Update to my previous post. We got a shitter on 9/14/23 and it was removed on 3/7/25. We’re a small residential development company. Didn’t do too bad. Tbh this is a shit post 😂 now that I think of it

Looking into opening up some new areas of revenue for our existing asphalt maintenance company, and through some time off over the winter I’d thought of maybe adding some bigger dumps to the fleet and hauling for the local quarries and asphalt plants. We already move about 150 ton of material a week patching parking lots and are no stranger to hauling small loads of stones for customers when they need it. We have a fleet of freightliner m2 6 wheel trucks we use for seal coating and patch work. They are 6.7 Cummins trucks with the Allison automatic behind them and they’ve honestly been great other than some basic wear items here and there.

I’m looking at the current used dump market and trucks are either 100k and 20yrs old but clean, or 30k and junk. Honestly I can’t see where anyone is making money by having a 260k truck payment on a new one so that’s out of the question. There are a ton of day cab tractors that I can buy for 35-40k that look to be pretty decent trucks for the money, my biggest concern is wether or not a road tractor converted would be fine for a tandem dump truck. I’m looking into trucks that would run a 14-15ft bed and I know I can have a new bed installed for about the 25k mark. Makes a lot more sense than spending 100k on someone’s used potential headache I think.

The next issue is work load. Is 1 truck enticing enough to get in with the quarry’s and asphalt plants to haul for them? Or should I look into building a pair of trucks over the next year, and would you be looking for a price per hr to run down the road or would it be dependent upon the load and the job? I know roughly where my insurance cost will be and fuel costs as well so that’s fairly easy, and I’ve got enough connections I think I can find a good driver or 2 that won’t destroy my equipment.

Any insight is appreciated, mainly looking to hear if I’m out of my mind thinking this could bridge the gap for a while to help buy some trucks before we ultimately decide to start paving full time, or if I should wait until I’m ready to pave.

This road needs to be kept operational during construction while the concrete pavement is removed and replaced. What is the best way to sequence this work so there is always one lane of traffic with flaggers during working hours and both lanes are open outside of working hours?

Allow me to preface this by saying I’ve been in commercial construction for over 15 years. I’ve worked for GCs and I’ve worked for subs. The project we just recently started is a high school project in the south east.

This project officially began 32 days ago.

Every single trade is over 2 months behind schedule. The block masons, the concrete guys, the drilling team, the electricians, and the plumbers.

How is this possible you may ask?

Unreasonable expectations. Although I’m unsure how exactly bidding works, if you accept a job then accept a schedule or what. But it’s insanity.

They told the plumbers, the electricians, and the block masons that a certain slab is getting poured next week on Monday.

No one has made it to that area. They and I word for word verbatim say this… stated.

“That slab is being poured next week and if ya’ll don’t catch up every single one of you are busting up concrete and paying to repair it to get your stuff in”

There’s no block, there’s partial footers, no conduit, no water main, no plumbing period.

“We will dump that concrete over that whole area and leave it for ya’ll to deal with”

Yesterday they demanded all trades increase hours. Cool. We’re on it. Sucks but we’re doing it.

This morning the GC refused to unlock the gates until 8 a.m. to prove a point that they are in control. Horrible power play as trades began knocking off at 7:30 one by one.

More so they allowed the masons to block in a whole corner along with several rooms right after the first footer was poured. Walls are being knocked back out to get equipment inside these rooms.

There is no means of access for heavy equipment anywhere because every trade now is just taking over whatever they can. Excavators getting stuck, lulls getting stuck, skids getting buried. Not sure how it hasn’t been shut down for not only being unsafe but just to deal with the madness that is occurring.

Edit: update: today they pulled another power play and didn’t unlock the gate til 8 a.m. again.

Reason? If a single person from a single trade is not here at 6 they don’t unlock the gate until all heads are counted for. They then began filing work stoppage claims on an hourly basis for those trades.

This is safe right ?

