Commercial Construction Survival Guide

Watch out for No Change Order Guarantees (Web article)

2015-04-10T12:00:00.000-04:00

"These warranties are major profit centers for retailers, and they are easy to sell because they play upon our fear of the unknown."

Check out the full article HERE.

Fall Prevention Planning

2015-04-03T12:00:00.000-04:00

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"

Construction Robots

2015-03-27T12:00:00.000-04:00

Interesting article on what future job sites might look like in the next few years.

New Energy Innovation Center

2015-03-20T12:00:00.000-04:00

"Turning an existing 1960 supermarket building into a LEED platinum building is no easy task. But that's exactly what San Diego-based ARCHITECTS hannah gabriel wells did with the new Energy Innovation Center in San Diego that was completed in January 2012."

Finding the Right Employee

2015-03-13T12:00:00.000-04:00

"...the costs to an employer of a wrong hiring decision can reach up to 30% of an employee's annual earnings."

Fix VA's Building Troubles

2015-02-27T12:00:00.000-05:00

"Building hospitals today is so complex that it is unfair to ask the VA to do it all while fulfilling its operational mission of delivering health care to veterans."

New EPDs Give Specifiers the Whole Picture

2015-02-20T12:00:00.000-05:00

"How metal panels contribute to environmental goals."

Big Push to Staff Shale-Gas Projects

2015-02-13T12:00:00.000-05:00

"Project boom drives solutions to shortfalls in craft, tech and management jobs."

Plans for Harrison County High Speed Fiber Detailed

2015-02-12T15:36:00.001-05:00

Starting in the fall, areas of Harrison County could have up to 1-gigabyte of high speed internet available.

Mainstream Fiber Networks hosted an informational luncheon Wednesday and here's highlights of what they said:

The service will be installed in the fall in a fiber ring in the Corydon area, and Mainstream will be focusing on hooking up businesses, county government and the school systems.

The fiber will be strung on Harrison Co. REMC and Duke energy poles. It will be wired directly to major users.

For residential users, as fiber is installed nearby Mainstream will use a small antenna on the pole to beam a signal to a small antenna on a home. They can beam about a 1/2 mile circumference from their line.

After the Corydon ring is complete this fall, they will run up and down Hwy. 135 and then in a larger fiber loop around the county.

Eventually, Mainstream said they expect to cover 80% of the county with high speed fiber and wireless. Other providers could branch off their system with wireless to help cover the rest.

Amazingly, this is coming at no cost to the county. All infrastructure will be paid for by Mainstream. Mainstream is doing a similar project in Brown County as BG Networking.

The fiber installed will only be 20% used at the start, to provide capacity for future growth and demand. They will install 96 1-gigabyte strands.

For residential users they usually charge $40 a month for 3 to 5 megabytes of the wireless speed. They said customers will find their rates are cheaper when compared to other services at similar speeds.

Mainstream will want to find business and residential users so they know which areas to run their fiber in the second ring. They are just starting to draw the map. If you have a big high speed need you should contact them.

To contact Mainstream, call 812-961-2838 or email Fred Price: fprice1313@comcast.net

Locally for more information, Lisa Long, executive director of the Chamber and Connect Harrison County is the local leader of this challenge at 812-738-0120. Commissioner George Ethridge is very knowledgeable as well and spoke at length on the topic.

Multi-million dollar Scott Co. Jail expansion underway

2015-02-06T12:00:00.000-05:00

WDRB did a nice news story last night on the Scott County Jail expansion. Shireman Construction is the construction manager for Scott County on the $11.5M project.

Click here for the video/full article

Language and Leaders

2015-01-30T12:00:00.000-05:00

"How Words Drive Safety Results."

Umuganda Corydon: Morning of Community Service (Saturday, January 31st)

2015-01-29T16:00:00.000-05:00

From Main Street Corydon:

If you love Corydon and would like to participate in its beautification, please join us on the last Saturday of the month.

January 31: First Umuganda Corydon
9:00 am: kick off at Kent Java
Noon: Wrap up celebration at Yo Mama's Pizza

We are concentrating our efforts on Chestnut Street this month.

We are asking each building owner to wash the inside and outside of their store windows, starting at 9:00 am on Saturday, January 31. We will then hang a high-quality poster in storefronts that are either empty or without window displays.

Each poster will have a positive message about Downtown Corydon, and will reflect that Corydon is a place of welcome, excellence and energy.

