Talk:17 Trades
A Jobsite i was at, and which the non-electricians i saw really had a flow going and quality work (also all by one company, the benefits/downsides of Vertical Integration and so on not relevant for this rant) had the following system:
- Electricians
- PV installer and Garage Door Installer could probably be merged into this with the right training (of course if not using Subcontractors and all the aforementioned vertical integration rant)
- Plumbers
- "General Construction"
- These workers did the Renovation Demolition, Framing, (worked around and waited for Electrical+Plumbing+HVAC then) Added Fiberglass Batting Insulation , Screwed the Drywall Down, and handled misc other tasks (Putting down Temporary Floor Protection Materials ( Ram Board etc), taking measurements, moving materials around, etc)
- "Finishers" which were the Following Roles Mixed Together:
- "Drywall Finisher" - after the general construction workers screwed down the drywall, the finishers came in and went up all the Drywall Finish Levels (i don't remember if the closet-office area was lower, like a 3 or so, but otherwise was probably 4-5 so i saw all the "steps" )
- Finish carpenter (Added Millwork etc)
- Painter - stain, paint
- Flooring/Carpet Installer (this *might* have been another company for one part where they brought in the materials? but nearly all of the prep/cleanup was done by the same crew
- It was Glue Down Carpet , i need to dig in photos to find the brands of all the stuff
- Also unsure on the name, but it is that "High Traffic Low Pile Carpet" type stuff
- Also had some sort of spongy Carpet Padding / Carpet Cushion
Otherwise everything sounds about right
We had 1-2 Build Managers. They also double as "Safety Snob" (for lack of a better word, safety inspector or industrial hygienist maybe? Basically the "making sure everyone goes home alright, and with the same amount of fingers/toes" role)
It probably depends on the size of the Jobsite of course, but i personally feel two was nice as one could manage Phone Calls / Dealing with any messes (Materials Not Arriving on Time, Change Orders , Access Control etc), while the other could consult worker's questions and all that. Also redundancy for bathroom breaks (because of course the moment they walk out is when the mess starts lol, talk about Murphy's Law !
If a site is going to have people who have different native languages and/or some people are not Bilingual (assuming there are only two nativelangs!) i think a "Translator" sub-specialty would be good to have documented. ESPECIALLY if doing the Hard Hat Color Code System / something similar with shirts or whatever. Basically Crew A needs Crew B to do something that Charades can't convey, you look for the person, they walk over and can translate.
The jobsite i was on had a bunch of spanish speaking people, although most were at least partially bilingual. Granted i can do survivable amounts of Spanish myself, and would try and use it if it was one of the days where there weren't that many Bilingual people there that day. Also after the first week or so of the multi-month project i knew who to look for and grab, but i think especially on larger jobs this could be a nice feature. Also even from a cold calculated standpoint can reduce some "time wastage".
I just wanted to jot all this down, and share what i have learned in the short bit i have been in the industry (ESPECIALLY that one large commercial renovation job!). I'd love to hear what any other people on-wiki know about / have seen along these lines.
(Also link i found in looking for people discussing this: https://www.drywalltalk.com/threads/carpender-or-a-drywaller.3853/ )
--Eric (talk) 01:58, 7 March 2024 (UTC)
