Running Larger Job?

[cdslotz]

No trade really has preference

Not true....if you are working under a GC......pouring concrete trumps everything.

The GC will schedule pours between certain column lines....you will have to get ALL of your underground done in that area with limited time

You will not be able to complete conduit runs from point A to point B.....you will have to stub out and mark the locations until the GC gives you that area to be completed and poured

 

[Smart $]

Not true....if you are working under a GC......pouring concrete trumps everything.

The GC will schedule pours between certain column lines....you will have to get ALL of your underground done in that area with limited time

You will not be able to complete conduit runs from point A to point B.....you will have to stub out and mark the locations until the GC gives you that area to be completed and poured

Some call that trade preference... but really it's just timing. Some things have to go in before others, and a dime holding up a dollar is just outright bad for business.

If the GC is restricting the timeline for underslab work, he must have his reasons. May not be good ones, but they are reasons all the same. I can't help anyone get around that one other than to tell them to go work for another GC or manager. All the same, I've never been on a job the GC said we couldn't do underslab until a short span of time before pour. In most cases, we start putting in underslab and complete A to B while the foundations are going in... at least for runs of larger conduit that need buried deeper.

 

[Strathead]

I thought Infinity's answer was the best one with the least BS so far. My advice is along the same line. Keep a handle on your material.

Fill out a three week look ahead every Friday, that include every day for the first week and then a summary for week two and three. The goal isn't to be right, it is to have a direction and a plan that you can and WILL change.

Learn how to estimate. do your own takeoff on the job and do it early. Check your fixtures and gear against the order. Count the receptacles, switches etc. and extrapolate the number of boxes you will need and order them from it. keep this so that later you can order the right number of devices. Even before you do a true detailed estimate, still learn to do the counts.

Develop your instincts. When you send a guy in to a room to "rough in boxes" Take 10 minutes to run through it in your mind. Set a time for the person. You should have already laid out the room with paint, sharpies whatever. Tell the guy, "Go in here and rough in. There are approximately 15 devices. I figure it will take 2 hours,." Or run these conduits this way. I think it will take about 8 hours." Then when the person is done follow up. Find out where you were right and wrong. It is a fine line to make the journeyman feel like you are not second guessing him, but at the same time, that you are on top of what the work you are assigning takes.

And as another person said. Put down the tool bag. I always say that I started out pushing a broom and then I graduated to a pair of Kleins and then they promoted me to a pen and a broom.

 

[growler]

I don't know if I'm in the right forum for this question, but can people give me some tips and advice on running a larger job? It's approximately 4 months long and about 20 journeyman on site. It's a bid job so I want to meet or exceed their profit margin expectations and also make sure the communication and interaction with the other trades is what it needs to be in order to be successful on a job like this. As far as the scope of the work it's pretty straight forward and nothing too tricky. Running Utility underground and setting Switchgear and running Services and Panels throughout a new building for manufacturing. What trades take precedence over electrical and how do I keep this many men organized and staying productive? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Is it 20 journeymen or 20 jouneymen and apprentices ? No matter, you will have to delegate some of the responsibility. You will need to appoint at least two or more lead men.