Swimming with Sharks

Battle on Big Chico Creek

Public Art:
Dumbed-Down and Decorative

Countdown in Reno

How does our Garden Grow?

Termites, Travel, and Turmoil

uring fall 1998 and spring 1999, four teams of CSU, Chico construction management students geared up for the twelfth annual Associated Schools of Construction Region VI Competition in Reno. This event, famous for its grueling schedule, asks students to replicate in a stunningly short amount of time—less than twenty-four hours—the process by which a real construction firm organizes, schedules, and bids an actual project. The following reconstructed diary is an observer's account of the Design/Build team's experience. Thanks to Professor Mike Borzage for his assistance and also to students Marie Patterson, Andy Hewett, Darren Lindsey, Allan Hill, Steve Camden, and Doug Barbero for tolerating my scribbling presence among them.

11/8/98 I have always liked the word avid, its sense of eager hunger and no distractions, as in "wolves feeding on an elk carcass, avidly." It's Sunday afternoon and I'm spending it in Plumas Hall, home of the Construction Management Program, watching eight students, who may or may not be a Reno-bound team come February, avidly pore over a document only slightly smaller than my telephone directory. It's a "problem" from a previous Reno competition: partial plans and specifications for a major construction project, in this case a law school remodel at some unspecified—but actual—campus in the West. Not only will the law school get a major face-lift, an adjacent dorm must be demolished or substantially revamped for extra office space. This is the first time several of these students have seen a sample problem. It's a beast, and as soon as they examine it in a general fashion, each of them stakes out a particular part to chew on.

In Reno, teams have traditionally been given twenty-four hours in which to come up with a solution—a design, a schedule, a cost breakdown, and a bid—which they present to a panel of judges who are, perversely or ingeniously, representatives from the company that performed the job. In theory, at least, not only can the judges recognize a brilliant student solution, they're equally adept at spotting an artful dodge.

Since this group can meet only part of an afternoon today, Marie has suggested they read quickly through the specs to identify the hot spots. For the last ten minutes, the only sounds have been pages turning and the soft squeak of highlighter pens marking text.

"I hear most of the other schools don't do this until the week before Reno," someone finally says.

"Well, I'd rather know now what we're up against," answers another.

"Why don't we just read a novel?"

But form follows funk. Soon they're jabbering gangbusters about the job at hand. What impresses me is how quickly they make it their job.

Before long, two students are at the board roughing out a tentative work schedule, two others are discussing the finer points of moving office staff from one building to another, and Andy, to whom most design questions have so far been directed, appears to be mulling architectural options.

t's the design part of the problem that tempted me to follow Design/Build, which is the only one of the four teams whose challenge in Reno, I have been told, will likely include an opportunity to alter the appearance of the project. Thanks to the recent introduction of an architecture option in the Construction Management Program, students at CSU, Chico can now take courses in building design, architectural history, and computer-assisted drawing, along with the traditional classes in cost estimation, value engineering, building codes, and business law. The other three teams—Commercial, Residential, and Heavy/Civil (roads and bridges)—will work on buildings or structures whose features are given to them. Not that they'll have an easier time. Their problems tend to get very dicey around the issue of subcontractor bids, which the judges throw at the teams the last few minutes before their solutions are due. Ratcheting up the stress level is SOP with the judges, from what I've been told.

11/11/98 Back in Plumas, the group is missing a few folks and has a new arrival, Steve, veteran of two previous Reno competitions. The energy level, so high at the first meeting, seems to have dropped a notch. After an hour or so, Steve reminds the group that they should be much further along in the process by now. To which somebody retorts, "We'd rather argue." But gradually the whiteboard fills with rough sketches of building elevations—how the two structures might look from various angles-and my confidence in their ability to work together is restored.

eanwhile, I've been learning a little about the Design/Build process, how it differs from traditional construction management and why so many building firms are now swinging in this direction. Basically, it comes down to those twin American obsessions, time and money. By working under one roof, designers and builders are less likely to unpleasantly surprise each other out in the field and, at the same time, can expedite whatever changes the project owner may desire. (Marble floors in the vomitory? No problem, sir!) The improved rapport pays off in lots of other ways, too. These days many projects come with a "GMP" stipulation-a guaranteed maximum price. Builders bring the project in for bid price or eat the overruns. Builders are also frequently required to pay something called "liquidated damages" if they don't complete a project by a specified date. On big jobs, $10,000 of liquidated damages per day isn't considered particularly usurious. In such a climate, partnership obviously makes a lot of sense.

