After four days, I have semi-adopted a morning routine. I arrive to work around 7:00, for the next 15 minutes I check my Outlook account for any new messages, catch up on espn.com and check my Gmail. This 15 minute window provides me with a little time to continue waking up and get myself ready for the workday.
Today began with my above mentioned routine. Sometime around 8:00 Chuck came to Trevor and me and asked us to go join him in one of the conference rooms. There we would be on a conference call with Shawn Zeiger. We began to discuss the A-1 documents which are mainly the beginnings of the subcontractors contract. The issue Chuck and the other members of the Hotel Alessandra team had with the document was the length. It was far too wordy and had many repetitions.
We went through the document section by section either omitting or changing the wording with the intent to condense the contract.
The contract contains information regarding cleanup, material staging, rules and regulations and other information specific to a subcontractors scope of work. During the meeting Chuck had mentioned that there were certain thing contained in the document that was continually omitted after reviewing it with the subcontractors.
After the meeting, I was tasked with comparing submittals we had received from our concrete subcontractor, TAS. I took the information on the materials they submitted for use on the project and compared it to the specification required from the architects and engineers. An example of the things submitted are concrete sealer, vapor barrier, concrete curing compound, etc.
For the rest of the afternoon I continued to tinker around with the materials tracking log.
Friday, May 15, 2015
Thursday, May 14, 2015
HOAR Internship Day 3
5.13.2015
After an eventful Tuesday of traveling to downtown Houston and attend a meeting, today I was able to stay in the office all day and get used to the cubicle life. Just to clarify, I'm not actually in a cubicle, Trevor and I sit on one side of the bullpen, our desks are next to each others with a desk perpendicularly separating us. I have been given an old-school laptop, desk phone and mouse. I also have a broken rolling file cabinet under my desk that I use as a trash bin.
My activities today consisted of: Updating the Submittal Log with dates
Creating a Materials tracking Log
Blogging about the first two days
Finishing up my Expense Reports and attaching my receipts
Reviewing the Core and Shell Plans for the Hotel Alessandra
All-in-all it was a pretty uneventful day. Although the list makes it seem like much of my time was occupied with work, I had substantial down time. The overall working situation is very different from last summer. My roles have done a complete 180.
After an eventful Tuesday of traveling to downtown Houston and attend a meeting, today I was able to stay in the office all day and get used to the cubicle life. Just to clarify, I'm not actually in a cubicle, Trevor and I sit on one side of the bullpen, our desks are next to each others with a desk perpendicularly separating us. I have been given an old-school laptop, desk phone and mouse. I also have a broken rolling file cabinet under my desk that I use as a trash bin.
My activities today consisted of: Updating the Submittal Log with dates
Creating a Materials tracking Log
Blogging about the first two days
Finishing up my Expense Reports and attaching my receipts
Reviewing the Core and Shell Plans for the Hotel Alessandra
All-in-all it was a pretty uneventful day. Although the list makes it seem like much of my time was occupied with work, I had substantial down time. The overall working situation is very different from last summer. My roles have done a complete 180.
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
HOAR Internship Day 2
Not much was accomplished from 7:00-10:30 this morning, I guess that is one of the disadvantages of being the intern, there isn't much to do during the first few days. However, at 10:45 I left for the jobsite for a staff meeting. The meeting didn't actually start until 12:00 but seeing that I have a terrible sense of direction and get lost easily I figured it best to leave with ample time to travel and find parking.
Even though the jobsite is less than 12 miles away from the office, it took me nearly 45 minutes to arrive. The traffic out here is crazy. Once I parked the car and got the demolition area it was about 11:15 and it dawned on me that I didn't know where the meeting was going to be held. Not to mention when I left the office, I forgot to write down either Chuck or David's phone numbers. I waited for about 15 minutes before calling Kayla. I asked her for Chuck and David's phone numbers. I shot them a text message and finally figured out where to go.
I got to the office before Chuck and David and met Shawn Zeiger the Superintendent. We chatted for a bit before the other two showed up. We then proceeded to the most important meeting of the day, lunch. By now it was about 12:15. We went to a place called Lucky Strike. My enjoyed the super unhealthy, artery clogging, heart attacking Bacon Cheeseburger. It was totally worth the years it shaved off my life. After lunch we went back to the jobsite office and discussed the project in detail. Well, I sat there and tried to take in as much information as I could while the others discussed the different important items of the project. This continued for another hour and a half. The meeting ended at 2:48. I stuck around and discussed my role till about 3:00, from then I headed back to the car and back to the office.
