Newsletter of the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University
Students from Texas A&M's Department of Construction Science had a strong showing at the Feb. 13-15, Associated Schools of Construction/TEXO Region V Student Competition and Awards Banquet in Dallas.
ASC's Region V consists of 10 construction science schools in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, but competitions are open to interested students at any university. TEXO is a construction association representing commercial contractors in North and East Texas.
An Aggie team consisting of seniors Nick Beuke, Trace Jacoby and John McLaughlin, juniors Stephen Hatley and Robert Tomlinson and sophomore Morgan Hall scored a third-place finish in the contest's Commericial Building division with their proposal for construction and renovation at a monastery of Carmelite nuns in Arlington, Texas.
At the contest, the team, coached by George Eustace and Ron Workman, senior lecturers in construction science, and sponsored by San Antonio's Joeris General Contractors, had 16 hours to assemble a proposal that included:
"In years past, the contest was a project that had already been built, so you could go to the Internet and find out how much it cost and how long it took; coming up with the estimate and the schedule was fairly easy because you could sort of know what the numbers were," said Eustace.
Contest sponsor JE Dunn Construction, which is working with the nuns on the project, did things differently this year, he said.
"The construction and renovation haven't been done yet, so no one knew what it would cost, and no one knew how long it should take," said Eustace. "Nor did we have all the drawings, but that's typical for a preconstruction-type situation."
Eustace said JE Dunn has been working with the nuns on a preconstruction basis for approximately a year, developing the project's scope and cost estimates to come up with a guaranteed maximum price.
"Our team's guaranteed maximum price was within 20% of their GMP, which is pretty significant when you have 16 hours to work with and you don't have a complete set of drawings," said Dunn. "They had planned a 10-month construction schedule, and our team came up with a 9½-month schedule."
Eustace credited team member John McLaughlin, who did an internship with Satterfield and Pontikes Construction Inc., with being instrumental in the estimating process.
"Part of his internship was in the preconstruction estimating area, and he really did a great job," said Eustace.
The team also spent time researching the unique needs of the nuns.
"The clients are cloistered Carmelite nuns, so the client interface was extremely important," said Eustace. "During our preparations one of the team members researched everything to do with the Carmelite order and found all the cultural aspects that needed to be considered," said Eustace. "In our presentation we were able to say how we're going to interface with the nuns. They're a very private, guarded group. We made a proposal based on minimizing construction and contact."
Eustace said the team provide the nuns with a variety of delivery choices.
"The nuns were very concerned about where we're going to put fences, a trailer, cranes, and roads, so we presented three site layout plans for them to pick from, to minimize disturbances of their normal routine with construction activity."
Eustace said the team also gained experience in preparing and making presentations with the help of their sponsor, Joeris General Contractors.
"They took us to San Antonio in January, the weekend before classes started, and gave us a talk about how they typically do their work," said Eustace. "They put us up in a hotel and gave us a sample project on Saturday. The team worked on it all weekend and on Monday morning gave a presentation to Joeris, and they critiqued our presentation. Then they took us to see the project we'd worked on."
The team consisted of three seniors, two juniors and one sophomore.
"In the past, it's always been seniors," said Eustace. "But we had three underclassmen step up, say they wanted to be part of the team, and they did a great job."
In the competition's Heavy-Civil division, senior Aldo Gurrusquieta won best presenter honors. Other members of the Aggie heavy-civil team, coached by Boong Yeol Ryoo, assistant professor of construction science, were seniors Bennett Brown, Shane Goertz, Mustafa Kahn, Shila Petit and Rudy Rucoba and junior Justin McDonald.
"The students and coaches that represented our department deserve our congratulations and appreciation for the many hours of effort they put forth to prepare and participate," said Joe Horlen, head of the Department of Construction Science. "They have furthered this department’s reputation for excellence across the construction industry."
Ken Williamson, associate department head of the department, was the competition director and also served as a speaker at the awards banquet.
Williamson's involvement with the competition's website made it possible for the contest's administration and execution to take place solely online, said Horlen.
"His coordination with the TEXO staff and industry competition sponsors was flawless, further strengthening our professional relationship with these important industry sponsors," he said.
Five Aggies were awarded scholarships announced at the awards banquet, on the strength of their academic credentials, extracurricular activities and a description of their financial situations.
Receiving TEXO Foundation scholarships were:
Nestor Colmenero was awarded a $1000 American Society of Professional Estimators scholarship.
- Posted: Mar. 24, 2010 -
