CE3603

Examination Number ____

CE3603
Introduction to Construction Engineering
University of New Brunswick
Department of Civil Engineering
Read this page before starting.
Please do not write your name anywhere on this examination. A sheet will be passed around on
which you should write your name and the above examination number; the circulated sheet will
be used to match your name to your grade after the examinations have been graded.
Please use a pencil.
This is a two hour closed book examination.
Please ensure that the page numbers of your examination are numbered consecutively and that
there are 18 questions. The points assigned to each question are indicated within square
brackets, [ ], and sum to 50 points.
Make and specify any necessary assumptions.
Feel free to remove the staple from these pages if you find it more convenient; a stapler is
available at the front of the room. If you do so, please put the above examination number on
each page.
Please skim through the examination before starting.

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CE3603

Examination Number ____

1.

[1] In a situation where all of the scheduling methods listed below could easily convey the
desired information to the intended audience, which one is the best choice?
a) pictorial chart
b) Gantt chart
c) velocity diagram
d) line of balance chart
e) network diagram

2.

[1] What is the name of the construction method in which the owner contracts with
individual contractors?
a) design build
b) prime contractors
c) fast track
d) design-bid-construct
e) none of the above

3.

[1]
a)
b)
c)

What is an addendum?
a schedule submitted to the owner by a contractor
a change issued by the owner before bid closing
a slang word commonly used on construction sites, (e.g., What the addendum do you
think you are doing?)
d) an amplified section of the specifications
e) none of the above

4.

[1]
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)

5.

[1] As an owner, which of the three major contract types would you choose to enter with a
general contractor if:
you want to proceed immediately and finish the project as soon as possible,
there is not appropriate unit to use for a unit price contract,
there are uncertainties in the design that may lead to major changes during the
construction phase,
you have an estimate of the construction costs that is adequate for your purposes, and
the project is not large enough to support a significant overhead cost for administration.

The owners biggest impact on quality is through:

total quality management
quality control
quality assurance
contractor selection
ISO 9000

_______________
6.

[1] What is the generic definition of a risk?

_________________________________________________________________________

7.

[1] What are the two main types of designer risks?

_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

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CE3603

8.

Examination Number ____

[1] What is the definition of a redundant link?

_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

9.

[1] Which of the trends in the last chapter of KSFM do you think is the most promising?
_________________________________________________________________________

10.

[1] The two types of unbalanced bidding are used by contractors for two different
purposes. What are these purposes?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

11.

[3] David Beattie identified and described six factors for successful projects. List three of
these below:
a) ____________________________
b) ____________________________
c) ____________________________

12.

[3] Sketch the typical contractual relationships for the design-bid-build construction
method as was sketched in class. Only show the contractual relationships (not
communication relationships); only show the six primary types of participants.

13.

[3] For the following bid items, indicate unbalanced unit prices and extensions that might
be used by a contractor who felt that there were more rock anchors and less concrete than
the engineer had estimated.
Engineers
Straight Bid
Unbalanced bid
estimate Unit price
Bid Item
Total
Unit price
Total
Concrete
1,000 m3
150 $/m3
Rock anchors
500 each 100 $/each
Total

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CE3603

14.

Examination Number ____

[3] Sketch and label the parts of a wooden lead pencil and then draw a product hierarchy
for it that follows the same principles that you followed when creating the product
hierarchy for your group project.
Sketch

Product hierarchy

15.

A contractor is installing large concrete blocks (1m wide x 2m long x 1m high) to construct
a retaining wall. The schedule indicates that the contractors plan is to install 10 blocks
each working day. After 11 working days the BCWS, BCWP, and ACWP for the
installation of these blocks are $11,000, $12,100, and $10,890 respectively. Use the back
of the previous page for your calculations.
a)

[3] What was the actual unit price for each block?

b) [1] Is anything going well on this project?

c)
16.

[1] If so, what is going well?

