As a construction manager, you will be directly involved with the owner on a regular basis. You will get to experience the full range of emotions and temperaments associated with the home-buying public. There is a great deal of personal service and hand-holding that will be required of you. Many construction professionals delight in this aspect of the business, anxious to address every detail and concern that an owner might have regarding the building process, while others cringe at the thought of having to deal with someone at such an intimate level.
Residential construction companies come in all sizes. Some limit their service area to a local market, others might expand operations regionally or nationally, and a few are even building overseas in Europe and South America. Of all the construction industry sectors, the residential sector probably requires the broadest scope of knowledge. Construction is only one facet of the home-building business. An understanding of sales, marketing, financing, land development, entitlement, building codes, purchasing, construction operations, customer service, and warranty are all needed to participate in this sector of the industry.
Commercial Building
This sector of the industry primarily addresses the needs of commerce, trade, and government and makes up about a third of the total construction market. This is the category that includes banks, schools, office buildings, hotels, shopping malls, religious facilities, baseball stadiums, theaters, universities, amusement parks, hospitals, courthouses, government buildings, and other facilities where people gather. These projects may range in size from a small medical office to large high-rise office buildings to state-of-the-art biotechnology facilities. The building costs are significantly higher than with residential construction, and the project duration is much longer. It is not uncommon for a commercial project to last three years or more.
Funding for these types of building projects may be private, public, or combined in a special private-public partnership. Commercial construction companies are usually categorized by their dollar volume per year. For example, a company that does less than $10 million per year might be classified as a small commercial contractor, whereas a large commercial contractor completes more than $250 million of work annually. Of course, everything is relative to a given market. What might be considered a large company in Nebraska could easily be classified as a small company in California.
Commercial projects are very wide-ranging in scope, and it's difficult to develop expertise in all areas. For example, hospitals and clean rooms, which have very specialized systems, require contractors who possess the special knowledge needed to successfully perform the construction. Therefore, it is not unusual for a commercial contractor to focus their attention on only a few building types.
Commercial projects are typically designed by architects. The building systems can be complex, and various specialty engineers are engaged to support the architect with the electrical, mechanical, and structural design. Additional consultants may also be brought in for unique requirements of the project. For example, a sound and acoustics engineer is a likely participant on a concert hall project but would not be called in for a retail facility. And given the interest in sustainability, a LEED consultant would be a “must-have” member on the construction team. (LEED is discussed in more detail later in the chapter; see the “Sustainability” section.)
Means and Methods
Commercial construction tends to be far more technically complex than residential construction. Special construction processes are utilized in the building of commercial buildings, and specially trained technicians are required. The use of concrete casting beds, cofferdams, and slip forms are common techniques in commercial construction but would seldom ever be utilized in residential construction. Although plumbers, electricians, and painters are some of the trades required in both the commercial and residential sectors, ironworkers, pipefitters, and glaziers are more likely to be exclusive to the commercial (and industrial) sectors. The equipment needs in commercial construction are much more extensive as well. Cranes are a common sight on most commercial projects, as well as pile drivers, welding machines, and concrete pumps.
cofferdams
Temporary watertight enclosures erected to prevent water from seeping into an area, allowing construction to take place in the water-free space.
slip forms
Concrete forms that rise up the wall as construction progresses.
As a construction manager involved in commercial building, you will be required to work with numerous specialty contractors and union workers employed in various trades. The labor management aspect of commercial construction can be complex and requires special knowledge of labor laws and collective bargaining.
Primary Materials
Just take a look at any downtown city area, and you will see a variety of combinations of the three basic building materials associated with commercial building: steel, concrete, and glass. These three materials compose the primary materials utilized in commercial construction. Commercial buildings consist of some type of building frame or structure and an exterior cladding to cover the frame. The cladding material is usually applied as a curtain wall of brick, stone, concrete, aluminum, steel, or glass or as an exterior insulation panel. In some cases, reinforced concrete masonry (RCM) is the material of choice for commercial buildings of limited height.
curtain wall
An exterior cladding system that is supported entirely by the frame of the building, rather than being self-supporting or load-bearing.
The frame of a commercial building is designed to withstand certain loads and conditions. Architects and engineers will determine whether a steel frame or reinforced concrete frame is best suited for the building. Glass is a common cladding material for commercial buildings, although other materials are available for this purpose. In some cases, the entire building frame and cladding are concrete. There is very little wood used in commercial buildings because of the higher fire-resistive design standards required by building codes.
Interior partitions are most often constructed of light-gauge steel studs covered with drywall. Interior finishes include paint, wall coverings, carpet, tile, marble, granite, and acoustic ceilings.
Most commercial buildings have flat roofs covered with a bituminous membrane with gravel ballast or some type of a vinyl or rubber covering. Commercial buildings with sloped roofs are often covered with prefinished metal roofing.
Characteristics
Unlike the residential sector, commercial buildings are typically funded by corporations, agencies, or the government. Personal dollars are not involved, and the owners are typically not as concerned with the day-to-day operations of construction. However, they are concerned with meeting the schedule and getting their operations up and running as quickly as possible. This need for speed to market has prompted many changes in project delivery that will be discussed later in this book.
project delivery
A comprehensive process by which a building, facility, or structure is designed and constructed.
The primary focus in commercial building is actually the construction itself. If you are fascinated with tall buildings, towering cranes, and complex construction details, then commercial construction may be your niche. Depending on the size of the company, opportunities exist at the local, regional, national, or international levels.
Whereas residential construction requires an across-the-board understanding of the