Of course, on my way back I had to stop and get an ice cold pop and some snacks. I pulled into a gas station to purchase a Dr. Pepper, Hot Tamales, and two packs of green Sour Punch Straws. they were to help wake me up and tied me over till 5:00.
Even though the jobsite is less than 12 miles away from the office, it took me nearly 45 minutes to arrive. The traffic out here is crazy. Once I parked the car and got the demolition area it was about 11:15 and it dawned on me that I didn't know where the meeting was going to be held. Not to mention when I left the office, I forgot to write down either Chuck or David's phone numbers. I waited for about 15 minutes before calling Kayla. I asked her for Chuck and David's phone numbers. I shot them a text message and finally figured out where to go.
I got to the office before Chuck and David and met Shawn Zeiger the Superintendent. We chatted for a bit before the other two showed up. We then proceeded to the most important meeting of the day, lunch. By now it was about 12:15. We went to a place called Lucky Strike. My enjoyed the super unhealthy, artery clogging, heart attacking Bacon Cheeseburger. It was totally worth the years it shaved off my life. After lunch we went back to the jobsite office and discussed the project in detail. Well, I sat there and tried to take in as much information as I could while the others discussed the different important items of the project. This continued for another hour and a half. The meeting ended at 2:48. I stuck around and discussed my role till about 3:00, from then I headed back to the car and back to the office.
Of course, on my way back I had to stop and get an ice cold pop and some snacks. I pulled into a gas station to purchase a Dr. Pepper, Hot Tamales, and two packs of green Sour Punch Straws. they were to help wake me up and tied me over till 5:00.
HOAR Internship Day 1
After arriving at the office a little before 8 am, I was met by Kayla Elston. She has been my contact with HOAR Construction for the past 8-9 months; it was nice to match a face to a voice. I met up with Max Llano and Trevor Meyers, the other new employees. Max is a fellow intern assigned to the Baybrook Mall Expansion job with Nathan Kolbaba. Max is currently attending Texas A&M. He is in pursuit of a Bachelors in Construction Science degree and will move onto a masters degree. Trevor currently graduated from Sam Houston State and was hired as a Project Engineer (PE).
I have attached an itinerary given to us upon arriving at the office. It outlines the activities we did during our first day. I figure I'll cover the impressions and vibe I got from the rest of the day.
Just before lunch I was introduced to some of the members of my team for the Hotel Alessandra Project and also my mentor for the summer. The team members I met are Chuck McPherson (Project Manager) and David Stallman (Director). My mentor for the summer is Hollis Anderson, I was first introduced to him over the phone during my interview back sometime between September and October. All are way cool and real nice, they invited me to go to lunch with them; we went to Cheddars, I had the Philly Steak and Cheese :)
At lunch, as I was sitting there listening to them talk to one another, I sensed something I hadn't all last year, friendship. Whether they are or are not friends wasn't too important, but he way they carried on created a safe and comfortable environment. One thing was said this morning during the Monday Meeting that created a lasting impression. Our VP of Operations here in the office is a guy by the name of Brady Johnson. He said, "this is something that had been on my heart and I cant not discuss it."
The people are real here. They treat each other with respect, no matter the title or position. They have done a good job at creating an environment for success. I am looking forward to the time I have to spend with them this summer.
I have attached an itinerary given to us upon arriving at the office. It outlines the activities we did during our first day. I figure I'll cover the impressions and vibe I got from the rest of the day.
Just before lunch I was introduced to some of the members of my team for the Hotel Alessandra Project and also my mentor for the summer. The team members I met are Chuck McPherson (Project Manager) and David Stallman (Director). My mentor for the summer is Hollis Anderson, I was first introduced to him over the phone during my interview back sometime between September and October. All are way cool and real nice, they invited me to go to lunch with them; we went to Cheddars, I had the Philly Steak and Cheese :)
At lunch, as I was sitting there listening to them talk to one another, I sensed something I hadn't all last year, friendship. Whether they are or are not friends wasn't too important, but he way they carried on created a safe and comfortable environment. One thing was said this morning during the Monday Meeting that created a lasting impression. Our VP of Operations here in the office is a guy by the name of Brady Johnson. He said, "this is something that had been on my heart and I cant not discuss it."
The people are real here. They treat each other with respect, no matter the title or position. They have done a good job at creating an environment for success. I am looking forward to the time I have to spend with them this summer.
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