Author: Gerry Keating

Construction Professional

Come and join us

Listed below are current job vacancies here at G&S, if you would like to read more about any of these positions, please log onto http://employmentportal.g-s.com.au/.  Suitably qualified friends and family are welcome to register on the E-Portal and apply for the jobs they are interested in.If you are a current employee and are interested in applying for any job listed please send resume and cover letter to recruitment@g-s.com.au stating the job you are applying for.

Department Job Name Location Closing
Trade Intermediate/Advanced Riggers NSW Hunter Valley Operations
Trade Quality Assurance Officer (Construction Works) Various Construction Project Locations

2/09/2011
Trade Project Manager (Construction Works) Various Construction Project Locations

2/09/2011
Trade Electrician- Maintenance & Down Days Various Project Sites

2/09/2011
Trade Electrician- Shutdowns and Construction Various Project Sites

2/09/2011
Trade Boilermaker/Welders – Workshop Biloela Workshop

2/09/2011
Trade Rigger -Specialising in Structural Steel Erection Various Construction Project Sites

2/09/2011
Trade Store person Biloela

2/09/2011
Staff Accounts Payable/Receivable – Part-time Mackay

2/09/2011
Trade Fabrication Supervisor – Biloela Workshop Biloela

2/09/2011
Trade Pressure Welders – Construction Projects Various Construction Project Locations

2/09/2011
Staff HR Advisor Mackay

5/09/2011
Trade Site Boilermakers NSW Hunter Valley Operations

10/09/2011
Trade Site Fitters/Plant Mechanics NSW Hunter Valley Operations

10/09/2011
Trade Mechanical Supervisor (Construction Works) Various Construction Project Locations

17/09/2011
Trade Structural Supervisor (Construction Works) Various Construction Project Locations

17/09/2011
Trade Expeditor (Construction Works) Various Construction Project Locations

17/09/2011
Trade Supervisor – Rigger (Construction Works) Various Construction Project Locations

17/09/2011
Staff IT Support Officer Mackay Based

18/09/2011
Trade Down Day Supervisor – Northern Area Various Project Sites

22/09/2011
Trade Boilermaker (Construction Works) Various Construction Project Locations

25/09/2011
Trade Fitters (Construction Works) Various Construction Project Locations

25/09/2011
Trade Crane Operator (Construction Works) Various Construction Project Locations

25/09/2011
Staff Project Controller – Construction Various Construction Project Locations

29/09/2011
Staff Project Scheduler – Construction Various Construction Project Locations

29/09/2011
Staff Area Superintendent – Central Mackay

30/09/2011
Trade Mechanical Supervisor – NSW Operations Muswellbrook

30/09/2011
Trade Boilermakers Various Project Sites

30/09/2011
Trade Riggers Various Project Sites

30/09/2011
Trade Fitters Various Project Sites

30/09/2011
Trade Mechanical Fitters – Mackay Workshop Mackay Workshop

30/09/2011
Trade Trades Assistant – Expression of Interest Various Project Sites

22/10/2011
Trade Project Manager Bowen Basin

29/10/2011
Staff Project Controller – Electrical Projects Mackay & Site Based

30/10/2011
Trade HSE Advisor Various Project Locations – Bowen Basin

31/10/2011
Staff Senior Estimator – Draglines & Shovels Mackay

31/12/2011
Natasha Birmele
Recruitment and Training Co-ordinator
Human Resources
Mackay
Phone: (07) 4963 7651
Mobile: 0438 681 668
Fax: (07) 4952 4848
Email: nbirmele@g-s.com.au

The New Black Gold

Dragline at the Curragh Coal Mine
Go Curragh

Construction in Australia was affected by the GFA but not as badly as the rest of the world. However, contractor’s order books did reduce and is unlikely to return to the levels of pre GFA for some years. In the meantime the resources sector is booming. Nowhere more so than in coal mining.  So yours truley has moved from construcyion into mining. Farewell Brisbane and hello Mackay.

Our biggest issue in providing construction, maintenance and engineering services to the coal mining companies is people. We cannot get enough of them. Engineers, planners, project managers, contract administrators/project controllers, electrical engineers, mechanical engineers and site operational workers. The rewards are exceptional and the future workload is guaranteed.

So if you want to move from tower cranes to draglines get in touch with me.

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Midday Mozart

Beginning of Mozart's String Quartet No. 14, K...
Image via Wikipedia

It was my birthday the other day and my darling daughter arranged a special gift for me.  It was a concert by Martini string quartet of which, she plays the viola. Of course my only daughter is the apple of my eye, she teaches music, keeps me focussed on the important things in life, is 27 years old (careful Jane a very dangerous age by all accounts for musos) and she is without doubt the most pleasant, loving and gracious daughter any father could hope for.

