Good day everyone. My current WIP is a horror story set in a winter resort being restored and expanded by an architect leading a construction crew. I need to know everything about how the construction process would work out, the functions of the workers, the hierarchy, the resources needed, the time neeeded, the things that could happen to slow the process (fundamental to the story). The accidents that could be fatal. So, those of you who are experts on construction, please help me out. I need a LOT of information on this.
Pretty much all dependent on what's actually being done and when this is happening. Work and safety standards for work sites have changed considerably over the past 30 years and now pretty much anything that could even remotely violate those standards could shut down a section of work, or even an entire project, until that situation's resolved. Generally different aspects of work are subcontracted out to different companies. A head contractor will sub something like concrete work to one company, drywall to another, scaffolding to a third, etc. Work sites are pretty dangerous places and almost any situation can end up being fatal, though most of accidents are usually a product of people doing things or being places they aren't supposed to do or be. Three of the fatal accidents I've been in the vicinity of included a couple of temp guys getting drowned in a slurry of sulfuric acid and mine tailings after sneaking into a sump pit to smoke up during their shift (this was in a nickle smelter), a kid getting buried under hot asphalt after deciding to take a short cut through some safety tape (working road crew), and one dude that lost his balance and fell back into a concrete form and ended up taking a piece of rebar to the brain (building a foundation for a pump house on a mine site). In each case, all jobs were shut down until an assessment could be made by the health and safety guys and we were given the green light to go back to work. During this time us manual types were either shunted off to another part of the project (generally only happened during industrial shut downs) or sent home for the rest of/a couple of days.
FAKK! ^ ... I was feeling all reticent about contributing my 6 month's deep immersion with construction crew anecdotes. You said it was a short story @Veltman? And that was only yesterday. It would be honourable toward those guys soaking in the sulphuric acid to at least do some research, some of the 'heavy lifting' as us boys of the manual crafts like to say, a lot. You don't need to know everything, just write a first draft - read some stuff - go back, polish, read some more. It'll take shape. They'll look like real people in your head pretty soon? Like writing a combat story...'rat tat tat' went the pistol, 'piaow piaow,' another flurry of rockets.
I read civil engineering for my degree many moons ago and have worked on and around the construction industry for a number of years so would be happy to try to answer any specific questions, but "tell me everything you know about building" is a little vague - we start when Ugh and Eegh first piled some stones outside their cave to keep the wolves out and go all the way up to the 830m Burj Khalifa and along to the 55km Hong Kong/Macau bridge. And there's a lot in between...
Honestly, I haven't decided if it's going to be a short story yet. If I feel it has the potential to be bigger, I might turn it into a novel. But I don't know. To answer some of the previous questions: The story will be set modern day. If some of you feel setting it in the 80s or 90s increases the potential for mistakes and fatal accidents, I might change it to that period. With that in mind, the construction site itself is a resort and country club built in the 1920s in a secluded area in North Indiana. (Snow to be a problem in winter? Help here). The project would be a restoration as well as an expansion, with the owners deciding to add a fourth floor on the east and west wings. Some scenes where I imagine gruesome things could happen are the removal of the old elevators for installing new, modern ones, the construction of an Indoor, heated pool at the top level of the main structure. I hope this clarifies things so you can be more specific. If anything I mentioned is impossible or would give serious setbacks to the writing, feel free to call me out on it.
Architect leading a construction crew? Where I come from you won't see that. They only come to the site to take photos and talk with management. I am a concrete finisher/former painter for a big company in Vancouver B.C. Bosa construction is the name of the company. For us, we are a union company and have about 300 hundred employees working for the company. Here I hope this helps you. if you need and anything more just ask.