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Belrose, Steven
Ms.Moore
English 12
25 April 2017
Isearch
What I knew
began when I was 5 years old. I went to Portugal with my mom to visit my uncle and his family
and, as we pulled up the street, we come upon enormous mansions, dirt, and giant yellow
vehicles. Instantly, I was amazed by the structure itself and everything about it. From the
architecture to the roof, front door, brick walls, and giant glass windows, it was perfection. When
we first arrived at my uncles house, I asked him, What are they doing to your neighborhood?
He told me that they were doing a lot of construction and building new houses as fast as they
could. I was quickly intrigued by construction and the process of building things.
vehicles. They got me two different ones: a yellow bulldozer and a yellow pickup truck. I would
go out in my yard for hours at a time and play with them. I would scoop up dirt in the bulldozer
and pour it into the construction truck. I would run it all around my house creating giant piles of
dirt. I tried make small forts (as I called them) with the vehicles. I spent countless hours with
those miniature trucks. Even when it was cold and snowy outside, I would bring them in and
play with them on the hardwood floor. I would scratched the hardwood so badly we had to have
them redone.
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As I grew older, I became more and more obsessed with buildings and vehicles. Airports
were my favorite places because I saw so much construction and got to see planes. The
efficiency of airports amazed me, and I was both curious and fascinated at how so many people
could be moved around such a large area. The high-speed trains were one of my favorite things. I
loved watching us fly by the fans on the concrete walls of the train tunnels through the giant
Despite all of this, I never thought construction would be my professional path. I thought
for a long time that I would follow my mothers steps and become a lawyer but, after thinking
about it more, it started to become less appealing. It wasnt until a trip to St. Louis to visit family
that I rediscovered my passion for building things. My uncle and I were driving to his house
from the airport. It usually takes about 30 minutes, but it was rush hour and took nearly 3 hours.
Traffic is very annoying and one of the biggest wastes of time on Earth. Not only is it a major
time-waster, but it is also a major polluter. Sitting in this traffic made me think about global
warming and the destruction of our planet. The Earth is on a path to destruction through fossil
fuels, and it needs help to have a chance of being revived. My uncle, who works in the
construction business, told me that infrastructure and transportation have major effects on the
environment, and solving problems related to them would help the Earth in a very significant
way. He told me that new high-speed trains would be very important, as would more fuel
efficient cars and airplanes. He also described how infrastructure is the combination of
construction and engineering. In consideration of all that he told me, I knew I wanted to follow
his path and go into construction and specifically, work on infrastructure issues. I knew that I
wanted to be part of lasting public improvements that I could say I helped to build.
There were so many different things that I wanted to learn about construction and life in
general from my capstone project. The most important thing that I wanted to learn was whether
or not construction management was something I could see myself doing. Since the beginning of
high school, I have been juggling what I wanted to do with my life. First, I thought business
would be the path for me, and that market analysis was something I was truly interested in. After
exploring business careers, I decided that business wasnt something I wanted to do because I
hate the thought of having to sit at a desk for the rest of my life. I then thought that I would
follow my mothers path and become a lawyer. However, after paying closer attention to what
she did on a daily basis, I became less interested. Reading documents over and over again,
making sure that every word was perfect in a contract or a document, wasnt appealing to me. I
really wanted to find something that I liked and could see myself enjoying for the foreseeable
future.
I also wanted to use my capstone project to help me decide where I was going to go to
college in the fall. I had no favorite college going into the project, and my mind was completely
open to anything. After I started to learn more about construction through my research, I realized
that my major was a starting point for picking a college. I wanted to learn which colleges had
good construction management programs and good civil engineering programs. Within those
programs, I wanted to know what kinds of classes I would have to take to receive those degrees,
and how those specific degrees could help me find a job. I also really wanted to figure out the
highest level of education needed for someone going into construction. Both of my parents were
highly educated and trained professionals in their own trades, and it has been a point of emphasis
from them to me that higher education gets us further in life. Would I be done with school after
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earning a four year degree, or would I need to pursue a graduate degree to get the most out of
this profession?
Perhaps most importantly, I wanted to learn about the everyday life of a construction
manager. I really wanted to see what a job in construction management looks like, and what I
would do on a daily basis. When I am older, I really want to love what I do and enjoy every
aspect of my adult life. I would rather make less money and love what I do, than make a lot and
hate to go to work every day. Would I sit at a desk on a computer every day, or would I be out in
the field? I wanted to see how much human interaction I would have on a daily basis, and if I
would see something new every day. One of my biggest fears in life is that I have a job where all
I do is sit in a cubical by myself and look at a computer screen all day. Still, I did want to learn
how much money construction managers make. I wanted to know if it is enough to provide for a
family and an enjoyable life so that I could have the type of life-style I want to live.
and majoring in civil engineering. I wanted to know how they overlapped, how they differed and
which major would best help me reach my goals. The University of Kansas has a great civil
engineering program, and Colorado State University has a great construction management
program. I was admitted to both programs, and I needed to know the benefits of each so that I
During my capstone project, I learned many things that will help determine my future.