2/13/99 Uh, oh. Here we are, less than two weeks from the big meet, and only Marie, Allan, and Andy have bothered to show for this meeting.

2/15/99 Hey, the whole team is here! And they certainly look like a winning bunch to me. Borzage has dropped by Plumas with some tips for Reno (and a helpful handout) and is asking them to consider such things as who will mediate between the designers and construction folks in the inevitable conflicts that will arise. Marie has been chosen team leader. Not only has she made all the meetings so far, she has a quiet authority she isn't shy about wielding if necessary. When I leave, the group is examining another previous Reno problem Steve has contributed, a state office building with a $100 million GMP. Yeesh.

2/17/99 One week to go. The team has come up with a name, finally—CDB, for Chico Design/Build—and Allan's been working on what sounds like a spiffy logo. Also, CDB has learned which construction company will be sponsoring their problem this year—a pretty big company, it turns out. Hotels, hospitals, museums—you name it, this firm's built it. Not surprisingly, CDB has already logged some hours on-line researching the company's many projects. The team has decided the problem may well turn out to be a particular department store in downtown San Francisco. Andy has downloaded the firm's rendering of the store and made a 3-D replica on his computer. One mouse click and we can see all the structural steel. Another click or two and he can face the exterior with granite. Still another and he's able to move the entire thing to a beach in the Caribbean. Really, it's pretty amazing.

The other news is that teams this year will be asked to reach their solutions in a mere sixteen hours, not the traditional twenty-four. It seems like an impossible crunch to me, but the CDBers here today appear pretty sanguine. Marie is typing up a list of jobs likely to be required by a large building project—foundation, footings, framing, drywall, roofing—as she and Darren ponder the CDB corporate profile. "I think we need to have our own yard and trucks," he says.

"We don't own our own quarries, do we?" asks Marie.

"No. We should have in-house mechanics and welders, though, and our own job trailers."

As they flesh out their mental image of CDB, I can almost hear a soundtrack-trucks starting and stopping, concrete slurrying down a metal chute, hammers and nail guns, the whine of saws...

2/24/99Ê5 p.m. Reno, Nevada. Check-in time for the sixty-one western teams competing this year. The host hotel is a milling mass of jacked-up students. Photographer Jeff Teeter and I have stopped by to document CDB dismantling its room —yup, tearing it apart. Part of the deal the schools cut with the hotel allows students to remove beds and TVs and other extraneous furniture from the guest rooms, to take doors off their hinges and turn them into tables, and to bring in computers, printers, and office supplies. Each team gets two rooms—one for work space, the other for resting up. It's hard to imagine any of these folks sleeping soundly tonight, but I hope they try. It's going to be a long one tomorrow.

2/25/99Ê6:30 a.m. Design/Build teams have filled the Sierra Room. I am pleased to note that CDB looks as ready for the next sixteen hours as any other team. Here come the men from the sponsoring firm in black polo shirts, looking somewhat intimidating. A portent? Could be—it appears that the D/B problem this year will be two-phase, requiring that the teams submit one set of materials by 8:30 this evening—including written discussion of controls for schedule, cost, technical and quality elements, safety, administration, fictional resumŽs, and Equal Employment Opportunity compliance—and a second set by midnight. They will also give two presentations—one tomorrow, one the next day. The gruel factor has definitely been adjusted upward. But that's not the bad part. Turns out the problem's not a department store but a four-story, 400,000-square-foot historic building. Its architectural and historic features must be preserved. So much for design!

