Construction Terms 1

Construction Management

The contractual arrangement where a firm provides construction management services to an owner.

Quality Management

Involves activities like specification development, process control, product acceptance, and training to ensure quality.

Earthmoving

The process of moving and processing soil or rock to meet construction requirements.

Trafficability

The ability of soil to support vehicle weight under repeated traffic.

Loadability

A measure of the difficulty in excavating and loading soil.

Plate Line Capacity

The bucket volume within the bucket following its outline.

Struck Capacity

The bucket capacity when the load is flush with the bucket sides.

Water Line Capacity

The bucket capacity when material is flush with the lowest edge of the bucket.

Heaped Volume

The maximum volume that can be placed in a bucket without spillage based on a specified angle of repose.

Dragline

A versatile machine with the longest reach for digging and dumping in the crane shovel family.

Shoring

Lateral support for the sides of an excavation is usually provided by shoring.

Lagging

Sheet piling is sheeting of concrete, steel, or timber that is designed to be driven by a pile driver.

Trench shields

Used in place of shoring to protect workers during trenching operations.

Dewatering

The process of removing water from an excavation.

Soil permeability

The ease with which water flows through the soil based on grain size distribution.

Wellpoint

The perforated assembly placed on the bottom of the inlet pipe for a well.

Vacuum wells

Wellpoints sealed at the surface to accelerate water flow through soil.

Electroosmosis

Accelerating water flow through soil by applying a direct current.

Grouting

Injecting a grouting agent into soil or rock to increase strength or reduce groundwater flow.

Flat Slabs

Slabs supported directly by columns without beams or joists.

Precast concrete

Concrete cast into shape before placement in a structure.

Prestressed concrete

Concrete with an initial compression load applied.

Pretensioning

Placing reinforcing steel under tension before pouring concrete.

Posttensioning

Placing prestressing steel under tension after concrete erection.

Consolidation

Removing air voids in concrete during placement.

Finishing

Bringing concrete surface to final position and texture.

Vacuum dewatering

Reducing free water in concrete after placement.

Running bond

Masonry bond using stretcher courses with centered head joints.

Common bond

Masonry bond with a repeated header course at regular intervals.

Flemish bond

Masonry bond alternating stretchers and headers in each course.

English bond

Masonry bond with alternate courses of headers and stretchers.

Stack bond

Masonry bond providing no interlocking between units for architectural effect.

Bond beam

Reinforced horizontal beam in masonry wall for strength and crack prevention.

Expansion joints

Permitting movement in masonry walls due to various factors.

Flashing

Layers of material to seal out moisture in construction.

Bar graph schedule

Graphical schedule relating progress of work items to time.

CPM vs

CPM uses fixed durations, PERT uses probability concepts for uncertain estimates.

Activity-on-arrow

Each activity represented by an arrow with description and duration.

Dummy Activity

Represents no work and has zero duration.

Critical path

Path through the network establishing the minimum project duration.

Float

Scheduling leeway available to an activity.

Circle diagram

Simple form of activity on-node diagram using circles for activities.

Precedence diagram

Extension of activity-on-node format with lag-time factors and precedence relationships.

Early event time

Earliest time an event may occur based on a starting time of zero.

Owning costs

Fixed costs incurred annually regardless of equipment operation.

Operating costs

Costs incurred only when equipment is used.

Depreciation

Decline in market value of equipment due to age, wear, and obsolescence.

Investment cost

Annual cost of capital invested in a machine.

Insurance cost

Cost of insurance for equipment against fire, theft, and accidents.

Tax cost

Cost of property tax and licenses for equipment.

Storage cost

Cost of equipment storage, rent, maintenance, and associated overhead.

Total equipment owning cost

Sum of depreciation, investment, insurance, tax, and storage costs.

Service cost

Cost of oil, fluids, grease, filters, and routine maintenance service.

Repair cost

Cost of equipment repair and maintenance.

Cost estimating

Estimating total cost for a construction project based on plans and specifications.

Project cost control

Measuring, recording, and comparing actual project costs and progress.

Contractor qualification

Determining technical and financial ability to perform contract work.

Prequalification

Inviting capable contractors to bid for a project.

Bid bond

Guaranteeing contractor will provide required performance and payment bonds if awarded the contract.

Performance bond

Guaranteeing completion of the project as described in contract documents.