ON SITE VS IN OFFICE DILEMMA.

Special mention to the construction interns today.

Dear intern;

As you exit or take a break from your learning institutions and transit to the industry, you carry a lot of fantasies in your head on the good and comforting expectations that your tutors lied to you about. The construction industry in this country is not thoroughly regulated. Doctors have very good advocates that makes their line of work look civilized and ever indoors, what you call white collar. Your first test on the field is the capacity to bear what happens on the ground vis a vis what you have been writing on your books.

For the ?intern who is either an Architect(Arch.),Quantity Surveyor(QS) or Structural Engineer(Eng.),the situation is not so tough as you will apply about 72% of your theory on site. The incoming project managers have a tough ride as you only apply 36%.As the Eng. or Qs gets on paper to do his calculations you will sit on a corner and begin shaking your head in all directions scanning for solutions on how to contain an emerging risk on site.

We recommend for you to begin you journey as being a site guy than an office guy.Alot of events happen on site that you will never get to experience while sitting in the office enjoying the free wi-fi and 10a.m tea. First you will be able to expand your network through other professionals that you interact with through site meetings.Second,you will have high chances on landing a direct client as they prefer having seen the quality of work rather than your academic portfolio.Third,you will be able to appreciate the roles of builders as you will feel proud as they transfer your work on the ground.

For Architects, you will be able to appreciate how the elements of design are practically implemented. For example, space,function.mood and perception. For Engineers, you will to check how design mix ratio is practical achieved as well as the reinforcement patterns from your drawings. For quantity surveyors, you will be able to do re-measurements for valuation purposes and breakdown your bill of quantities to schedule of materials of which it’s the only document that suppliers understand.

If you continue forcing your way to offices to only take care of paper work, then you are in the wrong industry. Leave that to accountants and politicians. From practical experience,the office guy who rarely associates himself with the construction bit, is the main cause of conflicts, starting from project inception to handover. He creates a moody environment between consultant and the builder without appreciating the importance of `alternative measures` on site especially where the situation is not so critical.

For example, you as the engineer, sit in the office designing and checking the suitability of your structural analysis just using a software and fail to come on site, this is what happens; assuming you indicated bar x for a column and you are briefed such a bar is currently out of stock in the market, what will you do? Because you want to be bossy with no tolerance to brainstorm with the site guy, end up ordering for works to be halted until bar x is restored. The client will term you incompetent because you lack a versatile mind thereby causing unnecessary delay of the project. If you were the professional who was a site guy, you would let the builder continue with another bar but in such a way that the purpose that was to be served by bar x is still maintained.

In conclusion, there is a common Chinese proverb that says “what you hear, you forget; what you see, you remember; what you do, you understand. “All are lessons right there. When you also go to site don`t just be there to whirl your eyes around. Take that dumpy level and proceed with setting out, obviously with some guidance. Where you don`t understand ask the builder and you will be the complete construction prodigy.

Published by Rickfes Construction.

Your idea is our pride!