Construction Cost Analysis and Estimating
PrefaceThis first edition of Construction Cost Analysis and Estimating provides the latest principles and techniques for the evaluation of construction design. It is not a book about estimating only. Analysis and estimating must abide together, and the one must precede the other. It is this emphasis that makes this text different.The book begins with four chapters devoted to analysis of labor, material, accounting, and forecasting. Then estimating is developed, and methods, work, and project chapters are given. An owner or contractor is concerned with bid assurance, analysis, and contracts and ethics, and these chapters are provided. This book organization develops the principles in a systematic way.With the increasing importance of design over rote skills in contemporary construction courses, this text can be used for a variety of teaching situations: for lecture only, for lecture with a laboratory menu, or with professional mentoring with business, and with developed field trips. Courses that couple to on-line live or delayed video instruction can use this text, as the author has personal experience with these delivery modes. Further, lifelong learning programs for the professional in either formal or informal settings can use the text.Academic requirements for this book/course may vary, and we believe that the text is suitable for a number of teaching approaches. It has been written to appeal to engineering/technology/construction management settings. The student needs a mathematical maturity of algebra and introductory calculus.The instructor will notice internet requirements that search for information and apply it in practical contexts. We provide internet addresses for numerous assignments. (Regrettably, these addresses may change from time to time.) In the interactive environment of teaching, this book is a part of modern courseware. Word-processing and spreadsheet skills are assumed, and some CAD ability is always helpful. It would seem that the student must have access to a computer, and system requirements would be typical of more advanced personal or Pentium computers.Various academic levels and backgrounds are appropriate, and the instructor find this text suitable to a variety of teaching styles. The author attempts to rove the instructor in the leadership of many exercises, calling on you, the instructor, to localize the assignments to your construction needs.The book has more material than can be covered in one semester or quarter and thus chapters and sections can be selected to meet the objectives of each c1« Chapter order can be adjusted. If the students already have an understanding of statistics, then Chapter 5 material can be excluded, for example. Other sections can dropped, depending on student preparation and course objectives. Some sections u identified as "Optional," allowing instructor selection. The instructor will find that the text is versatile.This text has a range of difficulty for Questions, Problems, More Difficult Problems, Practical Applications, and Case Studies. Throughout the text, the author has tempted to give the instructor opportunity for outcomes evaluation of student woe with these many exercises.There are 124 Questions in the eleven chapters. They are qualitative and require back-reading and a response of a few sentences for a thoughtful reply.We stress construction as a design activity; therefore, the 237 Problems and 48 More Difficult Problems request computations or sketches. Whenever the student is asked to prepare open-ended designs, much learning occurs. The Problems have levels of difficulty.We want the Problems and the More Difficult Problems to be tractable, either with calculator or spreadsheet, where the emphasis is on teaching concepts. It is no our desire to cause excessive computation, which is so prevalent in construction problems. Thus, this text ignores software encyclopedias that are found in construction for estimating designs. Those software applications restrict the learning of principles. Nor do we give much attention to the minutia of extensive take-off practices, as those temporal trade details can be learned on the job, if necessary.There is an end-of-chapter addition, which we call Practical Application. The purpose of the Practical Application is to uncouple the student from books, libraries. and the classroom. As will be seen throughout the book, Practical Applications introduce the student to experiences in the real world. For example, they encourage; field trips and communication through the internet to engineers, technologists, and other construction professionals. The instructor will appreciate this experiential approach, allowing him or her to use Practical Applications in exciting ways.The end-of-chapter Case Studies are open ended, perhaps having several solutions. Students are often disturbed by this peculiarity, but instructors recognize that construction courses are unlike calculus courses with their singularity of answer.The book contains Picture Lessons—they describe important historical contributions of civil engineering and construction. It is important that students have an appreciation of the grand heritage of our profession.For the instructor, a comprehensive Solutions Manual is available. This manual can be requested from the Prentice Hall college representative or from Prentice Hall directly.The author is grateful to many people. Their advice and information have made this a much better text. In writing a book of this magnitude, the author is aware that friends and colleagues are hidden but very important advisers. I am indebted to the following: Don Boyle, Boulder, CO; James E. Diekmann, Anthony Songer, Klaus Timmerhaus, and Paul Zoller of the University of Colorado, Boulder, CO; Rodney Ehlers, Boulder, CO; Marty Geist, Boulder, CO; John Heitkamp, Richardson Engineering Services, Inc., Mesa, AZ; Laurence D. Jacobs, Craftsman Book Company, Carlsbad, CA; John Ferguson, RS Means Corporation, Kingston, MA; Anthony Mason, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA; Liang Y. Lui, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL; Barry McMillan and Christian Heller of the American Association of Cost Engineers, Morgantown, WV; Ruby Ostwald, Bowling Green, KY; Ted Plank, Boulder County Road Department, Longmont, CO; Wayne Shelton, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Broomfield, CO; Neil Wagner, Thermopolis, WY; and Natalie Soulier Webster, American Society of Civil Engineers, Washington, D.C.Finally, it needs to be mentioned that I am sincerely grateful to Irwin Zucker of Prentice Hall, who has attentively improved this book in numerous ways.The names used in the examples and Case Studies are of real people, and they are mentioned because of my sincere regard for their contribution and friendship.Phillip F. OstwaldBoulder, Colorado