Detailed Report: Basic Construction Stages for Domestic Buildings

This report provides a detailed overview of the basic construction stages involved in building a domestic-scale, two-story residential building. The report meticulously outlines each stage, including setting out and excavation, foundation, flooring, external wall framing, roof framing, and roof cladding. It also highlights the various health and safety precautions implemented at each stage, referencing relevant regulations and best practices to protect construction workers. The report emphasizes the importance of adapting construction stages based on the specific structure's complexity and the functional requirements, such as energy conservation. Observations were made during site inspections conducted between January and June 2019, providing a practical perspective on the construction process. The report also illustrates the use of different materials and technologies employed in the construction process, such as the use of curved solar tiles for roof cladding and reflective foil laminate for heat control. The paper concludes by emphasizing the significance of adhering to health and safety standards throughout the construction phases.

Running head: BASIC CONSTRUCTION STAGES 1
Basic Construction Stages for a Domestic Scale Construction
Institutional affiliation
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Basic Construction Stages for a Domestic Scale Construction
Executive summary
The objective of this research paper is to detail the various stages that are involved in the
domestic scale construction of buildings or structures as observed during the investigation. The
basic constructions stages included: roof framing, foundation, floor coverings and decking and
baseboards ceilings, setting out and excavation, roof cladding, external wall underlay a cavity,
flooring, electricity, internal wall cladding, and external wall framing.
This paper also provides the various safety and health precautions that are conducted at
respective stages of construction for the protection of workers in the construction sites. In
conclusion, it is established that the construction stages vary dependent on the proportions and
the intricacy of structures in considerations and materials for construction may change based on
functional requirements for various factors like energy conservations.

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Introduction
Construction stages encompass the various steps that are undertaken so as to come up
with a civil engineering construction such as a house. The stages involved may vary in number
contingent on the dimensions or sophistication of the structure in question or being constructed.
Domestic scale construction involves the construction of buildings that require a small number of
resources and time such as single unit residential buildings. It is important to note each stage of
construction has a time frame for completion that must be observed so as to complete the project
in time thus avoiding additional costs in the construction process (Baldwin 2014).
This report focuses on the construction of a two-story residential building at Greenspan in
Adelaide with the project being carried out by LENOP Construction Limited for Henry O'Brien.
A number of inspections and observations were carried out at different dates during the
construction process ranging from January 2019 to 7th June 2019. The activities and safety
precautions at different stages of construction were observed during which site inspections were
conducted on 22nd February 2019, 15th May 2019, 2nd June 13, 2019, and final inspection on 11th
June 2019.
Stages of Construction
Setting out and Excavation
This entails the development of the physical points of the structure's corners and walls
through a transfer of dimensions from the layout plan or paper drawing to the ground where the
building will be situated (Arun 2016). The main purpose of setting out of a building is to give a
definition of the excavation outline as well as providing the various center lines of the floors and

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walls based on the plan. The center line technique was applied during the setting out of this
building where the use of pegs is employed as shown in figure-1.
Figure 1: Setting out of the building
This stage involved the calculation of the wall centerlines from the given plan as
shown in the figure above. The perpendiculars ratios of 3:4:5 were set out so as to obtain each
room’s centerline for the building and pegs placed at all the corners of the building. The setting
out of the building is completed by confirming that the corner points are appropriately set out
based on the diagonals.
Excavation process involved the removal of earth volumes from the ground on the
set out building up to specified widths. The excavations widths were also marked during the

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setting out and the center points are moved by around two meters from the edges of the
excavation widths hence extending the center lines.
Based on the Regulation 305 of the Australian Work Health and Safety (Excavation Work) Code
of Practice 2015 (2015), some of the risks during this construction stage include the falling of a
worker or person into the exaction and the exposure of the workers to the contaminants during
the process of excavation. Some of the health and safety measures taken so as to manage such
risks included a thorough sealing of the exaction. Also, the safer and efficient machines such as
excavators were used to carry out the excavations to prevent direct contact of the soil with
workers and use ear masks to control risks resulting from excavating equipment were considered.
Foundation
Foundation is the lower part of the building or a structure and is responsible for the
transfer of loads from the other parts of the structure into the ground (Das 2013). The
establishment of the foundation is the second stage in the construction of a building after
excavations. There are two main categories of foundations, shallow and deep foundations. The
shallow foundation was applied in this type of building given the appropriate soil engineering
properties and the small load from the residential building.
Foundations were established or built with the reference to the engineering designs
provided, stating out the type and amounts of materials such as steel and concrete to be used. The
required reinforcements steel rods were tied and set into excavated positions before pouring of
the concrete as shown in figure-2. It is important to note that this stage is highly labor intensive
and a lot of materials and equipment are employed thus there need for strict health and safety
standards adherence.