Most importantly, I learned that construction is something I want to pursue, and it fills all of my
What I learned
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management. I wanted to research things that would help me understand the basics of
construction management. I went to the most popular and credible construction websites that
described the foundation of construction management. From there, I took the basics and
researched them more in depth. I took key words that I hadnt seen before and then researched
them more and more until I got the information I needed. The book I read was Construction
Management JumpStart. It was recommended to me by my mentor, and it gives all the basics of
construction management. It also goes into deep detail on most parts of construction
management. It has a lot of graphs and pictures which gives a good visualization into the
construction business and has a lot of updated statistics that kept me updated on important
aspects of the business. My mentors were a husband and wife couple who were recommended to
me by a family friend. They are experienced professionals who have been in the construction
business for over 20 years. They were a very nice contrast because I got two completely different
views. Mike Fangman, the husband, is a construction superintendent which is very similar to a
construction manager. He is currently in charge of the CDOT project in Aurora. He dropped out
of high school to start working in the construction business when he was 17, and he worked his
way up from the bottom. His story was very interesting, and it really made me think about how
important hard work is. Even if you start with nothing, you can become successful through
hardwork and dedication. His wife, Leslie Fangman, is a construction manager. She went to
Montana State University and got a civil engineering degree. Now, she spends most of her time
in the office putting proposals and contracts together. They are both very successful people that
helped me out tremendously. I didnt really look at anything during my research that wasnt
helpful. The only time I didnt learn something new about construction management is when I
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looked on websites like yahoo answers or wiki answers. The information on those sites did not
seem very credible and did not seem to be provided by experienced people.
I had high goals when starting the capstone project, and I was very determined to reach
those goals. A college degree in construction management is important because it provides the
necessary knowledge and skills that work experience alone can't provide. Employers increasingly
seek candidates who combine hands-on work experience with a bachelor's or master's degree in
was going to start my career, I researched the construction management and civil engineering
programs for both The University of Kansas and Colorado State University. I have been admitted
to CSU and KU for construction management and civil engineering, respectively, and my
challenge was to determine which path I would follow and which type of program would be the
Colorado State has a long legacy of a great construction management program. The
Construction Management (CM) program at Colorado State University is one of the top-ranked
programs in the nation (Khattab). Since its inception in 1946, over 5,000 students have
university in Colorado to be accredited by the American Council for Construction Education, and
many jobs have been found for students through that organization. Many students who have
graduated from CSU have become owners and CEOs of major construction companies. CSU also
has an option to obtain a Masters degree in construction management. The students who take
their education to the next level make an average of $16,750 more per year than those who do
not (Williams). Further, CSU is one of the few schools where you can achieve a Ph.D. in
University of Kansas has one of the nations oldest engineering programs. The first graduating
class consisted of a civil engineer in 1873 (Bennett). Ever since then, the schools engineering
program has flourished. The University of Kansas does offer a masters degree in construction
management. Depending on the classes you take, it will take 5-7 years to graduate. In addition,
the civil engineering school at KU offers a Ph.D. degree that is an extension of the construction
Environmental Engineering, and Environmental Science and takes an average of 8.2 years to
becoming increasingly important. Civil engineers were the first engineers to address
environmental issues and are the lead engineering discipline in treating water supplies to protect
There are benefits to each type of degree, and I analyzed the benefits of each degree and
compared that to their costs, both in terms of money and time. 65% of professional construction
managers have only a bachelors degree, which requires 3-5 years of schooling, depending on the
institution (Chadukiewicz). A major benefit of a bachelors degree is that students complete their
degrees with the least amount of debt. The schooling is shorter, so the cost is much less.
However, since a bachelors degree is the lowest level construction management degree, there
isnt much of an advantage against the competition. A masters degree is the second most
degree that can prepare you to oversee the operations and personnel of a construction company
obtain a masters degree is longer and more expensive, it can be very useful because it combines
with a masters degree make an average of $30,000 a year more than those who have a
doctoral degree. However, once you have obtained a masters degree in construction
management, you can further your education by getting the Doctor of Philosophy in Civil
degree in both of those categories can design, produce, and carry out their own projects from
start to finish, and the salaries for these professionals are astronomical. A student with a
doctoral degree makes an average of $60,000 more than those with a masters degree.