Background:
Last year, a friend visited Rwanda and when he returned, the thing he talked about the most was "Umuganda." It is the last Saturday of the month. A day dedicated to working together to benefit the community. Basically, it goes like this: the whole village gathers at 9:00 am and works for three hours on a project agreed to the month before. Then, at noon, everyone comes together to discuss and to decide what the project should be the next month.

Recently a friend asked me, "What is Main Street Corydon all about?" and I talked about our mission to make Corydon a place of welcome, excellence and energy. He said, "I will do whatever you need," and he gave me this example, "My landscaping at my house is beautiful because it reflects my family. But, Corydon reflects me too ... and right now the reflection is not what it should be."

From that discussion, the idea of a day of community service was birthed. Like the original Umuganda, it will be the last Saturday of each month, 9:00 am to noon.

What we need:
Citizens who are willing to come together as a community, to serve.
A wish list from the downtown building owners and business.

Examples of projects:
Putting up posters in empty store fronts, power washing the sidewalks, landscaping (there are small green spaces in Corydon where we can help), cleaning benches and turning them around to be conversational, picking up trash, painting and sprucing up storefronts, washing windows.

Please let us know if you have any ideas for beautification projects, mainstreetcorydon@gmail.com

Despite Challenges, Region Poised For Growth

2015-01-23T12:00:00.000-05:00

"Renewed global demand for U.S. products should help rev the engines in the manufacturing-rich Midwest."

Energy & Code Seminar

2015-01-21T12:00:00.000-05:00

ENERGY & CODE SEMINAR

DECEMBER 6, 2014

BY: Mark Shireman

As of April 2015 the manufacturers of hot water heaters will have to change to higher efficiency water heaters.

If you want energy star you’ll need a heat pump water heater. Heat pump water heaters:

a.) Need a 10’x10’ space so there is enough “air” around them to work.

b.) They are 240% efficient.

c.) They get heat out of the air surrounding them

d.) They are noisy

e.) Need to be in a room with room temperature above 50° for maximum efficiency.

f.) Can use about 2/3 less electricity than standard electric water heater.

Other water heater notes:

1.) Most lime build up comes from water heater water being too hot.

2.) Most efficient set up is 2 water heaters in tandem. Second water heater acts more like a storage tank.

3.) 120° water will not burn your hands unless you hold them under for 5 minutes.

4.) 160° water burns you instantly.

Circulation pumps to help keep hot water instant: However:

a.) Makes your hot water heater running full time. Runs up your utility bill

b.) Circulation pump has water in the loop, all the time and is an energy drain.

c.) More efficient is a heat pump water heater in tandem with a standard water heater.

d.) To relieve pressure in your plumbing systems use expansion tanks.

HVAC notes:

1.) New building codes make buildings much tighter

2.) This challenges humidity and ventilation

3.) A closed up building with the HVAC turned off will fill with humidity unless properly ventilated.

4.) Owners of buildings must be more trained to operate HVAC in these new code times.

5.) Insulation traps air. This “trapped” air is the insulation.

6.) At the point where cold air hits hot air the “dew” point is overwhelmed and this causes moisture.

7.) In a building 78° with 40% humidity feels the same as 72° with 60% humidity. Humidity levels in a building have a great effect on human comfort.

8.) The new tubular type window blinds can come in single double or triple thickness. They can have a positive effect on increasing the “R” valve of the window.

9.) New code says “U” factor on a window must be 0.35 “U” is the inverse of “R”.

Fresh Air:

a.) Fresh air requirements are greatly affected by how the occupants use the space. Doors opened a lot? Exhaust fans running a lot?

b.) Some experts believe that the ideal humidity in a building should be held close to 40%.

c.) Energy Recovery Ventilators (E.R.V.). These units can help push fresh air all over the building thru the existing ductwork. They should be programmed so they operate only when needed and not constantly. You can add a manual override to bypass the program should you get into a situation where you need more fresh air. Use motorized dampers to keep the ERV from trying to overwhelm your normal HVAC system.

d.) Humans want HVAC comfort. What is the price of comfort?

Passive Solar:

If you use this then separate your glass wall from the rest of the building. You have to figure out how to keep the solar gain from overwhelming the normal parts of your building.

Other HVAC things

1.) Most humans are comfortable at 70 to 72 degrees in the air.

2.) If the fixed objects in the room, furniture, desk tops, etc. are allowed to cool down, then they are hard to get heated back up. Keep this in mind if you drop your thermostat way down over night.

