The Critical Path

Strategy for success in 21st Century Construction Leverage Real Intelligence - Yours!

Perspective: Anyone who served in the military or grew up on a ranch or farm was likely exposed to the type of discipline that is also necessary in the construction business. The foundation is simple, "Mistakes get people injured or killed" A supervisor is not only a human being, they are responsible to see that everyone gets to go home safe every day. Sometimes the circumstances don't provide time for a polite discussion about a mistake or an insubbordinate action. Th

A History of the Arizona Canal Diversion Channel 1. The Hidden Shield: Phoenix’s Unseen Flood Infrastructure The Phoenix metropolitan area represents one of the more complex hydrological challenges in modern civil engineering, defined by a "dual seasonal threat" that few other urban environments must navigate. As a lifelong Arizona Resident, I view the Valley not just as a sun-drenched oasis, but as a landscape of paradox: the very arid warmth that fuels our growth also bakes

Starting the Hoover Dam Bypass - Arizona Side Walk onto any modern road construction site today, and you will notice something peculiar: The wood is gone. For generations of construction workers, surveyors, and heavy equipment operators, the job site was a forest of wooden stakes. These stakes were not just boundary markers; they were the physical coordinates of the project, bearing handwritten "stories" that guided the raw power of bulldozers and graders. To understand how w

651 Scraper and D8L + Cut Boss "I don't see all this excess dirt you keep talking about," the District Engineer growled as he stood in front of my desk. He was referring to the claim that I had filed against the Highway Department concerning the balance of earthwork on the project. The history behind the claim went back to before this project had even been awarded to Sundt Corp. The project that connected to the south end of my project was performed by another contractor

Survival requires documentation and proactive conversations.

Real Intelligence, Nothing Artificial... (RINA)

Video about construction bidding

Always have a backup plan! From horses to massive diesel tractors, the construction industry has come a long way in automation. Grade control went from optical human input to GPS and Laser. Older projects rarely had photos taken because cameras were scarce and developing the pictures could be expensive. Now your telephone takes pictures, autofocuses, adjusts for the lighting and uploads your picture to the cloud. Technologies like AI and robotics are making a hard press in

The social media feeds are suddenly filled with advisors and experts who want to sell you a technology that is not yet proven, and sometimes it's still a dream. The reality in construction is that accurate and contextual data simply does not exist in most companies. The AI agent doesn't usually have video tape of your complete operation to analyze, nor does it generally have digital access to your records. Contractor's production records are generally vague and often non

Be pragmatic, not emotional and things will nearly always work out!

Don't let technology swallow your profits or your business!

New SR 77 Bridge over Canada Del Oro Wash 1985 The beautiful expanse of desert just north of Tucson called Oro Valley joined the US in 1853 as part of the Gasden Purchase. Canada del Oro (Canyon of Gold) was the name given to the area by early prospectors due to a legendary lost spanish mine, however very little gold was ever found. Homesteading started in the early 1900 and by the 1930's wealthy families started buying up the land to create massive winter estates and guest

"What's it going to take to get Heavybid into R.E. Monks?" John Davis, VP at HCSS, asked me in a phone call just a month or so after I had left Sundt and started as chief estimator for R.E. Monks Construction in Arizona. That conversation happened in the summer of 1997 and to understand the background, we need to go back to 1992 when Ken Brunker had been promoted to VP over the estimating group at Sundt Corp. Ken's predecessor had purchased several seats of Hard Dollar with

Bridge girder hung up on highway frontage road. Tucson Arizona 1985

Due to the water flowing down the creek and the restrictions placed by the Forest Service, setting the +/- 100 ft long bridge girders on the NB Deer Creek bridge called for a specialty operation that included approximately 6 separate synchronized crane maneuvers to safely move the 50+ ton girders from the truck to the bridge abutments. One crane is on top of the roadway and the other is in the bottom of the creek. Before reading further, imagine trying to carry a bucket of w

I plan to post a series of historical stories about the highway that was once a ribbon of death in the State of Arizona. History: Prior to 1950 to travel from Phoenix to Payson, you had to drive through Apache Junction, take the Bush Highway along the lower Salt River to Saguaro Lake and then take highway 87 to Payson. In the early 1950's the County negotiated a deal to build a section of highway across tribal land to make a direct route from Mesa to the Saguaro lake turnof

How an agency oversight roped us in! Arizona SR87 - Rye section.. This 5 mile project was in open range with just barbed wire keeping the cows off the road. Clearing for the new right of way fencing required making temporary gates in the existing fence and yes a few times the clever range cows were able to sneak in and munch on the shoulder grass. But we quickly herded them back to their side, no harm. The Rancher's house was on the West side of the road on the banks of D

I sat up quickly as the ringing of the telephone echoed off the walls of my small trailer. The clock glowed 12:30 am so I knew it was either a family emergency or something had gone wrong with the overnight deck pour. When I answered, Dan, my structure engineer, said "Hey boss, we turned over a mixer truck near the bridge!" My heart leapt to my throat as I went through the checklist, "Is anyone hurt?" I asked, when Dan said "no", then I pivoted to the job, "Can we finish t