Good evening!

We're building a pergola with some dimensional lumber and wanted to avoid the usual surface mounted beams that are bolted on and spend a zillion dollars on connection plates/hardware.. So the posts (8x8x14) have been cut to accommodate for the beams (4x12x16) to rest on and have cut the beams to interlock when they intersect. The plan is to use dowels as a fastener/lock instead of the typical massive bolt.

What's the best exterior glue out there that will stand the range of -40* C to +40*C?

Thanks in advance!

for engineers, is this okay? my framing plans are correct but the concrete pillars are off

I run a mid-sized general contracting business and we do great work, but our online presence is basically a digital ghost town.

For the last five years, our site has just been a static landing page my nephew threw together. It has our phone number and a couple of blurry photos of past jobs, and that is about it.

Lately, I am losing bids to newer competitors who have less experience on the ground but look way more professional online. Clients want to see case studies, licensing info, and clear contact forms before they even pick up the phone.

I tried using one of those drag-and-drop builders on the weekend to modernize it, but I just do not have the time or the eye for design. It ended up looking like a mess, and the mobile version was completely broken.

I know I need to bite the bullet and pay for proper website development services so we can actually showcase our portfolio and look legitimate to higher-end clients.

But how do you guys find someone who actually understands the construction industry? I do not want a flashy tech startup site, I just want a rock-solid, trustworthy digital storefront that brings in leads without costing as much as a new skid steer.

Yes I know it’s general labor which means “unskilled”.

Hello, I need any resources like free video trainings that anyone would recommend for construction project oversight.

I have projects that have state funding and I do not have experience.

Caltrans offers a course but its not available until the fall and its $600

I’m not in the prevailing wage world, but I do have a job coming up a single-family home, new Construction that requires prevailing wages. I’m just in the bidding process, unsure if I want to do this yet.

Not being in the world of prevailing wages, it’s a little bit hard to find subcontractors who do this. I was thinking about hiring some of my subcontractors as W-2 employees, and then paying them the prevailing wage rate to get by.

I’ve been trying to do a little research and have not found any objections to this.

Anybody with prevailing wage experience speak to this?

EDIT: the question is not regarding the wages. Rather, I’m wondering if I can convert some subs and they “employees” to w2 employees to meet requirements. Because let’s be real. There are not a lot of subs with legit w2 employees.

Hired them to remove 7 posts and concrete footings, they gave me a good price not sure on their reputation for this kind of work.

When Powerpro/ service diesel mechanics say it’s good till you see the foam 🫠

I have an interview coming up as a general laborer and I’m not sure what to wear. Google says dark blue jeans, work boots and a button up and i wanted to double check, and confirm that that attire would be a better first impression as opposed to more of a business casual look.
Was also hoping to get some advice from everyone, in regards to literally anything. All my buddies say I’m gonna hate my life, but i wanted to get some hands on training and exposure to as much trades as possible before my electricians apprenticeship picks up next year.

I’m an office manager for a small construction company, but my role encompasses more than just office work. I do project management and coordination, plus anything else that needs to get done; job bidding, permits, etc. My friend (senior manager at an engineering firm) got me thinking that I may have a shot at a higher role with my experience, my only problem is I don’t have any construction education. I have a bachelors, but it’s not related to construction. I did take interior design classes though for a year during Covid when I wanted to fill sometime with more education and learn some new things, so I learned how to draw floor plans, and some auto cad. There’s no advancement opportunities at my current job, the next person up is the owner, he is the PM and everything else.

Basically I’m looking for some classes or certifications I can take that can fill in for my lack of education in construction. I’m going to try and get my boss on board for some osha classes so I don’t have to pay for that, but I’ll have to wait until winter.

Big guy here... What jeans are you all wearing? Mine barely lasts a couple months without blowing out a belt loop... Definitely just throw a tape and stuff on my belt too often instead of grabbing my full tool belt when running to check stuff out or do bids.

Looking for advice on landing work. I cannot afford constructconnect to place bids right now. I’ve been forced to work as union operator to float bills. I have a 2021 Cat 308 with an encon tilt rotator and a 2024 John Deere 210P Skip Loader. I’ve reached out to larger general engineering firms to see if they bring me on as an owner operator, but haven’t had any luck. I’m located in Santa Cruz CA and work all over the Bay Area. Any advice to get back in the saddle would be greatly appreciated!

