Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) -- Volunteers have been at work on this Giving Tuesday with Bear Creek Services.

Construction workers from Kraus-Anderson are volunteering at a group home for four women with developmental disabilities.

The home flooded a year ago, and required many repairs. Now that the home is safe from future water damage, drywall needs to be installed.

That's where Kraus-Anderson stepped up in a major way providing the installation free of charge. This particular installation would have costed between $3,000-$4,000.

Kraus-Anderson Director of Business Development Cyle Erie visited the home months before and agreed to lend a hand.

"Bear Creek Services of course provides a wonderful service for the Rochester community and so that's why there an organization that were proud to support," Erie said.

"Well, we're a non-profit organization so our budgets are really challenged and this entire project would be about $40,000 if we had to pay out of pocket that's why these types of volunteer projects are really beneficial for us," Erie said.

The repairs at Westchester Manor comes as a big relief to the four woman who live there. And the living room space will eventually bring joy to other too, as it becomes a fun community room for all to enjoy.

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A construction company is hard at work piecing together a basement free of charge - KTTC

In a three-stop tour to these facilities from roughly 3-5 p.m., Monday, Dec. 2, a group of district officials, consulting project managers and members of the public hopped on a bus and surveyed the construction sites of these facilities.

After passing a $205 million bond referendum in April 2018, the Brainerd School District is progressing through its four-year process that will see the deconstruction, reconstruction or renovation of 12 separate facilities across the district. Mondays tour stops explored some of the most significant, and expensive, improvements to the district thats been hampered by aging infrastructure, outmoded amenities and constricted space needs for years, Superintendent Laine Larson said during the referendum campaign.

To varying degrees, all three sites have seen their skeletal frameworks everything from rebar to drywall to steel trusses constructed and in place, while crews are working through wet conditions to install the guts, or amenities of the buildings, in the form of air ventilation ducts, insulation, electrical, water and sewage piping, among other features.

Project managers of ICS Consulting noted the projects while somewhat complicated by inclement weather in recent weeks are on track for their respective completion dates.

Stopping at Harrison Elementary School first, tour participants were able to view the skeletal framework of various additions to the building first constructed in 1938 which include, among other changes, a learning commons outside each grade level's pod of classrooms, a new and bigger gymnasium, a media center and a bigger cafeteria, which will occupy the space of the current gym. The stage will stay where it is in the current gym to allow for the cafeteria to be used for plays and other performing arts events.

While the project clocks in as one of the most expensive initiatives in the district at roughly $19 million, construction bids came in low enough that all add alternate plans or, additions tacked on in the event of low and affordable contracts would be implemented. These alternates include upgrading the gym to a full-sized competition space; a fully adhered, stronger roof; new cafeteria windows; cabinets above the first- through fourth-grade lockers; acoustical treatments in the gym and cafeteria; and gym bleachers.

The steel, concrete and sheetrock framework of the new addition has been mostly installed. This, in turn, means a number of openings and realignments to the aging brick structure are being added, for the purpose of reconfiguring classrooms and office spaces on the buildings south face for better security, to widening archways for modern doors.

On the outside, 15th Street on the west side of the school will be designated for parent pick-up/drop-off and special education bus drop-off. The regular bus pick-up/drop-off area will be on Norwood Street near the new entrance. A 40-stall parking lot is set for the corner of Oak and 16th streets, with a new playground to be located to the north of the lot, as the school's addition is designed to take up the current playground's space.

The project is slated to be finished before the 2020-21 school year begins.

Upon reaching the site of the new Baxter Elementary School, tour participants were treated to an intimate view at a new facility in the early stages of construction. The surrounding area still retains the raw, newly excavated look of a groundbreaking, complete with towering mounds of transplanted earth and clear-cut groves intended for new facilities.

With the facilitys roof still to be constructed, crews have been depending on heavy tarping and scaffolding to shield the site from inclement weather. While this has been mostly affected, Site Superintendent Al Reichow noted a significant portion of the buildings floors are currently covered in 1-2 inches of standing water. This is runoff from melting snow.

