Do you trust that the things that get built get built right? Lots of people going to Chicago’s Sears Tower apparently do. The Ledge just opened on the 103rd floor, where visitors can step out onto a 4′ glass floored and walled projection. Looking 1300′ straight down, visitors get a view never before seen.

The Ledge uses 3 layers of 1/2″ glass and is designed to carry a 5 ton live load, apparently more load than the engineers figure could possibly be applied by people cramming into the space. Hey what’s the worst that could happen?

The New York Times has an excellent article about about the financial struggles of all the new sports stadiums in the greater NYC area. With new ballparks for the Yankees and the Mets showing many empty seats on their TV broadcasts, the various new stadiums and arenas look to have saturated the market. There are only so many corporate sponsors, luxury box buyers or even fans that will be participating.

The developers and local government push for the prestige of these projects. Those of us in construction appreciate any project we get to build. Yet how do these projects get designed, funded, approved and built when the market seems to say no?

I think the private-public partnership can be a very good thing, but also a dangerous market distortion. When public money flows into these projects, or public guarantees back the bonds, poor decisions often follow. Too often the developers that propose the projects manage to get their fees in ways the public bodies simply aren’t sharp enough to catch (not illegally, just lots more cunning).

I remember when a big bridge contractor won a local huge roadway project and had a major dispute with the PA Dept of Transportation (PennDOT). The story goes that contractor noted that the project was headed to litigation. The PennDOT guy said, “We don’t care, we have attorneys on staff to handle it.” The contractor said, “Yes, well, we have attorneys on staff as well, but our attorneys went to Harvard.” Well, the litigation happened and PennDOT got shellaced. Which means the PA taxpayers paid their bill.

As these public/private partnerships occur, the public bodies need to be more cautious about the endgame. As much as we love building them, some of those projects shouldn’t get off the computer screen.

Richard St. John built a successful business, lost it, then built it again in a way that made more sense for him. In the process, he figured out the eight words that lead to success:

1. Passion
2. Work
3. Focus
4. Push
5. Ideas
6. Improve
7. Serve
8. Persist

I believe the first secret of success is “Successful people do the things unsuccessful people don’t want to do and won’t do.” The concepts listed above provide further instruction. Don’t live your life without thinking. Don’t get to the end and wish you’d headed in another direction.

I encourage you to take some time to think and learn. Watch the video below to be challenged.

Remember, it’s your life (nobody else’s) to live and invest your time and energy as you determine. Please don’t squander the opportunities. Think, learn and grow.

Most people answer “No” to the question, “Are you creative?” They are wrong.  Humans exhibit creativity as long as their lungs fill and their hearts beat. We are all creative. Humans are hard wired for creativity, though many of us don’t flip the switch too often.

Unfortunately, our culture tends to teach that only the Einsteins, Edisons, and Picassos are truly creative. From elementary school, those that had a natural gift for drawing or thinking were told how creative they were. The rest of us heard that and drew the obvious conclusion that we weren’t.

Further, popular culture includes this idea of the creative genius who has a constant stream of amazingly good ideas. I’ve worked with some incredibly creative people and they did have lots of good ideas. The important thing I noticed, though, is that their ideas didn’t start out perfect. They simply had lots of good (and some not so good) ideas and they were willing to run down many rabbit trails to determine the difference.

The secret of being creative is to realize that your ideas won’t be perfect. Stop beating yourself up about not finding that one beautiful and perfect idea. Start pitching concepts, thinking about things that probably don’t make sense, be willing to let ideas fail and not feel like a failure. You’ve got to take risks to be creative. You must separate your sense of worth from the ideas you consider.

Edison didn’t make all those amazing discoveries by sitting and trying to find the one perfect thing. He’d have an idea, test it, continue to test it if it showed promise but drop it if it didn’t. He tried hundreds of materials trying to get the lightbulb improved. Finally, he hit on the right one.

Construction gives us many opportunities for creative thinking. Too often we fall into the rut of doing everything the way we always done it. I challenge you to put forth the effort to be more creative…at work, at home, in every aspect of your life. Be willing to try something different and fail a bit. At the very least, it will make you laugh more.

Recently a nearly completed 13 story apartment building in Shanghai collapsed into a pile of rubble on the ground. Killing one construction worker, the building is one of seven identical buildings on the site. Of course, the residents in the other buildings are concerned that their buildings may unexpectedly collapse. The photos give a sense of scale (thanks for the link, Kneal).

