Presentation practice and Milford Visit

This week was full of learning experiences for me. Monday was the intern's practice for their presentations for next week. It was great to see everyone's project coming along and to learn about the different topics. This was a great experience for us because we were able to get constructive criticism on our project without feeling attacked. It was good to hear some compliments on my topic, presentation and speaking abilities. Like everyone, I do get nervous before a speech like that, but I am usually able to keep on track, stay focused and complete the speech with little "ums" or "uhs". With some suggestions from the fellow interns and others present, I made some changes that will make the presentation better. I still have some practice to do so the speech comes more natural and I know when and what to say for each slide.
On Wednesday I visited Riley and Chris out in Milford. It is very interesting to see the level of security that GM has in order to keep their future cars secret. Upon entry to the special Contractors Gate, I had to cover up the cameras on my phone and laptop. This was also the only gate that I was allowed to enter/exit because I did not have a badge. I had to park outside the gate and Riley had to pick me up. Another thing that GM does to keep their cars secret is they have black and white swirls painted on the cars for camouflage to make it harder to identify the style lines and curves of the cars that are still a few years out. I have seen these out driving around before, but I did not know what they purpose was until Riley pointed it out to me.
After getting the safety orientation for the Milford Proving Grounds, Riley took me around to a few different jobs Ideal had around campus. We went out to lunch with Chris at a Bar-B-Q joint in downtown Milford, and after that Riley and I accompanied Chris to is weekly safety/progress meeting on a large renovation project that he was working on. It was cool to see a larger project that you don't typically get to see while working PDPM. Before the meeting Chris took the two of us around the project and showed us some difficulties that they had faced.

This is a sample of the paint covering concept cars.

Don't worry though! this is a close up from a picture I found in the internet.

http://gizmodo.com/how-automakers-use-a-wwi-era-camo-technique-to-disguise-1647618861

Week 12 in Pontiac

This was a pretty busy week in Pontiac for me. The team and I got several quotes in and took a look at a few different jobs that needed to be walked to get the scope of work. One project was walked today which includes the replacement of about 2 dozen VFD (Variable Frequency Drive) motor controllers on Air handling Units in the Penthouses of Building C. VFD's supply motors with a range of electricity voltage to change the frequency of the motor, to make it run slower or faster, depending on the need. This is going to take a lot of coordination with the subs and the owner to complete the work at specific times when the different units can be shut down. We had to go to each different AHU (14 in all)  in 4 different Penthouses, to take a look at the specific work that needed to be done at each one. All but one was to have the supply and return motors upgraded as they are all outdated.

One ongoing job we had this week was a paving job between building A to the right and building B to the left. A few weeks ago, there was a fire main brake that cracked and sunk some asphalt past those yellow bollards in the background. The rest of the area needed to be done, so that area, plus extra paving and some concrete stairs got done. This picture was taken after the first layer on the right have was done with T&M workeers rolling it. The left have will be done next, as well as the second layer on top of that. This all needed to be done on a tight schedule as there is a company picnic planed on campus soon and this parking lot needed to get done.

Another project that Ideal had was to install these heavy duty shelving units in Building E. There are several sets of shelves being put up and each one is about 40 feet long. This took a lot of coordination with the owner including placement and timing. One problem that we ran into before starting was the bolts needed to erect them were not to be found. The owner had to scramble and locate the hardware which just happened to be misplaced, but the project was delayed a little bit none the less.

Dylan Cook- Week 11.

For the most part this week has been pretty easy up in Pontiac. Like usual, I took care of the weekly updates and three week look aheads that I send out to GM about who should be on site and the various job sites and when. On Monday mornings I also try and update the meeting minutes from the week before to get them out of the way. I usually take a look at them again and update more information as the statuses of some jobs change. On Wednesday there was a walkthrough for a job that requires the disassembly and removal of an old parts carousel and the installation of a new one in the same spot. These carousels are big square machines that house several long, skinny shelves that rotate to hold different tools, electronic parts and a number of other things. We had a guy from Barton Malow there who does rigging work, who we use often to remove or install large items like this. One problem we will face is simply moving the items, as the size  of both the new one and the old one being removed are quite large. Since there is no need to reuse the old one, they are just going to cut it into pieces and take care of it that way. We believe that the new one will also be in at least two pieces, which will be good because that way we wont have to worry as much about getting it in there including removing and reinstalling the doorway.

