INTRODUCTION
Design Saga Inc. is a Residential/Commercial Design and Build firm that specializes in interior fit outs and production of modular furniture. I was mentored by Ar. Sherwin Gorospe during our Internship II which focuses on site experience. I was tasked together with other interns during that time to supervise a project under SPARC.
WORKFLOW
First few days were spent for the orientation, minor office works and inventory, while securing our posts in the construction site. Since we are working as sub-contractor for another company in a project that is relatively large in scale, the main contractors were strict so we spent about two more days in processing requirements. Our task is quite simple on paper but mobility on site and working with other contractors made it very difficult and challenging. The site is located somewhere in Cavite and we have an option to meet up with our transport around 7am or go straight to our office in Taguig then go to the site around 10am with Ar. Gorospe.
My day starts around 5am, I sometimes meet up with our transport or go to Taguig depending on what is needed on site (document, equipment, or papers). We monitor a total of 4 structures, each one is a 2-floored high-ceiling open space that has a total gross floor area of 4,648sqms. The site was recently filled with soil so mobility is limited and vehicles are not allowed to go beyond some areas so we need to walk about 10mins. By the time we arrive on site, we gather our foreman and their teams for a tool box meeting where we exercise, give instructions and reminders, then prayers.
First thing we need to do is to report our head count, supervisors, safety officer, foreman, mason, workers, ceiling installers, tile setters, and painters. The team also deploys a night shift from 5pm-10pm specially when they have backlogs in their schedule. This is just the submittal to SPARC, we have a separate excel sheet as reference against the attendance report submitted by the foreman. This is to ensure that what we see on site is accurate with their claims.
For the entire day we hop from one building to another to consult with other teams and what information needs to be relayed if ever we missed something. Also in this period, we aggressively report whatever concern we see and which parties were involved. And by "concerns" we mean everything that can cause or has caused our delays. This includes other contractor not finishing on time which makes us delay our operations for that day. Other concerns also include punctured surfaces that appear without our knowledge specially when other parties worked on the area the previous day.
One of our awful experience on site was when another contractor’s worker intentionally urinated on the comfort room walls that we are building. I personally didn’t hear any response or action from the main contractor that time but we made sure that we assign a personnel at that area all the time to avoid another incident. Before we pack up for the day, we always submit a progress report through Viber that contains the building number, area of work, percentage done, and with attached photos. This is where my other time went during our internship, from time to time, I stay in the office to generate the keyplan with highlights together with other reports that day. These documents are then submitted to SPARC for them to review and assess if we can finish the project on time. We sometimes get dropped off in our initial meetup place in the morning but we mostly head straight to our office for us to prepare what is needed the next day.
The activities we monitored were; application of PE insulation foams then gypsum board, painting of interior walls, setting of PVC floor tiles, inventory after off loading of materials, and a little bit of the comfort rooms. The days that came after were repetitive but at most parts of it, I really enjoyed working with other people and I get to see how they operate individually and as a team in order to get things done.
TAKEAWAYS
I barely noticed the time passing each day, and it seems that construction works are fast-paced. Even though our mentor is always busy, he always finds time to explain us the dos and don'ts on site, especially when you are working with other contractors. Although the first few days were hard for us since there were no provisions for toilet or water near the site, we pulled it off and eventually get used to the situation. Its those kind of things that we cannot control and we can only adapt to what situation is given to us.
I learned a lot of things, dealing with other people, dealing with annoying, demanding, or hard get along types of people, it was quite fun and intimidating since we need to assert control and take the lead. Chain of command is also important, we need to communicate and relay every relevant information or instruction to avoid delays or errors. Even though the work is tiring, we were taken care of by our mentor and the company which makes it a lot less of a work or an academic requirement but a valuable experience to set an example to how every architect should approach the construction scene.
Note: The "Working with X" posts were made back when I was taking my Internship I and II back in '18 and '19. I enjoyed re-reading these reports and I highly appreciate the things my mentors taught me. Thank you Architect Eric Baño and Architect Sherwin Gorospe.
