engineer's NOTEBOOK Leveraging Professional Relationships Staying Ahead of the Rapidly Changing Construction Industry By Samuel Harris
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oday’s challenging and fast-paced construction environment forces engineers to take on many responsibilities in the design workflow. The continual evolution of the construction industry makes it difficult for structural design professionals to stay up-to-date on new construction materials, methods, codes, and design technology. Many manufacturers and vendors that regularly support structural engineering consultants offer assistance to help overcome the information gap on many construction applications and technology. These valuable services can help save time and allow design professionals to focus on schedule-critical tasks. There is a vast amount of educational content and design tools that construction vendors make available online via educational forums, webinars, and various software applications. Despite having all of these tools at their disposal, only a small fraction of structural engineering professionals take full advantage of them.
The Dilemma
Where to Start
Structural engineers must continually review new construction inno- One of the greatest challenges vendors and their engineering departvations to meet a variety of design requirements. These requirements ments face is moving beyond being the classification of a vendor to might include: that of a partner. Building material representatives/vendors want • Load capacity to collaborate with engineers to make them more productive and • Compliance with varying load types and serviceability cost-efficient. requirements Start by identifying your local manufacturer representative. Many • Compliance with national and local building code representatives have their P.E. license and come from a structural or requirements Civil engineering background. Invite your field representative to meet • Choosing the correct fastening solution for the application your design team face-to-face or online so that they can understand • Cost of materials and cost of installation labor your processes and projects. Your field representative can provide • Controlling design parameters such as fastener spacing, the following: base material type, and thickness • Design assistance/guidance/quality review • Jobsite considerations and challenges • Customized specification edits º Incorrectly placed or missed • RFI assistance to facilitate better fasteners design and communication of field º Contractor installer training fixes º Incorrect installations • On-site project support and Everyone in the º Environmental considerations hands-on installation training construction industry º Material availability for the installer A designer often consumes large amounts • Answers to challenging software and is extremely busy these of time conducting research, attending projcode provision questions related to days trying to meet ect meetings, and engaging in dialogue with their products the owner/architect/contractor to derive the Certain manufacturers have “preferred condeadlines and support safest and most economical solution. After sultant programs” that offer key structural their clients as design and dedicating countless hours to a project, engineering offices specific benefits such as construction roar back RFIs and re-design work can further concontinuing education, specification modifisume time and budget and possibly cause cation, design assistance, or job site support. to 2019 levels. delays. By leveraging the support services Inquire with your manufacturer’s representaof trusted manufactures and vendors, this tive if your office qualifies. Other (often free) process can be significantly streamlined. services provided to engineers might include:
46 STRUCTURE magazine