3.) Radiant floor heat is tricky. The surface of human skin is about 84°. Your floor would have to be higher than 84° for a human to think they are “warm”.

Lighting Notes

a.) Recessed “can” lights lose a lot of heat via the penetrations they make in your ceilings.

b.) LED light can last up to 11 years.

c.) CFL lights usually last 10,000 hours.

d.) The “K” on lighting specs is “Kelvin”.

e.) In CFL lights the K factor is something like this:

a. 2700 K has a yellow cast to it

b. 3500 K has a more white cast to it

c. 4700 K has a more blue cast to it

f f.) LED lights sometimes look funny, but work well. Manufacturers of LED lights are working around the clock to fill the need.

Surge Protection

1.) Power surge can come from many places. Lighting, static electricity, cable TV lines, and lots of places. Lighting can hit the ground, surge your electric products and you will not see any signs of lightning on the exteriors.

2.) Modern appliances and equipment with miniature circuity cannot absorb a “surge” like old time appliances and equipment.

3.) You cannot protect a whole building with a single source surge protection system.

4.) Insurance companies report that lightning protection does not protect a building any better than a building with no lightning protection.

5.) Remember, you can get killed from a 120 volt shock from a small appliance or tool.

Other items

a.) Overhead electric lines will never transition completely to underground. The cost is so very expensive and underground wires will probably have to be replaced every 40 years.

b.) Experts say the US has a 100 year natural gas supply. This is based upon usage today. If the EPA forces all the coal fired electric plants to convert to natural gas, then this 100 year supply will disappear rapidly.

c.) Windmills need 9 mile per hour wind to make them operate.

d.) Experts say we have a 300 year supply of coal.

Corydon wins spot in State's Hometown Collaboration Initiative

2015-01-13T10:37:00.000-05:00

Corydon has won a spot in the State's Hometown Collaboration Initiative!

This State of Indiana program will give Corydon $100,000 in free consulting from Purdue, Ball State and state community development experts over the next year. The town will also get $5,000 match to go towards a project.

Please see the attached YouTube video from Indiana Lt. Gov Sue Ellspermann congratulating Corydon.

As part of the program, 15 Harrison County leaders have volunteered their time and energy to work together with Ball State, Purdue and state experts in the next year to work on "Entrepreneurial Placemaking."

The goal is to develop, attract and retain talented citizens by improving local quality of life. The hope is this effort will lead to rising incomes and economic development.

While blessed with a rich history and strong local finances, Corydon is below the State and National averages for income and educational attainment. By working together we hope to change that.

The grant was put together by Lisa Long, Harrison County Chamber executive director, Jeff Shireman of Shireman Construction, and Catherine Turcotte, executive director of Main Street Corydon.

All 15 committee members wrote individual letters of support and hosted State and University officials last month. The $5,000 grant match was split by the chamber and the Harrison County Community Foundation.

For more info on the program: http://www.in.gov/ocra/2732.htm

Polishing Up Old Capitol

2015-01-09T12:00:00.001-05:00

"Improvements planned for Corydon site for Ind. bicentennial."

Year after federal lawsuit, Vigo County Jail overcrowding problem persists

2015-01-02T12:14:00.000-05:00

"The census reports look good, but we need to find out about the overcrowded units and recreation time for the inmates," Falk

Click HERE to read the full article

New Southern Indiana Young Professionals Organization Shows Promise

2014-10-29T16:07:00.000-04:00

Last month I had the opportunity to go to the initial meeting of Emerging Leaders of Southern Indiana with my cousin Daniel Shireman at the Loft in downtown New Albany.

Sometimes I get discouraged by thinking about the "brain drain" and remembering some of the best and brightest from my hometown of Lanesville and the Providence High School class of '97 and how we've lost that talent to the big city.

So it was refreshing to meet a lot of the talented young professionals crowd for Clark, Floyd and Harrison counties. A lot of credit should go to Garrett Smith who organized the event and Leadership Southern Indiana who hosted it. It seems like every event I go to with Leadership Southern Indiana I come away more impressed with Mark Eddy and his team.

It was a great chance to network meet other young professionals in a relaxed after-work setting.

There was also a roundtable panel hosted by GLI president Kerry Stemler, which included Andrew Takami, Crystal Gunther and Jay Conner. It drug on too long and I had to go, but the event was a great first step.

For those of you who couldn't make it, there's another event coming up that should be even better.