(Chadukiewicz). Doctoral degrees are much more expensive to obtain because they take twice as
long to complete. Even though it takes much more time, money, and effort to get a doctoral
Construction managers are highly trained professionals with a broad range of skills.
utilizing appropriate labor, material, and time resources in a manner that minimizes costs and
projects that cost hundreds of millions of dollars and involve over 500 employees at a time. The
consequences of a failed project can be very negative, harsh and costly. It is very important for a
construction manager to be knowledgeable both in the technical aspects of a project and in the
business objectives, including cost control and employee management. A well rounded education
There are six main project values to consider when conducting a project as a construction
manager, consisting of cost, time, quality, safety, scope, and function (Jackson 55). They all are
very important to delivering and carrying out a project. Cost is essential to predict and control
what the construction project will cost. Costs are established, targeted, and controlled by means
of an estimate or budget (Jackson 59). If costs get too high, the owner and investors will get
very angry, which could result in a loss of a job. Timing is also critical. As the saying goes,
time is money. For many projects, the speed with which the building can be brought on line is
more important than almost any factor (Jackson 67). When projects stretch out in time, the costs
will also stretch out and increase. Again, the consequences for timing errors can be very
negative. Quality is the most important thing when it comes to building a project. Quality is the
grab bag that covers all the aspects of the building not addressed by the other five values, such as
aesthetic impact, user perceptions, and appropriateness of building materials, and so on. Quality
inspections, tests, and user surveys (Jackson 75). If the quality is bad, everything goes wrong. In
construction management, the saying quality over quantity is very important. Even if
construction is behind schedule, the quality must be good enough to justify the delay. Otherwise,
you could end up with a terrible project that was a waste of both time and money. Despite the
importance of cost, time and quality, safety must come first. No matter how valuable a facility
or structure may be, it is never more valuable than the health and welfare of the people who build
and use the building (Jackson 81). There are many hazards and dangerous conditions at a
construction site which could very easily lead to serious injury or even death. You have to take
all necessary precautions; otherwise, you could find yourself and the project in serious trouble.
Safety issues could cause a project to be completely shut down. Scope is monitored and
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controlled by means of an architectural program, which identifies the space needs and tracks
compliance of the building design with those needs (Jackson 86). Scope is important because it
defines exactly what the project consists of and what the project should look like when it is
completed. Using scope effectively by defining it precisely before the project starts will lead to
high end-user satisfaction. It is critical to the execution of the architects design. Finally, function
consists of the all-around smoothness of the construction project. Function is monitored and
controlled by means of process flow diagrams and utilization analyses, which document
efficiency of the processes that will be performed in the completed facility (Jackson 91). If you
and your crews function is consistent and of high quality, the building will also be high quality.
Without good function, everything will fall apart in a construction project. Construction
managers have very detailed and complicated jobs. They have hundreds of employees to take
care of, and they also are in control of projects that can cost hundreds of millions of dollars. If
they mess up, the entire project could be affected, costing many jobs and a great deal of money.
While those are the six most important elements that a construction manager must
comply with, they dont all come into play on an everyday basis. Thats the single thing I love
about my job most. I never have the same day twice (L. Fangman). That is why construction
managers have very fascinating jobs. The projects they work on are always developing, and
every day is a new day. On a daily basis, I could see two or three things that Ive never seen
before on a job site (M. Fangman). As a construction manager, you have to go with the flow of
things sometimes. Projects dont go the way they were planned all the time, and finding solutions
to those problems is a main part of the job. Problem solving is very important in construction,
almost nothing goes as planned (M. Fangman). Problems frequently arise on a construction site
because so many things are happening simultaneously. Somebody missed a couple of screws or
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didnt read the design plans correctly, and the whole project could be in jeopardy. It is a
construction managers job to quickly solve the issue and come up with a plan that will keep the
project going. The job of a construction manager changes almost every day. Each day you move
farther and farther along a project, and each day you have to be prepared for anything. No day
will ever be the same, and thats one of the hardest parts of the job (L. Fangman). On a daily
basis, construction managers have to deal with things they have never seen before. That is one of
the hardest things in life, being prepared for the unexpected. It is a very important part of the job,
Another very important part of any job consideration is how much money they make.
