Building Construction: Project Management, Construction Administration, Drawings, Specs, Detailing Tips, Schedules, Checklists, and Secrets Others Don t Tell You: Architectural Practice Simplified, 2E - Softcover

Chen, Gang

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0984374140 ISBN 13: 9780984374144

Publisher: ArchiteG, Incorporated, 2012

Synopsis

Learn the Tips, Become One of Those Who Know Building Construction and Architectural Practice, and Thrive! For architectural practice and building design and construction industry, there are two kinds of people: those who know, and those who don't. The tips of building design and construction and project management have been undercover-until now. Most of the existing books on building construction and architectural practice are too expensive, too complicated, and too long to be practical and helpful. This book simplifies the process to make it easier to understand and uncovers the tips of building design and construction and project management. It sets up a solid foundation and fundamental framework for this field. It covers every aspect of building construction and architectural practice in plain and concise language and introduces it to all people. Through practical case studies, it demonstrates the efficient and proper ways to handle various issues and problems in architectural practice and building design and construction industry. It is for ordinary people and aspiring young architects as well as seasoned professionals in the construction industry. For ordinary people, it uncovers the tips of building construction; for aspiring architects, it works as a construction industry survival guide and a guidebook to shorten the process in mastering architectural practice and climbing up the professional ladder; for seasoned architects, it has many checklists to refresh their memory. It is an indispensable reference book for ordinary people, architectural students, interns, drafters, designers, seasoned architects, engineers, construction administrators, superintendents, construction managers, contractors, and developers. You will learn: 1. How to develop your business and work with your client. 2. The entire process of building design and construction, including programming, entitlement, schematic design, design development, construction documents, bidding, and construction administration. 3. How to coordinate with governing agencies, including a county's health department and a city's planning, building, fire, public works departments, etc. 4. How to coordinate with your consultants, including soils, civil, structural, electrical, mechanical, plumbing engineers, landscape architects, etc. 5. How to create and use your own checklists to do quality control of your construction documents. 6. How to use various logs (i.e., RFI log, submittal log, field visit log, etc.) and lists (contact list, document control list, distribution list, etc.) to organize and simplify your work. 7. How to respond to RFI, issue CCDs, review change orders, submittals, etc. 8. How to make your architectural practice a profitable and successful business. About the author Gang Chen holds a master's degree from the School of Architecture, University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, and a bachelor's degree from the School of Architecture, South China University of Technology. He has over 20 years of professional experience. Many of the projects he was in charge of or participated in have been published extensively in Architecture, Architectural Record, The Los Angeles Times, The Orange County Register, etc. He has worked on a variety of unusual projects, including well-known, large-scale healthcare and hospitality projects with over one billion dollars in construction costs, award-winning school designs, highly-acclaimed urban design and streetscape projects, multifamily housing, high-end custom homes, and regional and neighborhood shopping centers. Gang Chen is a LEED AP and a licensed architect in California. He is also the internationally acclaimed author for other fascinating books, including Planting Design Illustrated and LEED Exam Guides Series, which include one guidebook for each of the LEED exams.

About this title

About the Author

Gang Chen holds a master's degree from the School of Architecture, University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, and a bachelor's degree from the School of Architecture, South China University of Technology. He has over 20 years of professional experience. Many of the projects he was in charge of or participated in have been published extensively in Architecture, Architectural Record, The Los Angeles Times, The Orange County Register, etc. He has worked on a variety of unusual projects, including well-known, large-scale healthcare and hospitality projects with over one billion dollars in construction costs; award-winning school designs, highly-acclaimed urban design and streetscape projects, multifamily housing, high-end custom homes, and regional and neighborhood shopping centers.

Gang Chen is a LEED AP BD+C and a licensed architect in California. He is also the internationally acclaimed author of other fascinating books, including Building Construction, Planting Design Illustrated, ARE Mock Exam Series and LEED Exam Guides Series, which include one guidebook for each of the LEED exams. For more information, visit GreenExamEducation.com

From the Inside Flap

"It is all here: a practical and straightforward guide, highly recommended!
"The transition from Architectural School is difficult for most young professionals for a number of reasons, such as:

1. Architectural education is not compatible with architectural practice: what you learn in school is different from what is needed for your job.

2. You can read books to teach yourself about architectural practice. Some large architectural offices have a copy of the "The Architect's Handbook of Professional Practice (AHPP)," but it has too many pages (1028 pages), and is too complicated. It is comprehensive, and a lot of the information is good to know, but you rarely deal with it on a daily basis. When you do need some information and zoom in to look for it in a certain section, AHPP is not detailed enough, and it is not tailored to your needs.
Most offices will only have one set of AHPP for everyone to share since it is expensive (about $250 each). Nobody really have time to read it from cover to cover either: it simply has too many pages, and you do not have so much time to plough through it.

3. If you have questions regarding your project, you could ask more senior staffs in your firm, but you do not want to ask "stupid" questions and make yourself look like you do not know want you are doing. You do not want to ask too many questions to annoy others either. As a result, your professional growth will be delayed.

"Architectural Practice Simplified" is a great book. It covers a lot of information that you use daily in an architect's office, it is concise and to the point, and covers just the right amount of information that you need to know to thrive in the construction industry.

For example, it covers entitlement, ALTA and CALTA survey, consultant coordination, governing agencies coordination, green buildings, marketing, the procedures of handling shop drawings and submittals, what to look for when you review shop drawings and submittals, what are the key elements in a contract between the architect and the owner, and a contract between the owner and the contractor, what to look for when you do a quality control of plans and specifications, sheet-by-sheet checklists for architectural plans and consultants' plans, how to create or modify a specifications book, how to deal with contractor's change order request, what are the key elements in the certificate of substantial completion, and collections, etc.
You probably learn more from this book about architectural practice than what you can learn in five years in an architectural school.

"Architectural Practice Simplified" works like a great mentor for young professionals, it is also very useful for experienced architects. It is a practical and straightforward guide. Highly recommended!"
--Brad Chandler

Edition details

• Publisher: ArchiteG, Incorporated
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0984374140
• ISBN 13: 9780984374144
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 196