fewer hours is obviously worth more. In addition, the lower hour machine likely will have avoided two maintenance intervals, translating into less downtime for maintenance and more time to move dirt.

Reduced idle time translates into greater operator productivity. Measuring idle time, observing operator behavior, goal setting, and regular operator feedback are keys to reducing excessive idle time. Because KOMTRAX measures idle time, users with multiple machines doing similar work can compare machine-to-machine idle times for insight into how much improvement is possible. Observations of operator behavior and noting when machines are idled are critical pieces of information to set meaningful idle reduction goals. A monitoring system that provides monthly idle time reports can be an effective way to reinforce and reward good operator behavior as well as identify training opportunities for those operators who are slower to change excessive idle habits.

Glacier Computer, a designer, developer and supplier of rugged industrial PC-compatible devices, introduces its Magnum series of computers. Specifically designed for use in the construction industry, the Magnum can be mounted in a variety of work environments and applications. Engineered to withstand shock, vibration, dust, and moisture, the Magnum can be mounted into cranes, dump trucks, backhoes, graders, and onboard forklifts. Additionally, the Magnum can be mounted outside in a fixed location and used as a time clock at a temporary work location.

The Magnum is an Intel-based PC traditionally configured with either XP Pro or XP Embedded. An array of standard I/O allows for attaching numerous peripherals, including portable printers for producing work orders and employee ID card readers. Wide area network cards and GPS accessories provide easy data transfer from the work site and constant vehicle mapping and location data.

Unlike traditional laptop solutions, the Glacier Magnum is a sealed unit with no fans or vents. The unit can operate in the most intense environments, including extremes of temperature, shock, vibration, and moisture. Each unit has a touchscreen and high-bright display for ease of use with even a gloved hand. All units accept and easily run traditional Windows software applications. There are a variety of processor, DRAM, and both rotating and solid-state hard drive options.

Glacier's Magnum series of computers are HALT tested, have passed thermal and reliability testing, and have an MTBF of nearly 40,000 hours. Built to Mil-Spec standards, these computers have an IP 64 environmental rating.

Trimble's The Eagle Eye Obstacle Detection System alerts drivers to objects hidden in vehicle blind spots up to 20 feet away. The system features a series of sensors mounted around the truck and an alert module that provides visual and audible warnings of hidden obstacles.

The DriveSafe system automatically records speed on turns, starts and stops in relation to vehicle's status. In addition, GPS positioning monitors average road speeds, and scores are assigned for each maneuver so driver behavior can be compared to the fleet average. As a result, early adopters such as Maricopa (see Trucking for Construction Special Section) aren't just working to prevent accidents, they are taking steps to actually improve the quality of their driver's decisions.

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Construction technology is an interesting term that can mean anything that relates to the industry. In this instance it is being used to reference the growing application of electronics and wireless communication to the earthmoving world. The application electronic technology goes back at least 40 years when the big controversy for equipment manufacturers was, "Do we use gauges or lights on the instrument panel?"

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At the end of the job when everything is completed having a chance to look at your work and be proud of what you see and know that it represents your work.

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Being able to identify and fix problems with current infrastructure is another important part. Making sure that everything is safe for people to use to prevent accidents and make structures that are built to last

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Since jobs are not always in the same you can get a chance to travel to different places and see a lot of different things. Some sites may provide some incredible scenery or views of surrounding areas

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Having a chance to be working outside and dealing with the construction is another benefit of a construction manager. Getting a chance to be physically seeing everything take place around you

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Getting to work for a paving contractor over the summer gave me a chance to play an active role in the site work portion of several large state projects. I was able to get hands on experience as to how things are carried out based on a set of plans and specs.

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Projects such as bridges and roads interested me in particular because everyone uses them daily but most people don't think about all the work that goes into constructing them. Each time you see it or drive over it you can say how you were a part of it

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Being able to walk onto a site and see an empty space one day and the progress occurring each day always interested me. You can really see all the hardwork that goes into each project this way and how fast something can be constructed when everyone works together

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Several of my family members worked as heavy operators and the machines always interested me. This led me to look more towards heavy civil work as opposed to residential

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Throughout high school I was able to gain some experience with wood framing and residential construction as a volunteer. After being a part of this I knew I wanted a career dealing with construction

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I became interested in construction when I was younger and my family had a new house. I was able to watch most of the process and participate in parts of it

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Skanska is a international company dealing in the US, UK, Sweden, Poland, and several other companies. Some projects include hospitals, bridges, parks  as well as making the empire state building LEED platinum

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Skanska is a world leading project development and construction group, aimed at building for a better society. Learn more about us!

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Another well known company based out of NYC. Gilbane deals with a wide variety of projects and is one of the nations oldest building companies

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Gilbane, Inc. Is one of the largest privately-held family-owned construction and real-estate development firms in the industry.

About

Gilbane, Inc., headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, is one of the largest privately held family-owned construction and real estate development firms in the industry. Founded in 1873, Gilbane has active participation from the 4th, 5th and 6th generations. Concentrating in select markets throughout North America, as well as internationally, Gilbane has 46 office locations around the world, as an industry leader in construction and real estate development.

