Construction Management, Tools & Materials
Set up and run a regenerative building site: lay it out accurately, organize material and tool flow, equip each phase, meet the safety obligations that apply to any site and the specific ones this work creates, and build a schedule around cure times you cannot rush.
What you will be able to do
- Set up a site: staging, access, material flow, storage
- Equip each phase of the work with the right tools
- Meet OSHA 1926 obligations and control silica exposure
- Build a schedule that respects cure times and weather
Syllabus
7 parts · 24 lessons · 164 assessed questions · about 6 hours
Part A Before the Ground Is Broken
- 1What Construction Management Is Here13 min · 5 q
- 2The Pre-Construction Checklist12 min · 6 q
- 3Budget and Schedule16 min · 7 q
- 4Procurement and Long-Lead Items15 min · 7 q
Part B Setting Up the Site
- 5Site Preparation and Protecting What You Are Not Building On15 min · 7 q
- 6Layout16 min · 7 q
- 7Site Organization and Material Flow14 min · 7 q
- 8Stacking and Storing Materials14 min · 7 q
- 9Temporary Facilities13 min · 6 q
Part C Tools
- 10The Natural Building Tool Kit12 min · 6 q
- 11Tool Organization and Work Stations12 min · 6 q
- 12Power Tools and Electrical Safety14 min · 7 q
Part D Safety
- 13The Legal Floor - OSHA 29 CFR 192615 min · 6 q
- 14The Hazards This Work Actually Produces21 min · 9 q
- 15Running the Program14 min · 6 q
Part E People and Production
- 16The Crew17 min · 7 q
- 17Leadership on Site12 min · 6 q
- 18Production, Sequence and Cure Times17 min · 8 q
Part F Materials
- 19The Six Problems with Conventional Materials13 min · 6 q
- 20Embodied Energy and Material Selection16 min · 7 q
- 21Salvage and Upcycling17 min · 8 q
- 22Waste Management17 min · 8 q
Part G Quality and the Record
- 23Quality Control15 min · 7 q
- 24Documentation and Closeout16 min · 8 q
Ref Appendices
- A1Pre-Construction Checklist
- A2Tool List by Phase
- A3Site Setup Plan
- A4Safety Program Outline
- A5Construction Sequence and Elapsed Time
- A6Material Selection Matrix
- A7Glossary
Before you start
Course 2 - Permits, Codes & Construction Drawings. Courses 3 and 4 strongly recommended.
About this course
Course competency
On completing this course you can set up and run a regenerative building site: prepare and lay out the site accurately, organize material and tool flow, equip the job for each phase, meet the safety obligations that apply to any construction site and the specific ones this work creates, build a realistic schedule around natural-material production rates and cure times, select and procure materials on defensible criteria, run a waste stream that pays for itself, and leave behind a documented record of everything that got buried.
Why this course is last in Level 1
Everything before this course decided what to build. This course is about building it.
That is not a demotion. The most common way a good regenerative design fails is not in the design and not in the permit - it is on site, in a disorganised job where the tire supply ran out in week three, the layout was a half-inch out at one corner, the lime got rained on, and the crew got slower every week because nobody could find a tool.
Construction management is not a soft skill bolted onto the technical work. It is the discipline that converts a correct design into a correct building.
What makes this different from conventional construction management
The fundamentals are the same: planning, scheduling, procurement, team management, quality control, safety. Three things are not.
1 · The materials behave differently. Earth has to be at the right moisture. Lime takes weeks to carbonate. Plaster coats have to cure between applications. Straw must stay dry from the field to the wall. Natural materials add elapsed time to a schedule that cannot be compressed by adding people, and a manager who does not build that in will be behind from the first month.
2 · The labor profile is different. A Biotecture site frequently has paid crew, licensed subcontractors, Academy students on a field session, and the owner working on their own building - four different categories of person with four different legal positions, on the same site, on the same day. Lesson 16 is about that.
3 · The construction process is itself part of the regenerative project. Minimising waste, sourcing locally, protecting the land you are not building on, and building community through the work are not decorations on the schedule. A project that produces a regenerative building by degrading its site and burning through a crew has failed at something.
Course structure
| Part | Lessons | Subject |
|---|---|---|
| A | 1-4 | Before the ground is broken |
| B | 5-9 | Setting up the site |
| C | 10-12 | Tools |
| D | 13-15 | Safety |
| E | 16-18 | People and production |
| F | 19-22 | Materials |
| G | 23-24 | Quality and the record |
| - | A1-A7 | Appendices: checklists, tool lists, sequence and cure times, selection matrix |
A note on Lesson 15.4. One section of this course - on who may lawfully work unpaid on a building site - is reserved and not written, pending review by employment counsel. The reason is set out in the lesson. Do not fill the gap from the older material; that material is part of what is under review.