Site Superintendent Al Reichow gives a tour and answers questions Monday, Dec. 2, throughout the interior of the new Baxter Elementary School being constructed on Jasperwood Drive, near Forestview Middle School. While the structural skeleton of the school is largely in place, the site lacks a roof which -- coupled with a deluge of snow in recent days and warmer temperatures inside -- means contractors are working through patches of standing water as high as 1-2 inches at any given point. Gabriel Lagarde / Brainerd Dispatch

Working through these conditions, contractors are in the process of installing the amenities that will ventilate, heat or cool, insulate and power the new facility.

With the current Baxter Elementary building set to become an early childhood facility, the new school will be two stories and able to accommodate five sections of each grade and 625 students total. Under the $26.2 million project, each grade will have its own learning commons surrounded by five classrooms, and the building will include a full-sized gymnasium, a music room and an art/science/technology space built in conjunction with a media center.

An interior view Monday, Dec. 2, of the new Baxter Elementary School under construction on Jasperwood Drive, near Forestview Middle School. Contractors have completed much of the infrastructure framework of the school and are currently working to install amenities including air ducts, insulation, electrical and other internal features. Gabriel Lagarde / Brainerd Dispatch

Exterior plans around the new elementary school include clearing the section of Jasperwood Drive and Knollwood Drive between the south-central access and south access to the future school's parcel, as well as creating two cul-de-sac style roads to ease traffic through the addition of a safe, non-vehicle traveled connection between the schools.

The new facility is set to open for the 2020-21 school year.

Much in line with myriad discussions during the referendum process, contractors noted Nisswa Elementary School is in the process of expansions to its gymnasium and classrooms to address long-standing issues of space limitations.

In particular, the site now has two gyms the original and a new one in progress, which will be merged to form a new full-sized gymnasium with a full court, two practice courts, or an expanded area for badminton, for example. Classroom upgrades include two alternative classrooms, as well as a second-story classroom addition.

Participants in a Brainerd School District tour Monday, Dec. 2, file into Nisswa Elementary School shortly before sunset. Nisswa Elementary is one of 12 facilities across the district seeing extensive construction in by 2022 and one three schools amid renovations that district officials, contractors and residents of the lakes area surveyed Monday. Gabriel Lagarde / Brainerd Dispatch

In the $12 million initiative, crews are working to remodel the southern end of the building, enlarge the cafeteria and remodel of the kitchen and office area. There will also be extra space for more classrooms to be added on in the future. Construction crews are working around the school environment, which means the foyer wont be used with the installation of a new secure entrance, which will become the schools main entrance with administrative offices.

District officials noted the facility looks to be nearly totally renovated by August 2020.

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ISD 181 gives bus tour of Nisswa, Baxter and Harrison sites under construction - Brainerd Dispatch

I am beside myself with excitement over drywall and linoleum.

Almost every year I look at the BuildingGreen top ten products for the upcoming year and wonder, how can I make this interesting or exciting? They are sometimes as boring as watching paint dry. One year it actually was about paint drying. This year at Greenbuild they tried to make it even less exciting by putting the presentation in a drab corner of the hall with little screens and lots of ambient noise, but Brent Ehrlich and Nadav Malin made the best of it. And really, there is some interesting and important stuff going on here. My top picks of the top ten:

But there have been so many advances in glass technology for the screens of our phones and tablets. Alpen has put some of these to work and used really strong, thin 1mm glass to replace the usual thick panes in the middle. The glass doesn't cost less than the usual 3-pane glass, but being thinner and lighter, it may well drive down the cost of Passive House quality windows because the frames and hardware can be lighter. Even our usually reserved BuildingGreen people can't help themselves:

That is exciting because replacing a double-glazed IGU with a ThinGlass Triple would improve the whole window U-value by 35%45% over a standard dual-pane option, according to the company. And perhaps the best part: the cost of these Alpen ThinGlass windows is the same as their standard triple-pane offerings.

Now they have somehow figured out how to deliver it in a bucket; you pour it out and somehow, magically without heat and rollers, it turns into a Lino floor. Brent writes:

It does seem like magic to me, but if it works, it's pretty amazing. I didn't think you could actually improve linoleum, but they have.

