A desk book for practicing professionals in the management of mobile equipment in construction, mining and forrestry.

With the construction boom reaching over $300 billion by the early 1990s in the United States alone, this comprehensive and accessible guide is more important than ever for the budget-minded contractor. Presenting quick engineering know-how for the performance and satisfactory completion of construction using commonly recognized equipment, it deals with the physical concepts of the work, the surrounding conditions and equipment requirements, with an emphasis on controls governing the equipment's performance.

This revised and updated edition of Construction Equipment Management fills a gap on this subject by integrating both conceptual and hands-on quantitative knowledge on construction equipment into a process that facilitates student learning. The first six chapters summarize interdisciplinary concepts that are necessary to ground students' learning on construction equipment management, including both engineering and economics. Each of the next 16 chapters covers a different type of construction equipment and associated methods of use. The final chapter introduces the more advanced concept of operation analysis. This allows the book to be used on numerous courses at different levels to prepare graduates to apply skills on construction equipment when planning for a new project, estimating its costs, and monitoring field operations. Organized around the major categories of construction equipment, including both commercial and heavy civil examples, case studies, and exercises, this textbook will help students develop independence in applying concepts to hands-on scenarios. A companion website provides an instructor manual, solutions, additional examples, lecture slides, figures, and diagrams.

The construction of housing, commercial property, and infrastructure projects--roads, bridges, tunnels, railways, airports--for both the private and public sectors is one of the biggest industries in the world. It contributes around 10 per cent of world GDP, employs 7 per cent of the global workforce, and consumes around 20 per cent of the world's energy (and generates a third of the world's CO2 emissions). So important is the contruction industry that it is widely seen as the best indicator of a national economy's health. Stephen Gruneberg and Noble Francis, two of the UK's leading construction economists, present an up-to-date analysis of the construction industry's business model and the risks and challenges the industry faces in the twenty-first century. The book explores the many distinctive features of the economics of the industry, such as how firms use cost-reduction rather than profit maximizing behavior, the processes of tendering and procurement, and the often cyclical nature of demand. Some of the issues touched on include the nature of the government-client relationship, the difference between commissioned and speculative construction development, operating as well as building infrastructure, the advantages of off-site construction, the demand for green and sustainable construction, and the competition from government-backed Chinese companies in major infrastructure projects. As well as examining industry-wide issues, the book looks at how individual projects are costed. These can range from the construction of Dubai's Yas Island or Heathrow's third runway, to the construction of a local hospital, or a residential housing estate. Finance, cash flow, cost overruns, and labor relations are all shown to be fundamental to completing a project on time and within budget, regardless of size. The book offers authoritative analysis and expert insight to provide a survey suitable for students in both business schools and departments of architecture and the built environment.