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Daniel (2015) notes that clear safety leadership and management must be established
during such stages of construction. Provision of safety tools and clothes is very important so as
to prevent the workers from getting into direct contact with materials such as steel and concrete.
For example, the use of gloves, headgears, and small tools while bending steel avoids body
injuries. These gears were well provided and each worker was required to put on the respective
gear before accessing the site. Such gears serve a great deal in ensuring safety from noise effects
from the site, protection of the eye from dust and irritating materials, protection from physical
injuries while handling tools and materials such as steel etc.
Figure 2: Laying Of Foundation
Flooring
This stage of construction involved the provision of a clean, impervious, durable,
smooth and leveled surface over the foundation of the building. The floor of the building is
constructed in such a way that it remains strong over long periods under different loads that

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move on it. The flooring process involved the establishment of two components namely the floor
base and the floor covering (see figure-3). The floor base was provided at the ground level of the
building with different compacted fill materials such as Soil, broken, bricks, concrete and steel to
provide strength for the floor to withstand loads moving on it. However, it is important to note
that slabs act as floors for the first and above floors for multistory buildings.
Generally, health and safety standards were observed during the construction of floors
such as wearing of protective clothes while handling chemicals such those for floor coloring.
Also, risks such as slips, trips, and falls were avoided by ensuring that the finished floor areas
were sufficiently hardened and correct footwear used. The floor was evenly finished to avoid
such accidents.
Figure 3: Typical floor cross-section
External Wall Framing
The external wall framing consists of the columns and beams. The construction of
both beams and columns involved the use of concrete and steel as the main materials with steel
providing additional reinforcements to the concrete. Beams transmit loads from the roofs and
slabs to the columns. Columns were joined with the foundation and transmit the loads from the

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structure to the ground. The beams and columns were constructed by first performing the layout
works, and steel frames put in place. The column and beam form works were placed depending
on the design plan and then concrete poured into the formworks and left for setting to take place.
The construction of both beams and involved working at heights with ladders and
scaffolds, therefore appropriate safety measures for the condition was undertaken. The first
precaution was the consideration for the use of other efficient machines such as tower cranes and
conveyors. According to the Health and Safety at Work Act (2015), equipment such as ladders
and scaffolds should be installed, inspected and maintained with highly qualified personnel to
avoid failures during use as in figure-4. Also, fall arrest systems were provided during the
construction of external wall framings. In addition, a system for the transportation of materials
was developed to prevent carrying of heavy loads through the ladders which could cause sliding
through walls hence fall accidents potentially causing injuries, death or damage of finished
sections.
Figure 4: The Use of Scaffolds in the Construction

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Roof Framing
The roof framing stage of construction was implemented by specialists in woodwork in
case wood frames and involved the erection of various roof elements such as roof trusses and
rafters. The time and resources required to complete this stage of construction depend on the type
of roof required for the building. According to Sonia (2015), before roof framing, there is a need
to determine the span, the run, rise and the line of the roof o be constructed. The measurements
from the outside of opposite supporting walls provide the roof span while half of the span is
taken as the run. Also, the measurement from the span centerline to the roofline gives the rise
while the length line is defined by the distance between the outside of the supporting wall to the
top of the rise at the roof centerline as shown in figure-5.
Figure 5: Roof Frame
It is important to note that the roof trusses were constructed based on the international
design standards with considerations of factors such as width and the size of the building. The

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number trusses was based on the length of the roof where the truss spacing did not exceed a fifth
of the length.
The use of the correct roof pitch is important as it determines the slope of the roof with
the general use of a quarter or a third of the total span. Steel pipes were used in roofing frames in
given the very long spans of the building. The roof elements were joined with bolts or welded
depending on the roof design details most commonly used in the construction of industrial and
agricultural buildings (Chen 2018).
According to the Health and Safety Work Act (2015), workers should be protected from falling
by the use of edge protections during the installation of roof frames. The weak materials were
identified so that workers do not fall through them and people cleared from roof frame
installation areas to avoid injuries in cases of falling tools. Finally, the roof ramming experts
received prior training on the risks involved in working at the roofs and how to avoid such risks.
Roof Cladding
Roof cladding involved the putting of covering the roof frames or elements. The most
common material for cladding is iron sheets with different qualities but there are many other
materials including solar tiles, asphalt shingles, clay and concrete tiles, rubber slates and the
green roofs. According to Brooks (2018), the roof cladding materials keep on changing with time
with the advancing technology. Also, cladding can sometimes be done in different styles
including the curved (as shown in figure-6), tapered and bent cladding depending on the design
of the roof frames. Curved decorated solar tiles were used in roof cladding of the structure.

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Figure 6: Curved Roof Cladding
The size of the claddings for a roof was dependent on the spacing of the roof purlins on the
frames of the roof. According to the Bluescope (2018), the roof cladding has many advantages
including the protection of the building from moisture and the control of temperatures. Currently,
technologies such as the use of reflective foil laminate which helps in the heat control, roof and
rain noise reductions in the buildings have been employed in the construction industry (see
figure-7).
Figure 7: Reflective Foil Laminate

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Some of the safety measures encouraged during this stage of construction were proper
handling of the cladding which is sometimes very sharp and can lead to cuttings; the use of
heavy duty, cut resistance gloves was encouraged during roof cladding; extra care was advised
when walking on the rooftops especially the newly or wet sheets (Bluescope 2018). Also, metal
cutting blades were employed when cutting is required but the cutting of cladding metals should
be minimized to avoid unnecessary wastage.
External Wall Underlay and cavity
a. Doors and Windows
Windows and exterior doors consisted of unit multifunctional building elements that
have many chattels betting on the requirements of the important estate property. The European
product standard EN 14351-1 provided an outline of the choice of performance of windows and
peripheral doors, in which even the diverse climatic settings in Europe can also be taken into
account. The theoretically suitable fitting and the addition in the structure shell are significant
inducing factors for functionality and resilience.
Other factors such as the need for energy conservations was taken into account during the
installation process. I noted that materials for use in the doors and window components can
change depending on the functional requirements.
b. External Wall Cladding
The external wall cladding involved the covering of the walls with different layers of
materials so as to provide a protective shielding around the house. Also, the cladding provided
new and attractive looking to the house as well as providing additional mechanical support to the