So the furniture was moved out  of the formal lounge as this has a 12 foot ceiling and has the best acoustics.  The quartet assembled and the audience of my wife and I, my wife’s mother, brother and a close family friend (plus two silky terriers, prepared for the event.

My initial feeling was one of being transported back in time to a British costume period drama.  No microphones, speakers, laptops or phones. Just live music played in my own house, for our enjoyment and my treat.  They played Bach, Mozart and Hasse.  It was sublime, entertaining and without doubt the best birthday present I have ever had.

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We know we are making money ….. aren’t we?

Robert Bernard Reich, American politician, aca...
Robert Reich come back all is forgiven

Some people confuse increased company activity with increased profits. When in fact they are just going broke quicker.  Now before we start I am not rambling about Keynesian economics, the Galbraith hypothesis or even Robert Reich‘s analysis of the Global Financial Crisis (the most recent not the one that will hit before Christmas). This missive is about the nuts and bolts of how we manage our dollars in straightforward construction and engineering contracting.

If you are not in construction/resources/engineering in Australia you assume that those of us who are get paid in gold bars and all the companies for whom we work are making gazillions. As I find it hard to be objective from within all I will say is we work hard and booms don’t last forever. But what is a given is that we do not maximize our profits because our thinking is out dated. So what has Robert Reich got to do with construction/engineering in Queensland Australia in 2011? The answer is simple: his analysis of complex US/global economic problems is rational and succinct; and we don’t analyse our projects well enough. He understands: the complexities and his precis is in lay mans’ language; we don’t appreciate the complexities and summarize without fact or maybe with linked spreadsheets or proprietary software which is not fully understood by not only the people using it, but less so by the people relying on it.

Most organisations know where they stand financially as an overall business but have difficulty in being up to speed at a project level. They rely too much on the verbal reassurances from Project Managers, and glossy monthly reports full of nice pictures, colourful graphs and the ubiquitous spreadsheets. All of which the site cadet has spent a week preparing and the project manager’s cursory glance.

The simple fact is the senior management want to know two things: what are the risks; and what are the opportunities. And they need t have confidence in the person giving them that information. That is why the financial status of the project MUST come from the finance department, and the project team provide the forecast of what will it cost to get the job to the finishing post and how much above/below the contract sum will we be paid. That does not sound difficult because it isn’t.

Next time when the blog is on this subject I will look at making sure it is not difficult whilst ensuring accuracy and confidence.

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Are you one of the future 100,000,000?

I am not a social media butterfly but I am always interested in ways in which we can make our lives easier within the construction industry.

The latest offering from our American west coast friends is the Google Plus Project. I won’t ramble on about how it works or the pro’s and con’s viz a viz  Facebook/Twitter et al.  Suffice to say it is going to be big, very big.

My question is can we use G+ (as the hipsters call it) in the construction industry? Some immediate uses are the ability to video conference up to ten people simultaneously. So Mr Construction Manager, from head office you can have a weekly hook up with up to ten sites and talk and see to your site managers. Mr Commercial manager can do the same with his Contract Administrators (aka project control managers outside Australia). The company Safety Manager can do presentations on incidents, method statements etc. So that is a big tick for G+

The next use is the way in which people you connect with are placed in “circles” etermined by the user. So you can have a circle of site managers, or one of consultants, or the PCG. The information you distribute only goes to those in the circle you specify. maybe the next step is video minutes of subby meetings, but they might be R rated and cannot be circulated as they would bre each google’s content policy. But seriously there is a lot of potential in the desemination of information.

Currently G+ is not available as an enterprose tool but they are trailing that with some larger companies such as Ford. But that should not stop us using it within a business environment to simply communicate. I am double checking this with the Google guys.

With the introduction of Office365 “in the cloud” and the future demise of purchasing off the shelf software to upload on our PCs, the way in which G+ integrates with other Google products such as Sites, maps, Documents etc makes it an application we should not ignore. I know several construction companys that manage their tender process, document control, RFI/Variations etc through Google Products without the need for an in house IT guru. just a cadet with an iPhone and he is happy because his parents follow him on Twitter and Facebook, but on G+ he controls his “Stream”, Circles”, Hangouts” and “Huddles“. Oh dear I think I am turning hipster – Pirillo please send help!

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Time to Clean Up

In large construction projects such as skyscra...
Image via Wikipedia

The construction sector in South East Queensland is pretty flat at the moment for one simple reason: the industry lacks confidence in the immediate future.

Ok I could rant on about Gillard and Bligh (our PM and our state premier) but they will be gone in time hoisted on their own petard as we used to say. Construction companies are not hiring, ex-colleagues of mine are uncertain where the next project is coming from, so there is a shadow over the construction industry.

Everyday in the public notices section of the local rag there are subcontractors and suppliers in liquidation. Should we be depressed about the situation – definitely not. It is exactly what was required to fix an overheated industry, get rid of the rubbish and the wannabes.

