Do you know that it is generally considered that the practical limit of number of people that can be effectively managed under one person’s control is between 5-7, when it is greater than that, efficiency will definitely be lost, due to poor coordination, low morale and team spirit will also be obviously effected, thus, encouraging, reduced quality of work.
A site manager must be considerate in coordinating the labour force to avoid drawbacks.
I am the client
The first to reckon with
The financier of any contract
I employ the services of the consultants
I am the owner of the project
Come and see different contractors bidden
They’ve got no choice than to submit their quotations
I am the godfather
Other stakeholders respect and envy me because I pay them
I sit in my house waiting for the final product to be delivered
If it is not well done, I won’t accept
Because, the standards must not be compromised
I am the real deal… I am the client…
Do you know that the construction industry employs one-third of the total national labor force.
To all my muslim brothers and sisters, hope you had a wonderful eid-ul-adha. May Allah give us the grace to witness more of it in life, amin.
After a great eid with my family, I had to return to work. Ever since I was hit by a motorcycle in 2005, I’ve never had a road accident. It is enough to say thanks to God for sparing my life till this moment. As I said, I had to return to work by road, bad road I must emphasize. The public transport I boarded looks good on the eye but we only travelled for twenty minutes before something broke out from around the front tire on the driver’s side. It was a long iron rod, I don’t know the name but I think it’s function is to raise the tire and keep it in place. All we heard was “clang clang clang” the sound of the broken metal on the bituminous road. We all yelled and the driver pulled over to the road side. Female passengers as expected were fretting thus blaming themselves for travelling in that bus. Some were saying thanks to God for saving our lives while others were saying prayers for us to have a safe journey. The journey continued as the driver assured us the damage can be managed till we get to a motor mechanic not far away. Before we could get to the mechanic workshop another public transport came to our rescue. While the two drivers were busy carrying out the repair, a lady approached them and asked for a little time for her observe her jumat prayer before we continue our journey. To my amazement, the driver and all other passengers disagreed even as many of them were also Muslims. Some encouraged her to say the prayers later since God has seen her intentions. I began to wonder, humans can be so forgetful and ungrateful. Minutes ago we were all calling on God but as soon as we are fine we forget what could have happened to us. The journey continued after all and we arrived safely. I felt so ashamed of our kind of being, even at the denial of God at the time He required us to call Him, He still see us through the journey. Living to tell this story is not by will but by grace. I thank God for everything. I had to reflect on this in my personal life. For me, God has always been good.
If the doors of heaven and hell are opened to man to have a view, man would still err and disbelief.
“docendo discitur”: It is learned by teaching.
Sandcrete Blocks and Mortar;
From time immemorial, when construction started, hitherto, construction has drastically changed, buildings were built with more unskilled workers who followed the instructions given by the professionals. It would take a long time to get a bungalow erected. But now, things have changed, storeys are built in little numbers of days, skyscrapers are constructed with high tech equipments in fortnights, there is reduction in the use of unskilled workers, as technology ease out most tiring and cumbersome activities.
Nonetheless, there is one custom that has remain constant for all generations,MATERIAL WASTAGE, from the early period of the construction of walls of China, the stepped pyramid of Egypt, the Eiffel tower of France, the Sidney Bridge in Australia, to the construction of Burj Arab in Dubai, and the flame tower in Baku, material wastage is still ravaging.
Of course, on a building construction site, there are materials to be used, starting from substructure to superstructure, for instance, hollow sandcrete blocks cum mortar (cement-sand) used for its joints.
Hollow sandcrete blocks are often made from sharp-sand and a binder (cement). This is then mixed with little volume of water, and then moulded in, to form a hollow sandcrete block. If not properly handled, it can be a real source of wastages. They are mainly used in walls- delineating occupancies and differentiating compartments. They are often arranged in many bonding types- Flemish, English, Stretcher, or Header, whichever is used, sand-cement mortar is inevitable in securing the joints
Mortar (cement-sand) is a true connector for blocks and bricks and also used for plastering and rendering based on/with reference to the mix ratio engaged.
Pics depicting the activities involved from stage of production to stage of delivery
There are many attributes resulting into sandcrete blocks cum mortar wastages on a construction site. First of which is;
Imagine a construction project without a waste management plan, I laugh, even though, material wastage of mortar might have been taken care of, in the bill, there is still a need for waste management plan, the absence of this document reduces profit margin.
Inefficiency of a bricklayer handling the arrangement of the sandcrete blocks may lead to poor workmanship which in turn leads to material wastages. Sandcrete blocks and mortar can be elements of wastages when the bricklayer in charge is not competent enough to handled them
I have handled a project where the consultants had to incorporate what was not in the original work order which led to detachment of several courses of sandcrete blocks spanning over four (4)meters. This led to sandcrete blocks and mortar wastages.A rework on site arising from variation or errors waste materials.
