Responsibilities of Nigerian Professionals in the Building Construction Industry

(1)The soil scientist:

The soil scientist work is to determine how suitable is the land for the purpose of which is going to be used for.They check the strength,ph content and gives report on the effects of building on such lands.They are important indeed to avoid settlement of land due to weight of building in the future. They use different ways to investigate soil conditions.For simple residential buildings on reasonable sites digging several holes about three spits deep, drilling holes up to 2 or 21/2m deep with a hand auger or driving a pointed steel bar about 1 1/2m into the ground are generally sufficient. With larger buildings or more difficult sites,the following methods are applicable.

(i)Excavating trial holes about 1 1/2m deep deep outside the perimeter of the building.

Responsibilities of Nigerian Professionals in the Building Construction Industry

(ii)Drilling boreholes by percussion or rotary methods.The percussion method uses a steel bit with a chisel point screwed to a steel rod.The rotary method employs a hollow rod with a rotating bit and a core of strata is forced back up the hollow rod.

(iii)Load testing often using a reinforced concrete slab about 1.20 to 1.50m2 and 300mm thick,to which loads are added at about 2 hour intervals and the amount of settlement is determined with a level .The safe bearing capacity of the soil is found by dividing half the load applied prior to appreciable settlement into the area of slab.

(2)lawyers:

Lawyers are needed right from when you want to purchase your land,they help in all legal dealings. From contracts to agreements between you and the "omo onile" landowners; you need them .It is the job of a lawyer to find out the true owner of the land because the person selling to you may actually not be the right person to do so, they will do a thorough scrutiny on the agreement papers and give their legal advice on your investment.The money you pay for this service may be worthwhile considering the possibility of losing your money if you refuse to contact them.

(3)Land Surveyors:

These people map out the the area or plot of your land.They see to it that your land is properly demarcated from your neighbour with their instruments and skill they will give you the accurate length of your plot .There drawing is what you take to the architect for design of your building. You also needs survey plan for validation of your land when you want to register it.

(4)Architects:

They liase with you i.e the clients on one on one to achieve the type of building you want .Architects give professional supports to the clients not only on the design of the building ,the execution ,but general support even the viability of the building .The work of an architect is extensive because they are generally closer to you clients than every other building professionals. He is in the best position to know what meets your dreams and how to help achieve it. He conceives or dream and put pen to paper and sketch out what you have in mind,gives you to criticise to suit what you want properly, and make the necessary adjustments .He is the bridge between you and the other professionals and artesans on site ,by his position he is the head of the building team.

(5)Quantity Surveyor:

This professional estimates and see to it that you won't embark on a project that is beyond your financial means .They cost and determine the amount of money you will require to build your house so that you don't end up abandoning your project midway. This people are very important unfortunately Nigerian of today do not see the need for them and that is why we have abandoned projects dotting our landscape. It is nice to have a beautiful and befitting house .It also helps to promote the architects that designed it for you when your house is very beautiful, though for small projects your architect can give you an idea of what your building will cost ,but you may not really get the perfect and non-sentimental estimate as to what a quantity surveyor will give you. The quantity surveyor has nothing to lose if the house is very ugly his job is to make sure you have a financial understanding of what you are about to embark on. On big projects ,they maintain and award money to artesans and labour based on the input each worker is putting.

(6)Civil or Structural Engineers:

The civil or structural engineer in building industry is to see to it that, the stability or structural disposition of your building is not compromised. I mean they give calculations and recommends based on the Architect's drawing, what kind of reinforcement or iron or any other structural elements that can make your house stable and will not collapse. And they come out with the drawings on this to help the builder on site to carry out is work effectively.

(7)Mechanical Engineer

These people see to the mechanical aspects of the building especially large projects they give out detailed drawings and specified on plumbing work in the building, the plumbers work with them and help carry out instructions for the good of the project.

(8)Electrical Engineer

As the word implies they see to it that there house is properly lightened. Dangerous electrical connections has led to the death of several people. I will advise you have the electrical engineer in your plans when embarking on a building project. They give instructions to the electrician on large project sites.

(9)The Builders

These are one of the most important professionals in the building industry, unfortunately, the Nigeria of today is a case of dog eats dog. A situation where you claim you can do the work of somebody else and no law to discourage you against such impersonation that is what we are seeing in the building industry at presence. "Collapse of buildings" The builder is trained to carry out or execute on site or transform or bring into reality on site the drawings and intentions of every other building professionals, may it be the Architects, the Civil Engineer, the Mechanical Engineer and the Electrical Engineer. His duty is to see to every artesans or workers on site carries out is job effectively. Unfortunately every jobless person with some money in Nigeria are now claiming to be building contractors and people out of ignorance do not even know the difference.

