<-- Construction Sites!

MoxieMoth

Curtis was supposed to LOVE ME
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 23, 2011
Messages
119
Reaction score
13
Location
Boston
Website
www.ryanlasala.com
Thanks for stopping in! I love visiting construction sites, but I don't think I have a very clear sense of how they are set up. A fight scene is taking place in a construction site in my WIP, and I need to make sure that I'm not inventing methods and tools and processes.

Essentially it's a library, or it WILL be a library. It's four floors and has a central open atrium in the middle, which at this point is just a yawning space cut out of each floor. It's all concrete, exposed pillars, exposed wires, billowing sheets of plastic curtains, and that's about it. There's a staircase, but I wouldn't mind settling for some alternate contraption that's used to get from floor to floor on construction sites.

I need to know specifics. For instance: is there a central area where the workers keep their materials? Their saws and tools? Are there doors? If my MC is being pursued by many-legged creatures, what are his resources? What's it like inside these unfinished zones?

Thanks so much for reading and for your help! I truly appreciate your wisdom!
 

alleycat

Still around
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 18, 2005
Messages
72,873
Reaction score
12,224
Location
Tennessee
I'm worked in architecture and structural engineering for many years. My best friend is the chief of construction administration (inspection) for a fairly large architectural firm.

Just a couple of casual comments.

The "stairs" from floor to floor on a construction site is often just a temporary one until later in the construction (of course, this depends; sometimes the stair is placed--placed is the term for concrete, not poured--along with the floors). Often it's what appears to be shaky wooden construction. That might work for you. I've even seen a temporary wooden ramp used.

I'm not that up on where tools are stored on site, but most construction people are VERY possessive of their tools. They either take them home, or lock them up tight. An old construction worker adage is: "You can take my wife, but leave my tools alone."
 
Last edited:

Jersey Chick

Up all night to get Loki
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 9, 2007
Messages
12,320
Reaction score
4,278
Location
in the state of carefully controlled chaos
Website
www.kimberlynee.com
Okay - my husband is in construction, so I'm picking his brain. If you have any other questions, let me know. :D

I need to know specifics. For instance: is there a central area where the workers keep their materials?
This can vary from site to site. Some guys are very fussy about who can get to their tools (and are paranoid about someone stealing them) so they might take them with them when they leave for the day.

If not, most contractors will have what's called a conex (sp?) box (think shipping containers) and that houses all the materials (for my husband, who's a pipefitter, that includes pipes, acetylene tanks, this can vary from trade to trade and possibly from site to site, depending on the project.)

The interior of the job, there might be one or two gangboxes per floor (again, this depends on size of building being built.) A gangbox is large mobile toolbox. It houses hand tools and smaller materials. Again, for a pipefitter, this might include rags, solder, etc.) This is where the saws and tools and personal protective equipment (called PPE for short, it's things such as safety harnesses, dust masks, protective eyewear, ets.)

Are there doors?
There can be, if the room needs to be locked up at the end of the day. Doors are usually one of the last things to go up. Again, according to Jersey Guy, doors are called "finishing".

If my MC is being pursued by many-legged creatures, what are his resources?
That depends on what is left lying around. Generally, the area is to be cleaned up before the end of work, and scrap is usually given to apprentices. Tools are expensive and these guys usually protect them, so they get locked up. Same goes with power tools. You might find scrap wood or pipe (and there can be security patrolling depending on the site.)

What's it like inside these unfinished zones?
It depends on the state of unfinishedness. :D How early into the construction are you?

Hope this helps - you can PM me if you need more details, etc. :D
 

Snick

Sockpuppet
Banned
Joined
Jun 13, 2011
Messages
934
Reaction score
86
Location
Havatoo
Thanks for stopping in! I love visiting construction sites, but I don't think I have a very clear sense of how they are set up. A fight scene is taking place in a construction site in my WIP, and I need to make sure that I'm not inventing methods and tools and processes.

Essentially it's a library, or it WILL be a library. It's four floors and has a central open atrium in the middle, which at this point is just a yawning space cut out of each floor. It's all concrete, exposed pillars, exposed wires, billowing sheets of plastic curtains, and that's about it. There's a staircase, but I wouldn't mind settling for some alternate contraption that's used to get from floor to floor on construction sites.

I need to know specifics. For instance: is there a central area where the workers keep their materials? Their saws and tools? Are there doors? If my MC is being pursued by many-legged creatures, what are his resources? What's it like inside these unfinished zones?

Thanks so much for reading and for your help! I truly appreciate your wisdom!

You also have to have a better idea of the degree of completion. If it is "all concrete, exposed pillars," then there will not be "exposed wires, billowing sheets of plastic curtains." The wiring wouldn't be installed until after there were walls. The plastic curtains might be used in the Winte, but they would be to fill window spaces before the glass was installed, which wouldn't be done until after the walls were up.

Jersey Chick is right about tools, etc. There usually are a few containers for tools, etc. mostly outside, but it depends on the size of the job and the location. There is also a lot of variation in how cleaned up the place would be at the end of the work day. That depends on who is running things, the location, and how far along the construction is.
 

Lehcarjt

Been here, Done this.
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 27, 2011
Messages
1,282
Reaction score
309
Location
N. Calif
Website
www.racheltaylorwrites.com
Ditto to the tools being locked up in freight-container like storage units. If it's a big job, the contractors will each have their own portable offices with office equipment and more storage. These would be easier to break into, if that is helpful. The freight-containers are hardy.

