Ch. 1 Review Questions

What types of subjects are covered by building codes?

protect public health and safety by setting minimum standards for construction quality, structural integrity, durability, livable, accessibility, and especially fire safety.

What is a performance bond?

to assure completion of the construction.

What is a payment bond?

to assure full payment to suppliers and subcontractors.

Why is a sustainable building important?

to make our children and grandchildren meet their needs for communities, buildings, and health lives less difficult.

What is the purpose of a surety bond?

to protect an owner from the risks of default, such as bankruptcy, by the construction contractor.

What is the Masterformat used for?

used to organize construction cost data, and it forms the basis on which most trade associations and manufacturers technical literature is cataloged. Has 50 divisions intended to cover the broadest possible range of construction materials and building systems.

What are the two common types of surety bonds?

performance bond and payment bond.

Who are the three principal team members involved in the creation of a new building? What are their respective roles?

Architect- helps to organize he owners ideas about the new building develops the form of building and assembles a group of engineering specalists to help work out concepts and details of foundations, structural support, and mechanical, electrical, and communications services. Architect/engineer team- develops scheme for the building in progressively finer degrees of details: drawings, written specifications, document how the building is to be made and of what. These documents are then submitted to the local government building authorities, where they are checked for conformance with zoning ordinances and building codes before a permit is issued to the building General contractor: hires subcontractors to carry out many specialized portions of the work, once construction begins, oversees the construction process while the building inspector, architect, and engineering consultants observe the work at frequent intervals to be sure that it is carried out according to plan

What two items are construction documents comprised of?

Drawings and specifications.

What are the three types of ISO 14020 environmental labels?

Ecolables, Self Declared Environmental Claims, and Environmental Impact.

What are the major life cycle stages in a life cycle analysis?

Extraction, Manufacture or Processing, and Disposal or Recycling

One of the fist steps in the development of a building is to meet with the building officials to review the contract document for code compliance (T/F)

False

The International Building Code is required by the federal government to be enforced in all states and municipalities in the US (T/F)

False

What is a building code occupancy?

Is the IBC's purpose in describing occupancies is to establish different levels of life safety hazard in buildings. For example, a hospital in which patients are bedridden and cannot escape a fire without assistance from others, must be designed to a higher standard of safety than a hotel or motel occupied by able-bodied residents. see page 11-12 for building code occupancy

If you are designing a five-story office building (occupancy group B) with 35,00 square feet per floor, what types of construction will you be permitted to use under the IBC if you do not install sprinklers? How does the situation change if you install sprinklers? In each case, what level of fire protection is required for the structural frame of the building?

No sprinklers: TYPE 1A or 1B, type 2A, type 4 (heavy timber) Fire protection- 3 hrs With sprinklers: INCREASE AREA, height, and occupancy group Fire protection- could be decreased

What is the Contractors role?

Not required to ascertain contract documents are in accordance with laws, statutes, ordinances, building codes, and rules but if discovered they should report promptly to architect. Plans the construction work in detail. Oversees the construction process and hires the subcontractors who carry out many portions of the work.

The project budget is generally a building constraint (T/F)

True

What are construction documents?

a scheme for the building in progressively finer degrees of detail such as drawings, primarily graphic in content, and specifications, mostly written to describe how the building is to be made and of what.

What is fast track construction?

aims to reduce the time required to complete a project by overlapping the design and construction of various project parts. Also known as Phase Construction.

Why is the critical path important to construction scheduling?

allowing construction to start sooner and by overlapping the work of design and construction, phased construction can reduce the total time required to complete a project.

What is a surety bond?

another form of legal instrument used to manse financial risks of construction.

What types of contracts and fee compensation is fast track construction commonly associated with?

associated with design/build and construction management project delivery methods

Example of a critical path?

construction of a buildings primary structural system is commonly on the critical path. If any of the actives such as shop drawing production and review or material delivery are delayed, then the final completion date of the projected will be extended.

How is the fires resistance of building assembly determined?

determined by ratings...these are derived from full-scale lab tests of building components carried out in accordance with an accepted standard fire test protocol to ensure uniformity of results. Can come from IBC, catalogs, handbooks, construction trade associations

What is the Architects role?

helps to organize he owners ideas about the new building develops the form of building and assembles a group of engineering specalists to help work out concepts and details of foundations, structural support, and mechanical, electrical, and communications services.

What types of subjects are covered by zoning ordinances?

how much of the land may be covered by buildings, how far buildings must be set back from adjacent property lines, how many parking spaces must be provided, how large a total floor area may be constructed, and how tall the buildings may be and fire zones.

What are Ecolabels?

independent, third party certifications of environmental performance. Intended to ensure info provided is unbiased, relevant, and reliable.

In what units is fire resistance measured?

measured in hours

What is a life cycle analysis?

method for describing and quantifying environmental impacts associated with building materials.

What is a construction type?

occupancy classifications by a set of definitions such as Type I construction, made with highly fire-resistant, noncombustible materials. Type V is the foot of the table which is built from light wood framing, the least fire resistant of all construction types.

What is cost plus a fee compensation?

owner agrees to pay the construction entity for the actual cost of construction, whatever they may turn out to be, plus an additional amount to account for overhead and profit.

What are Environmental Impact Labels?

provide most comprehensive assessments of products and environmental impacts on a comprehensive lit cycle basis. Don't provide environment rations or judgments, its up to the user to interpret the data for this purpose. Independently verified, but the label may be prepared by the product manufacturer.

What are Self Declared Environmental Claims?

provided directly from [product manufacturers, without independent verification. Provides useful info but users must make their own judgment in evaluation the appropriateness for particular use.

What is the embodied energy of a material?

sum total of energy consumed during the materials life cycle.

What is lump sum?

the contractor or other construction entity is paid a fixed dollar amount to complete the construction of a project regardless of that entitys actual costs. Most suitbable for projects where the scope of the construction work is well defined at the time that the construction fee is set, as is the case, with design/bid/build

What is the masterFormat?

the copyrighted title of a uniform indexing system for construction specifications

What is the critical path?

the sequence of activities that determines the least amount of time in which a project can be completed.

What is sustainable building?

using less energy, consume fewer resources, cause less pollution of the air, water and soil, reduce sate, discourage wasteful land envelopment practices, and minimize adverse social impacts to meet the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.