With several billion square feet of successful project completions to our credit, including some of the most complex assignments, we have demonstrated time and time again our expertise in turning the most challenging situations into successfully completed buildings. We strive to bring our core values, expertise and integrated client-focused team approach as we deliver value in each of our projects in streamlined process.

Board of Directors

Thomas F. Gilbane III

Thomas F. Gilbane III is a managing member of Rockpoint Group LLC, a global real estate investment management firm. In 1999, Mr. Gilbane joined Rockpoint's predecessor, Westbrook Real Estate Partners ("WREP"), with a concentration on their Eastern United States and European investment and asset management activities. Prior to joining WREP, he worked in Merrill Lynch's Real Estate Investment Banking Group.

A graduate of Brown University with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering, Mr. Gilbane is chairman of the board of Overseers for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and is actively involved with Boston Children's Hospital.

Read more

Gilbane Family

Building More Than Buildings

Our camaraderie and team sentiment is rooted in our family history. There are more than a century of lessons learned incorporated into everything we do. We've built and developed millions of square feet of facilities throughout the United States and internationally. This history gives us the insight and experience necessary to deliver maximum value in all construction and real estate development projects for clients.

Gilbane, Inc.

We have active participation from multiple generations at both the Building Company and Development Company. Thomas F. Gilbane Jr. is chairman and CEO of Gilbane, Inc. and chairman of Gilbane Building Company. William J. Gilbane Jr. is vice president of Gilbane, Inc. and vice chairman of Gilbane Building Company and Robert V. Gilbane is chairman and CEO of Gilbane Development Company and vice president of Gilbane, Inc. Paul J. Choquette Jr., son of third-generation family member Virginia Gilbane Choquette, is vice chairman of Gilbane, Inc.

History

Legacy

Gilbane is the builder and developer of some of the most highly visible projects domestically and internationally. With a global footprint of 46 office locations around the world and the resources of more than 2,600 people, we are motivated by a commitment to quality and excellence with a determined effort to exceed client expectations.

Gilbane Building Company

Gilbane Building Company is one of the nation's oldest construction companies and is recognized as a leader in the industry. Our vision to be the premier company serving a full spectrum of facility needs to our clients and opportunities for our employees remains steadfast, as does our dedication to core values. We are a leading building firm, providing full construction and facilities-related services from sustainable building to the latest in construction technology for clients across various markets.

Gilbane Development Company

Gilbane Development Company is the real estate development, investment and property management arm of Gilbane, Inc. We've been creating and implementing successful real estate programs for public, private and non-profit clients throughout the United States for four decades. Our goal is to serve as a single resource for navigating the tangled web of variables associated with real estate development, construction, financing, operations, and management.

Interactive Timeline

Click here to view an interactive timeline featuring key milestones in Gilbane history, from immigration to America from Ireland to present day projects.

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Gilbane, Inc. Is one of the largest privately-held family-owned construction and real-estate development firms in the industry. Gilbane, Inc., headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, is one of the largest privately held family-owned construction and real estate development firms in the industry. Founded in 1873, Gilbane has active participation from the 4th, 5th and 6th generations.

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Dealing with heavy civil work DDS has many offices around NY as well as Pennsylvania dealing with natural gas

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The DDS COMPANIES | Construction, Utilities, Engineering

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Heavy Civil Construction; Site, Civil, and Utility Design; Underground Electric, Gas, Telecom, Fiber Optic Construction; Environmental Remediation Services

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Another high rise company based out of NY, Turner is responsible for international projects. The most interesting to me would be the Burj Khalifa which is currently the tallest structure in the world

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Turner has a culture of innovation and promotes advances in technology, sustainability, lean practices, building information modeling, safety, community involvement, learning and development, and knowledge sharing.

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Another company from NYC dealing with high-rise construction. This company focuses on realty and interior development as opposed to from the ground up

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Tishman | Hotels | Realty | Real Estate Services | Home

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Over the years, Tishman has formed close relationships with select institutional investors for which it manages assets. Current assets under management exceed $4.0 billion in real estate and other asset classes. Unlike traditional real estate investment managers, Tishman's own account represents nearly $3.0 billion, or roughly 75% of its assets under management.

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Dealing with high-rise construction I have heard many good things about this company from students and would certainly look into it for the future.

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Since 1909, the firm has been guided by the principles of integrity, excellence and customer delight in the delivery of construction services.

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Barnard is a fairly large heavy civil company dealing with many different types of work. Being able to work all around the US would be a great opportunity to see new places while learning

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That's what we do at Barnard. Whether we're raising a dam in Alaska, constructing a reservoir in Florida, tunneling under downtown San Francisco, redirecting a river while building a complex hydropower plant in northern Manitoba, or strengthening and improving the integrity of a natural gas pipeline in a Sacramento suburb, our people arrive at our projects with a determination to do the best for their communities and be the best in the industry.

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Similar to Design-Build at Delhi, hands on experience is an important skill for construction managers to have. By being part of and having seen how something is constructed you can have a better sense of if something is being built right on a jobsite

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Hammers were swingingand walls were coming down as students started demolishing the interior of the house purchased by Mentor Schools.