There would also be forklifts, backhoes, etc. and usually it is somewhat surrounded by temporary chain-link fences.

A good place to look for weapons (such as heavy-duty pipes) would be the dumpster. Constructions workers toss a TON of really good material because it is cheaper to dump it and order more than to salvage things themselves. (My hubby will sometimes go back on weekends to recycle the discarded pipe because it bugs him so much to see it wasted (and of course he makes a couple hundred dollars for his time)).

If you have any specific questions, feel free to PM me too as my hubby works for a commercial plumbing company (building hospitals lately) and I can ask him for help.
 

Graz

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 9, 2011
Messages
522
Reaction score
34
Location
1
Jersey Chick's got it right. Gang boxes, job boxes(Knack is a brand name) to secure tools from theft are often secured to a fixed part of the building, a pillar for example, with a heavy chain and padlock. Connex's are stored outside, plastic sheeting is hung/used to protect some finished materials. Each trade normally has a seperate area where tools and materials are stored
 

MoxieMoth

Curtis was supposed to LOVE ME
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 23, 2011
Messages
119
Reaction score
13
Location
Boston
Website
www.ryanlasala.com
Wow people! Thank you so much for all this fascinating information--I started taking notes and everything.

I think I'm going to go with one of the Knaack gang boxes. I'm envisioning a scene, happening around midday in an oddly desolate construction site, where my character gets somewhat lost in a semi-completed construction site during an escape. I like the idea of having actual rooms, so the dry walling should be up. I want him to break into one of these gang boxes for resources to defend himself with:

What would be in a gang box? Nails, those horrifying circular saw blades? If you were a telekinetic teenager, what would you find particularly useful in a gang box? I understand that the contents will vary based on whatever is being worked on, and by who, but are there constants that I can get away with using?

I'm also still confused on the stairs aspect. Since I'm moving this construction scenario into a more completed stage, does that mean that the staircases would already be established? I don't suppose people just leave latters hanging about, do they?

Again, thank you all so much! I really appreciate you taking the time to help me out!
 

jennontheisland

the world is at my command
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 17, 2006
Messages
7,270
Reaction score
2,125
Location
down by the bay
While some guys may have personal tools, most belong to the job, and no one goes home with anything. We keep ours in "Seacans" (brand name for those large shipping containers you see on ships). Job runs from 7 to 4 usually with most of the workers of site by 4, so daylight is still quite available in the summer. Super and other mgmt staff may be onsite til 6 or so, but if they're tucked away safely in the site trailer (office) all kinds of things can go on that they won't see.

Even in a locked site, we keep all our stuff in the Seacan. Gangboxes are small enough that they can be carried away; a Seacan can't . Thefts from construction sites are extremely common (and mostly inside jobs, imo). However, garbage bins may be handy and left open. Scrap wood, dull drill bits (concrete ones for drilling dowel holes can be 3' long and 1" in diameter - nasty), and any random junk that's going to be hauled away. Random junk could very easily = anything you want to use as a weapon.

Ladders are considered tools and would be put away at the end of the day. They're rarely used for anything other than small temporary climbs. You might have some scaffolding around if you've got an atrium, particularly if you're nearing finishing and the glazers and painters need to work up high. A scissor lift might be kept inside for them as well.

(I'm a project coordinator for a commercial/industrial general contractor)
 

Graz

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 9, 2011
Messages
522
Reaction score
34
Location
1
What would be in a gang box? Nails, those horrifying circular saw blades? If you were a telekinetic teenager, what would you find particularly useful in a gang box? I understand that the contents will vary based on whatever is being worked on, and by who, but are there constants that I can get away with using?

I'm also still confused on the stairs aspect. Since I'm moving this construction scenario into a more completed stage, does that mean that the staircases would already be established? I don't suppose people just leave latters hanging about, do they?

Again, thank you all so much! I really appreciate you taking the time to help me out!

Gang boxes hold everything you mentioned. Basically anything that will fit inside and can be easily lifted, placed inside.
Stairs would most likely be poured concrete, or welded steel treads and risers. A temporary hand rail of nailed together two by fours is usually in place and is basically for show. Very weak and easy to collapse if someone wanted to.
The scaffolding or scissor lift mentioned would be there to work on the atrium. Scissor lifts are normally electric, left plugged-in over night to re-charge, but need a key to operate.
 

Lehcarjt

Been here, Done this.
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 27, 2011
Messages
1,282
Reaction score
309
Location
N. Calif
Website
www.racheltaylorwrites.com
Just incase you are looking for a reason for the job site to be empty... Large jobs are almost always 100% union (at least in our area). Union employees get some odd holidays that no one else does. You might be able to google some unions and find a calendar.

However, in this economy lots of unions are having black fridays - so every or every-other friday is a non-work day. I don't know that all unions would be doing this at the same time or on the same schedule, but for a story you might be able to say they were.

Plumber wouldn't ever you Gang Boxes. The boxes themselves are too easy to steal. The thieves want the contents, but the boxes themselves are recyclable for cash.
 

MoxieMoth

Curtis was supposed to LOVE ME
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 23, 2011
Messages
119
Reaction score
13
Location
Boston
Website
www.ryanlasala.com
Very very useful insight on the scissor lift! Thank you!


Plumber wouldn't ever you Gang Boxes. The boxes themselves are too easy to steal. The thieves want the contents, but the boxes themselves are recyclable for cash.

Couldn't you potentially chain together multiple boxes to make them a cumbersome heist?

And thanks for the holiday idea! I was going to leave that ambiguous, but your observation actually fits very well.