Summary

“Construction Engineering Today,” by Robert McTavish and Robert Stallard, overall is a modern outline on the methods and focal points for construction engineers to successfully complete a project in today’s world. The skills required to do so are revealed in the piece and include understanding new standards and requirements, the dynamics of today’s technology, and creating and communicating work plans effectively. These are the main components of being a successful construction engineer, in addition to running a successful build of a project.

 The authors begin by introducing the primary focuses of the construction engineer in the past and how they have expanded to solve more present day problems. The focus of the construction engineer of the past was solely time, money, and safety of the construction project. The main question a past construction engineer would answer would be, “Under our budget, what quality of project and with what materials, and how fast can we finish it while maintaining a safe workplace?” Today, they’ve come to also include emphases on the environment and community that will be affected during the project. These include traffic phasing, noise monitoring, and attending community meetings, along with following new environmental standards and requirements.  All of the changing environmental and social requirements must be added to a construction engineer’s concerns to help solve present day problems other than just completing a build.

Technology also has brought immense change to the construction world. With the existence of the internet, more information is readily available for use by everyone, which changes the way we find a solution. McTavish and Stallard state, “the issue is no longer obtaining information, it is deciding what information is relevant to generating a solution” (2). Advancement in technology has also created more efficient and cost effective design solutions for projects. Which in turn, allows for less required safety measures needed to be taken when implementing a solution. Construction Engineers need to be able use and understand this technology and the “assumptions” made within many programs. These assumptions are underlying calculations made by the programs themselves that others may not be aware of. The engineer must make a priority of communicating these assumptions to others working on the project. With technology changing daily, construction engineers must find and understand solutions to specific problems and successfully communicate them to his team.

            Work plans are another resourceful tool used in the construction engineering business. It is the job of the construction engineer and others around them to create such a thing. Work plans are documents that address the complexities of issues or operations of a project, and often change as they move forward in completing the build. Each work plan includes each of the following; a step by step sequence of operations, the details of the operation, or any information needed to complete a specific step, a jobsite safety template, a quality control checklist that includes inspections and testing, a work assignment list, and the budget and schedule, or cost and timing of completing the task in other words. Successful construction engineers must be able to complete a process to create an adequate work plan on many parts of the entire building project.

            The process used to create one of many work plans is very tedious and ongoing process. Firstly, the construction engineer must begin by defining the problem. They then determine the scope, constraints, and requirements of the individual work plans on site. The scope is the start and end points of the task, while the constraints and requirements are obtained from project specifications, plans, permits, physical conditions, and the budget and schedule. Following this, the engineer then needs to develop a solution. They do this by revisiting the method in the budget and plan, and if it meets the standards of constraints and requirements, it can be used as a basis in finding another similar method for a solution. After, the construction engineer has to seek input from field personnel and other team members, such as the designers and estimators, to find the proper solution. The last step in creating an effective work plan is to finalize it. The plan must be presented to contractors, clients, and consultants for review and revision. Once it is revised, it can go into effect, and is communicated throughout the project on a daily basis via coordination meetings, where it is used to assign the day’s activities and individual roles and tasks, or updated and revised again.

            In today’s modern world of construction, it is essential that a construction engineer graduate with the tools they need to adequately perform and plan building projects along with understanding the many smaller, important tasks that fall in their responsibilities. These responsibilities include understanding technological development, new site standards and requirements, creating and implementing work plans, and most importantly communicating the meaning and importance of work plans effectively to others on the project. The authors of “Construction Engineering Today” successfully highlight and explain these topics and skills in this literary work.


 McTavish, R. and Stallard, R. (2011). “Construction Engineering Today” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 137, SPECIAL ISSUE: Construction Engineering: Opportunity and Vision for Education, Practice, and Research, 724-729.