Even other professionals too are jostling for each others job. A situation where a town planner or a surveyor lays claim to the fact that he can design a house plan for you or when a quantity surveyor is doing the work of a builder will not give you the best you deserve. A building contractor yes, is important in a construction industry but their work is not to bypass any professional rather they are to work with the professionals or consult with them to carry out the project effectively except if the contractor is a professional himself. They are probably the one to finance the building project at times, but to get a very good job you must insist on knowing the professional they will be working with.

Responsibilities of Nigerian Professionals in the Building Construction Industry
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Omion Emmanuel is an architect that has great passion for online marketing, He uses the medium to teach young Nigerians on how to effectively build,manage and supervise their building projects. He is more at home with construction industry of his native country Nigeria. He specializes in Residentials and Bank building design and Construction. He is best called Nigerian online building management pro.

[http://www.buildingcontractorsecrets.com]

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Civil Construction and Engineering

Civil engineering is a concept that deals with the design, construction and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment. The act of civil construction and engineering includes bridges, roads, canals, airports, dams and buildings. These are merely just a few examples of what civil construction and engineering is about.

Civil engineering is one of the oldest engineering disciplines after military engineering. It has been an aspect of life since the beginning of human existence. Until modern times there was no clear distinction between civil engineering and architecture.

One of the main aspects of civil construction and engineering is structural engineering. With structural engineering a structure needs to be able to successfully support itself as well as being able to resist loads. It is the job of a structural engineer to ensure that the design and construction of aspects such as bridges, roads and airports etc are safe and successful for their function. Some of the design considerations that need to be kept in mind are the strength, stiffness and stability of the civil construction. All of these need to commit to safety checks so that the structure can hold itself. Other considerations that need to be kept in mind when it comes to the civil construction and engineering includes the cost, constructability, safety, aesthetics and sustainability of the proposed structure.

Civil Construction and Engineering

In the society that we live in today it is safe to say that society wouldn't work without civil construction and engineering. This is because the infrastructures that we use in our daily lives, the infrastructures that support our daily lives wouldn't be in existence if it wasn't for civil construction and engineering. We use aspects such as roads and harbours, railways and airports, hospitals, sports stadiums and schools, access to drinking water and shelter from the weather in our daily lives without a second thought to the construction and engineering that is behind them. We rely more than ever on building contractor teams and inventive people who design and build as well as maintain the sophisticated environment that surrounds our everyday life.

The job of a civil construction team/engineer is more than merely the building side of these infrastructures. They have many activities that they must do every day, including drafting, decision making, computer interaction, communication, documentation, creative thinking, organising, information collecting, estimating and analysing. It is the job of a construction engineer to draft and design structures and show others how to build them. A construction engineer has to analyse information and make the right decision to solve the problems.

If you are a business owner or the owner of property who wishes to expend and build civil structures such as a road to provide easier access or an extension is needed at an airport, it is essential that you enlist the help of a building contractor team who are highly skilled and experienced in undertaking all aspects of civil building and construction. The building contractor team should have structural engineers who are able to undertake the planning and safety aspects of the design to ensure that the finished product is up to standards.

Civil Construction and Engineering
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Helen is the web master of ARCH Building Solutions [http://www.archbuildingsolutions.co.uk/roadrepairs.php], specialists in all aspects of the Civil Building Trade [http://www.archbuildingsolutions.co.uk/civilservices.php].

Please feel free to republish this article provided a working hyperlink remains to our site

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Review of Takeoff Software for Estimating Construction

So often people want to rush out and buy estimating software or takeoff software without first trying to define their internal estimating processes. Once the estimating process is clearly defined, then and only then, can you actually try to compartmentalize the process into segments. So often the segment is really quantity takeoff. Takeoff of what you may wonder? That is like the million dollar question. This article will speak about the takeoff software process which usually associated with estimating software processes. The takeoff software process can often be takeoff of materials for some folks, and to many others, the takeoff process of scoped systems to create estimates or proposals. This review or comparison will not try to explain the estimating software process but bring to you valid quantity takeoff thinking among estimators in a quest to find which product thinks the way you do. These are the opinions of the author.

I will review and compare 3 types of measuring takeoff products:

It is extremely important to note that these are ONLY measuring takeoff programs, NOT estimating programs.