I was discussing the current situation with an employment novelist (sorry consultant) today. He rang me asking did I know of anyone who may be interested in a position he was advertising. He went on to tell me about this “family orientated builder”, the “potential career potential”, then those bloody buzz words: team, synergy, blue-chip clients, ASX listed, openness, friendly environment. I had to stop him from gushing on about this company by telling him that I knew lots of people who may be sucked in to this Utopian employer. He detected my slight sarcasm and asked me what I would look for in a company. My response is summarized as follows:

  1. The company needs to be run by a hard-nosed, seen it all before, no-nonsense builder.
  2. The biggest site the financial controller has seen is not his girlfriend’s backside.
  3. Site foreman need to be able to use a level and have top-level skills such as being able to read, write and even set up holding down bolt cages accurately.
  4. Each project is up to date ie variations, RFIs, cost reports, subcontractor payments, registers, subcontracts et al
  5. The contact administrators can write their own scopes of works which get to the site before the subcontractor
  6. Working hours 06:30 until 18:00, but early finish of 13:00 on Saturdays.
  7. Subcontractors/suppliers paid on time
  8. Estimators who can actually estimate
  9. Safety policy that is in force not paid lip service to
  10. What gets discussed at the job interview is the truth no matter how unpalatable.
My friendly employment novelist was very quiet and finally asked me could I send him my response so he could use it as his own checklist.
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Google+ hip, hype or banned by Luddites

Google+

Yes I have been one of the chosen few to be given an invite to try out Google+ or Google Plus. Please note you it is still in trial stages so you may not be able to it yet, but you can take the tour.

I won’t bore you with techno babble, the future of Facebook, the demise of Twitter or any other such nerdy nonsense.

But what I did find is an application that is ideal for those of us in construction.

Two of the core areas of Google plus are “circles” and “hangout”. Yes I know they sound very hipster and twee but what they allow you to do is to have a circle of colleagues, site managers, subcontractors, consultants, the PCG, which you determine and set up. Also, you can have up to 11 people on video link at the same time, high quality and completely free. The software determines who is talking and the main view then goes to that person.

Frame-breakers, or Luddites, smashing a loom. ...

The really interesting question will be for the Luddites who manage head offices and are scared the cadets maybe spending too much time twittering etc. You know the type of people who will waste their own time checking up on people who get paid less than a quarter of the manager’s pay.

Google+ will in time,  be on everyone’s desktop and the social network and business network will become seamless. Just as our mobiles and emails keep coming outside office hours, weekends and holidays, the working day is not stretched it is all-consuming.

I bet most architects and designers will be up and running Google+ by the end of this month, but some builders might get their by 2020.

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The Simple Guide to Blogging – Guest Post

The Simple Guide to Blogging – Guest Post.

The Taxman Cometh

I hear the Australian Tax Office are targeting plasterers this year.  I presume they mean plaster board fixers and setters (or ceilings and partitions) as they make up the majority of people in this trade category with the balance being renderers.

Now, I have a theory, wait please stay with me, that there are critical points in a project that never appear on the construction programme. These points are relevant to the “feel” of the project rather than actual site activities. The commencement of the plasterers is one of these points. When a project kicks off it usually follows the sequence of earthworks, foundations, structure, etc. The people involved in those trades see the building come out of the ground and take shape. They get to know each other, the bedding in process with the site manager has taken place. Now we all know this stage, we have danced around the dog turds, settled down our union friends, sorted out most of the gaps in the documentation, worked out what the estimator left out.  In other words after the initial hoop la we settle in to a daily cycle of activity. We may even have put on a BBQ for “the boys”. Then the plasterers arrive.  Often a motley crew of semi skilled, half trained, ne’er do wells.  Morale on site plummets, disruption to the programme is inevitable and all semblance of a team approach vanishes.

Why is this?  OK I could spruik on about “ownership of the project” or “stakeholders” based on the assumption that the early trades now feel usurped by these new arrivals. Let’s leave that to the trick-cyclists sorry psychiatrists. The real reason that the pace and feel of the project changes is that the fixing of plasterboard to studs and subsequent setting is carried out by semi skilled people who get paid a disproportionate rate. I had a job a few years ago where these characters were getting $45 per hour on a 50 hour guaranteed week, plus site allowance, travel etc. A larger job nearby was desparate for ceiling fixers so all the ones from my site left for $55 per hour, two weeks later they were enticed to another project at $62 hour. So they ended up on $185K per annum. What did they do with all this dosh, they bought V8 utes, Maloo’s of course, holidays in Bali, jet skis, ie all the necessities of life.

So now they have nothing to show for it, except maybe a big fat juicy bill from the Tax Department – my heart bleeds for them.