We also have no idea how long it will last. When the vacuum goes and it fills with air, we have nothing but a bit of poly iso, a problematic insulation on its own. It is an interesting product, but I really wonder how it will be used or misused, and whether we should be rethinking our aesthetics.

There are lots more at BuildingGreen, from MDF panels made from rice to levitating chillers to low CO2 carbon pavers. Check them all out.

I am beside myself with excitement over drywall and linoleum.

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BuildingGreen top ten products of the year are not boring at all - Treehugger

The research report Building Finishing Contractors Market Global Industry Analysis 2019 2025 offers precise analytical information about the Building Finishing Contractors market. The report identifies top players in the global market and divides the market into several parameters such as major drivers market strategies and imposing growth of the key players. Worldwide Building Finishing Contractors Industry also offers a granular study of the market dynamics, segmentation, revenue, share forecasts and allows you to make superior business decisions. The report serves imperative statistics on the market stature of the prominent manufacturers and is an important source of guidance and advice for companies and individuals involved in the Building Finishing Contractors industry.

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Global Building Finishing Contractors Market 2019 by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2025 - The Industry Press Releases

Teenagers at Seminole Ridge High School partner with Habitat for Humanity to gain marketable skills and learn the value of community

WESTLAKE - Seventeen-year-old Danielle Shumard is building a house framing, plumbing, electric, everything.

The 1,200-square-foot residence will have three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a front porch and a shed by the time she is finished.

And then she will give it away.

The junior at the Weitz Academy of Construction at Seminole Ridge Community High School in Westlake is one of 170 students in six classes working together to build the modular house.

It will be the schools eighth since partnering with Habitat for Humanity in 2005 on a project that teaches kids marketable skills while helping those in need.

"We rely on each other every day for everything," Shumard says about her fellow students. "When everybody comes together and is working hard, thats when you really see it pay off."

The school provides the tools, work space and kid power, and Habitat for Humanity donates most of the materials. The remainder of supplies come from local residents or businesses.

Upon its expected completion on Tuesday, the four modules that make up the home will be trucked to Belle Glade, where they will be assembled and the finishing touches applied before being presented to a deserving family.

"I want to be there," Shumard says. "Weve seen pictures and videos, and the looks on their faces when the houses get there its nice."

Under the supervision of faculty, local contractors and county inspectors, students build each house from the ground up, studying safety and learning basic construction while also developing architectural design, engineering and project management skills.

"Drywall is fun for me," Shumard says about her favorite task. "You see the walls when they are bare, and then you see something go up, and youre like, this house is actually going to go somewhere!"

The Weitz Academy of Construction is one of six academy programs construction, automotive, television production, biotechnology, information technology and ROTC that attract students from all over the county.

Shumard, who is also in ROTC, plans to attend college and become a construction manager. But not every student is as focused.

"Ive got kids that want to be engineers and kids that dont know what they want to do," says teacher Rick Terkovich who modeled the construction program after a similar one in Marathon. "To me, thats the beauty of this. We give kids the opportunity to do it all."

The teens learn what they do and do not like to do while they develop skills that can help them get into good colleges or make them immediately marketable in the working world.

"Recruiters are coming in because they dont have enough people," says Principal James Campbell of the demand for students graduating from the construction program. "They know these kids know what theyre doing."

While many graduates plan to attend college, not everyone has the desire or means to do so. And because of todays lack of qualified construction industry workers, any kid who wants a job when they graduate typically gets one right away, Campbell says.

"The pendulum shifted too far toward Everybody must go to college," Campbell says. "College is certainly a path we want to encourage, but there are other routes you can take to a successful career."

At 16, Blake Farnham already knows more than many adults about construction.

"If something breaks, I can help fix plumbing or help with electric," he says.

Farnham is in his third year of the construction program. He plans to attend college for chemical engineering and says hes proud of accomplishing the daunting task of mastering the many skills required to build a house.

"It definitely boosts my confidence, because then I can help other people," he says. "Like freshmen next year . . . Ill be able to tell them how to do it properly."