Review of Takeoff Software for Estimating Construction

1) Planswift

2) On-Screen Takeoff by On Center Software

3) Electronic Plan Takeoff Software

All three products have their strengths, however, Planswift and On-Screen Takeoff are stand-alone products and Electronic Plan Takeoff is actually dynamically integrated live with Microsoft Excel which means that it starts and finishes and saves in Excel. They all integrate with Excel, however, you will have to evaluate your thought process and decide which of the three products work-flow think along the lines of how you think. For instance, what is the first thing you do when you get a set of plans? Typically, you start flipping through the plans to see how involved the project is and what type of work do you see that is attractive for your company. Then when you decide you are going to estimate this job, more often than not, you start like 80% of companies in the world of construction estimating by opening your takeoff master template Excel spreadsheet. You rename your spreadsheet to the new job or project and off you go performing takeoff. This is where the differences are:

In Planswift, you decide what drawing you are on and then you perform the measuring of an item you want to perform takeoff on the plan. Unfortunately, that is not exactly how an estimator thinks. Planswift does give you the ability to add a type of takeoff item on the fly by naming it and then perform takeoff of it; somewhat of a very manual and slow process. They also provide you with the ability of applying a type of assembly to a takeoff to aggregate quantities of items in that assembly. Not quite the way an estimator thinks. It forces you to jump to different screens which slows down the process. Typically, the main start of anyone's takeoff process, or some may think of it as a checklist approach, is to start with your own spreadsheet of YOUR items. Those items can be material items or can be scoped assembly system items. Either way, by starting with a master spreadsheet say in Excel for example, many estimators think of this as a risk reducer, not to forget things they normally takeoff. Being that Planswift is a stand-alone takeoff program, it typically saves your takeoff images in Planswift instead of your estimate in Excel, if Excel is your estimating system. If you are using Excel, you have to manually save your takeoff measurement numbers in Excel and your takeoff images in Planswift or elsewhere, just not in Excel where the takeoff quantity resides. Again, if you want to integrate with Excel, they force you to either export or import takeoff items from Excel rather than being dynamically integrated live to Excel. They do however have the ability to dump the measured quantity from Planswift into any Excel spreadsheet or Word document. The main purpose or the primary focus of this program is measuring, therefore it does a good job at that function. Most of the other functions require you to jump around different screens, and essentially, you loose your thought of where you are. There are some features that attempt to address the estimating process, however, there are many features that are missing for Planswift to be a full fledged estimating system; it is NOT one. Planswift does integrate with the leading estimating system Sage Timberline, but the integration is weak. Since Timberline's power is in assembly takeoff and where most estimators reside in Timberline, Planswift does not give the estimator the ability to add quantities of miscellaneous Timberline items or one-time items that need to added on the fly to an assembly while they are in Planswift at the Timberline interview screen, and while being in the measuring phase. Planswift does allow the deleting of assembly generated items as well adjusting assembly item quantities in a different screen. Again, to perform all that, you are forced to jump around to different screens. No assembly is ever perfect in any estimating system since project conditions are always uniquely different, therefore, having to add items to an assembly is extremely important. That adding of items and associated quantities is an absolute requirement any estimator typically has to do during the takeoff measuring and estimating phase; something that Planswift struggles with as related to Timberline Estimating. Planswift does allow the direct send of measurements to Timberline Estimating items and assemblies while in Timberline Estimating, just as you would do with the old digitizer measuring boards. Training, support and maintenance are extra for Planswift. On-Screen Takeoff by On Center Software, and Planswift charge their annual maintenance and support fees per license (mandatory) which costs the end user more expense annually especially if a customer has more than one license.