The house located on Johnnycake Road will be gutted and renovated so students participating in the in the Mentor High School's Career Tech Construction Management program, gain real-world, hands-on experience in their vocation choice.

This is the second year for the Construction Management program to take on a full house renovation project.

"I would really like to get all the experience I need to get a job in the construction field and hopefully this lands me a job," said Logan Bittner,a Mentor High senior. "All the stuff that we are doing here, it is such a big benefit to our future if we are going into the construction field."

Last year the class had four students who worked on a house located at 6370 Seminole Road. The house was purchased by Mentor Schools for $53,000, with an additional $23,259 spent for materials, repairs and improvements. The house then sold at auction for $114,000 netting the district a $37,741 profit, according to Chief Financial Officer Daniel Wilson.

That profit went towards the purchase of this year's project house, which was purchased for $120,000. As with last year's house, this one will be listed for auction with a reserve bid. If the reserve is not met during auction the house will be listed with a Realtor to sell, said Mentor Schools Communication Director Kristen Kirby.

The house this year is twice the size of last year's, meaning more work to be done, but the class size has more than doubled this year,

Kirby and Stewart attribute the increased interest in this class to last year's renovation project. The class this year has 10 students currently enrolled and a wait list of 20.

This years class consist of 9 males and one female, with students from North, Euclid, Wickliffe and Mentor high schools, which are all part of the Lakeshore Compact.

Students go through an interview process to make sure they are a good fit for the program.

"We are not looking so much for the 4.0-type of student, we are looking to see if they have any interest in this, any past history, and what their discipline is in school, said Construction Management teacher Charlie Stewart.

I would rather do this than just sit in a classroom all day, " said Thomas Whitner, a Euclid High senior. "I'm active and learning something about I want to get into."

"Career Tech is an important part of us being able to meet our goal for individualized instruction for each and every student," said Kirby. " Not all students learn in a traditional classroom and giving students real-world, hands-on experience will help them in their future."

The students started out the project by putting a budget together, said Stewart. They know how much they have to spend.

Students are then divided up and paired off into different rooms, some will work on the bathrooms while others do living rooms, kitchen, or bedrooms.

Next the students go around and estimate how much drywall, flooring and tile will be needed Stewart said. The students will shortly be moving on to plumbing and electrical.

"We are going to come outside while it is still warm and start the exterior, things like put in new windows, do the siding, and landscaping, and bust up and of the concrete," said Stewart. " When it starts getting colder we will go back inside and start to work on the kitchen, bathrooms, and living room."

The house originally built in 1960 had a very closed off floor plan.

"What we are going to try to do with this house is open up the kitchen, dining room, and living room and put in an island," Stewart said. "We are going to update the cabinets, run flooring throughout, update the bathroom and make sure the plumbing and electric is up to code."

Plans for the outside include new soffits, a little painting, putting up a fence and a deck and building a pergola off the deck, said Stewart.

Like last year, Stewart plans on bringing in licenced contractors, electricians and plumbers to work with the students.

"I enjoy doing the hands-on stuff and learning from everything you are doing and seeing other people do it and learning from everyone else," said Arthur Sarukhanyn, a Mentor High senior.

Stewart anticipates the renovations on the house to be completed by April 1.

"This is what sets our program apart from other schools," said Stewart. "We are not building a house from scratch, but we are in the community and we are trying to take a house that just needs a little TLC, it's not only helping the students but it's helping our community and i don't see any negatives to it."

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Mentor Schools Construction Management students start work on house

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Hammers were swingingand walls were coming down as students started demolishing the interior of the house purchased by Mentor Schools. The house located on Johnnycake Road will be gutted and renovated so students participating in the in the Mentor High School's Career Tech Construction Management program, gain real-world, hands-on experience in their vocation choice.

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A8
OSHA is important to construction in order to prevent accidents from occurring and keep workers safe. A full investigation was required to make sure the job site would be safe for workers to return after a fire occured

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The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration today began an investigation into the construction fire that has closed the Liberty Bridge since ...

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Construction of Dakota pipeline has caused destruction of artifacts of the Sioux tribe. Conflicts such as these need to be avoided when constructing projects as thissends a bad message toward construction

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A federal judge declined to halt construction of part of the Dakota Access pipeline on Tuesday, despite pleas from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe that sensitive cultural artifacts are being destroyed. The decision could heighten tensions between the Native Americans protesting the project and the pipeline builder, a situation that's become increasingly volatile.

The Standing Rock Sioux had filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order on Sunday, after pipeline builder Dakota Access LLC bulldozed a section of the route west of Lake Oahe, N.D., which contained sacred sites and historical artifacts. One of the sites was a stone marker that the Tribe's cultural expert described in court filings as "one of the most significant archaeological finds in North Dakota in many years."

Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia did grant part of the restraining order, but only for a piece of the pipeline route east of Lake Oahe. That segment is not known to contain cultural artifacts.

David Archambault II, the tribe's chairman, said in a statement that he was disappointed with the judge's decision, which "puts my people's sacred places at further risk of ruin and desecration."

Dakota Access did not return requests for comment.