Plus, the class is fun.

"Instead of just a boring class, he jokes around," Farnham says about Terkovich. "Hes not a mean teacher he is fun to be around."

For Terkovich, a fun-loving jokester with undeniable reverence for his students, the feeling is mutual.

"I have a lot of fun working with kids seeing them succeed and seeing a family get a home," he says. "That, and my wife makes me come to work. She wont let me stay home."

wrhodes@pbpost.com

@WendyRhodesFL

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Westlake students build house, then give it away... for the 8th time - Palm Beach Post

ARLINGTON, VA (STL.News) On November 9th, NuWave Solutions employees donated their time and talents to support Habitat for Humanitys Randle Highlands Townhomes construction. This was the second annual contribution to the build. Eric Crenshaw, one of the original volunteers stated, It was exciting to see the progress made since last year. I feel invested in this community because were here, year after year, making a difference. Ken Taborn and his daughter Jordan both participated. Ken said, You cant image doing this before you get here, afterwards youre wondering why you havent done it sooner. Just knowing that someone will have a home because I donated a few hours, is extremely rewarding. This years team cut and hung drywall, installed trim, and caulked units for weather sealing. NuWaves contribution helped move DC Habitat closer to their goal of reducing poverty housing and homelessness in the nations capital. Thank you to the employees for their time, dedication, and commitment to this goal.

We look forward to our next Team Build with Habitat for Humanity!

411

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NuWave Solutions Gives Back to the Community By Donating Time and Efforts to Habitat for Humanity - STL News

Theres something about shipping container buildings that gets people excited.

Perhaps its seeing something so mundane and functional become beautiful and personal? Or witnessing Tetris-like blocks stacked, disassembled and reassembled to create architecture? Or the fact that they can (sometimes) be cheaper, faster and less wasteful than traditional architecture? Cargotecture, as it is often called, fills up Instagram feeds, design blogs and shelter magazines.

And its market is expected to grow about 6.5 percent a year between now and 2025, according to Bigmarket Research.

New York because of its high construction costs, strict codes and dearth of space is not exactly the worlds cargotecture capital. But there are several homeowners and designers bringing the trend to town, both in the city and in areas like the Hudson Valley and the Hamptons where its easier to build such residences.

Stefano Giovannini

Chris Graham, 38, who works for Amazon Music, and his wife Clara Pregitzer, 35, who works for the Natural Areas Conservancy, had never thought of living in a shipping container house, but after staying in one via Airbnb, they realized it could be a good option.

The Gowanus residents tapped Brooklyn-based firm Contanium, which supplied the metal-sided, one-room structure that would become their weekend cabin on 6 acres in the Catskills town of Livingston Manor.

I was worried I would feel like I was in a small box, says Graham. But I was surprised by how spacious it was.

Contanium was able to quickly deliver a house that was off-grid a composting toilet run off solar panels sits in a separate outhouse and within budget. It was done in four to six weeks in 2017, Graham adds. You place it on the ground and youre good to go.

Each time Contanium builds a home, it becomes a model the firm can mass-produce. Take the Ashokan ($12,000), a 20-foot-long container with insulated windows, sliding glass doors and plywood floors. Theres the Saugerties ($32,000), also 20 feet long, with built-in windows and doors. (A 40-foot version is $52,000.) It comes with hardwood floors, insulation, a pine-paneled ceiling and walls, a solar energy system, a wood pellet stove, kitchen cabinets and a jug-ready sink.

All are meant to be affordable, easy to install and less wasteful than new construction. Theyre not only off-grid (hence the composting toilets, wood stoves, solar panels and jug sinks) but also easily moveable (often placed on gravel, without foundations). Many serve as temporary lodging for clients building another house, as guest houses or as rustic retreats.

Were offering an opportunity to experience more minimal living, but thats only for people who dont desire all the comforts of on-grid living, says Tim Gilman-Sevcik, Contaniums head of development. Our belief is that off-grid and without impact should be the new American dream.