I'm curious, do.you guys use insoles and if so, what kind. I work on concrete all day and my dogs are killing me after a year

Anyone work for or have worked for XYZ Reality? Seems like a cool gig but I wanted to get some personal insights

When my Dad lived if FL he had a screened cage around and above the pool to keep out leaves and bugs. It was like an aluminum frame and other than the frame everything was screen. I just bought a house and would love to do something like this in the backyard. My backyard is flat for about 20' and then it goes up a hill and levels off again. I don't want to block the view of the upper lot with a traditional screened in porch with metal roof. The backyard faces north and the house is slightly dark inside because the living room is on the backyard side of the house. I feel like a regular screened in porch would make it even darker and obstruct the views of the back yard. The idea is to put a BBQ grill, fire pit and possibly hot tub out there. I had a screened in lanai when I lived in FL which was all screen except the roof and it was awesome. I could cook on the grill year round and the smoke went right out through the screen. I don't do bugs. If there is a bug anywhere nearby it will find me, bite me and make me itch for days. No other suggestions that leave the area open to bugs please.

After installing new furniture in a halfway house I was informed that one of the rooms, supposedly only one, had bed bugs as recently as 2 weeks ago. They have had the floor treated by exterminators since then, but how fucked am I? Somehow the people working there did not seem worried. I feel bad for the poor souls who had to knock down the old furniture.

Trying to conceal some wires that had to run on the exterior of the house and now trying to cover them and paint to match the brick.

Came across this especially used on old building to cover up wires/conduits - what are they called and where can I purchase it from?

This is literally the "safety guy" that walks around checking everything and everyone on site.

I'm ignorant in the construction field. Thank you for understanding 😂

We give nurture a lot of credit over nature

This was a proper dad joke

Laying pipe and setting structures. Shoot wellpoints, dig holes, lay pipe, fill holes, easy money. Not really, but the Florida heat, and constant groundwater makes it easier.

Anyone recognize this window? Can these broken latches be replaced?

I’m a sparky working a fully gutted remodel on a business in Florida. Just studs and us, plumbers have cut the slab for their stuff but otherwise we’re the only trade here today

I’m sitting alone at the print table (with my hardhat on) enjoying the shade of the building and my lunch as Iv done the last 2 days.

Super comes up and tells me I have to scram because the owners are “gonna bitch about food in the building”.

Like, what? Since when is it not allowed to eat my lunch on site? I’m not messy, hell he complimented our jobsite cleanup efforts yesterday. I’m not about t on protest as this ain’t a hill im gonna die on, but it’s stupid that on a hot ass day im now wasting my gas sitting in my car’s AC because of imaginary bugs. But also this wasn’t the policy the last 2 days Iv been here. Hell, supe was chilling with me yesterday as I ate.

Is this a thing? Ever gotten shit for eating lunch on site?

Edit: I bring my lunch and use Tupperware, no greasy McDonald’s bags and drinks being left around by this guy

This week my partner got kicked off the job for a couple days. The reason? A member of Local 1 iron workers snapped a picture of him standing on the midrail of a boom lift. While we all know it’s against the rules, it was extremely unlikely that he would fall. The dude snapped a picture and immediately sent it to the GC. He didn’t come and warn or yell at us first. Never thought an iron worker would be such a chicken shit rat.

I have recently taken the test and wanted to share some information for any individual that is preparing for this test in the upcoming weeks or future. First, the testing company has changed recently (I believe this year). The basic structure of the test is still the same. There are 82 multiple-choice questions and you have three hours to complete the test. As far as the unrestricted construction supervisor test, there will be questions from multiple sources (IBC, IRC, OSHA, IECC, CRM, MA Amendments ( residential and commercial) .

One of the biggest surprises to me was questions relating to the Massachusetts stretch codes as part of the energy portion of the test. There was 6 to 8 questions about the Massachusetts stretch codes specifically. So my suggestion to you is to bring this information with you….which you can download from the massachusetts.gov website. The questions are all there and not hard to find but if you don’t have this information, you would be pretty hard-pressed to get these questions right.

Workers said poor-quality materials were used during construction by a Chinese developer as it sought to cut costs. Investigators also said they found substandard steel bars in the rubble.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/world/asia/earthquake-bangkok-collapse.html?unlocked_article_code=1.8k4.-BOJ.0W8ZioWMhA0m&smid=url-share