Opponents of the oil pipeline say they believe the company deliberately sought to destroy the artifacts, which are located along a two-mile stretch west of Lake Oahe. Dakota Access, a subsidiary of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, began bulldozing that area on Saturday-less than 24 hours after the tribe filed a court document detailing the 27 graves, 16 stone rings, 19 effigies and other artifacts found there. By Sunday, all of those sites had been destroyed or harmed, according to court filings.

"It's hard to say that it would be a coincidence," said Stephanie Tsosie, one of several attorneys who filed the restraining order on behalf of the tribe. Tsosie works for Earthjustice, an environmental advocacy law firm based in Seattle.

Mekasi Camp Horinek, a member of the Ponca Nation of Oklahoma and coordinator of the advocacy group Bold Oklahoma, said there had been no recent construction along that part of the pipeline route until Labor Day weekend, when Dakota Access "leapfrogged about 10 miles from where they were to go to those culturally significant sites and destroy them."

Patrick Parenteau, a law professor at Vermont Law School, said the timing "paints a very black picture" of the company's behavior.

He said that under federal law, the discovery of Native American cultural artifacts should "stop the pipeline dead right there." And if Dakota Access has bulldozed those sites, "that's a crime."

Parenteau said the U.S. attorney general or other federal agencies "should be sending in investigators. They should be on the scene."

The construction led to a tense confrontation on Saturday. Dallas Goldtooth, a campaign organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network, said a group of protesters-who call themselves "protectors"-were holding a prayer gathering near the site of the artifacts when they saw the bulldozers coming over the hill. The group then moved in to try and stop construction.

Protesters, as seen in a video by Democracy Now!, yelled as they climbed over a wire fence onto the construction site as a helicopter circled overhead. Private security guards with leashed dogs tried to disperse the crowd, which included children, and at one point an unleashed dog leaped at a group of protesters. The video shows a guard dog with blood on its nose and teeth. Near the end of the video, the security guards, who were outnumbered, got into their vehicles and drove away.

The Associated Press reported that four security guards and two dogs were injured during the confrontation. Goldtooth said at least 12 people, including a pregnant woman, were bitten by dogs, and the guards also used pepper spray.

The tribe has opposed the pipeline since it was rerouted last year to skirt the reservation's land and cross the Missouri River upstream, which it believes threatens its water supply as well as the cultural sites in the pipeline's path. The tribe filed a lawsuit in July alleging that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-the main federal agency involved in permitting the pipeline-failed to adequately assess the project's environmental and cultural impacts.

When the Tribe requested a preliminary injunction to stop the construction beneath the Missouri River until the case can be tried in court, Boasberg delayed that decision, which is expected by Friday.

The proposed 1,172-mile pipeline would move about half a million barrels of oil per day from North Dakota's Bakken oil fields to Illinois.

The company rerouted the pipeline, originally slated to pass through Bismarck, closer to the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. Three federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, raised serious concerns about the environmental justice impacts, but the Army Corps dismissed them.

Resistance to the pipeline has grown for months, with hundreds of activists, mostly Native Americans, camping at a field near Cannon Ball, N.D.

The tribe's lawsuit alleges the Army Corps gave the tribe little opportunity to conduct cultural surveys. Tim Mentz, Sr., the Standing Rock Sioux's cultural expert, couldn't survey the route near Lake Oahe until last week, when a local landowner invited him to take a look. By that point, more than half of the pipeline had already been built.

Mentz explained in court documents that he did not have permission to step onto the pipeline route. But many of the sites along the route were so prominent that he could identify them from a distance, and he also found important artifacts on the land adjacent to the route. Mentz's survey identified five stone features "of very great cultural and historic significance," all of which are now gone.

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Judge fails to block Dakota pipeline construction as Native American burial sites destroyed

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A federal judge declined to halt construction of part of the Dakota Access pipeline on Tuesday, despite pleas from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe that sensitive cultural artifacts are being destroyed. The decision could heighten tensions between the Native Americans protesting the project and the pipeline builder, a situation that's become increasingly volatile.

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LEED certification is important because it shows that considerations were given to all aspects of construction to be as efficient and green as possible. Silver was the minimum requirement for this size project so they went above and beyond by obtaining gold certification

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ATHENS - The recently completed Phase II construction and renovation work at Ohio University's Schoonover Center for Communication, which houses the five schools of the Scripps College of Communication, has been awarded LEED Gold certification.

The project is Ohio University's first LEED Gold certified.

LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is an internationally recognized green building certification system that is gaining momentum within institutions of higher education, according to the U.S. Green Building Council.

The Ohio University Sustainability Plan requires minimum LEED Silver certification for all building and renovation projects budgeted at or above $2 million, according to Greg Robertson, associate vice president for architecture, design and construction.

"We are thrilled that the Schoonover Center Phase II Project has achieved LEED Gold certification, a higher certification level that is a first for our campus," Robertson said.

EED standards were created to improve performance across all areas of green building: energy savings, water efficiency, carbon dioxide emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and use of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.

"Schoonover's LEED Gold certification should be a point of pride for Dean Titsworth and the College of Communication," said Sam Crowl, project coordinator in the Office of Sustainability. "Students, faculty and staff should be pleased that they are able to work and study in a building that will use more than 40 percent less water and more than 20 percent less lighting power and that has been renovated to provide occupants with a healthier indoor environment through the careful selection of construction materials. The Office of Architecture, Design and Construction and the University community should be very proud of this project."