Last Friday, the interns spent the day in Detroit volunteering at the Cadilac Gardens and Scarcyny Park near the Ideal offices. In the morning, Steven and I built a frame for a sign going up at another park, and we also built a new sandbox, both out of existing scrap material. There was an old sandbox that was deteriorating, and we were asked to build a new one. The box had a painted backdrop of a city skyline with Detroit painted across it showing the parks roots. We were able to save that and put it on the new one. After lunch, a few of us worked outside at the park and helped set some pavers that were being placed. This helped to Ideal laborer working alone before and he was able to set a lot more after we were helping.

One of the things I love about Ideal contracting is their involvement in the community, including sponsoring the park and garden as well as all that they do for Cristo Ray HS. This shows that this company is looking past just the money they make and really care about the community and bettering the city it so proudly resides in.

Dylan Cook job shadow with Richard Brown

This past Wednesday, I had the pleasure of shadowing one of Ideal's Director of Construction, Richard Brown. Richard spends most of his time at the New wings stadium, Little Caesars Arena. I worked in Pontiac for a few hours before meeting down there around 11. After showing me some basic blueprints of the overall sight layout and what Ideal was responsible for, we went to Hopcat for lunch. Rich and I were accompanied by a few other Ideal guys including Steven Sinn. After lunch, Rich took me on a tour of the different buildings in the Arena proper area. This includes building AB, which was almost done with the steel erection and starting to pour elevated slabs on the different levels. We walked around to take a look at where build C will go, as well as building DE. Building C will being the steel erection soon after AB is done, and Ideal just got an invitation for DE for the civil, steel and concrete work. After that Rich and I went inside the arena itself to take a look at the progress being made inside the building. The steel erection was almost complete on that part of the building, the crane was filling in the area that was left open for it to get out from the center. We went on different levels to see a few different views to see what it will be like. After we got back from the tour, I asked Rich some questions about what he does everyday, what his favorite part about working at Ideal as well as other. The day then concluded with him showing me some spreadsheets used to track money and resources, which is a big part of his job, as well as schedule projection and project look aheads.

This is building AB, which had a concrete pour the day before I was there that we looked at. The other of the building end is almost done with steel and the Ideal team will begin with building C after that.

 

This is a Picture of Rich and I at the same end of building AB

This picture was taken as I was leaving the project site from Sproat Street. This is the "Northern" elevation of the building, with me facing SE when I took it.

 

Last Week in Pontiac

Last week was a pretty busy week in the PDPM office out in Pontiac. Our Project manager and my mentor Joe N. was on vacation, so the work load was a little extra for the two project engineers and myself. There were a few walkthroughs that were set up and done to look at various jobs including a job requiring scaffolding to clean up and possible repair some mortar that's falling from a block wall in a few corridors in one of the testing facilities. After the walkthrough, I put together an estimate of Ideals cost including Labor, Material and Equipment. What ever isn't going to be subbed out needs to be taken into account. I then would go through the budget with Joe, as well as one of our superintendents Moose. After that, I put together a quote letter and I fill out an activity log that GM sends us to show the various costs of different aspects of each project. That gets sent to GM to await their approval. After they give us their purchase order number and the agreed upon amount, we send out Letters of Intent to the subcontracts to get the ball rolling on getting their SDS's and safety information into our safety managers. I sent out a few of those this week as well. On top of that, I put together requests for contracts for several jobs and sent them over to Lynn and Michael who are the PDPM administration support. I also put together a quote for one job that requires the removal and repair of a sanitary line through three floors and up unto the roof.  I am looking forward to my Director shadow trip that I am taking to follow Richard Brown around and shadow him at the Detroit Events Center on Wednesday.

Dylan Cook- July Shutdown

This past week was pretty busy for the most part up in Pontiac. Being shutdown there was a lot of work going on across the Pontiac Powertrain campus. We had crews working on concrete and asphalt paving jobs repairing numerous sections of parking lot as well as curb. Ideal also had roofing contractors working on Building C. Tuesday started off with a safety meeting following the 4th of July weekend. On Thursday I visited the other Dylan at the Warren Tech Center. It was cool to see the various jobs that they had going on there including the tunnel repair job. I spent the day there with him and Gus, as well as getting to know some other people who are a part of the PDPM process including Mike and Lynn, who do a number of accounting and administrative work. I have been working on my presentation PowerPoint and outline, getting information together and organizing it. This will be an interesting week as my mentor Joe N. is out of the office. I will be working with the Project Engineers who are here as well, who a few years ago were in my same shoes as an intern.

This week ended with the realization that this is in fact a small world after all. Long time family friends of my parents live on a lake that was putting off fireworks this past Saturday. While there with my family I ran into Travis George, who has lived across the street from them for a long time. The time there and watching the fireworks on their boat was a good end to a good week.

