4 ms·

In my experience the productivity of American construction workers seems to be shockingly poor. A few years back a small single-story structure (~5000 sqft) wa

by oefrha 4y ago

In my experience the productivity of American construction workers seems to be shockingly poor. A few years back a small single-story structure (~5000 sqft) was built near me. Every workday a plethora of workers would show up and make noise 8-5. Somehow took them the better part of a year to finish it. Really beggars belief.

CryptoBanker 4y ago
The construction site near me has 4 workers whose only job is to watch trucks going in and out of the site…there is no disbelief coming from me after seeing that
- NovemberWhiskey 4y ago
  In NYC, it's common for cranes to be rented for construction work - the company that owns the crane is responsible for maintenance etc. However, the crane worker's union requires that the contractor performing the building work hire a master mechanic, as well as oilers (no, really) for the crane, as well as the actual crane operator who sits in the cabin and does the work. Usually, these people are not permitted by the crane owner actually to perform any work on the crane at all. By the way, salary for a master mechanic in NYC is around $150,000 p/a.
  - CryptoBanker 4y ago
    This article on MTA construction in NYC gives a good overview of the kind of money that goes to waste due to union worksite staffing requirements https://secondavenuesagas.com/2018/01/01/inside-times-deep-dive-factors-behind-mtas-massive-cost-problems/ https://secondavenuesagas.com/2018/01/01/inside-times-deep-d...
- Arrath 4y ago
  I've seen sites catch fines for having mud, dirt, or rocks fall from trucks leaving onto the roads, so I get where they're coming from. 4 workers doing it? Jeez.
  - bluGill 4y ago
    If they are building something large I could see it. A hospital could easily have 4 different construction entrances to watch.
    - CryptoBanker 4y ago
      2 workers each on 2 entrances
bluGill 4y ago
That seems long for a 5000sqft house: I'd expect 150 days max from the time the hole is dug until the owner moves in. (smaller houses would be 100 days). You didn't specify what kind of structure it is though, some types of construction need more time. Most people who complain about people standing around have no idea what is going on. Half of the time someone is moving materials they are completely empty handed going back to the pile for more materials. In some operations there is downtime where nothing can be done, but the need to do more work will happen soon enough that you can't send anyone to a different job (concrete work has a lot of this)
- danans 4y ago
  > That seems long for a 5000sqft house: I'd expect 150 days max from the time the hole is dug until the owner moves in. Maybe for a production-builder built tract house, although I bet a lot of those are built in parallel and not sequentially in order to maximize throughput. But for a custom 5000sqft house, 150 days is a very tight timeline if you're not using pre-manufactured modular framing components like SIPs. Even if you did build with modular framing, consider the amount of interior detailing required on such a massive living space (probably many bathrooms and a huge kitchen). That takes a lot of time.

by oefrha 4y ago

CryptoBanker 4y ago

The construction site near me has 4 workers whose only job is to watch trucks going in and out of the site…there is no disbelief coming from me after seeing that

NovemberWhiskey 4y ago
In NYC, it's common for cranes to be rented for construction work - the company that owns the crane is responsible for maintenance etc. However, the crane worker's union requires that the contractor performing the building work hire a master mechanic, as well as oilers (no, really) for the crane, as well as the actual crane operator who sits in the cabin and does the work. Usually, these people are not permitted by the crane owner actually to perform any work on the crane at all. By the way, salary for a master mechanic in NYC is around $150,000 p/a.
- CryptoBanker 4y ago
  This article on MTA construction in NYC gives a good overview of the kind of money that goes to waste due to union worksite staffing requirements https://secondavenuesagas.com/2018/01/01/inside-times-deep-dive-factors-behind-mtas-massive-cost-problems/ https://secondavenuesagas.com/2018/01/01/inside-times-deep-d...
Arrath 4y ago
I've seen sites catch fines for having mud, dirt, or rocks fall from trucks leaving onto the roads, so I get where they're coming from. 4 workers doing it? Jeez.
- bluGill 4y ago
  If they are building something large I could see it. A hospital could easily have 4 different construction entrances to watch.
  - CryptoBanker 4y ago
    2 workers each on 2 entrances

bluGill 4y ago

That seems long for a 5000sqft house: I'd expect 150 days max from the time the hole is dug until the owner moves in. (smaller houses would be 100 days). You didn't specify what kind of structure it is though, some types of construction need more time. Most people who complain about people standing around have no idea what is going on. Half of the time someone is moving materials they are completely empty handed going back to the pile for more materials. In some operations there is downtime where nothing can be done, but the need to do more work will happen soon enough that you can't send anyone to a different job (concrete work has a lot of this)

danans 4y ago
> That seems long for a 5000sqft house: I'd expect 150 days max from the time the hole is dug until the owner moves in. Maybe for a production-builder built tract house, although I bet a lot of those are built in parallel and not sequentially in order to maximize throughput. But for a custom 5000sqft house, 150 days is a very tight timeline if you're not using pre-manufactured modular framing components like SIPs. Even if you did build with modular framing, consider the amount of interior detailing required on such a massive living space (probably many bathrooms and a huge kitchen). That takes a lot of time.