/ Page 5 - Articles by Rachel Burger

If only structures were easy to section off and build. You could section off that maze of a third floor and build the terrace before building the foundation, or lay out bathrooms before concrete is even set. Unfortunately, as we all know, construction is a sequential process. You can’t tackle the roof before the first twenty floors are built.

Did you know that in a country like the United States, construction waste accounts for about one third of all refuse nationwide? With a statistic like this, it’s clear that even modest efforts to make better use of debris or existing building materials can make significant changes. Even if you are starting from a greenfield site, construction waste will always occur. (Cardboard, plastic packaging, and excess building materials are just some examples.)

Renting construction equipment  is a popular trend that’s growing in the construction industry. But rentals can only go so far—sometimes, it makes more sense to buy. According to Ritchie Bros, the five factors you should consider: your current financial situation, the cost of owning versus renting, the length of a project or job frequency, equipment availability, and fleet management and inventory control.

Two years ago marked the beginning of the “Ed-Tech Startup Boom,” according to the EdTech Times. The trend won’t cease for many years to come. CB Insights notes that ed-tech venture capital is booming. In 2009, VCs put down $385 million into the industry. In the following five years, that number jumped 385% to $1.86 billion. And while some are concerned about a potential ed-tech bubble, there is a greater, and perhaps more important question that others are asking.

In a survey of over 70,000 business owners, CEOs, managers, and procurement professionals between 2011 and 2014, Purchasing.com found that heavy equipment rentals are increasing across the nation. During that time period rentals for compact truck loaders shot up 925%, wheel loader rentals skyrocketed 273%, and forklift rentals jumped 90%.

McGraw Hill Construction estimates that up to 48% of nonresidential construction projects will be green in 2015. For those in the construction industry that want to take advantage of the wealth of green building opportunity that both exists now and will grow in the future, becoming a LEED Green Associate is a great step in the right direction.

What do Dragon Age: Inquisition, The Last of Us, and Destiny all have in common? I’m going to be holed up playing all of them this winter on my new Playstation 4 console.

So much of project management is grounded in how well your team performs. Before budgets, Gantt charts, and risk analysis, project managers need to make sure that they have an efficient process.

Remember in Season Five of The Office, Michael Scott left Dunder Mifflin to start his own company? Remember how he and his employees sat around the phone waiting for someone to call? And how after they didn’t get initial sales, they ended up underbidding Dunder Mifflin so much that their company could never make ends meet?