On Center's On-Screen Takeoff is the Grand Daddy of software takeoff products due to the fact that it has been around the longest. On Center recognizes that On-Screen Takeoff is primarily a measuring program. That is why they have a separate estimating program named QuickBid for those who want an estimating program. On Center does not try to trick you into thinking it is an estimating system. In On-Screen Takeoff, you also decide what drawing you are on and then you perform the measuring of the plan. BUT, before you start, you can load a master set styles of things you typically takeoff or measure from your own library. That process seems to be less complicated than that of Planswift. On-Screen Takeoff does give you the ability to add a type of takeoff item on the fly by naming it and then performing takeoff of it; somewhat of a manual and slow process as well. The program does come with many features that are primarily focused on simple measuring to advanced measuring issues all with attention to detail regarding easy navigation for the takeoff process. On Center does a very good job at that. However, there seems to be a disconnect of thought from an Excel spreadsheet items you may use for estimating and/or proposals. The integration to Microsoft Excel is not a dynamic live link, more like an after thought in my opinion. Yes, you can establish links to named styles to cells or ranges in Excel, somewhat rigid. But the question you will have to ask yourself, which will happen more often than not is: What do you do when you need to add things on the fly during takeoff and in an Excel spreadsheet? Again there will be manual associations you will have to establish with Excel which is another major slowdown. You have to manually save your takeoff measurement numbers in Excel and your takeoff images in On-Screen or anywhere you decide, except the takeoff images will not be saved in Excel where the takeoff quantity resides. This type of situation arises when a takeoff program is a stand-alone program. On Center's On-Screen Takeoff has the best integration with the most widely used estimating system in the USA: Sage Timberline Estimating. It basically mimics the same interview process as you would do with the old digitizer measuring boards. By working directly with Timberline, On-Screen Takeoff allows the estimator to perform takeoff of a Timberline variable question and immediately returns back directly with the takeoff quantity in a Timberline assembly at the variable question. By virtue of this process, On-Screen Takeoff allows the estimator to continue his/her Timberline interview process in Sage Timberline Estimating by reviewing/massaging generated quantities, or adding items in a Timberline assembly as the estimator see fit. That workflow process gives full control to the estimator, good job On Center. Training, support and maintenance are extra for On-Screen Takeoff. On-Screen Takeoff by On Center Software, and Planswift charge their annual maintenance and support fees per license (mandatory) which costs the end user more expense annually especially if a customer has more than one license.

This next system is ONLY if your estimating system or proposal generator is Microsoft Excel. Electronic Plan Takeoff Software is a plug-in for Excel. You start your spreadsheet, you perform the measuring takeoff, you may even add some more items on the fly all the while you are in the measuring phase in the Electronic Plan Takeoff program. When you are done, even if you added items on the fly, they automatically appear in your Excel spreadsheet. Excel is the control of everything. Your project is started in Excel, your takeoff is saved in Excel, the estimate or proposal is/can be produced there in Excel; one program, one place. Many takeoff programs interface with Excel somehow, but only Electronic Plan Takeoff is live linked with Excel, meaning all your Excel spreadsheet descriptions appear in the measuring takeoff program so you always know where you are in Excel. That is a huge difference in comparison to Planswift and On-Screen Takeoff. You can even change a description of a takeoff item in Electronic Plan Takeoff and it is automatically changed live, in your Excel spreadsheet. When you talk about the estimating and takeoff phase you must keep processes cleans and easy and this program does just that. There is no getting lost in this program. Just like the other reviewed programs above, the central focus of this program is takeoff measuring, and it does a GREAT job at that. The navigation within the program is really simple and easy. It is not made to work with other estimating systems, but there is a version that allows the direct send of measurements to any Microsoft Windows program awaiting a keyboard entry, just as you would do with digitizer measuring boards. There is also a version that works with digitizer boards as well. If you use Microsoft Excel for estimating, or takeoffs, or proposals, then this Electronic Plan Takeoff program for Excel would be your best choice. The integration to Excel is unmatched in Electronic Plan Takeoff compared to Planswift or On-Screen Takeoff. What is quite different in Electronic Plan Takeoff is that training, support, and maintenance are INCLUDED with a purchase, whereas training, support and maintenance are extra for Planswift and On-Screen Takeoff. Moreover, annual support and maintenance for Electronic Plan Takeoff year two and beyond is a low fee per company per year, instead of per license. On-Screen Takeoff by On Center Software, and Planswift charge their annual maintenance and support fees per license (mandatory) which costs the end user more expense annually especially if a customer has more than one license.

Microsoft and Excel are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Planswift is the registered trademark of Tech Unlimited, Inc. On-Screen Takeoff and QuickBid are registered trademarks of On Center Software, Inc. Sage Timberline Office, Sage Timberline Estimating are registered trademarks of Sage Software, Inc.

Review of Takeoff Software for Estimating Construction
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http://www.reiterandcompany.com/takeoff/ Reiter & Company, Inc. sells and supports all three of the reviewed systems above: Electronic Plan Takeoff Software, On-Screen Takeoff by On Center Software, and Planswift. We also carry complete solutions from Sage Timberline or Sage Master Builder: Estimating, Project Management, Job Cost Accounting, Document Imaging,etc. If you have any questions of any of the reviewed products or other products, please do not hesitate to call. We can demonstrate ALL 3 products with absolutely NO OBLIGATION at all. It is FREE to discuss any operational issues your company may be facing or trying to achieve. We have 21 years experience in Construction Software Solutions. In addition, http://www.reiterandcompany.com/takeoff/ Reiter & Company also sells a full range of construction software solutions from commercial, to industrial, to residential, to heavy civil software solutions including Earthwork Software. Call Toll-Free 1-800-482-1014

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