A bridge in northeast China also collapsed today, dropping seven vehicles into the river below. The thousands of school children killed in last year’s building collapses during an earthquake further taint China’s record on construction quality.

So why all the construction failures in China? The options of unclear standards, lack of proper inspection, poor craft training, corruption,  etc could all play a part, but the truth is that no one really knows. The lack of transparency in their system of government keeps everything fuzzy.

One of the great advantages of the American republic is the various methods of getting to clarity. Between freedom of speech, the courts and other dispute resolution methods and the press, we have a fairly decent chance of avoiding cover-ups. Through various channels, the truth tends to sneak out.

When the Kansas City Hyatt Hotel collapsed,  we learned from ENR exactly which connections failed and how the process occurred. Many Engineers and Contractors changed policies and procedures as a result of these reports. The free flow of information makes us better.

Regarding the building collapses in China,the construction world will probably never get clear answers regarding what happened and who was at fault. This does a dis-service to every party involved.

As an aside, since I mentioned the courts and dispute resolution above, I encourage you to read the blog post on mediation. The writer does an excellent job of summing the pros and cons and things you should know if you’re considering mediation. By the way, I’m not sure how much of the ENR website you can get to if you’re not a subscriber. Please let me know if you can’t access this link.

I was standing in a Porta-Potty yesterday, thinking about how much work we have to do on the project and how little time we have to do it, when an all-terrain forklift drove right by the toilet. I could see out the slotted vents how close that forklift was. I smiled, thought of the short video below and said to myself, “Compared to this guy, I’m having a great day.”

Hope you also have great day. Remember, one of the secrets to joyful living is thinking about all the ways it could be worse. Today I’m happy because I’m not likely to have jobsite filth cascading all over me.

When people ask how I’m doing, I tell them I’m swamped with work, busier than I’d like to be. I’m hearing that’s not too normal these days (not that I’ve ever shot for normal). I read an article in ENR this morning that was sobering.

Last year in late Spring, the commercial construction sector was in decent shape, this year we are in a deep recession. Unemployment, led by the many laid off construction workers, tops 10% throughout much of America. The public bid jobs that are coming out via the stimulus money show a crazy level of competitiveness.

For example, an airport terminal replacement in Utah drew 50 GCs. 20 to 30 bidders are common on projects. ENR reports that a fire station in Arizona recently bid for $2.2M while a similar project two years ago went for $3.8M.

That sounds like great news for owners, and it is with an important caveat. Owners need to be extremely careful about who they select to do their work. I experienced a fairly major construction recession in the early 1980s and many contractors went bankrupt.

When a firm struggles for their life, they will do almost anything. Lying, cheating and stealing all far into the range of behavior to expect. When the sub or the GC goes under, the owner will certainly get caught in the current. After a number of subs going bankrupt, we found that a 25% hit on the contract amount was typical to get it worked out and completed. We learned some brutal lessons in those days and lots of folks are going to be learning those lessons again these days.

Good luck. Be careful.

Construction PMs and Superintendents spend lots of time talking. Some of that talk time is social and lubricates the relationships we use to get things done. Some of that talking, though, needs to get certain information understood and acted upon. When we talk about the importance of communication for construction leaders, we mean this ability to get our point across in a clearly understood way.

Ed Abel, a former Construction Supervisor who went on to run several of his own successful companies, knew how to communicate in a way that stuck. First, he knew what he wanted to say. Then, he said it, in a clear way, looking right into your eyes and watching to see if you got it. Generally, he assumed you didn’t get it the first time (a good assumption). So then he stepped a bit closer, into your space, and said it again. Then he step back and said it again.

Then he asked you if you understood and got you to tell him what you were going to do. When he walked away, he knew that he’d communicated.

Is it worth the effort? Only you can answer that question. I can tell you, though, that those who communicate well tend to succeed in their endeavors.

I never seem to get tired of watching things get blown up. The little boy in me lives, I suppose. Anyway, the attached clip shows the Lowry Bridge demolition this past weekend. I watched a few video clips, it’s cool that the amatuer clip was better than the TV station footage. Hooray for the power of crowdsourcing.

Be sure to watch it till the end, because the slow motion replay is worth it.

If you have 2 minutes, watch this video of unloading a hydraulic excavator from a truck. It just cracks me up.

Though their techniques are questionable, you’ve got to admire the skill in solving the problem.