Construction Quandary
I'll be the first to admit that I know very little about construction. I worked as a grunt my first summer out of college, building summer cabins on Lake Pend Oreille for people that retired by the age of 40 (yeah, THOSE people). In addition, I have ample experience with Legos®. But I wouldn't know the first thing about building anything on a larger scale.
Yet, to my admittedly untrained eye, it looks to me as though the construction in the court yard consists of the following steps:
Yet, to my admittedly untrained eye, it looks to me as though the construction in the court yard consists of the following steps:
- Dig up dirt, and put it in a pile.
- Move the pile to a different part of the courtyard.
- Park the biggest tractor on the very top of the pile and call it a night.
- Repeat steps 2-4.
posted by Toney at 8:50 AM
10 Comments:
Those who don't have the pleasure of visiting our hallowed halls each day can get a sense of what Toney is talking about by clicking here.
I think that about captures it, Toney. And the important thing to note from Patrick's picture, is the man right in the middle. The one that looks like he's just standing there. He is. He's watching. That's what he does. He's an integral part of the crew: the standing-around-watching guy.
His name is OSHA.
Wow, what an eyesore. I'm glad I'm not around for this construction. I'm gonna miss napping under the stinky ginko trees, though :-(
Toney, welcome to UC construction. It sounds like they're moving at lightning speeds there. At UCLA one of the newest resident halls is called De Neve. During the construction phase we called it De Never because it was 3 years past due.
my untrained eye tells me they are laying piping, but that's the only difference i've seen in the big hole in the courtyard.
I attended a talk for alums with Dean Edley recently. He said that they had dug down 15 feet. The total digging depth was going to be 50 feet. Looks like you all have awhile ...
What you're not seeing from the picture is that the very tall posts that will hold up the retaining walls have been drilled and inserted. Further, the west side has been dug and a retaining wall has already been half completed.
I'm not a fan of UC construction speed, but they *are* moving along at a decent speed. Now with many of the elements of the retaining wall completed (as well as the temporary foundation for the existing building) you'll see a lot more progress quickly.
It's better that they move too slow instead of too fast. And I'd rather pay a guy to stand around and make sure nobody screws up than have people screwing up left and right. Fixing a mistake always costs more in time and money than not making the mistake in the first place. A construction job needs those who watch and think and manage, and those who do the physical work. On a large project they won't generally be the same people.
" . . . job needs those who watch and think and manage, and those who do the physical work."
That's why I went to law school.
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