Managing a construction project from start to finish is a weighty responsibility, and construction
managers make comfortable salaries. In 2015, their median salary was $87,400. The highest-paid
in the profession made $155,200, and those earning bottom-rung salaries still earned around
$52,350 (U.S News). Construction managers make a very good living. This job involves a lot of
responsibilities and a lot of pressure to succeed and, in return, construction managers are paid
very well if they complete their tasks on time. $87,400 a year is a very good living in most parts
of the United States, and a person could live very comfortably off of that. The top-paying
metropolitan areas for this occupation include Atlantic City, New Jersey; Winchester, Virginia;
and Newark, New Jersey (U.S News). Salaries for construction managers widely vary,
depending on where you live. There are certain areas in the country, especially on the east coast,
where construction is thriving. They are putting huge amounts of money into construction, and
that is why construction managers on the east coast make so much money. While looking for a
job, it is very important to look at these statistics to determine where the most money can be
made.
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One of my most immediate goals with this capstone project was to decide whether to
pursue a construction management degree at CSU or a civil engineering degree at KU. I learned
that, while construction managers and civil engineers can have very similar jobs, they can also
have very different ones. Both majors will give you the opportunity to enter the construction
business, but the construction management major will focus more on the business aspects of
construction, while civil engineering will focus more on design (Dixon). Construction managers
have to deal with budgeting and money more so than civil engineers. A construction manager
must be strict with a budget, and the manager needs a strong business education for that part of
the job. Civil engineers do not generally deal with money issues or the business side of projects.
Engineers design and plan projects. Design terms and special visualizations are a very important
part of a civil engineers job. Precision in the designs will make or break a project. Civil
engineers are not in the field as much as construction managers, and are usually in the office
designing projects.
I learned more than I ever thought that I would during the capstone project. The
information I gathered through this project is very important to me because it will determine a
big part of my future. My big question going into the capstone project was whether or not
construction management was for me. That question was definitely answered by the end of the
project.
I definitely see myself being a construction manager when I am older. I learned that a
construction managers job changes every day, and that is very interesting to me. As I said
before, one of my biggest fears is sitting at a desk doing the same thing every day. By meeting
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with my mentors, I found that their jobs change daily. It was very interesting to see how much
their job varies. One of the days I was with my mentor, we went out on the site and did normal
overseeing duties. A couple of hours later, we were in meetings. I found it very fascinating how
much my mentor could do in one day. By being on the site, I could also see how nice and
friendly people in the construction business are. Colleagues were always asking me questions
and were always conversing, which I thought was nice. I enjoy being in a conversationalist
environment where I am learning things every second from other people. It really made me want
to be a construction manager even more and have all of those different experiences on a daily
basis.
I was late to make a decision on where I am attending college in the fall, and this project
is what made my decision for me. After learning the differences between a construction manager
and civil engineer, I decided to focus my studies more towards civil engineering. My mentor told
me that a degree in civil engineering is more beneficial because you can still do construction
management while having an engineering license, but you cant be an engineer if you only have
a construction management degree. She also told me that it is easier to get a construction
management job with a civil engineering degree and that civil engineers make more money. That
is why I chose The University of Kansas. I plan on studying civil engineering very intensely
there. They have a good civil engineering program, and they also offer a masters degree in
two more years to obtain a masters in construction management. This will also mean that I will
manager. This will open a lot of doors for me down the road and will help me find the kind of job
I want when I am older. It will allow me to be a more versatile candidate while looking for a job.
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This project is very important to me because it could be the start of something great.
Another reason why what I learned is so important to me is because it could lead to a possible
internship. Both of my mentors said that, once I complete my first year of college, I should
contact them about a possible internship. They have summer internships for college students who
want to get into construction management, and the company they work for is a very successful
one. If I can get an internship over the summer, it will put me in a great position to succeed.
Internships mean more field experience, and that is the most important thing in construction
management.
What I learned is very important to me because it has already shaped my future. I now
know where I am going to college, and I also know that I have an internship next summer if I
want one. I learned more throughout this process than I thought was possible at the beginning.
This project is one that I will cherish for the rest of my life.
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Works Cited
Best Construction Jobs. "How Much Can a Construction Manager Expect to Get Paid?" U.S.
News & World Report. U.S. News & World Report, 25 Jan. 2016. Web. 30 Apr. 2017.
Dixon, Ken. "Construction Management vs. Civil Engineer." College Confidential. College
Jackson, Barbara. Construction Management JumpStart. 2nd ed. Indianapolis: Wiley Publishing,
Health and Human Sciences - Colorado State University. Colorado State University, 01 Jan.
Williams, Terri. "Graduate Degree Holders Make $17,000 More Per Year Than Bachelor's
Degree Holders | GoodCall News." Good Call. Good Call, 28 July 2015. Web. 30 Apr. 2017.