More than 30 percent of the project's materials also contained recycled content, almost 50 percent of materials were manufactured in the region and the project diverted more than 75 percent of construction waste from going to a landfill.

According to the USGBC website, the LEED certification process provides a concise framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions to business owners, operators and, increasingly, to higher education.

"Architecture, Design and Construction is pleased to be able to implement the first LEED Gold certified project on Ohio University's Athens campus," said Lynnette Bush Clouse, LEED accredited senior project manager in the Office of Architecture, Design and Construction. "The location of Schoonover allowed us to gain the majority of credits (19 of 21) in the Sustainable Sites section of the LEED Scorecard. The fact that we were able to reuse an existing structure, had over five options for public transportation available, were close to local business and services and added no parking to the site made this possible. This will set a precedent for many of the credits that we can use for future LEED certified projects."

Several Ohio University offices, including Architecture, Design and Construction; Planning and Space Management; Facilities and the Office of Sustainability, were involved in the project.

"The innovative approaches explored in the Schoonover Phase II project provide a road map for reducing the environmental impact of future projects," Robertson said. "It is my sincere hope that this will be the first of many LEED Gold certifications for Ohio University."

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Schoonover Center receives LEED Gold certification - Gallipolis Daily Tribune

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ATHENS - The recently completed Phase II construction and renovation work at Ohio University's Schoonover Center for Communication, which houses the five schools of the Scripps College of Communication, has been awarded LEED Gold certification. The project is Ohio University's first LEED Gold certified.

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This just shows that construction can be a dangerous job and safety should be a main issue. Drivers should be careful and follow speed limits through work zones to ensure no accidents occur

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Construction contributed over $650 billion to the nations GDP for the first time since 2008. 6.4 million people were employed last month, up from 5.4 in 2011

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Nearly a decade after the Great Recession stalled construction nationwide, the industry is roaring back: In 43 states, construction is now contributing more to the economy than it did in 2010, creating a demand for skilled workers and transforming skylines from Boston to Oklahoma City.

Overall, the construction industry's impact on U.S. gross domestic product has grown by more than 21 percent since its low point in 2011, according to a Stateline analysis of inflation-adjusted data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

This year, construction's contribution to the U.S. economy soared above $650 billion for the first time since 2008.

The only states that haven't experienced construction-related economic growth since 2010 are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Mississippi, New Mexico and Wyoming.

Three of the seven states - Alaska, New Mexico and Wyoming - have economies that are closely tied to slumping energy markets, and Alabama, Alaska, Maine, Mississippi and New Mexico have experienced slow population growth.

"Population growth accounts for a great deal of construction work," said Alex Carrick, chief economist for ConstructConnect, an organization of construction professionals.

Arizona has had relatively robust population growth and it isn't heavily reliant on energy, but it has been hampered by the Phoenix housing market, which more than other cities was overbuilt in the housing bubble, Carrick said.

About 6.7 million people were employed in construction last month, up from a low of 5.4 million in January 2011. In 2006, at the peak of the last housing boom, the industry employed 7.7 million people.

To a large extent, the surge reflects pent-up demand, according to Kim Kennedy, manager of forecasting for Dodge Data & Analytics, which studies the construction industry in North America.

In 2010 and 2011, in the aftermath of the recession, there were fewer apartments and other buildings constructed than at any other time since the late 1960s, Kennedy said.

"The industry is still struggling to regain what it lost and after five years of expansion, still hasn't made it back," Kennedy said.

Millennials - who were born starting in 1982 and often have a taste for city life and are willing to move in search of work - have helped fuel a boom in apartment construction, especially in Colorado and on the West Coast.

Cheap natural gas is spurring the construction of fertilizer plants in the Midwest, and numerous data centers are going up in Nevada and California, said Brian Turmail of the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC).

Recession-delayed work on roads, bridges and other infrastructure also is fueling the increase, he said.

As the building of new housing, offices and roads continues apace, many construction firms are struggling to find enough workers, especially skilled workers such as carpenters and electricians.

In a 2015 survey by the AGC, 86 percent of respondents reported having trouble filling available positions, up from 81 percent in 2013.

"Carpenters, sheet metal installers, concrete workers, project managers and supervisors are particularly hard to find," the survey found. "Every part of the country is experiencing construction worker shortages, but the most severe shortages are in the Midwest."

California firms also face serious workforce challenges, according to Ed Coghlan of the California Economic Summit.

"Hundreds of thousands of California construction jobs evaporated during the Great Recession and people left the business," Coghlan said. "Folks either started doing others things or moved out of California."

Calls for Vocational Education
The construction boom offers opportunities for the 30,000 energy workers displaced by the sharp decline in oil and gas prices since December 2014. But many will require additional training for the construction jobs that are available, according to Tyson Conrad, a Florida consultant who recruits electricians for builders.

"You're not going to learn these trades overnight - there are four-year apprenticeships," Conrad said. "But it's true that construction is a place where a guy doesn't have to go to college to make a six-figure income."