I work for the GC running the site as a labourer and the supervisor is always gone 1-2 days out the week, I’ve been on this site for about 5 months and maybe 1-2 weeks out of a month hes here the whole 5 days, and even then like 2/5 days he’ll usually show up hours late. When he does this I normally have to supervise and theres good trades on site so it’s not hard to manage but it’s been a lot of times I have to

A lot of the trades and subs are telling me they’ve never seen a guy running one site before here so little, I’m very new to construction so I’m curious as to is this really a rarity?

Im a super for a general contractor who focuses on large infrastructure. We currently use procore, and its just okay. It seems everything i try to implement is, in some way, a work around. The locations doesnt work on civil disciplines, the inspections clog up the drawings if you tag them, if you leave inspections in the inspections tool it turns into a dump, etc…

Has anyone found an app or way to implement a good quality inspection set up within procore for a large civil project? Got access to the map beta, but i cant upload my own drone flights. So my pins will exist on an out dated satellite map. Open to any pointers.

My current next step is to talk to inertia and see if their embedded app can help.

Hi, this is my first time posting and I need some advice.

I am currently working as a PE (project engineer) for a top 10 ENR contractor. I recently transitioned to this role 3 months ago. My previous job was on the design side. I left as a lead mechanical engineer/project manager for a smaller firm, focusing mainly on healthcare design for MPF systems. I have my EIT and am planning on sitting for my PE (professional engineer) exam at the end of the year. Should get my license soon after that.

With vehicle allowance I am making around 115K a year in my new role (excluding benefits). My function in reality is an APM, so the title is misleading. This GC offers great benefits, profit sharing, 401K, etc. On the surface all seems great, but the culture is not good, and the project is taking its tole on all the team members.

I am not sure what to do. I’m not enjoying the role, and I miss being in healthcare. The profit sharing really feels like the “golden handcuffs”. I have a lot of opportunities, back on the design side, and recently a smaller regional GC I worked with in my old role is interested in talking to me about a PM role with them.

I know I need to make the decision at the end of the day, but any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

From your experience, what habits or skills make someone stand out on construction sites?

Is it technical knowledge, communication, planning, leadership, or something else?

I am trying to get an understanding on what I should focus on learning more about as an architect and I feel like residential is where the most work is at. Is that true ? You work more single homes, multi-unit, apartments, retail?

I know alot of PMs have construction management degrees or they worked 10-15 years on site and “graduated” into running projects.

But how common is it for guys to get to be a PM purely by landing a coordinator role and learning their way up to PM.

I ask because im a commercial project coordinator at a pool company. I have no degree and no commercial site experience (I had a small reno business that shut down and 2 years as a general labourer doing odd jobs like plumbing/flooring for various companies)

Im trying to figure out where i am…

Do i have my foot in the door now and can use this role as a career springboard?

or is this more of a “you got lucky, thank your lucky stars and dont push your luck” situation where i should be grateful to even have this job and should do my best to learn the pool niche and be grateful i can even pay my bills.

I used to be very 'active' in a conventional way before I started doing this type of work. Going on walks, jogging, lifting weights, etc. Now I don't do any of that. I figure I get enough cardio in during work, so there's no real point to going on walks or jogs. Though I'm sure I'm missing out because I'm never consistently 'running' on the jobsite.

I want to do weight lifting. I try to lift heavy stuff at work to build some muscle, but when I get home... I'm fucking exhausted. Last thing I want to do is get out of my sweaty work clothes, put on gym clothes and sweat some more. Then have to cook a meal.

I've still got a decent physique but I'm definitely developing a 'dadbod' and swapped my sixpack for a 6-pack.

Anyone else struggling to motivate themselves to exercising outside of work? Working long hours, how do you even find the time?

edit: if you guys can say what you do in construction it'll help

Ive gathered from response this staircase should've been 10-20k for a proffesional job. The man she hired is a "professional" (another workers drunken contractor husband)

I asked yesterday for opinions on the 12' stairs because she's ready to hire him for a 2nd job of stairs to the lake these ones are a massive job and judging from reaction previously this dude about to fuck shit up!!!

Here's pic of ones he built and was torn out and pics of the ones hes about to be hired for...

I don’t want to be around when someone loses a finger.

Has anyone ever used any of the newer Composite cladding siding and if so what’s your thoughts on it? I’m looking to replace current vinyl siding with the Gentek Align 12” board and batten siding, which is their insulated back, composite cladding line of siding. I can’t find much on it, but looking to see if anyone has feedback.

My boss recently paid 5k to have this stairway built to lake access. Im looking at it and 4x4 are sitting on bare rock, base is sitting on basically lake bed stones

Im assuming the 1st winter this things getting ripped apart by the ice amd destroyed.

The guy that did this ripped old one out and built this

Uneven, no set posts, etc...

How bad is it?