Week before July Shutdown- Dylan Cook

This has been a pretty hectic week for the Pontiac office getting ready for one of the busiest times of the year, July Shutdown. This week was full of putting together and submitting estimates, doing walkthroughs and getting quotes from subs, among other tasks typical to the PDPM process. I accompanied my mentor Joe to a kick off meeting at the Orion Assembly Plant converting a domestic hot water system from electric to natural gas. This had the different subs there, as well as facilities people from the plant to coordinate the schedule, when things/ areas were to be shut down, and what type of work was expected to be done over shutdown. Meetings like these are always good as an intern/student to sit through, even if you're there not saying a word. You can learn about the cooperation that has to happen with all the different trades, as well as with the facility managers. Later that day, our office had a walkthrough for a broken drain and vent stack in one of the buildings. This was a problem, not because of water leaking, but because of the foul odor that came from the pipes and was stinking up the area. The project also involves a high level of hazardous abatement, removing asbestos in the insulation, which due to the quantity of material removed, requires a special permit through the state. There was some difficulty and trouble trying to locate the piping, which started on the first floor in an engineering/ testing area, through the 2nd floor offices and up into the penthouse on the roof. It also wasn't that easy to get a good scope, since we didn't have any as-built drawings so we couldn't exactly identify the piping, some of which was capped off and abandoned. I was also a little nervous on this walkthrough as it was my first one with out a project engineer or project manager. The most important thing when doing a walkthrough is to ask a lot of questions and communicate with the owners and subs what has to be done. This week our office also had two projects put on hold by GM for some reason or another. The first one was a project that we were to install a row of electric car chargers in a parking lot close to the main entrance, mirroring a set of chargers that Ideal installed before on the other side of the lot. They put this one on hold because they wanted the location to be moved to another parking lot, to offer chargers to a different building. The second one was one of my first projects that I helped quote. The project was to furnish and install a smoking shelter outside of one of the entrances. This initially made me mad, because it was one of the first projects that I had helped with, but the next day the project was told to continue again, which was a relief. I am looking forward to,but also nervous to see the process during shut down next week and all that it entails.

Ft. Wayne Trip- Dylan Cook

The highlight of this past week by far was our trip to The General Motors Ft. Wayne assembly plant where they produce the GMC and Chevy Sierras and Silverados . The trip started out Wednesday evening with a dinner at a nice restaurant, which led to a most of the group going out playing pool and hanging out afterwards.

The next morning we got to Barton Malow’s trailer village where we went through the safety training. After getting our stickers we loaded into the vans and went around the assembly plant campus. We first took a look at some “smaller” (30,000 SF) additions to the plant that were be used as Logistical and storage areas. These were almost fully complete and were to be turned over to GM soon.

After that we drove to the larger addition that was the main attraction for the trip. First we looked at the concrete pour that was being placed that day. The pour was only a small part of the total addition, which is almost a million square feet all together. Due to the specifications and nature of the pour, we looked at the metal fiber mesh that was imbedded in the concrete to strengthen the finished slab once it is cured. This was required because they needed the necessary strength, but could not have rebar placed in the slab. This was most interesting to me because I have had some experience working with a concrete company last year for a previous internship.

We then went up to the roof of the large addition to see what was going on up there. It was very informative to see the different layers and steps in takes to get from a corrugated metal deck to the finished product with insulation layers and the waterproof membrane.

The day ended with lunch and a PowerPoint presentation that Glen gave us on the current work they were doing there.  It was a very informative trip and I know that there are plenty of things that I will be able to take away from this. I wanted to give thanks to Glen and Derek for being excellent hosts and for Jon, Yesi and Alex for organizing the trip. I also can’t forget about Gus, who was very informed on the projects and the various processes of the concrete pour.

Dylan Cook Week 4

This week was a pretty eventful week for me up in Pontiac. On Tuesday I went to the Orion Assembly Plant to check out the big roofing job that Ideal has there. One of our Forman said the project was over 660,000 square feet with all the phases combined. The roofing jobs for the assembly plants are so large that the roofing contractors have 4 wheelers to go from place to place, loading and unloading materials and waste.

 That afternoon I went on a walkthrough at the Drayton Plains CCA warehouse where GM stocks larger parts. This job was for the repair of the wide flange and cylindrical beams that are columns supporting the roof structure. These beams have been dinged, dented, bent and sheared by fork trucks running into them. We looked at several different ones that were in really bad condition with an engineer to discuss the best way to repair for each instance.

On Wednesday I walked a future job that includes the replacement of exterior concrete stairs and the removal and replacement of asphalt drive and parking lot; which part of the area was tore up because of a fire main brake a few weeks back.