$_______
Yes No
_________________

[5] Calculate the cost to place a 16 m x 5 m x 0.125 m slab. This slab has no construction
joints, control joints, WWM or reinforcing bars; formwork, vapor barrier, and the finishing
of the concrete will be done by others. The concrete will cost $200/m3 including taxes.
Labor will cost $30/hour including labor burden and the productivity rate for placing the
concrete is 1 hour of labor for each m3 (excluding wastage). Allow 5% for wastage of
concrete. Markup your costs by 30% to cover supervision, contingency, overhead, and
profit. (Take off and pricing forms are not necessary.)
Take off

Pricing

Total $_________
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CE3603

17.

Examination Number ____

You are working for an earthwork subcontractor.

Given the description below for two excavations (a trench and a basement), calculate the
required quantities using the takeoff table (next page) and carry these values to the pricing table
(next page) to calculate an estimate given the following information:
labour cost (wage + labour burden) is $30/hour
$400/day is the total of all job overheads (this cost includes, among other things,
moving the equipment to and from the site as well as other travel); assume that the
required hours that you calculate in the pricing table will be spread over a period of 4
days for job overhead purposes
a 10% contingency should be added to direct costs only (not overhead)
all equipment and taxes are included in the unit prices given
apply a markup of 20% to the subtotal of labour, material, equipment, contingency, and
overhead
For both houses a previous contractor has cleared the trees, removed the sod, and created a level
surface. The local soil is firm enough that trenches up to three feet deep do not require sloping
and will stand vertical without support. All gravel backfill and subsequent earthwork will be
under separate contracts. You are only estimating the trench and the basement excavation
described below.
Trench Description: The trench excavation is for a foundation wall and a footing under the
perimeter of the house. The cross section of the trench is 4 feet wide by 3 feet deep (below
existing grade) with vertical sides. In plan view, the perimeter of the house will be 36 feet by 27
feet. This perimeter is at the centerline of the trench. Draw a plan view sketch (as well as any
other sketches you think would be helpful) on the back of the previous page and label it
Trench.
Basement Description: The second excavation is for a house basement that will reach three feet
below existing grade for the full size of the house. The size of this excavation is 42 feet long, by
30 feet wide, by 3 feet deep. The sides of this excavation will be vertical. Draw a plan view
sketch (as well as any other sketch you think would be helpful) on the back of the previous page
and label it Basement.
In both cases, dimension your sketch and use these dimensions in your take-off table.
Notes:
1 yard = 3 feet = 36 inches.
Grading is based on the calculations shown in the tables, as well as the accuracy of the totals.
Unit prices and unit worker hours are given in the tables on the next page. All unit prices include
wastage, taxes, and overheads.
a)

b)

[4]

[6]

Quantities (from take off sheet on next page)

Trench excavation in cubic yards (CY):

__________

Basement excavation in cubic yards (CY)

__________

Pricing (from pricing sheet on next page)

Total bid:

__________

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CE3603

Examination Number ____

Continued
Take Off Table
Description of Work

Dimensions
L
W
H

Pricing Table

Description
Trench
Basement

Unit
Qty* Unit Price
CY
CY

15.00
12.00

Total*
Matls & Equip

Labour
UWH Hours*

Total
Labour*

0.15
0.10

* Numbers in these (*) columns to be rounded up to the nearest integer.

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CE3603

18.

Examination Number ____

The project described by the following table is the basis for the questions below.
Activity (duration)
Predecessor(s)
Activity (duration)
Predecessor(s)
B (10 days)
-I (2)
O
D (2)
B
E (4)
N
C (8)
B
G (12)
C, A, I
O (5)
B
H (3)
E
A (6)
B
J (8)
N, F, G
N (5)
D, C
M (6)
F, G
F (6)
C, O
K (10)
H, J, M
a) [3] On the back of the previous page, draw a draft AON diagram for this project
(omit the activity durations for this draft). Points will be deducted for missing activities,
logic errors, non-standard drawing conventions, etc.
When you are confident that your diagram is correct, draw your final diagram on this page
including durations and filling the space below. Do a forward pass, backward pass, and
float calculations using the key shown provided. Indicate the critical path on the network.

TF
ES EF
Act
Dur
LS LF
FF

b) [2] What is the duration of the project?

____________

c) [1] List the activities which have FF = 1.

____________

d) [1] List the activities which have TF = 2

____________

e) [1] List the activities which have FF TF

Happy Holidays
2010 December 18

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