Construction Informer

A news release by Integrity Recruits shows overall compensation to be lower in 2008 for people who work in construction-related industries. Hiring is expected to move away from residential construction and toward government and commercial construction. The latest available statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the mean annual wage in construction and extraction industries is $39,290 per year and the mean annual wage for those in architecture and engineering is $66,190. Integrity fills positions in the construction management, engineering and architectural fields.

The kinds of things cited by the Integrity Recruits report that will affect salary and bonuses included education and experience, who someone reports to, the number of people someone supervises and the person’s negotiating skills.

The company also predicts that people building public projects and multi-family housing projects will see a rise in their compensation. The company says compensation in tourism-related industries will rise although I’m not entirely sure why that is thrown into the mix in this particular release. Anything to do with supporting alternative energy will offer hot prospects for professional service firms and commercial construction was pointed to as potentially slowing over the next couple of years but that in the interim it remains a good source of work.

The American Institute of Architects issued a release yesterday that confirms a slowing in the nonresidential sector. The organization reports an expected low .7 percent increase in spending for that sector with commercial expected to slow the most. AIA says it sees 2008 and 2009 as a trough in the current construction cycle.

While hotels are expected to be growing at 5.1 percent in 2008, AIA predicts a 3.1 percent decline in 2009. Office buildings, retail, education projects, and amusement and recreation are all predicted to be down in 2009 by between .1 and 3.7 percent. Industrial facilities are looking up modestly in 2009. Health care facilities are expected to post the strongest gains in 2008 followed by more modest gains in 2009.

The AIA adds its voice to a line of predictions relating to volatile material prices. It reports iron and steel scrap increases from 2006 to 2007 at 28 percent with some steel products up six percent and fabricated structural metal rising more than five percent. Interestingly gypsum products were reported down 23 percent this past year and other key building materials like insulation and plywood dropped as well. The organization sees the increasing costs of fuel as a cause for the price fluctuations.

The productivity of construction workers hasn’t kept pace with other industries. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while other industries have recorded worker productivity increases of up to 250 percent since 1964, construction worker productivity has declined by 25 percent. Another analysis of construction industry productivity, as reported here, found the average construction worker operates at about 40 percent efficiency. But before blaming the workers take a look at the reasons why their productivity is so low.

The study and resulting analysis mentioned above was done by Prof. Roger Liska, chair of the Department of Construction Science and Management at Clemson University in Clemson SC. A lot of the reasons he cites for the low productivity are actually management problems. More than half of that lost productivity can be traced to delays waiting for equipment and supplies, inefficient company processes, and work rules and congested work areas. These are things where better management can really have an impact.

So what causes the remaining lost productivity?

Although not directly related to construction when Pace Productivity surveyed 690 employees and entrepreneurs across North America they found people had a hard time taking responsibility for the time they waste. When asked to list things under their control that get in the way of their productivity almost 17 percent couldn’t come up with anything. Well, maybe those are the ones who are the most productive. Here are some of the items people cited as being within their control but still getting in the way of them being able to be more productive.

• Almost 10 percent of respondents cited interruptions by others;
• Eight percent said they were not good time managers;
• Six percent claimed procrastination as the culprit;
• A little over 5 percent cited poor planning;
• Five percent cited socializing, gossiping, taking breaks and calling friends; and
• Five percent blamed customer issues and lack of knowledge and training on products and duties.

In another survey by America Online and Salary.com it was discovered that the average American worker goofs off two hours a day.

It’s clear that everybody owns some of the low productivity pie. What do you think? Are you as productive as you could be? Are there time wasters more specific to construction like the porta-potty being too far away? We’d like to hear from you.

Information Improvisation:
With VCP-310, going for 642-453 and 70-528 is not as difficult as it would have been without the necessary background knowledge. This is also a good advice to follow when going for 640-802 or 642-382. Simpler courses like 642-552 and 642-901 on the other hand do not require much checking.