Possible Work Typical examples of work assignments for student internships are listed below: Field Operations Act

t as a general assistant to the project onsite superintendent. Time keeping and cost control reporting. Assist with layout work and surveying. Assist with field testing of materials. Check and expedite material deliveries. Assist with planning and scheduling activities. Take notes at job coordination meetings. Assist with job safety meetings and records. Manual work under a foreman in the field (no more than four weeks total duration ). Assist with cost engineering activities. Preconstruction / Project Support Assist in estimating operations. Might include quantity takeoffs, jobsite inspec tions, review of plans and specifications, updating cost records, and assisting with estimating change orders. Assist in shop drawing and submittal reviews. Assist in preparation of job status reports. Assist in purchasing activities (vendor files, purchase requisitions, submittals , subcontractor selection, etc.). Assist in planning and scheduling operations (drafting, CPM diagrams, etc.) Assist with equipment scheduling, purchasing, and records. Field Management Act as assistant to the project manager. Assist with project planning and scheduling. Handle miscellaneous project tasks, such as obtaining permits and licenses, arra nging for temporary utility services, etc. Help process change orders and extra work orders. Review job cost reports.

 Assist with subcontractor coordination. Assist in preparation of progress payment requests. Assist with punch list operations. Expedite material deliveries. Observe (passively) contract and union negotiations. Participate in job safety activities. Assist in project or general accounting activities. Assist with project cost control systems. Maintain request for information (RFI) log.

Finding an Internship It is recommended that each student: 1. Write a resume now, or update any current resume now; 2. Go to Career Services to have the resume critiqued and improved; 3. Request several current transcripts from the Registrar now to have them when needed. For finding an internship: 1. Read the email internship announcements from the Civil Engineering faculty an d the ASCE Student Chapter; 2. Read the printed internship announcements on message boards in the department ; 3. Go to Career Services to find internship opportunities; 4. Browse the Career Services Cardinal Connection database of positions and the Civil Engineering online resources; 5. See the academic advisor to find internship opportunities; 6. Attend the Engineering Job and Internship Fair held by Career Services in Pry zbyla Center every year in January. Attendance is mandatory! To prepare for the Engineering Fair and interviews: 1. Have a current resume. 2. Professional dress outfit (shirt and tie for males at the minimum!). 3. Get the list of attending companies from Career Services before the fair and

get information about the companies and their current projects from: (a) their webpages, (b) Career Services, (c) information in Engineering News Rec ord (ENR) and other construction-related magazines, (d) brochures in the Civil E ngineering student lounge. 4. Plan which companies to specifically talk with and why.

Elements of Cost Control Cost Control is an obvious objective in Construction Management and Construction Scheduling. It should be recognized that no amount of paperwork achieves this c onstruction cost control. The actual control is achieved through the ultimate de cision of the manager that something should be done differently and the translat ion of that decision into practice. The paperwork provides guidance on what cont rol actions should be taken and therefore it is rather a cost information system . The elements of a cost control system are: Observation Comparison of observation with some desired standard Corrective action to take if necessary. A construction cost control system should enable a manager to observe current co st levels, compare them with a standard plan or norm, and institute corrective a ction to to keep cost within acceptable bounds. The system should help to identify where correction action is necessary and to p rovide pointers as to what actions should be. Most construction cost control systems have an inordinately long response time. Even the best cost control system would provide information on what was happenin g last week or last month. Since, in construction projects some activities might finish in a week or a month, then nothing could be done if the performance of s uch activities was reported to overrun estimates of respective costs.

Cost Control Systems

Unit Costing platform in e-STM8 Software The following systems and variants of them are in use in the Construction Indust ry: Overal Profit or loss The Contractors waits until the Contract is finished then compares expenditure a nd revenue. The system is only suitable for very small contracts of short durations. The inf ormation provided by this system can induce corrective action in future contract s, and surely not the finished one from which data was extracted.

Profit or Loss at valuation dates In this system, the total costs to date are compared with valuations gross of re tentions. It is not suitable for contracts which involove significant set up cos ts which are distributed over the unit rates. Unit Costing In this system, costs of various types of work, such as concrete casting, are re corded separately. The costs, both cumulatively and periodically are divided by the quantity of work of each type. This provided unit costs that can be compared with those estimated in the tender. A recommended platform for this system is e -stm8 software, which provides an estimating platform as well as an invoicing pl atform. It has a 15 day free trial, you can find more information in our softwar e section. Developments in Cost Control Systems There are three developments in construction management which show promise of im proving cost control system in the construction industry Short term scheduling and control This system was developed at Loughborough University in association with a contr actor. It aims to merger the planning and supervision and hence to obtain a more or less zero response time. Project Cost model. This a system developed by Dr Martin Barnes for simulating future actions and th us guiding the manager in his choice between them Quantitative Scheduling One of the unique Construction Software that provides a futuristic construction cost control tool for construction management is the CFF3 for cash flow forecast ing. Version three has taken into consideration the possible deviations from est imates of cost as well as cash in patterns and provided a means to return back t o the original estimate by damping out these deviations through the remaining pe riod of construction. Updated estimates are provided each time an actual figure is added such that the end cost remain same as was originally estimated. It prov ides an excellent guide for managers through the construction project to capture the best possible actions in each period activities. Labor rate and efficiency constitute the core of Quantitative Scheduling which is highly recommended if co st minimization in respect of productivity rates is sought. Also Construction Cost is directly related to Material price, Material usage and waste, Fixed and varied overhead expenditure. These are the areas where manager s should seek action for future adjustments in order to get back to original est imate or practically as near as possible. Top of the page

time management: Construction time management is an element of the construction budgeting process where the project management team determines the amount of time devoted to each segment of the project. Construction time management determines the amount of m an hours and employees needed to reach completion. More commonly used and writte n out by hand before the introduction of computers and the internet, constructio

n estimate forms are now largely filled out on a computer. Construction time management plays a major role in developing the cost estimates for projects of varying construction methods. The traditional method is to use the design/bid/build approach, where an architect or engineer oversees the proje ct. They handle the design, produce construction drawings, oversee bids and cont racts and the building process itself. The links between the architect, the clie nt and the main contractor are direct. The contractor can win a project through the lowest blind bid or through the construction manager at-risk method, where t he contractor guarantees to deliver the project within a guaranteed maximum pric e. Instead of simply serving as construction manager, the contractor also serves as a consultant to the owner during the design and development processes. The design-build method has been increasing in popularity over the past decade. In design-build, the owner doesn't hire an architect to design the project, then seeks bids from a contractor. In this case, the owner solicits bids from a arch itect/contractor teams, who develop their own designs and include complete desig n and construction costs in their bids. This is different from the traditional p rocess, where the architect completes the design before the contractors put in t heir bids. In the management procurement method, the owner holds the greatest amount of con trol. Instead of hiring an architect to handle the project in construction, or h iring a consortium, the owner oversees every part of the process. They hire the architect, the construction manager and, in many cases, the subcontractors. Prop onents of this method believe it speeds up the procurement process and increases flexibility throughout the building process.