Commonalities in Construction

After visiting two seperate construction sites, it is clearly evident that there are both commonalities and differences in the operations of a job site. The first site we visited was the Basketball Practice Facility by Whiting Turner. The second site was the New Residence Hall by Branch and Associates.

After observing each site for several minutes, there were some explicit similarities. These similarities included: on-site parking for workers, on-site trailers, fencing, idle equipment, on-site mortar mixer, and safety practices.
There are also several noticable differences. These included: the type of building and the intended use, the amount of hokie stone used compared to precast constrete, the organization of the site, the types of roofing, the locations within the campus, and the number of floor of the building.

There are seven categories that are commonalities for each and every contruction project, no matter what the company or what the project. The categories include: Materials, State of Completion, Equipment, Site Layout and Utilization, Temporary Structures, Labor and Material Handling. These broad categories also have subcategories. For example, the Site Layout and Utilization category can be further broken down into fencing, parking, material laydown, access points, security, trailers, and housekeeping.The differences in construction lie within these categories. Each company or each project could have a different approach when it comes to these seven categories. A good example of this is Site Layout and Utilization comaprison of the two sites. It was much better on the Whiting Turner site than it was on the Branch and Associates site. At the Branch and Associates site, materials were unorganized and scattered throughout the site. Also, the parking was a more sporadic task, as cars where parked randomly around the site. A messy site can eventually lead to a decrease in productivity and an increase in costs. The amount of supervision on a site could possibly be a reason why some sites are more tidy than others.