Monthly Archives: July 2018

Do not jeopardize the project by not paying your laborers

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A businessman always wants to save money and at times he gets so much under the skin of saving money that he ends up not paying his employees their rightful dues. We call this as exploitation and exploiting your workers will lead you to no good. They will not say anything for a month or so but will definitely not take it forever. They will display their displeasure by not working up to their mark and gradually will leave for better. In this process you also end up losing some fine men and in today’s time it is very hard to earn loyalty of others. We work in a professional environment and we expect the workmen to be professional with their approach towards work. Similarly, they also set the same expectation when it comes to their package. Not paying them what they truly deserve will ultimately hit your work hard when you see their moving to some other company that pays them more than you do.

In the construction business, you just can’t afford to exploit the laborers because if you try and do that it will backfire like anything. They leaving your project in the mid can have a drastic impact on your work and can completely leave it jeopardized. Do not play with your project by trying to save few dollars. It will cost you more than what you will be able to save.

Payment should be on time:-

The construction laborers have a family to run like you do. They also need to take care of their secured and unsecured loans and if you do not pay them on time then they will be unable to pay others on time. This will have a larger impact on their credit report and many other things that will be difficult for us to contemplate. In a nutshell, they should get their pay on time to meet their weekly expenses. Ideally, the construction laborers are paid on a weekly basis and therefore the company should have strong HR mechanism to ensure that the payments of all the laborers are accurate and done on time. Try not to delay their pay and in case if you foresee any delay in paying them, inform them well in advance so that they can make necessary arrangements. You also need to make sure that you pay all the other employees like the operators, site engineers, administrative guys and everyone who works for you.

Losing men with skill and talent will be a big loss:-

Paying your employees on time in just one side of the coin. The other side is to pay them as per the industry standards. You may be a small company but you can still afford to pay your employees what other small companies are paying. Your workers will understand your inability to pay them what a mammoth company can but will not be willing to take it if you pay them less than a small size construction company pays to its employees. They will not take long to leave you and move to the next best available option and construction sector will accept any person who is skilled and know his part of job well.

Things one should avoid in the construction business

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Every business has certain norms and the guys who are conducting the business need to follow those norms religiously. People have to follow those norms as it is and things that are not allowed just can’t be practiced in reality. Apart from that, there are certain things that are advised to do and few things that one should just avoid doing. In the construction industry there are many things that one should simply avoid because if they try to do that it can lead to serious complications.

Breaching the law of the land:-

In the construction business, you will come along people who in order to simply things from themselves do not abide by the law. They take their chance but in the end they also pay a price for it. To go against the law of the land is something that you should always avoid doing. If there are certain rules laid to conduct business, it becomes the moral duty of others to follow those rules. Right from taking sanction to building houses as per the limit laid by the law, one should follow every minute thing. Remember you are always being watched and if you play foul you will get caught someday or the other and once you get caught you may have to end up losing your business license. It is recommended that you do not enter that zone.

Securing your jobsite:-

One should have enough security measures to secure the jobsite from mischievous elements. Your heavy equipment are rested at night and there are chances that someone can break-in to your jobsite in the death of night and can steal the machines. Heavy equipment are expensive stuffs and they have good value in the grey market. You should avoid taking such chances. Hire good security personnel who can guard the jobsite once everybody has left the site. Install cameras in key locations. It is not feasible for the security personnel to keep a watch at every corner of the site. With the help of the cameras, the guys can do a marvelous job and can keep a watch on all the items. Moreover, you can number all the equipment present at the site. That will help the guys to take a count at the beginning of the day and also at the end of the shift. So security is something that you should never think to avoid.

Take important decision without consulting others:-

Important business decisions should be taken keeping the management in loop. Moreover, their feedback also matters a lot. Taking important decisions without letting the management know about it can have severe communication issues within the organization and can become really nasty. You should avoid making this mistake.

Financial irregularities:-

Any kind of financial irregularities should be avoided at any cost. To avoid this, one should keep a track of the accounts on a monthly basis and question if he finds something suspicious or questionable. Financial irregularities have the ability to eat up a might business enterprise in no days. So better take care of it at the bottom level.