Matthew Carbone

At the other end of the spectrum are the luxury container projects by New York- and East Hampton-based MB Architecture. The firms work has progressed from (among other projects) a small Hamptons art studio (made from two containers) to the Media Lab at Bard College (made from four) to their latest, an 1,800-square-foot home in Amagansett consisting of a four-container living space, a one-container cantilevered bedroom and a one-container guest suite connected by a small passage. The U-shaped structure is wrapped around a tree.

You cant tell the home is made from containers from the inside, thanks especially to the double-height living room, a luminous, 17-foot-tall area whose grid of four windows overlook a pool and the horizon beyond. Its got a temple-like affect, says firm principal Maziar Behrooz. An epic sense.

The project, largely fabricated off-site, cost about 30 percent less than conventional construction, according to Behrooz.

The Hamptons is a good place to get this done, adds Behrooz. Traditional construction has gotten so expensive that people cant even afford to build small homes anymore.

What has been called the first container home in the Hamptons, informally known as the Beach Box, is currently on the market for $1.87 million with James Lancaster of Compass.

Stefano Giovannini

Owned by William White, the 58-year-old CEO of broadcast promotions agency Firefly Creative Entertainment Group, the home at 1932 Montauk Highway in Amagansett, just 600 feet from the ocean, was built using six containers. Brooklyn Heights-based container fabricator SG Blocks worked with contractor Andrew Anderson to put four bedrooms and a pool deck on the ground level, with the living room, kitchen, dining room and a roof deck above.

The 2,000-square-foot home, White tells The Post, doesnt feel like an industrial shipping container at all (or a dumpster, as some snooty friends like to joke).

The faade is clad in cedar and sandstone; the front yard is planted with sea grass, as is the roof deck; most walls are clad in white drywall; finishes are uniformly modern; and there are many windows with ocean views. The only hints of the containers corrugated (ridged) construction come via one wall on the ground floor and a ceiling on the top floor. Its become a house party hot spot for Whites family and friends.

Its so unconventional, he says. And thats why everyone just loves this house.

New York-based Steele House, working with its in-house architects and other firms like Brooklyn-based Big Prototype, have created four custom container houses in the Catskills, all incorporating a metal pitched roof to accommodate the areas weather.

Founder Tim Steele, who likens his products aesthetic to industrial farm buildings, says his homes are comparable in price to affordable stick-built residences, coming in at roughly $200 per square foot.

Steele is working on another home in Hudson, NY, and is developing several container home prototypes to produce across the country that range from the Escape Pod, one room made from just one container ($80,000) to the two-story Cantilever House ($285,000).

He works closely with his clients, who are often moving outside the city but still able to work remotely.

The movement has staying power, he adds: Its not a fad. Its been going on for a while now.

One of the most notable local creators of cargotecture is Lot-ek (pronounced low tech), a New York City architecture firm that has championed the style since the 1990s. Its partners Ada Tolla and Giuseppe Lignano, have designed dozens of container edifices in and around the city.

Their Carroll House, completed in 2016 on a corner lot in Williamsburg, features 21 containers stacked and then cut diagonally across the top and bottom, creating a trapezoidal form that creates privacy from the street, and opens up in incredible ways from inside, thanks to a collection of stepped, easily accessible exterior spaces.

The owner, local restaurateur Joe Carroll (of Fette Sau and others), has listed the home for $5.5 million with Jon Capobianco of Compass.

Danny Bright

More recently, Lot-ek completed a carriage house on Irving Place in Clinton Hill for artist Markus Linnenbrink, gallerist Cindy Rucker and their daughter.

The architects inserted bright orange container forms into the core of a two-story industrial building (which they first gutted), installing a stacked container penthouse above. Tolla compares the design to a jellyfish landing on the roof, its tentacles reaching down.

We didnt want what everyone else wants, says Linnenbrink. To me, its always been a dream to do something with a building thats not the regular thing to build a place where you really want to live.

