Читать книгу Construction Management JumpStart - Barbara J. Jackson - Страница 95

The contributions of the construction industry relative to the changing needs and demands of our society are becoming more apparent. Construction management holds the promise to help close the gap between design and end user satisfaction by offering team leadership, project feasibility reviews, constructability analysis, value engineering, and life-cycle cost evaluation.

There are not many professions where you can look around and actually see the difference that you are making in the world. In construction, the results of your work are right there for the whole universe to see. This became very apparent to me just as I was about to leave the construction industry and return to the university to complete a master's degree and doctorate.

In 1995, I left Virginia, where I had had my design and construction business for 10 years. On my last Sunday there, a woman from my church whom I did not know came up to me. She took my hand and, with tears in her eyes, thanked me for the wonderful contribution that I had made to the community. Her husband had worked for me as a subcontractor before his passing, and she spoke of how proud he'd been to be working on some of my buildings. Well, I too began to get teary-eyed, and when I left church, I rode around that town and looked at the many homes, restaurants, and office buildings that I had designed and built. Until that day, I had never realized the impact that I and others make every day we go to work in construction. Knowing that I can return to that community 50 years from now and still view the fruits of my labor is a pretty awesome thing. The truth is that my work will still be standing long after I am gone—if not quite as long as the pyramids have lasted, at least long enough to impress my grandchildren's grandchildren.