Construction Industry: Developments, Contracts, and Safety

1
CIVIL ENGINEERING
By Name
Course
Instructor
Institution
Location
Date

2
TASK 1
a) Developments within the construction industry
The initial buildings were shelters and huts which were constructed by use of simple tools. As
cities came into existence during the Bronze Age, a class of professionals such as carpenters,
bricklayers, and other artisans appeared.1 Currently, the construction industry requires many
professionals for the construction projects to be completed on time, and within the specified
budget. Some of the professionals who are required in the modern construction industry include;
technical people such as engineers, technicians, architects and interior designers. Other
professionals include construction managers and quantity surveyors.
b) Linkage and Scope between parties in a construction organization
In any construction organization, many parties are involved in the overall delivery of
construction projects. The parties can be from the public or the private sector.2 Some of the main
parties in the construction organization are as shown in the chart below.
1S. Foxell, Professionalism for the Built Environment, CRC Press, London, 2015, P.23.
2M. Graham, Managing Construction Projects, John Wiley & Sons, Berlin, 2011, P.184.

3
Fig 1: construction organization structure
The scope to which the various parties in the construction organization link to each other depend
on the relationship of their responsibilities. For instance, the project manager is directly linked to
the general manager who is directly linked to the directors.3
c) Types contracts
The type of contracts which are tendered by the contractors include;
 Item rate contract or unit rice contract
 Lump sum contract4
3 R. Gameson, Construction Conflict Management, and Resolution, Routledge, Texas, 2017,
P.239.
4B. Greenhalgh, Practice Management for Land, Construction and Property Professionals,
Taylor & Francis, London, 2010, P.118

4
 Lump sum and the scheduled contract
 Percentage rate contract
 Special contracts
For this given scenario the best tender is the special contract, which will lead to the usage of
package contract whereby the contractor will undertake the full responsibility to finance, design,
specify and construct the entire project.
d) Developments of the construction companies employees, the contracted works and
structures.
The organization structure of a construction company refers to the arrangement of job roles,
reporting and the operational relationships between and within these roles. The construction
industry involves many employees such as; Architects who are involved in the design of the
building and the overall project., engineers, contractors, subcontractors who work together to
achieve the need of the client.5 Usually, the employees are brought together for a specific
construction project, and they are later disbanded once the projects are completed.
e) How construction companies have established their business ethos and structure.
The broadband, web and the software-as-a-service (SaaS) have greatly assisted in changing
the perception regarding technology and information management. The mobility of
technology has been a great factor since the advent of smartphones. The Building
Information Modelling has, of course, been an increasingly dominant theme over the past
decades and the same is set to continue. The social media has in a way started to challenge
the existing models of communication, and due to that, the various construction companies
have to become aware of the owner of data.
5P. Bentel, Modernism and Professionalism in American Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Texas, 2014, P.32.