Some builders are calling for states to create or expand vocational training programs as a way to produce more skilled construction workers, many of whom retired or moved on to other professions when the industry shed more than 2.2 million jobs between 2007 and 2011.

In a 2015 report, the AGC complained that the national decline in manufacturing has prompted many high schools to de-emphasize the trades in favor of college preparation.

"The consequence has been the overwhelming impression among youths, their parents and teachers that career and technical education is unacceptable, despite the fact that construction jobs often pay better than many post-college options," the organization argued while calling for more vocational education.

Historic Numbers
Construction has been one of the few bright spots for states such as Oklahoma and Iowa, where steep decreases in oil and grain prices have hampered the overall economy.

Oklahoma City is having its biggest year for downtown construction since 1930, said Steve Lackmeyer, the author of five books about the history of the city.

The new construction, which includes apartments and a proposed convention center, helped boost construction-related employment by 7.7 percent since last year, the largest increase of any economic sector.

Iowa raised " road use taxes" on gas and car registrations last year, allowing long-delayed road construction to start statewide. In addition, a 2008 increase in the statewide sales tax is providing $1.5 billion annually for school construction and repair, said David Swenson, an economist at Iowa State University.

Even though two-thirds of Iowa counties are losing population, cities like Des Moines, Iowa City and Ames are seeing strong demand for new housing, Swenson said.

Fertilizer plants fueled by natural gas also are under construction, as are wind farms and ethanol plants.

On the other side of the country in Boston, "one of the three biggest building booms in the city's history" is underway, according to Nick Martin of the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

Martin said the $6 billion in development his agency has approved this year is comparable to the boom of the 1970s and the giant landfill project that created the city's famous Back Bay neighborhood in the 19th century.

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U.S. construction is on the rebound after the Great Recession

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Nearly a decade after the Great Recession stalled construction nationwide, the industry is roaring back: In 43 states, construction is now contributing more to the economy than it did in 2010, creating a demand for skilled workers and transforming skylines from Boston to Oklahoma City. Overall, the construction industry's impact on U.S.

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NYC is seeing the highest construction employment in the past 40 years, with 138,200 jobs in 2015. Employment is expected to increase by 6% for 2016.

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New York City construction industry employment reached its highest level in more than 40 years and easily surpassed the number of jobs created during the height of the previous building boom in 2008, according to a New York Building Congress analysis of New York State Department of Labor employment statistics available since 1975.

In addition, the average annual wages earned by these workers increased by an estimated three percent in 2015, which represents the largest year-to-year increase since 2008, when wages rose by more than 5 percent from the prior year.
New York City produced 138,200 construction jobs in 2015, a seven percent increase from 2014, when 129,100 jobs were created.

Last year marked the fourth consecutive year of job growth and the highest level of construction employment in the City since at least 1975. The previous high water mark was 131,800 jobs in 2008.

Based on an analysis of jobs data from the first half of this year, the Building Congress estimates construction employment will climb even further to 147,100 jobs in 2016, which would be a 6.4 percent increase from 2015.

The specialty trades sector, which includes plumbers and electricians, accounted for 89,500 jobs in 2015, up from 84,300 jobs in 2014. Workers involved in the construction of buildings accounted for 40,300 jobs last year, up from 36,500 the prior year.

The heavy construction and civil engineering sector, which is primarily involved in major infrastructure projects, produced 8,400 jobs, a slight increase from 8,300 in 2014.

"Each of the cranes currently dotting the New York City skyline represents thousands of jobs for local construction workers, three-quarters of whom live in one of the five boroughs," said Building Congress President Richard T. Anderson.

"With nearly $40 billion in construction spending last year and the Building Congress forecasting more of the same this year and next, we should expect the construction industry to be a major driver of jobs for the foreseeable future."

The Building Congress estimates that wages earned by New York construction workers averaged $76,300 last year, up from $74,100 in 2014.

These workers have experienced modest increases in their annual wages in recent years. Industry workers overall earned an average of $73,000 in 2013, $71,800 in 2012, and $71,200 in 2011. The biggest one-year increase over the past decade occurred during the final stages of the previous building boom, when average annual wages rose from $65,000 in 2007 to $68,300 in 2008.

The heavy and civil engineering workforce remains the highest paid in the industry. Based on the Building Congress's estimates, workers in this sector averaged $120,700 in pay last year, up from $111,200 in 2014, $107,900 in 2013, and $101,600 in 2012.

Average wages for the New York City workforce involved in the construction of buildings increased to $73,300 in 2015, from $71,200 in 2014. The earnings of these workers had stagnated in previous years, averaging $70,200 in 2013, $70,100 in 2012, and $70,600 in 2011.

Workers employed by specialty trade contractors have also experienced a modest increase with wages that averaged $73,800 in 2015, up from $71,700 in 2014, $70,300 in 2013, $68,900 in 2012, and $68,300 in 2011.

"It is no surprise to see wages rising in the face of such intense demand for workers," added Anderson. "That said, it is worth noting that wages are not rising nearly as quickly as they did during the previous building boom. This may be attributed to the growing number of union apprentices and the fact that the current boom is being fueled in large measure by residential construction, which is increasingly going to less expensive non-union labor."