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Inside the amazing houses made out of shipping containers - New York Post

Master of Plasters products boast an impressive portfolio and have been incorporated in significant restoration projects such as the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., and the Gibbes Museum in Charleston. Lauren attributes the companys success to its authentic, high quality materials as well as the customers who specifically seek them out. These are people who appreciate craft; the artistry, chemistry, and science behind the material; and understand how earthen plaster, hand-applied, changes the experience of a place, Lauren says. The success of Master of Plaster is proof that small-scale manufacturing can be very successful.

She attributes this success to quality control and direct interaction with clients. Lauren values working with customers so that she can educate architects and designers in addition to do-it-yourself amateurs. Plaster is a straightforward process, but understanding the materials is the main challenge, she says.

Clients seek her out for her expertise, and she wears many hats within her familys small business. On any given day, Lauren creates custom colors and mixes sample plasters for clients, explains and gives advice on how to use their materials, prepares plaster presentations for design firms, and develops plans for restoration projects repairing surfaces, from damaged walls to fallen ceiling medallions. A few of her favorite recent projects include developing the colors and wall finishes of The Fat Radish, a farm-to-table restaurant in Savannah, Georgia, and a non-toxic nail spa at The Cigar Factory in Charleston called The Water Room.

Lauren certainly has a vivacious energy about her familys small manufacturing company, but most stirring is her passion for plaster. She demonstrates through her artwork that plaster is a material with possibility. Lauren forages for wild flora and fauna to impress into plaster. She produces a seasonal series of plaster impressions of magnolia flowers. Magnolias bloom only at specific times of the year in the South, which reflects what she says her artwork is all about the cycle of life. The way that natures textures relate to place, element, and time fascinates me, and capturing a specific moment in time by accentuating the textures interests me the most. Delicate impressions of wildflowers and plants at different stages of life illustrate Mother Nature at her most beautiful as an evolving force.

The aspect Lauren likes best about her artwork is that it truly can be returned to the earth and thus continue the cycle. Local Columbia boutique hotel Hotel Trundle sought out Lauren not for plaster walls but rather for a piece of her artwork featuring impressions of local ferns to grace its new lobby. Unique commissions like these motivate Lauren to continue her plaster crusade.

The design world is trending towards plaster, and it comes at a time when sustainability is at the forefront of discussion in business. Lauren expresses great enthusiasm for plaster as a material that meets all the requirements for a sustainable future. Much like the food renaissance that has flooded the grocery store and restaurant scene with high quality, organic food, so, too, are artists, architects, designers, urban planners, and homeowners asking questions about health and sustainability for our built environment.

Sustainability is not about instant gratification; rather, it is about effort a little more attention to detail, a little more elbow grease, to create healthier and longer-lasting buildings. The famous architect Antoni Gaudi, a noted favorite of Laurens, once stated, Nothing is art if it does not come from nature.

Laurens work, in all aspects, speaks to this belief most beautifully; she is one of the many artists and designers promoting the great efforts of countless visionaries before her who celebrated nature in all her glory and who fought for her preservation.

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Beneath the Surface - Columbiametro

Theres no getting around it: Its impossible to be a profitable construction firm without effective construction management.

If youre new to the industry, you definitely cant afford to be subpar at construction management: Construction companies that have been in business for less than a year fail at a rate of 36.8%.

But why is construction management important? First, we need to define the term.

Construction management is a professional service that involves providing a project owner with management of all aspects of a construction project, from planning to scheduling to budgeting to execution.

A construction manager is responsible for the end product of a project and everything that leads up to it. There are many types of construction software that can help with management, offering features such as accounting, materials management, and document management, to name just a few.

Youre in the business to make money, so budget is always going to be first and foremost in your mind. If youre not doing an effective job of construction management, the first place youre going to notice it is in the pocketbook.

Effective construction management must include good budgeting. That means planning in advance by mapping out exactly what materials you should have on hand, how many man-hours you need to employ, what subcontractors youll need to pitch in, and so forth.

The following video breaks down all the stakeholders in a construction projectwithout a construction manager keeping tabs of all these domains, you cannot expect your project to complete within budget:

Its not good enough to know exactly how much, say, roofing material you need to buy. If you order those materials too late in the project timeline, your workers wont have materials to work with when they reach that phase of the project. That means delays as they wait around for the materials to arrive since they cant start on the next phase until they complete this phase.

