Garrett Hood, a 25-year-old construction worker from Monroe, N.C., just earned $5,000 in cold cash and a new Ford 4x4 truck. Oh yeah, he's also this year's World's Best Bricklayer. Slide Show Photo: Tudor Van Hampton Garrett Hood, 25, breaks new record for trowel time. Related Links: VIDEO: Masonry at Warp Speed "I'm tired, but I'm feeling great," said Hood, holding a shiny trophy in front of his new truck at the annual Spec Mix Bricklayer 500, held Feb. 3 at the World of Concrete in Las Vegas. Hood now becomes a two-time winner of the national masonry challenge and
Chicago may have lost the 2016 Olympic Games, but the global competitive spirit on the jobsite is still alive. A Windy City contractor is test-driving the world’s largest Chinese concrete pump—and the first of its size to appear on a U.S. construction project. Photo: Tudor Van Hampton Concrete mixers feed the hopper. Photo: Tudor Van Hampton Tom Rutkowski at the controls. The pump, manufactured by Changsha-based Sany Heavy Industry Co. Ltd., is wrapping up its U.S. debut at the site of the roughly $1-billion Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, under construction in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood and
A new book coming this spring from the U.S. Green Concrete Council, a for-profit unit of American Concrete Institute, calculates the "green-ness" of the world's most consumed building material. Photo: American Concrete Institute Produced at a rate of about 25 billion tons per year and growing, concrete requires a tremendous amount of energy to produce, transport, build and maintain, and it contributes to the world's carbon-dioxide emissions. But it also provides benefits. The book weighs and balances the issues to help designers make more efficient use of the material. "Wise use of this material can make a significant contribution to
People who are watching the industry barometers of new and used equipment sales expect the market to make slight comebacks this year after a tough 2009. But few are predicting the market to post sizable gains until 2011 or 2012. Source: Machinery Trader. Monthly Average, All Categories, Without High/Low. Auction Prices Overall new-equipment categories are expected to grow 5% in the U.S. this year, followed by 15% gains in 2011 and 14% growth in 2012, says the Milwaukee-based Association of Equipment Manufacturers. Previously, machinery sales slumped 43% last year and 8.6% in 2008, the trade group says. “Even with a
Tension over crane inspection and safety has been playing out in downtown Chicago, where city building officials for nearly a year tried to force a supertall building developer to remove an idle tower crane from a mothballed project. Photo: Tudor Van Hampton / ENR Crane atop stalled project in Chicago came down after safety concerns. Related Links: Crane Owners Step Up Inspections to Meet Tighter Quality Controls Rebuild Shop Offers Safe Alternative to Replacement The 1,047-ft-tall Waterview Tower was set to become the luxurious Shangri-La hotel, but work halted in 2008 at the 25th floor due to a lending freeze.
In 2007, a contractor worked itself into a pickle while building a Midwestern wind farm. There, a Demag CC2600 was being walked from one turbine pad to another. As the 500-ton crawler crane moved down a slight hill, it suddenly tipped forward. The counterweight overcame the upperworks, causing the boom to jackknife and crash to the ground. Photo: WHECO Corp. A crawler crane that tipped over on a wind farm in 2007 was repaired in about five months. It is shown from the scene of the accident Photo: WHECO Corp. Its arrival in the shop Related Links: Crane Owners Step
Hanging more than 200 ft over a jobsite in down- town Kansas City, Mo., James Hague doesn’t seem to notice the amount of air separating him from the people below. The senior technician fiddles with a dial gauge that measures the amount of play in the crane turntable, the giant gear that rotates the jib. “A bearing could go bad,” he says, suspended from a full-body harness. “And that’s something we want to know before the top falls off.” Slide Show Photo: Tudor Van Hampton / ENR Hague inspects bolts and pins on a J.E. Dunn tower crane working in
Like a protective parent, Mike Betz winces a little when people call the D7E a “hybrid” tractor. The diesel-electric dozer may have hybrid-like qualities.
Textura founders Eichhorn and Allin (right) streamline how contractors get paid. Shortly after PWC sold its consulting arm to IBM in 2002, William Eichhorn, a former e-commerce consultant at PWC, came to Allin with an unusual idea
Unlike the high cost of life and limb, accident prevention is a less tangible thing to measure. But Aviad Shapira has found a new way to quantify risks on construction sites.
