The Contractor's Field Guide [Hardcover]

Paul I. Thomas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1999

This Field Guide provides important checkpoints for the general contractor, the subcontractor, owner, architect, and others involved in construction projects. The Guide will also prove helpful to realtors, appraisers, property claim personnel, and to lawyers.

Section I, Legal and Practical Relationships, reviews the important aspects of contracts and documents, such as:
-- Specifications
-- Building codes, permits, and inspections
-- Construction financing
-- Insurance and bonds
-- Labor-management relationships and legislation

Contract documents and jurisdictional disputes are examined: resolution options are offered along with "helpful hints" for solutions. Project safety and health programs are outlined with a comprehensive checklist for guidance.

Section II, Construction Management, offers a guide for planning and scheduling the construction project and includes the Critical Path Method (CPM). Progress estimating and cost control are discussed and appropriate measures suggested.

Section III, Construction Materials and Methods, reviews the fundamentals and principles of estimating construction costs. It suggest ways to avoid errors in scoping and estimating materials and labor.

This section contains tables and formulas for rapidly determining material quantities and approximating productivity of workers. It covers major trades from construction site exploration through the complete erection and finishing of a building project. Several figures illustrate construction process. Numerous examples and checklists to guide the reader are included. A review of mathematics is presented in the last chapter.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 576 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall Trade; 2nd edition (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130124168
• ISBN-13: 978-0130124166
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,687,688 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Contractor's Guide to Change Orders (2nd Edition), September 13, 2009

By 

Jack E. Andersen - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Contractor's Guide to Change Orders (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

Great book!! Very informative and explains why contractors are so aggressive with submitting change orders (and RFIs). This book articulates the fact that there is a great discrepancy and conflict between the standards that contractors are held to (performing the WORK, and warranting and guaranteeing the WORK) and the standard level of care that architects are legally obligated to deliver to the owner(s)(the client). The underlining message in this book is that owners who receive the majority of the long term benefits from a building project by accepting the lowest competitive bid are pushing off their risks onto the contractor and architect. They simply are not willing to pay the "real" cost of constriction and contractors who must remain competitive can bid only "what they see" in the contract documents; in other words, owners want free work by accepting the lowest (unrealistic) bid. This book helps contractors who are in a competitive (lowest) bid environment get compensated for the "real" WORK performed or "real" cost of construction after they are awarded the contract.

The other message in this book is that the design-bid-build project delivery system should never be used unless there is a construction project contingency of 10% to 15% included in the owner's budget. This book is a must read for any owner or architect who wants to understand the nature of change orders, unwarranted RFIs, project cost overruns and conflicts on a design-bid-build project.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Here we go again, December 11, 2002

By 

raybrac (new york, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Contractor's Field Guide, The (Textbook Binding)

1991 technical building manual. code has been revised twice since then. useless. by the way check out amazons policy on dispute with marketplace sellers!! no involvement. grea t policy huh.Amazon.com should require that all technical books state date of publishing. And no when I bought it it did not say out of print.!!