7:30 a.m. Room 301, CDB's "office." Part of the team is out making copies of the specs, a seriously imposing document that looks to be somewhere in excess of two hundred pages. The teams have until 10:30 this morning to prepare formal questions for the sponsor. This means that CDB is going to have to digest a whole lot of information in a very short time. Answers will be printed by the sponsor for all the teams to read. Andy and Doug spread the blueprints on the floor to get as familiar with the structure as possible. When the rest of the team returns, each person settles down with a copy of the specs and reads—avidly.

9:30 a.m. Sounds of a team scrambling to formulate some good questions: Where's the geo-technical report? I dunno, I don't see one. That'd be cutting LONG-ways, we're looking at it THIS way. Here's the sub-basement. This is stair five. Where's the basement? It should be right here. Where's the ramp up? We need the basement! Where are we as far as seismic?

A focused talk on seismic stability ensues. Soil type, the water table, the feasibility of column isolators—all get attention. The building's south wall appears to be settling differentially, a potentially expensive situation.

10:30 a.m. The Sierra Room. CDB submits three Requests For Information, including whether the south wall failed due to differential settling. The men in black promise answers in approximately two hours.

1:00 p.m. No answers yet. Steve and Darren ponder types of scaffolding. CDB will need to install new windows, and while they're up there, they might as well re-point the masonry and chemical-wash the building. But should the scaffolding be cabled down from the roof or built up from the ground? Allan, Doug, and Marie assess water needs.

Mid-afternoon. No answers still. The team debates, somewhat testily, the fictional corporate hierarchy it has created. Darren finally solves the issue by adjusting the organizational diagram.

Late afternoon. The sheaf of answers has arrived. The mood in 301 improves considerably. Even though the building turns out to have lead paint, asbestos tile, and water-damaged elevator equipment, the CDBers are upbeat.

6:30 p.m. Two hours to Packet A turn-in time and fingers are flying on the keyboards. Empty soda cans and pizza boxes litter the room.

8:30 p.m. CDB submits Packet A on time and now has a mere three and one-half hours to prepare Packet B, containing the cost bid, preliminary schedule proposal, general requirements cost, and something called a "critical path method schedule." Anyway, the scuttlebutt is that only half of the teams have met the initial deadline.

11:26 p.m. The tension is palpable. Allan and Steve argue over an essential document that somehow got lost and must be retyped, and Marie still has a minimum of 125 items to plug into the schedule she's been working on. Doug is the only one who looks, well, serene. He seems to have realized that the work will only be done when it's done, that worrying serves no purpose. I step outside the room to see how CSU, Chico's other teams are holding up and encounter Dolly Brown, from Residential, pacing the hall. "We have everything done," she says, brow furrowed. "We're just waiting for the subs' bids." Heavy/Civil and Commercial have their doors closed. Back in 301, I'm starting to fade. I find it's the small moves that really attract my attention, such as the care with which Doug is aligning pages for the 3-hole punch.

Midnight. The Sierra Room. Design/Build teams are
filing in, both hyped and exhausted. Most of the CDB team is here. Everything is ready except for the print-out of the schedule. One of the black shirts is asking teams, one by one, when they would like to present tomorrow. When he addresses CSU, Chico, Steve answers with no hesitation, "High noon," the first slot on the roster. "Gutsy move," murmurs Borzage. Yes, it is. And an avid one.

he next two days were a blur of presentations. Jeff and I hustled to catch as many of the CSU, Chico teams as possible. The judges praised CDB for a solid consideration of the issues, commending project manager Marie for her assurance the group would finish the job on schedule. Darren's explanation of the concrete schedule was positively masterful. That CSU, Chico's teams did not tote home their usual assortment of awards this year came as a surprise to me, but that's putting the focus in the wrong place. What I carried away was a vision of several typical CSU, Chico students-bright, dynamic, and earnest-exerting spectacular effort and learning much about their field and themselves in the process. That kind of experience outweighs the heaviest trophy. Besides, there's always next year...

by Beth Spencer, University Publications