Running head: construction in our life

Construction in our life

Braden Wall
ENG2100
Sept 22, 2015

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Construction in our life

Abstract
Many of us around the age of twenty and many times older or younger are thinking about what
we want to do for our career. An important question that will affect the rest of our lives.
Construction management is an industry that will satisfy two types; the office, and the field.
They have two very different work environments with the same goals. This paper will discuss the
culture of both types, also the types of writing that you could expect to be doing on the job.
Table of contents
Introduction.. 3
Methodology..... 3-4
Results ..4-5
Discussion 5-7
Conclusion and recommendations7
References.8

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Introduction
Construction is one of the largest industries in the world. Construction is what builds the
world we live in, it shows our history, and shapes our future. When most of us think about
construction we think of big sites with heavy equipment, and guys in orange vests with hard hats.
Which is only part of the work, there is so much more that goes on behind the scenes that most
of us dont even give a second thought. To even start a project there is a lot to be done; bids have
to be in, subcontractors have to be set up, there has to be a schedule in place. All of these and
more play a major role in starting a project, and all of them require writing.
Most construction projects are worth more money than most of us will ever see in our life
time. Making sure to hit deadlines, with no mistakes is crucial to a companys survival. At the
heart of all of it is the project managers. There on the front line between the office, and the field.
Having the stress of the project on their shoulders until the project is completed, and then onto
the next one.
Methodology
The best information will come from those in the actual field. They understand more than
anyone else ever could. This can be found by an interview with someone or an article from a
former or current employee.
Web research
A great place to start for a question is the internet. I did this using the key words the life
of a construction project manager in google. After this I made sure that anything I read was
published, had an author, a date etc... This makes the source, and the facts you learn from it more
credible. Doing this cut the results that popped up by at least half.

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Interview
It was an honor that I got the chance to talk with someone in this career field, it always is nice to
get the opinion of someone that is actually in the business every day and deals with the day to
day problems that they face. The person that I interviewed asked to remain anonyms do to
business reasons. For the last six years he has owned his own residential construction company, I
have looked up to him ever since. He gave me a lot of honest answers of how the construction
business works. I was grateful for his honest input to help my facts be correct to the best of his
knowledge.
Library search
Using the online databases of our school website (www.slcc.edu) I was able to find peer
reviewed papers from many different organizations. The construction industry is huge, and can
be hard to narrow down. When I did my research I limited the searches to only peer reviewed
articles, and only articles that were from the last 5 years. This lowered my searches so I could
look right at the information I was after.
Results
In all of the research I did I found three main points. Communication, which is the most
important one, the construction industry shares that with many other professions. Your
appearance, how other people see your business. Lastly the professional types of writing that are
done, and how they should be written.
Communication was mentioned everywhere I looked. The interview that I conducted
especially. A construction project takes many people to get the job done. Everyone must be
aware of what is going on, for their safety, and for the fact of making sure it is built correctly.

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The project manager is the one in charge of making sure this happens. He keeps everyone on the
same page, and also watches out for workers safety. He will also be in charge of keeping the
head office up to date.
Your appearance will determine how much work you get. The way that your employees
dress, act, and talk will tell a lot about them. You need to have a good name for yourself. To do
this you will need to set ground rules on language, dress, and quality of work.
The amount of writing that is done in the construction industry is incredible. In this
environment you need to be able to sell your work, through persuasive and professional writing.
They will not hire you if you cannot even write up a simple bid or an explanation to a question.
These are all major keys to this industry. Giving us a sneak peak as to what it may be like
to be in this field one day. These three were mentioned in every one of my research sources, that
is why I chose them for the themes, and the meaning that I can see them having.
Discussion
The importance of construction in our past, present and future cannot be stressed enough.
And the project managers are the ones that are making sure that it happens and happens
correctly. I have a large amount of respect for anyone in the construction industry doing any
kind of job with in, and after doing this research that has grown. They go through, and have the
weight of the project on their shoulders, not to mention the money that it is costing the owner.
On the website /careercast.net,constructionproject manager/ the duties of a construction
manager are discussed. A project manager has a wide variety of duties, including supervising the
correct time of arrival of material, and sub-contractors. All of these tasks rely heavily on

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communication. Communication is the fuel for the entire project, as soon as the communication
stops, the project stops and eventually fails.
When talking with my mentor he was explaining to me how he would make his men
dress. This encouraged me to ask some follow up questions and ended up being the high light of
the interview. He explained to me that construction workers are known for having foul mouths,
but he would not allow that on his site at all. He wanted to ensure his employees were
comfortable, to do that he made a rule that foul language was not allowed, His employees were
required to dress in nice, decent work clothes. If they came dressed otherwise they would be sent
home and told to show back up when they looked ready to work.
A personal experience I had with this is when I was in the management class at Salt Lake
Community College. I had a professor by the name of Steve Shaw, he also talked to us about
how to represent your company. First he told us about the company vehicles, you dont want to
drive something that is the top of the line. It will give the impression that you cheat people into
paying way over what your work is worth. You also dont want to drive something that is trashy,
this will make your customers think that you do sloppy work. You need it to be a sweet median.
We also had a lesson about mission statements. Most companies today have some sort of
mission statement. Steve would tell us to never use two words in our mission statements, quality,
and guarantee. Quality is just too vague, not specific, and used more often than it should be.
Using the word guarantee causes your customers to be very specific and can lead you into legal
issues that you normally wouldnt have to deal with.
The work environment of a project manager is professional. You work with billions of
dollars, not talking in a professional tone could lead you to no work at all. The types of writing

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that is done can be anywhere from memos, e-mails, and bids. As a project manager most of these
writings are going to one of two places, if not both, to either the head of the company, or the
customer. Either or you want to sound professional.
All of these are the most important that I found in all three of my resources, if something
is repeated it is worth looking at. Your communication, appearance and writing will help to
define your company and give you the future business it needs.
Conclusion and recommendations
A project managers main duties are, communication, appearance, and professional/
persuasive writing. All these skills are required to drive the company into the work force.
Without one of them it will eventually fail. The importance of them cannot be stressed enough,
they must be learned by experience of success, and failure.
At the end of the day we all rely on construction in some way, either it is your actual job
or if they built the building you work in it is all a part of your life. I hope reading this has been
able to give you a different perspective on the construction industry and drives you to do more
research of your own, it is a fascinating industry and cannot be summed up in five pages, but it is
worth taking a look at to gain a understating of how things work.
I recommend to all of you do have an appreciation for the work we all do. Not just the
construction industry, everything. We all work hard to do what we think is right and we call all
help each other with that. Do to the subject of the paper I encourage you to be thankful for
everything the construction industry has created.

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References
Lee Jae-Seob (2015). Canadian journal of civil engineering, 42(4) retrieved from
http://web.b.ebscohost.com.libprox1.slcc.edu/ehost/resultsadvanced?sid=2106cf2c-815e48a4-b51734f04ee31f63%40sessionmgr198&vid=2&hid=106&bquery=construction&bdata=JmRiP
WFwaCZ0eXBlPTEmc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZl
Scott, Lloyd; Fortune, Chris. (2013) European Journal of Engineering Education. 38(6) retrieved
fromhttp://web.b.ebscohost.com.libprox1.slcc.edu/ehost/resultsadvanced?sid=2106cf2c815e-48a4-b51734f04ee31f63%40sessionmgr198&vid=2&hid=106&bquery=construction&bdata=JmRiP
WFwaCZ0eXBlPTEmc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZl

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