This morning before our weekly meeting with the facilities management at the Pontiac Powertrain Center, my mentor Joe and I finished up a hard dollar job quote which includes the rigging of an exterior generator as well as the concrete pad it sits on.

I have chosen my presentation topic; which is on 3D BIM modeling. I am going  to talk with the Visualization Designer at Barton Malow about his job on Monday about the various uses of BIM modeling in the construction industry.

Week 3 Dylan Cook

This was another week of learning for me out in Pontiac. I have been getting more accustom to the PDPM process and the steps needed to successfully complete a project from first getting a Request for Quote to walking the job, getting quotes from subs and writing them contracts and finally handing off the project to one of the Superintendents at the trailer. I had my first walk trough this morning, but it was cut short for me due to the conference call the interns had to make. The job is to place and install a large piece of equipment in one of the large design/testing facilities. This job requires a lot of effort as it is a very large piece of equipment. There will have to be a lot of removing and replacing piping, ductwork and other mechanical stuff just to get it in.
I have been getting out and seeing the progress of the various jobs including a bathroom remodel at the Pontiac powertrain campus. I just got back from the Orion Assembly plant were we have a few jobs going on. The one we visited was the installation of a 5,000 Gallon acid tank, which empty weighs over 6 tons. That was a big logistical issue that the field guys and superintendents had to work out as it was so big and the clearance in the building is so small. They had to remove and will then replace piping just to get it into place.

I am looking forward to the Ft. Wayne trip the interns are taking next week to see a large concrete pour at an Ideal Job down there.

Week Two in Pontiac Dylan Cook

This week has been filled with more learning experiences for me with the team in Pontiac. I have been gaining experience working with the Project Manager and Project Engineers here. They have helped me and guided me through various parts of the PDPM process including sending out Letters of Intent (LOI), putting together estimates by myself, sending out requests and countless other activities that are apart of the front end of a project. I have yet to go out on a walkthrough, taking a look at the scope of work for the individual projects, but I plan to as soon as one comes up. Today I had my second weekly meeting that the team does with the facility managers at the Pontiac Powertrain campus, which discusses the numerous tasks that are going on there. The meetings go over how current projects are doing, the status of other projects in the quoting phase, as well as discussing the schedule and upcoming projects. I am looking forward to being more proficient at these activities and I believe I will be able to take on a whole project (from the Request for Quote (RFQ) all the way to handing it off to our supers) with little supervision soon.

First Week at Ideal- Dylan Cook

                Hello everyone, I would like to first introduce myself to my fellow interns and everyone else at Ideal Contracting. My name is Dylan Cook and I am a senior at Ferris State University, planning to graduate in December of this year. I was assigned to the PDPM program with GM in the Pontiac area, which covers a number of sites. The first few days I was working on the MUST safety modules and other orientation stuff, but after that, on Wednesday and Thursday I was able to take a tour with two of our Superintendents and they showed me around the area. I have also been working with my mentor,  Joe Nowakowski and some Project Engineers in the office to learn about their daily activities and steps to the PDPM projects. Soon I am hoping I will be able to work on these with little help. I am excited to spend my summer here and to gain skills and knowledge that will be great help once I graduate.

The First week at a new job or internship is always an interesting experience. You get bombarded with new names and people, places and new sets of procedures on how to do things. While it is expected that a newly hired intern isn’t the most effective or most helpful during this time, one can still feel like they are being unproductive and feel like they are not part of the team. It is always helpful to be reassured that they are doing a good job, even if they feel like they’re not doing much. So far Ideal Contracting has done just that. The guys in the job trailer have taken the time to show me stuff, slowed down to help me out and took the time to know my name already. I was given a great walkthrough of how the Pre- construction PDPM process works and I feel I will be a helpful member of this team shortly. This makes me very optimistic about the summer and that I will feel fulfilled with my time here when this summer comes to an end. I am looking forward to see where the summer takes me and where I end up in December after graduation.

Welcome Dylan Cook!

My name is Dylan Cook and I am excited to say that am going to be interning with Ideal contracting for the summer of 2016. I am currently a Junior at Ferris State University in their Construction Management program and I plan on graduating in December of 2016. I am from Livonia Michigan and graduated high school in 2011 from Clarenceville High school. I like to spend time outdoors; camping, disc golfing, fishing, long boarding and anything else that gets me out in nature. I have one brother who is a year older than me who goes to Western Michigan and a girlfriend of two years who attends Alma college. I would like to become LEED AP certified and one day work on and be in charge of environmental/renewable energy projects such as large scale wind farm or solar panel construction.