[CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT ] Lecture Notes

CHAPETR I
INTRODUCTION TO CONSTRUCTION MANAGMENT

1.1 General Introduction

Construction Industry is an industry involved in the planning, execution and evaluation of all
types of civil works. Physical infrastructures such as Building, Communication and Energy
related construction works; Water supply and Sewerage civil works, etc are some of the major
projects / programs in the construction Industry.

Construction projects can be broadly classified as:

a) Building Construction (includes facilities for habitational, institutional, educational,
light industrial (e.g. warehouse), commercial, social and recreational purposes),
b) Engineered Construction (includes highway and heavy (e.g. dams, sewage plant)
construction), and
c) Industrial Construction.

The main players in the construction industry are:

The Client: The client is the initiator and owner of the project
The Consultant: The consultant transfers the wish of the owner into realizable form and
makes the study, design and possibly the supervision.
The Contractor: The contractor is the one who performs the work.
Insurance Companies: A Contractor is required to provide bid bonds as a condition of being
allowed to bid, and then they must provide insurance for Performance bonds and payment
bond prior to award of the contract. Insurance companies provide bid bonds, performance
and payment bonds, and they also service the liability and property insurance needs of
contractors.
Banks: Banks provide the working capital contractors need to build the project. Banks also
provide bonds for bid and performance.
Suppliers: The quality of a construction project is very dependent on the quality of the
suppliers used by individual contractors.

AAU, Faculty of Technology, Civil Engineering Department | Instructor: Abraham Assefa 1

[CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT ] Lecture Notes

Permitting Agencies: Representing the interests of public safety. They administer publicly
funded construction projects, and they ensure private construction projects comply with
zoning laws and building codes.
Public: The public is impacted by every construction activity. Impacts are both good and bad.

1.2 Resources for the Construction Industry

For most of the construction projects, the resources to look into are the following;
1. Human Resources / Labor or Workmen
2. Financial Resources / Fund
3. Information Resources
4. Physical Resources such as Materials, Equipment and Other Assets
5. Services and Management.

From the above resources, physical, namely equipments are the focus of this course. These days
various plants, equipment, tools etc., are used very often in construction activities. Depending on
the types and nature of construction, machinery at site includes batching plant, mixers, trucks,
tractors, excavators, dampers, cranes, vibrators, pumps etc.

AAU, Faculty of Technology, Civil Engineering Department | Instructor: Abraham Assefa 2