And that, of course, means lost profits as you pay more for man-hours and expenses creep up.

Brian Mooney, the general manager at Turner Construction Cincinnati, likens construction management to an orchestra that we try to conduct. And this analogy is an apt one: By employing effective construction management, you can tie deliveries to certain dates and make sure labor, materials, and equipment are all working hand-in-hand to make sure your project delivers on time.

Equipment needs attention, too. You cant just ignore the needs of a backhoe and expect it to still work for you. If you arent effectively managing a construction project, you may fail to allocate enough time for your workers to maintain a vital piece of equipment, orworseyou may fail to train them on maintenance at all, leaving you up a creek as soon as your equipment breaks down.

Equipment can cost you big time, and not only in terms of opportunity cost when you arent able to complete work due to malfunction. It can also cost you in terms of how much you spend on the equipment itself. Equipment that isnt properly maintained will break down more frequently and need to be replaced soon. Some machines can cost in the tens of thousands of dollars, and that kind of unexpected expense can quickly wipe out your profit margins.

Whether youre talking about the Occupational Health and Safety Administration or just local building regulations, the construction industry has to navigate all sorts of red tape to legally construct a building. If you are just winging it on a project, you may put yourself in jeopardy of having your project shut down or leave yourself vulnerable to lawsuits that could destroy your company.

A good construction manager should have all their ducks in a row on the job site. A construction management software tool with a document management feature can help you keep all required documents in order, so that you can show any inspector who comes sniffing around.

Communication is absolutely essential on a construction site. You have many moving parts, in domains ranging from labor, to materials, to equipment. Unless everyone involved is talking to one another, youre asking for a disaster.

For example, if you tell one worker to start putting up drywall in a section and then tell a plumbing contractor to start installing pipes in the same area, youre going to have problems. At that point, you will have to tell one of them to sit on their hands until the other finishes work, costing you precious time and money.

Good communication is vital for safety, too. If you have heavy equipment working in an area, you need to communicate that to other workers in the area so they can know to avoid it for the time being.

We have a plethora of resources for construction managers new to the industry to start learning about their trade. Whether you want to understand more about the discipline of construction management, the skilled labor shortage, or just how to manage subcontractors, weve got you covered.

Here are a few articles to get started:

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5 Consequences Explaining the Importance of Construction Management - Software Advice

The U.S. Green Building Council recently announced LEED Positive a vision statement and LEED development roadmap that USGBC hopes will lay the foundation fora regenerative built environment.

We must do all we can to leverage our tools and resources to scale up reductions in carbon emissions associated with buildings, communities and cities, saidMahesh Ramanujam, USGBCs president and CEO, at its Greenbuild International Conference and Expo, held in Atlanta, Nov. 20-22. LEED must evolve qualitatively and quantitatively.

The vision will guide USGBC in transitioning LEED from strategies that reduce the harm done by buildings to strategies that cause no harm. It is aimed at beginning the process of healing and repair, said Ramanujam.

The visions are:

At the annualGreenbuildconference, attended by more than 10,000 people, USGBC also launched Insight, a data-driven tool that highlights building project design features that can lead to better performance.Insight is available as a feature of theArcplatform and provides information on the design attributes of LEED-certified buildings within a specified geographic region. Project teams can then compare and rank potential sustainability strategies to see how they stack up against the performance of other buildings.

Insight was created over two years in partnership withSkanska a developer and contractor and also a USGBC member company.

For the past 18years, BuildingGreen has picked 10 green building products that significantly improve upon standard practices. The 10 picks reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, and contribute to building project resilience, says the green building consultant.

They are: 1) Alpen ThinGlass Triple and Quad, which is so thin it can be used in place of standard double-pane windows;2) CalPlant medium density fiberboard, a rice-based agricultural fiber that is making a strong comeback, with a formaldehyde-free MDF that performs better than wood-based products, says BuildingGreen; 3) ChargePoint smart charging stations, which are electric vehicle charging systems that use software to optimize the experience.

