Today at SEPI, I met with a construction project manager, and we drove about 2 hours to a meeting with multiple contractors where they discussed the progress of a community center that was being built. The project was basically completed, but they were just talking about finishing touches on the building. We spent the rest of our day driving back. Fun times!
Today was the final day for me at Crowder Construction Company. I enjoyed the many various activities I completed during my stay. On this final day, however, I was motivated to complete as much of a two-day job as I could. I teamed up with Ryan to concur the laborious task of calculating the volume of #57 stone-gravel needed to be placed underneath the structure. We began this task by finding the area of the 20 something sided structure, which would then allow us to find the estimated area. After that, we would determine the areas of any gaps underneath the structure that will not need #57 gravel. The area took us around 3 hours to complete and the volume took another 3. This task was not easy as the computer went into the Blue Screen Of Death and refused to work properly. Despite the setback of the limited calculator access, we achieved a 1.3% margin of error compared to a 25 year professional! This was a huge accomplishment and a great way to end my internship at Crowder.
Today was a surprise as I did not expect the employees to get back till tomorrow. I said my hellos and went to work on a new project called “Lincoln”. The difference between Lincoln and the other ones I’ve done is that I dealt with the demolition on this project. This was a fun and tedious task as the site work blueprints were very poorly drawn. Most of the pages were disconnected and the scale was not on the sheets I used. Ultimately, I found my way and began deconstructing the landscape mentally to determine if any concrete, asphalt, or curb/gutters would need to be destroyed in order to access a pipe or dig underneath an existing building or what not. 
After I completed the estimations for the demolition, I calculated the length of the Silt Fence to determine the final calculations of the day.
Today was very relaxed and quick as most of the office was out on a site visit. While the majority was gone, I stayed back due to age regulations (you have to be eighteen to visit a site). One person I spent the majority of the time with was Therese Dean, the head of the Co-Op program. She gave me a lecture on what companies look for on resumes, how to formulate one, what to do at career fair to present myself the best I can, and how to target my extra-curricular activities to my mechanical engineering interests. All in all, this was extremely helpful in teaching me the realistic side of the resume and the practicality of some of the information. After this, I had the privaledge of seeing some old resumes to see if I caught on and then was revealed that I understood the basic premise of it well. Every student I would’ve accepted was on the giant wall of Co-Ops. I look forward to what tomorrow may bring as it will be the first full day as a seventeen-year-old.
Today’s morning started out slow as most of the company was out packing their gear for a site visit in Virginia tomorrow through Thursday. About 30 minutes into the day, however, Ms. Allen showed up to stop by and say hi. It was nice getting to see some CA people for once ;). We talked about what I was doing and how things have been. After that, she head out and I began my work with Ripkin and a new mentor, Tom. He is the specialists for piping and valves and gave us the initial task of researching key terms and phrases involving this small but important area. The distinctions between each item was so small that the studying took Ripkin and I about 2-3 hours!
After this tedious, yet helpful assignment, Ripkin and I went out into “the junk field” that contains all of the old parts used to demonstrate the works of their materials to EVERY COMPANY they interact with. Despite the awful rust and perfectly placed piles of wood that magically break on every step, it was fun seeing what actually gets put into projects.
Day 4 at Crowder was my most tedious day yet as I had to go through a large book of detailed specifics and reports on a project called Shamrock located at Sanford in Clayton County, GA. My task was to analyze the +1000 page book to find any specifics about any excerpts detailing the need for a certified engineer, manufacturer, or a warranty exceeding 1 year.
After this, I worked on estimates for a bio-chemical plant individually for the first time! I calculated the concrete suspending slabs costs for one of the three tankers in the last few hours I had. When I come back Monday, I will begin to witness some of the bids go down. Ultimately, I have learned so much about the different divisions, estimating techniques, contracting supplies from smaller contractors, and much more.
To start off my first day at SEPI Engineering and Construction, I met with Ms. Karen Crawford, my initial contact at the engineering firm. She took me on a tour of the two main buildings that the firm operates in and explained the responsibilities and purpose of each department in them. I then met with Mr. John Wolf, who is the CEI (Construction Engineering and Inspection) Construction Services Manager at SEPI. We initially planned to go walk around and review some construction projects that were underway in the field, but with the weather not cooperating and calling for rain all day, we sadly were unable to do so. Luckily, Mr. Wolf had an exciting meeting to go in Morrisville. We were meeting with the town manager of Morrisville and several other contractors and business partners of SEPI to discuss the progress of a project that they were working on. It was really interesting to experience the side of engineering that you might not think about too often, which is the business and political aspect, and how much money, risk, paperwork, planning, etc. is involved with construction projects. I was warned ahead of time that the meeting might get a little confrontational and aggressive, as its purpose was to meet with a representative from a construction company that was hired by the town to construct a railroad and to widen the roads in specific areas, and they weren’t doing a very good job. The construction crew was severely behind schedule, costing the town and business partners a lot of money in liquidated damages, and unreliable in terms of following plans and sticking to their word. The meeting did get a little intense at times, but that just reinforced the importance and gravity of the “construction” that takes place behind the scenes, not just out in the field. I’m excited to see what’s in store for me in the upcoming days at SEPI Engineering and Construction!
Day 3 was a lot more relaxed as our division completed the preparation for the bids. We began the day by inputting the final tweaks and changes into ProContractor to alert the small companies of our need for materials such as concrete, plywood, mortar, etc.
Once we completed this task, we reviewed the contract company to get a sense of what kind of work the organization does. This helps Crowder complete their final report and establish that the project at hand was either a civil or environmental task rather than a commercial one. Overall, the job only took up the first few hours of the day so the other half after lunch was a fun little project.
After the lunch break, Ripkin and I worked on a task given to us by his mentor, Kevin. We had to calculate the cost of a shed to put in someone’s back yard. Once we completed this with a breeze, we ended off the day a bit early. All in all, our efficiency paid off.
Today marked the completion of a big project (a contract bid price of 25 million dollars). My second Co-Op partner, Ryan, and I calculated the estimated value of concrete needed to build a wastewater treatment pump facility. Overall, the day was similar to the one past but the actual calculations for this material is much more complex. The masonry determined earlier today came out to a price of $2.36 million so the room for profit was slim unless the concrete could be found at a cheap price from subcontractors.
After we completed the concrete required per square foot, we checked on a bid website to find out which companies could supply concrete at the price we want. This process lasted us about 90 minutes because of the extent of detail needed to explain the specifics of each type of concrete, the needed preparation and storage, etc. As seen in the photo below, the application ProContractor took up most of our day.
Today was my first day at Crowder Construction Co. I began the day by entering through the glass doors to be met by Therese Dean, the head of Co-Op students. After greeting her, she took me on a brief tour around the office and a crash course on Crowder’s history with builds as large as $100 million contracts! Once this 15 minute segment was completed, I met two of the three Co-Ops, Ripkin and Ryan. Today was with Ripkin in estimating.
Ripkin and I began around 9:00 with another crash course on how to figure out totals on estimates and how the contract bidding works. We promptly started calculating surface area of a wastewater purifier and injector about the size of a 3 story house. This entailed many lines of work to ultimately figure out how much the paint will going to cost. The numbers were large and the time needed was hefty but we completed the task at hand. This first day experienced taught me the basics for what I will utilize for the next two weeks. Despite the cubicles being so stereotypical (as seen in the photo below), I enjoyed my 7 hours at Crowder USA.