Poor communication and coordination between parties involved, arising from improper supervision by the site builder are worse factors influencing material wastages. If you want to employ someone, employ a competent and down-to-earth site builder who knows the pros and cons of the technicality of construction.
“Rain” is one of the climatic factors that enhances drawbacks in the rapidity of work processes in a building construction site. Bricklayers who want to reach the minimum requirements for daily work, who keeps on working when the rain is falling is prone to waste mortar and sandcrete blocks, because, there is no way the workability of such mortar will not be hindered.
Other factors that invoke material wastages on a construction site are;
And lots more
In conclusion, materials are purchased with part of the contract sum, if these same materials are not properly dealt with, they turn to real sources of waste which bounce back on the profit margin of the contract. You, as the site builder, must take it as a responsibility to protect the interest of the contractor.
–Olagunju Adewale Ridwan
(400L student of Building,
Obafemi Awolowo University,
Ile-Ife Nigeria)
Lately I’ve been surfing the internet for a suitable University oversea to continue my studies after my first degree. I was able to discover many schools offering my desired course. However, there is a limiting factor causing me cold feet when I think about it; “cost”!. The total cost of Postgraduate studies at these schools ranges from 4 to 5 million naira. Only if I’d be waiting for a miracle, I have no hope of such fund. I then began to look out for scholarships and there seems to be a future for me oversea.
Here is the result of my research;
Masters Degree Scholarships for Non-EU Students »
Leiden University Excellence Scholarships
The Leiden University Excellence Scholarship Programme (LExS) is open to outstanding Non-EU/EEA
students pursuing a master’s degree programme at Leiden University. Depending on the student’s
merit, the scholarship covers 25-100% of the tuition fees. The highest award covers the tuition fee
minus the home fee* and an allowance of €10,000 for living costs.
University of Maastricht High Potential Scholarships
Maastricht University (UM) aims to encourage talented students from outside the EEA to follow a
master’s programme at UM. These scholarships are fully-funded scholarships which includes tuition
fee, living expenses, visa costs, and insurance.
Radboud University Scholarship Programme
The Radboud Scholarship Programme offers a selected number of talented prospective non-EEA students the opportunity to receive a scholarship to pursue a complete English-taught Master’s degree programme at Radboud University Nijmegen (of one or two whole years). The scholarship is not an amount of money that you will receive on your bank account but consists of a partial tuition waiver. The tuition fee will be waived to the level of an EEA student. In addition the Radboud
Scholarship also covers costs such as for visa, residence permit, health insurance and liability
insurance.
University of Twente Scholarships
University Twente Scholarships (UTS) are scholarships for excellent students from non-EEA countries, applying for a graduate programme (MSc) at the University of Twente. The scholarship amount for students from non-EU/EEA countries is either € 10,000, € 12,500, €20,000, or € 22,500.
Read more at:
Culled from http://www.scholars4dev.com/9346/top-10-masters-degree-scholarships-for-international-students/
“docendo discitur”: It is learned by teaching.
Getting water to run in your showers, water closets, kitchen,wash-hand basins and other parts of need in a building is not a easy task. A service engineer is faced with the task of establishing the mechanical design of pipe layout/network and pipe sizes as paper works. He thereafter employs the service of a plumber to carry out the actual implementation of his design. Under his supervision, water pipes (pvc or copper pipes) are laid 600mm – 900mm beneath the ground level from the point of supply to the building. After accomplishing all these, and pipe outlets are already at the points of need, the whole network of pipes is then tested to detect if there is any leakage.
The process of pipe testing is a simple one. If there is high supply of water, it can easily be done by pumping water into your storage tanks and releasing it from there to flow through the newly installed pipe network. All the outlets in the building must be closed before allowing water flow through the pipes, by so doing, water stays in the pipes and leakages are detected if there are any.
However, if the supply is low or inadequate, pipes can still be tested but by the use of break tanks and pressure pump (booster).
The following illustrations shows how this could be achieved;
The pressure pump is connected to the underground pipe at a point very close to the build.
As shown, the generator powers the pump and water is pumped from the water tank to the pipes into the building.
Please note that, this method is only used to test for pipe leakages at outlets in the building only, if the whole network is to be tested, use the first method.
In a situation where pipes feed more than a building and water supply is limited, water from the first tank can be transfered to another tank close to the other building as shown below and the same test is repeated.
As a building owner, it is very important for you to ask the service engineer to carry out this test as he may likely overlook it. Most likely you don’t have to pay extra charges as it’s his duty to carry out the test.
Water? Yes! #97 per litre, Petrol? Yes! Free…
this quote is ironic but pause and ask yourself, “how many litres of water have I wasted today?”
“docendo discitur”: It is learned by teaching.
My e-Journal 