4) CL-Talon 300 incorporates thermal breaks throughout its cladding system and includes an innovative framework that speeds installation, says BuildingGreen;5) Duracyl International Inc.s Corques Liquid Lino uses the same natural ingredients found in standard linoleumbut in a fluid-applied form that takes less carbon to produce and less time to install.

6) EP Henry andSolidia Technologies ECO Bristol Stone with Solidiapavers are the first commercially available products made from Solidia cement, produced using less water and emitting fewer greenhouse gases; 7) Hanging GardensSmart Blue Roof Stormwater Systems not only store water on rooftops but also communicate with other systems to become part of a site-specific or municipal stormwater system.

8) Johnson ControlsYORK YZ Magnetic Bearing Centrifugal Chilleris the first to be optimized for use with a next-generation refrigerant with a global warming potential (GWP) of only 1, says BuildingGreen. 9) R-50 Insulation Systems LLCRich-E-Boardencloses vacuum insulation in a protective layer to push the limits of thermal insulation, achieving R-50 in a 1.5-in.-thick panel; 10) USG Corp.'s USG Sheetrock Brand EcoSmart Panels can be used as a drop-in replacement which reduces embodied carbon without requiring any other changes to the building, says BuildingGreen.

Also at Greenbuild, the Carbon Leadership Forum launched its Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator--a first of its kind interactive database in North America. One feature of EC3, a cloud-based EC management tool that is open-source and free for all to use, is a tie-in with Autodesks BIM 360.

The software developer expects to maintain the integration between BIM 360 and EC3, improving the user experience based on beta user feedback, and exploring additional ways of visualizing EC on the building model using the embedded Forge Large Model Viewer.

Autodesk Sustainability got hooked on EC3 at a demonstration of an early version at the Global Climate Action Summit in 2018 and decided to become a sponsor of the project. EC3s database of EC metrics for building materials, and the methodology the tool uses to guide architects, engineers and contractors in making climate-smart material choices made perfect sense as part of a BIM workflow, but the connection to any project model was missing, says Autodesk, which set out to build that connection to make EC management easier, faster and visually intuitive.

The BIM 360EC3 integration greatly accelerates materials data entry by allowing teams to take advantage of existing model data, quickly extracting quantity takeoff from a Revit file on BIM 360, and automatically populating the materials schedule in EC3s web interface, says Autodesk. The integration also leverages the power of visualization, automatically turning the model into a highly interactive EC heatmap.

Users start by activating the EC3 integration through the BIM 360 Apps tab, and granting EC3 permission to read their model data once logged in. Clicking the Import from BIM 360 button in the EC3 web service displays the users BIM 360 file tree in EC3, allows selection of a specific Revit file and loads the model data (including quantities) into EC3.

Users can organize building elements by Uniformat, Masterformat, or BIM. As users assign materials collections and specific materials to building elements, the conservative and achievable global warming potential for each element is color-coded onto the building model. Clicking the Show 3D model button opens the Large Model Viewer (LMV), where the ratio between conservative and achievable GWP for each building element defines its color.

Red elements are true hotspots where thoughtful procurement can dramatically reduce embodied carbon by 40% or more; yellow elements have around 30% GWP savings potential;and green elements, less than 10% potential savings, says Autodesk. Visualization draws attention to those high-risk-high-opportunity elements, and helps users focus on climate-smart procurement efforts. Selecting an element and clicking the EC3 button in the LMV displays specific GWP range and potential savings values for that element savings.

Users also have access to the full range of LMV features, including turning elements, assembliesand object categories on and off, and querying complete BIM data per selected element, says Autodesk.

In other news at Greenbuild, the Green Business Certification Inc. announced itadded two sustainability credentials to its suite of green business services. Originally developed by the International Society of Sustainability Professionals, GBCI will maintain, promote and deliver the ISSP Sustainability Associate (ISSP-SA) and ISSP Certified Sustainability Professional (ISSP-CSP). The credentials provide third-party verification of competency in the field of sustainability and recognize individuals committed to sustainability.

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More Tools, Green Product Picks and Goals from Greenbuild - Engineering News-Record