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NYC construction employment at highest level in four decades | Real Estate Weekly

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New York City construction industry employment reached its highest level in more than 40 years and easily surpassed the number of jobs created during the height of the previous building boom in 2008, according to a New York Building Congress analysis of New York State Department of Labor employment statistics available since 1975.

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Large companies are using non union labor for private jobs due to lower costs. Projects were reported to have a 20-30% higher cost with union work

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Major New York City construction companies like Tishman Construction and Turner Construction have passed on renewing certain collective bargaining union labor agreements for private work, indicating they're planning to use less expensive nonunion workers on future projects and that unions in the city are "losing their grip" on the market, The Wall Street Journal reported.

A New York City Independent Budget Office report earlier this year found that that paying union scale on Mayor Bill de Blasio's planned affordable housing projects increased costs by 23%, while developers for other private city projects have said using union labor raises costs by 20% to 30%.

Even though the number of union-exclusive private projects is dwindling in favor of open-shop models, union officials said their presence is still strong in the public sector - a $13 billion market in New York City last year.

Dive Insight:

Other union strongholds like Chicago are also seeing a loss of union market share in private work, according to The Journal. Unions saw their pinnacle in the 1950s when 50% of all construction workers were union members, and the labor groups enjoyed a 35% market share in the private sector. Construction unions are starting to feel the pinch. For example, in a period of startling growth in the city, New York City and Vicinity District Council of Carpenters clocked only 21 million hours in fiscal year ending June 2015, a 13% decline from the city's previous 2008 boom total of 24 million hours.

Part of the unions' justification for higher wages is that their workers provide a higher quality and safer product than their nonunion counterparts. However, a new industry group, the New York Construction Alliance, which is made up seven open-shop construction firms with more than $1.5 billion in revenue last year, is out to dispel that notion.

In addition to the higher rate of pay, some construction company executives and developers say the union way of working hasn't kept up with the competition, particularly when it comes to which workers are allowed to perform certain aspects of the work.

In a recent New York City union dust-up, the Building and Construction Trades Council and the Real Estate Board of New York failed to firm up a wage agreement for potential workers on de Blasio's 80,000-unit affordable housing plan, which resulted in the expiration of the 421a tax credit. The 421a credit, which offered a tax break to multi-unit residential developers who included affordable units in their projects, was expected to generate approximately $1.5 billion in tax breaks.

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WSJ: NYC construction unions 'losing their grip' on private market

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Major New York City construction companies like Tishman Construction and Turner Construction have passed on renewing certain collective bargaining union labor agreements for private work, indicating they're planning to use less expensive nonunion workers on future projects and that unions in the city are "losing their grip" on the market, The Wall Street Journal reported.

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Residential construction has seen a large increase in the number of houses being built per year. However companies such as the one in article can't find enough workers to keep up with demand

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DENVER (Reuters) - The drumbeat of hammers echoes most mornings through suburban Denver, where Jay Small, the owner of company that frames houses, is building about 1,300 new homes this year.

That's more than triple what he built a few years ago, when "you couldn't buy a job" in the residential construction industry, he said.

Now, builders can't buy enough workers to get the job done.

Eight years after the housing bust drove an estimated 30 percent of construction workers into new fields, homebuilders across the country are struggling to find workers at all levels of experience, according to the National Association of Homebuilders. The association estimates that there are approximately 200,000 unfilled construction jobs in the U.S. - a jump of 81 percent in the last two years.

The ratio of construction job openings to hiring, as measured by the Department of Labor, is at its highest level since 2007.

"The labor shortage is getting worse as demand is getting stronger," said John Courson, chief executive of the Home Builders Institute, a national nonprofit that trains workers in the construction field.

The impact is two-fold. Without enough workers, residential construction is trailing demand for homes, dampening the overall economy.

And with labor costs rising, homebuilders are building more expensive homes to maintain their margins, which means they are abandoning the starter home market. That has left entry-level homes in tight supply, shutting out many would-be buyers at a time when mortgage rates are near historic lows.

Nationwide, there are 17 percent fewer people working in construction than at the market peak, with some states - including Arizona, California, Georgia and Missouri - seeing declines of 20 percent or more, according to data from the Associated General Contractors of America.

The labor shortage is raising builders' costs - and workers' wages - and slowing down construction.

Small, the Denver builder, estimates that he could construct at least 10 percent more homes this year if he had enough workers. But he remains short-staffed, despite raising pay to levels above what he paid during the housing bubble a decade ago.

"It's getting to the point where you're really limited in what you can deliver," Small said. "We lost so many people in the crash, and we're just not getting them back."

HIGHER COSTS

The average construction cost of building a single family home is 13.7 percent higher now than in 2007, even as the total costs of building and selling a house - a figure that includes such items as land costs, financing and marketing - are up just 2.9 percent over the same period, according to a survey by the National Association of Homebuilders.

The problem is accentuated by strong demand for newly constructed homes, with sales reaching a nine-year high in July.

Private companies say that they are having a hard time attracting workers, and they are often forced to give employees on-the-spot raises to prevent them from going to competitors. Carpenters and electricians are often listed as the most in-demand specialties.