 

Construction of tunnels

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Construction work at many times can be quite challenging and it can be not everybody’s cup of tea. This means that the construction companies that are into building high rises may not find themselves comfortable with building dams or tunnels. They may have their expertise in one genre of the business and it definitely does not mean that they can’t try something else in the same industry but for projects that require experts to work, it is recommended that companies should stick to their genre of business and not move into the other genre. However, if they still want to try then they need to first gather enough details about the kind of work and also possess the required equipment to execute the project. Construction of tunnels is one such job that requires an expert to deal with. Companies dealing with construction work other than building tunnels may not understand how to begin and where to end the work. Therefore it makes sense for construction companies that have been dealing with construction of tunnels to dig their heads into it and execute the work with finesse.

Investigating the land is important:-

Investigating the ground condition is quite crucial to start with a major tunnel project. The company should first collect samples from boreholes by adopting geophysical techniques. Once that is done and everything seems to be ok, you can start with the excavation work. Now the investigation part is crucial because it will help the experts to foresee any possible dangers that might erupt once the construction work begins.

Availability of heavy equipment:-

Heavy equipment play a significant role during the entire process of construction of a tunnel. The company needs to have the best machine in place and also the best operator to control the machines. Now when we talk about heavy equipment, the most crucial is excavator. When you go about to construct a tunnel, you need to excavate the ground and rock to pave way. This work can be really dangerous if not done correctly and the operator needs to be very cautious when he is working on such a complex project. An experienced operator should be given the task to excavate the rock. Try not to involve a newbie in it. Once a way is paved the latter part of the excavation can be given to less experienced operators. Heavy equipment that are used in the project should meet international standards. Anything less than that can pose a risk to the lives of many involved in the project.

Groundwater control should be maintained:-

It is very crucial to maintain groundwater control. Any sort of water leaking or vertical shaft can largely reduce the stand-up time. This can lead to a risk of collapse if not checked in time. One can avoid the risk by installing dewatering pipes and pump the water out. Another technology that can be used is ground freezing. Ground freezing is an expensive option but quite effective. It freezes the ground and the soil surrounding the excavation until a permanent structure is built.

Wide-ranging cranes are available for construction works

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Construction cranes are valuable and essential properties for the construction industry. Cranes have some vital jobs on construction sites, especially when tall buildings, bridges, skyscrapers, etc. are constructed. Nowadays different types of constructions are done in odd places like in the middle of a river, or in a busy traffic area, where works can be smooth-sailing with the help of construction cranes.

Utility of construction cranes

Before cranes, construction industry worked differently as everything required human labor. Lifting, loading, unloading and shifting were done by laborers. It required lots of time and labor. The process was expensive too. The construction industry in many places needed to restrict their imagination and design due to lack of labor or expertise. These problems are readily solved ever since construction cranes were invented. It saves much time, labor and money of contractors or owners of buildings. Modern day construction cranes possess a huge capacity and a great many utilities.

Types of construction cranes

Various types of cranes are used depending on the requirements of the work and site location. Here are the mostly used construction cranes:

  • Tower cranes – These cranes are required in building skyscrapers, bridges, and tall buildings. Tower cranes are normally fixed on the construction site with a strong base as long as construction works proceeds. They rise hundreds of feet above and can also reach out hundreds of feet horizontally. Tower cranespossess18-20 tons lifting capacity.
  • Truck-mounted cranes – As the name suggests, these cranes are mounted on a vehicle and easily movable from one location to another. These cranes have two parts: the carrier where the crane is fixed which is also called lower, and the lifting component called upper. A truck-mounted crane possesses 13-14.5 tons capacity.
  • Rough terrain cranes – It is a specialized form of thetruck-mounted crane where the tiers of the carrier are specially built for moving on an uneven surface. Outriggers are used in these cranes so that the system remains firm while loading and unloading. These cranes generally possess 35-80 tons lifting capacity.
  • Crawler Cranes – A crawler crane is almost like rough terrain crane but it possesses crawlers or tracks for movement. The crawlers provide sufficient stability to this cranes, hence, they don’t come with outriggers. Crawler cranes possess high lifting capacity which starts from 40 tons.
  • Railroad cranes – As the name suggest, these cranes are mobile but only on the railway tracks. They possess flanged when suitable for movement on the track. The lifting capacity of these cranes generally varies from 15-250 tons.
  • Aerial cranes – These are the most modern addition to this product line. Aerial cranes are actually helicopters that carry loads to a great height or in an odd site like is a mountain site or in the middle of a river.

Besides, telescopic cranes, floating cranes, level luffing cranes, etc. are also used in different construction sites. Again, contractors may require more than one types of cranes to work simultaneously. Cranes make any construction work rather easy and inexpensive than manual or semi-manual works. However, proper training for operation and safety is required while working with the cranes.