Huber's in Starlight is touring everone through their new distillery on Nov. 13th from 5:30 to 7pm. Here's the link:

http://leadershipsi.org/event/emerging-leaders-at-hubers-winery/

I know we all get bogged down with kids, work and obligations but I'm hoping this organization gets off the ground and thrives. If you're under 40 give it a shot.

I'll see you there.

--Jeff

P.S. - Just don't follow me back from Starlight as I always come down the wrong way off the hill and end up in Borden or something.

Designing Educational Spaces

2014-10-15T12:00:00.000-04:00

School design is changing monthly with new technology, new thinking, new processes, and new products. Here is an interesting take on the subject.
-Mark

Too Much of a Good Thing...

2014-10-06T12:00:00.000-04:00

"Too Much Organizational Written Policy Erodes Common Sense and Critical Problem Solving”

-Mark Shireman

James Brian Quinn defined policies or rules that express the limits within which action should occur. These rules take the form of contingent decisions for resolving conflict among specific objections.

Policies remind me of pride. Both are good things but too much of either one can put your company into overdose.

Successful firms must be careful setting too many or forthright details of policy unless they want to spend all their time arbitrating disputes caused by these stated policies verses furthering the interests of the client and moving forward.

Project management requires extreme flexibility to deal with construction challenges in an environment of changing schedules and conditions many of which are in no one’s control. Too much stated policy can slow the process.

The better way is to allow experience to develop a set of informal guidelines joined by common sense and let this be your guide. Projects bogged down in detailed policy manuals, charts and detailed job descriptions will soon lose their flexibility.

A detailed listing of policies might complicate the job of carrying your real objectives. A better strategy might be to identify relationships in all policies and look for a combination that can make progress toward the goals.

A good management strategy is one that can see relationships that no one else has seen. Project management set in the middle of a continuous stream of operating challenges followed hopefully, by a flow of options to deal with these challenges. Books of written policies will offer very limited help.

Designing for Education

2014-10-01T12:00:00.000-04:00

Options vary widely on the best school design. It depends on location, educational goals, budget, and a host of other variables.
-Mark

Vapor Retarders VS Air Barriers

2014-09-29T12:00:00.000-04:00

Water vapor moves from the warm side of a building to the cold side. We must design our insulation

system to allow trapped water vapor to get out and keep exterior water vapor from getting in.

Materials that retard the flow of water vapor are called impermeable. Materials which allow water vapor to pass are called permeable. Naturally there are degrees of permeability and all materials and systems have varying degrees of permeability. Most building codes require a vapor retarder whose permeability is 1.0 or less.

Vapor barriers and air barriers are two different things. The purpose of air barriers is to have a structure whose holes, tears, openings, and penetration are closed up or as much as or possible because with differences in air pressure, air can move easily through these “openings” and carry moisture through these openings. An air barrier is not a vapor retarder.

In practicality it is impossible to eliminate all penetrations, so it becomes a matter of controlling as much as common sense will allow. So, HVAC systems can be designed in concert with your air and vapor barriers to control ventilation, dehumidification, and air pressure. Your local climate and four seasons affect this as well.

Welcome to Areva

2014-09-24T12:00:00.000-04:00

Shireman Construction and the Chamber of Commerce of Harrison County welcomes Areva Pharmaceuticals in this issue of 'This Is harrison County'.

Thoughts on Insulation

2014-09-22T12:00:00.000-04:00

Insulation performs many functions, but if we were to boil it down to two things:

1. Keep the heat away during the summer

2. Hold our heat in during the winter

Ridged insulation and some spray foam can be air barriers if properly installed but, generally, fiberglass, rock, wool, blown in cellulose etc is not an air barrier.

As we said before, the key is to energy efficient buildings and environmentally friendly buildings is the proper use of insulation. The amount of energy used to produce any kind of insulation is over ridden by the energy saved during the life of the building.

When using fiberglass, do the best you can to make it “full fit” the cavity. Damp spray cellulose will dry toward the interior so the interior will have to be designed to allow that interior drying. Cellulose is not a vapor retarder.

Spray foams have come a long way over the years. Many of them have excellent air sealing capabilities. These foams can quite often reach the hard to reach areas and give you a better insulation barrier. Think about building movement and the tolerances required. Low density foams “move” better than high density foams.

Nurturing Innovation Hubs

2014-09-17T12:00:00.000-04:00

Much is being written about innovation and entrepreneurship. Here's another interesting article confirming that.
- Mark