Things Learned in Construction Internship 2008

This was given to me from one of our interns this summer. It is very interesting to see what they actually "learned"



1. Most important piece of equipment on the job site: copy machine.

2. When you totally screw up in class everyone laughs at you and you fail the test. When
you totally screw up on the job, no one laughs and people die.

3. If there is a clean spot anywhere on or around your desk, you need to be assigned more work.

4. The smallest shower can turn the site into a mud hole faster than you can blink.

5. Coffee level = Productivity level

6. Desk quality is determined by distance to the copy machine.

7. It's polite to warn everyone before you send massive emails that clog the network.

8. If the architect ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.

9. Never sign something unless you're damn sure it's right.

10. If you say you'll have something done by the end of the week, come hell or high water, you get it done by the end of the week.

11. The network is always clogged just after the first crack of thunder; as everyone in the office goes to weather.com at the exact same time.

13. Most everyone in construction and architecture writes in all caps, and no one really knows why.

14. Building towers before the time of computers must have really sucked.

15. Pedestrians may have the right-of-way over cars, but bulldozers have the right-of-way over everything.

16. Gasoline : Cars :: Coffee : Contractors

17. If your crane gets stuck in a muddy pit, just use your other crane to pick it up.

18. Spanglish.

19. You'd trade most of what you learned in college to know how to read a set of blue prints.

20. Anti-rain dances don't work.

21. Mixed up submittal numbers? Bad concrete pour? Rain? Just blame the intern!

22. Construction fatalities are horrifyingly common.

23. At any point in time, there are about 100 different ways to get killed on the jobsite.

24. The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.

25. Never promise anything about the future until it's the past.

26. Do not, under any circumstance, let one of your sub-contractors push you around.

27. In everything you do, do it as if your going to either sue, or be sued about it.

28. Neither the Constitution or the Bill of Rights applies to interns.

29. The mere presence of a person wearing slacks and a college ring will dramatically increase productivity and safety in his immediate area.

30. If you really want to, you can keep concrete alive for 3-4 days, even in the Texas summer.

31. Rarely do accidents kill the person at fault. Instead, they normally kill someone who was doing nothing wrong.

32. Double punch Tuesdays.

33. Never delete emails; create a filing system instead.

34. Office mistakes are fixed with the "undo" button. Field mistakes are fixed with concrete chippers.

35. Lunch meetings = free food.

36. The time between 4PM and 5PM is the longest hour of the day.

37. Nothing of any substance or consequence is accomplished after lunch on Friday.

38. For the love of God, don't forget to attach the file to the email.

39. If you see someone running on a job site, follow him; He's either running to someone who needs medical attention, or away from something that's about to go catastrophically wrong.

40. Some of the scariest words a mechanical contractor can say are: "I don't think it's supposed to make that sound..."

Summer Interns

For 12 weeks each summer Austin Commercial has the opportunity to impact the next generation of builders in the form of our Summer Internship Program. This year we had a record 27 Interns in 5 locations on 18 projects. They came from 15 different universities throughout the southern half of the United States. Our Interns really enjoyed the chance to get real life construction experience that they can take back to school and apply to their studies. Here are some things that they had to say about their internship experience:

• Everyone here at St. Ann Court made it interesting and enjoyable to come out to work everyday. I remember coming in the first day, intimidated by the foreign environment and feeling completely clueless. I truly came a long way now that I look back. I definitely feel like I’m more capable in the construction and architecture field. – Tracey – St. Ann’s Court

• I really enjoyed the type of quality people that choose to work for Austin and how the company is ran. This was a great experience for me and I look forward to talking to you in the future. Stan – JW Marriott

• I had an amazing time this summer, and learned an incredible amount. For the first time, I had an internship that prepared me for the workplace, and gave me responsibilities that I would encounter in the future. The team I worked with was beyond helpful, and was great to work with/around. Again, I really appreciate the opportunity I was given, and look forward to seeing you in the fall! – JD – ASU Dorms

• I have had a very good experience working with Austin this summer, and I am very thankful I had the opportunity to participate in this summer’s internship program. Kim – Charlton Methodist Hospital

In addition to providing interns with an educational experience, Austin Commercial also uses the intern program to recruit future hires. Historically over 2/3rds of the interns that participate in our program come back to work for us.