Construction brooms are mandatory for all types of construction works

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Construction brooms have a wide-ranging use in all types of construction works at all levels. These brooms have various purposes, especially in traditional finish of concrete slabs and road construction. Contractors use brooms to prepare a new concrete surface of a newly cast slab and polishing the bream of a slab for placing another one side by side. Brooms used in construction sites are specially made with metal fibers or hard plastic fibers. However, other types of brooms are also used in traditional construction methods. Construction jobs normally require hard bristle brooms, but in many situations, soft fiber brooms are also used for cleaning and washing purposes of the finished construction works.

Kinds of construction site brooms

Depending on the surface on which a broom is to be applied different types of brooms are used. Due to variances in the bristle size, material used, and bristle strength some types of brooms are not suitable on a comparatively soft surface, on the other hand, the hard surfaces always require hard bristle for cleaning or polishing. Inflexible brooms may form scratches on the hardwood, rubber, or other kinds of floors, while easy-going, synthetic bristles may not be robust enough on a concrete or metal setting. These days, machine driven brooms are also used in the large construction sites like in road or bridge construction.

Here are some manual brooms that are regularly used on construction sites:

  • Push broom: a push broom is used to clean a large area like a floor, or roof after the completion of construction work. Push brooms contain a long and flat head attached to a long wooden handle. The bristles are 3-4 inches long covered with a wooden or metal head that is generally 18-24 inches long.
  • Amish broom – These brooms are made with strong corn-straw and generally bound and sewn manually. These brooms are the most traditional ones, low cost, and enduring. It is often used in a traditional finish for a concrete slab which is also called “broom finish”. It is used across the surface of a semi-dried concrete slab to create artistic patterns.
  • Warehouse broom – These brooms consist of an oversize head with longer bristles. The head is specially designed to sweep heavy debris and fine dust from the concrete surface. These brooms work excellently on theuneven surface also.
  • Whisk broom – These brooms have an extensive use in construction sites. They contain small handle not more than 6 inches but with a long bristle. Whisk brooms are used in dusting surfaces where construction work will take place.

Broom construction

Textures of the surfaces and types of dirt vary throughout a construction site, so selecting the exact broom construction is imperative for maximum dusting and cleaning effectiveness. Different kinds of bristles and designs are used in manufacturing brooms, like structural foam block, wood block, horsehair, Tampico, Palmyra, polystyrene, polypropylene, nylon etc. In road construction, rotary brooms are mostly used for fast and accurate works. Experts are adding many new features in the construction brooms these days to enhance their utility, ergonomics, and practicality.

Get associated with a Repo company

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Guys who have big businesses today have started with something small at one point in time. They took help of other companies and incorporated their assistance in the work and simultaneously both grew. The thumb rule of success of any business is do not do everything on your own. Allow others to be a part of your business and take their assistance. The companies whom you will share your project with will provide you the necessary resources using which you can grow and make more money.

No company wants to utilize all of its finances to buy resources when it can easily incorporate another company to get the work done and simply share the profits. This is what the Repo companies also believe in. Not many Repo companies have a towing van to tow heavy equipment. Whenever they get an assignment from any banks or financial institutions they hire a towing vehicle from someone they know and get the work done. However, not all Repo companies follow the same modus operandi. Some believe in buying the van and keep it in standby so that whenever it is needed they can make use of it.

If you are a small time Repo company and you want to grow big, the first thing is you have to develop your contacts with financial institutions that lend money for heavy equipment or trucks or you get associated with another bigger Repo company who will give you assignments as and when it gets one. They will keep their share and give you the money of the work you have done. Ideally, they will only take the money for the information they have given to you and you get the money for the entire work. However, that is still better than having no work at all.

Get into an agreement with the Repo company:-

When you are getting associated with a Repo company, it makes ample sense to first get into an agreement with them where you will define your rate to them and they will pay you accordingly. Your rates should differ depending upon the kind of work you have to do. For instance if you are assigned to tow a mid-sized heavy equipment you can accept a lesser price for that work but that certainly does not mean that you have fixed your rate on towing all types of heavy equipment. To tow big sized heavy equipment you require specialized towing vehicle and if you do not have that vehicle you may have to borrower it from someone who will bill you more for it. So mention your rates on the basis of work that you will do.

Deal with many Repo companies at the same time:-

It makes less sense to hang around with just one Repo company with the hope that they will keep you busy for the entire week or month. You need to be associated with many other Repo companies at the same time. This will let you get more businesses which will further help you to grow in a short time.