Tony Rader, the vice president of Schwob Building Company, a general contractor in the Dallas area, said his company has started handing out flyers at sporting events, churches and schools in hopes of luring more people into the field.

"The biggest problem I face every day is where are we going to find the people to do the work," he said, adding that it's becoming increasingly common for his company and others to turn down projects.

Dallas contractors are fighting over the limited supply of workers as three major mixed-use projects are going up right next to each other on the so-called "$5 billion mile" in Frisco, a northern suburb. Meanwhile, the metropolitan area is adding about 30,000 newly built homes annually.

With fewer workers, contractors are becoming wary of signing new work contracts, especially as many of them include fines for not completing a job by a designated date.

"I've got two lawsuits right now where it may cost us mid-six-figures because there's not enough labor out there to get it done," said one contractor in the North Dallas area who declined to be identified.

Lawyers in hot residential markets say that it is becoming increasingly common for construction companies to try to negotiate for more time.

"Subcontractors are having a hard time staffing up," said Edward Allen, a Denver attorney who said he has seen more lawsuits over project delays in the past two years.

GUARANTEED WORK, FEW TAKERS

Colorado alone will need 30,000 more workers in the construction field in the next six years, a number that does not account for those who will retire, according to a study by the Association of General Contractors.

The state passed a bill last year pledging $10 million over three years to fund free training for plumbers, electricians and carpenters.

Yet Michael Smith, who heads a Denver-based nonprofit that administers the training, said that he can't fill the seats. High schools are focused on preparing students for college, ignoring those that may be better suited for vocational work. Students may be put off by construction's reputation as a dangerous, cyclical field, he said.

"We've so demonized working with your hands in this country," he said. "We've got a booming economy, and we can't keep up with the pace of growth."

Students who go through the four-week program are all but guaranteed a job paying $16 an hour or more immediately, with the possibility of commanding $80,000 or more in annual income after five years without taking on any student debt, he said.

On-the-job training is also a common path for new workers. Eduardo Salcido - a 25-year-old concrete finisher working at a 232-home Toll Brothers subdivision going up in the Denver suburb of Broomfield - said that he received on-site training after entering the construction field as a painter.

He has earned one raise since beginning the training two years ago and is now certified as a semi-skilled finisher.

"The money's not bad," he said.

Homebuilders are increasingly desperate to bring back in fully skilled laborers such as Greg Lewis, a 43-year old journeyman carpenter in St. Louis. After struggling to find work in 2010, Lewis started making leather goods at home and selling bags, belts and wallets online. He now operates his business fulltime under the name Made Supply Co.

Even though he's making less than he did in construction, Lewis is not tempted to go back into a field that is marked by job insecurity, he said. His former co-workers have gone on to work in warehouses or a local General Motors plant, and most are choosing not to return to their old jobs even as contractors offer higher wages.

"Guys couldn't wait around for their next job, and now they don't want to go back to a field that could turn on them," he said. "It's either hot or cold, and you just can't trust it."

(The story was refiled to correct typo in the eighth paragraph to change "may" to "many")

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Construction worker shortage weighs on hot U.S. housing market

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DENVER (Reuters) - The drumbeat of hammers echoes most mornings through suburban Denver, where Jay Small, the owner of company that frames houses, is building about 1,300 new homes this year. That's more than triple what he built a few years ago, when "you couldn't buy a job" in the residential construction industry, he said.

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Follow us on Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/howitsmade1 Created by: Gabriel Hoss Presented by: Mark Tewksbury (2001) Lynn Herzeg (2002-2004) June Wallack (2005) Lynne Adams (2006-2016) The show is presented on the Science Channel in the US, Discovery Channel Canada in Canada, and on the Discovery Channel in the United Kingdom.

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A Q&A with an environmental, health and safety advisor about some of the benefits of civil construction.

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Best Field Practices for Collecting Geospatial Data

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First Look - Trimble SPS Essentials Presented By SITECH

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As machine control becomes commonplace on the jobsite, equipment operators have a vast amount of information and insight available to them, right inside the cab of the machine. With Trimble SPS Essentials, field managers and supervisors now have easy access to this same information.

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Insulated Concrete Forms provide many different benefits. NUDURA innovation is changing the Insulated Concrete Form market. Learn how innovation makes us the right choice for your next project

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10 Houses Printed in 24 Hours - 3D Printed Concrete Homes

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Manhattan West Platform Construction Animation

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Hudson Yards: Building New York's New District | The B1M

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Hudson Yards is the largest private development scheme in United States history. It's much more than just a project, and is creating an entire new neighbourhood on the west side of Manhattan. We take a look at New York's new district.

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Amazing Fruit Harvesting Machines Compilation

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Tiger Stone - Brick  Road Laying Machine Compilation

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There are Brick Road Laying Machine Video Compilation Music: Jim Yosef - Eclipse [NCS Release] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WP_YLn1D1c

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V1

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New San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge East Span Opens

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University of Colorado Hospital Construction Time-Lapse

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Official San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Construction Time-Lapse

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Witness more than 42,000 hours of construction in just 4 minutes with this official time-lapse movie of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Our live streaming video and high definition time-lapse construction cameras have been on site since 2008 to document progress, archiving nearly 2 million images for the $6.4 billion bridge.