Site clearing -
Removal of trees-
General excavation-
Grading general area-
Foundation construction-
Excavation for utility trenches-
Placing formwork and reinforcement for concrete-
Installing sewer lines-
Installing other utilities-
Pouring concrete-
Excavate trench-
Place formwork-
Place reinforcing-

Ok, First of all, some of the tasks are categories and some are sub categories…

1) Site Clearing includes tree removal, general excavation (and fill if necessary), trenching, and general Grading, possibly basic excavation for utilities. Count on at least 4 days in summer and good weather… Allow two days for rain… Most of these tasks will run concurrently, not consecutively…

2) Foundation construction will include the rest of the list… Depending on the size of the structure, count on 3 days for a typical house and pour concrete on the fourth day…
Again most of the tasks will run concurrently…

This comes from my experience with several Cement finishers… A good team will be cleaning up the area on the fourth evening… They will usually return about a week later to break out the forms…

Final utility installation will be last… That is installing a service pole and turning on the elec for the framing crews… Water/sewer will be at the very end of the job… usually just before landscaping…

But for the sake of each individual task here is what I would estimate;
Site clearing – 2 days with heavy equipment
Removal of trees- dependent on how many and size of the trees 2 days
General excavation- 2 days
Grading general area- 1 day
Foundation construction- 4 days
Excavation for utility trenches- 1 day
Placing formwork and reinforcement for concrete- 2 days
Installing sewer lines- 1 day
Installing other utilities- 1 day
Pouring concrete- Must be done in start to finish in one day, because once pouring starts it can’t be stopped and restarted
Excavate trench- 1 day
Place formwork- 2 days
Place reinforcing- 1 day (usually a good team of rod busters will have the reinforcement complete by just after lunch… on the 3rd day… They may have the Rebar and mesh ready before the forms are completed, if so then they will want to start placing them as soon as the formsetters are out of the way…

This applies to a typical house foundation, and you should allow a little more time for a larger structure… But typically a larger building project would just have more workers…

Hope this helps

Any tips or suggestion are most welcome.

Herewith, I would like to express my interest in taking part to the Project Planning and Management module as short scheme course.
I graduated in Education two years ago and, before and after my degree, I spent many months in India.
I went there to have some pre-lauream and post-lauream trainings.
All these trainings were within educational projects as I decided to study Education to improve education facilities and projects in developing countries.
Therefore, after my degree and after some experiences in those countries, I am now considering to apply for a Master, possibly a MSc, in Education.
In the near future, I would like to work in international cooperation and to give a valuable support in the educational area.
The course in Project Planning and Management would give me the technical know-how/skills to set a project so that the aims of the project can be achieved. Indeed, despite my education background, I don’t know anything about project management nor its steps, in order to realize a valuable project and, therefore, I can’t give my total support in educational project. While my stays in Indian NGOs, I realized how a mismanagement of people and money along with poor organization of the project can put to waste all the hard efforts the team put into its realization.
I think that to attend this course would enable me to work effectively within a team. Furthermore, the competences related to project planning and management abilities, is an asset every NGO or association working within development asks for and without any knowledge of it, it’s very unlikely to have the opportunity to work with them.
What I will learn from this course will enable me to organize and manage properly an educational intervent, which is something I can’t do now.
Moreover, what I often realized during my experiences abroad, is that, unfortunately, the same accuracy that is put into micro financial or rural development projects is not put in educational projects. That’s why, as an Educator, I feel it is even more important to have a knowledge of management and project planning in this field.
For all the above raisons, I think I could not ask more than doing this courses in university specialized in Development Studies, as the XXXXX is.

I would like to thank you in advance for considering my application and I am looking forward to your response.

Thanks a lot!

Belfagor

Hi, really good covering letter there, for someone who’s not a native speaker I think it’s excellent. I’ve put my corrections in caps just to make it easier to see.

" taking part to the Project"
taking part IN the project

"All these trainings"
You would usually use the word training without an S on the end, so it would be something like "All THIS TRAINING."

"For the above raisons"
Misspelling, it’s REASONS.

" more than doing this courses"
It would either be THESE CORUSES or THIS COURSE.

Other than that, the British spelling of ‘realize’ is ‘realise,’ though that’s not hugely important. Also, watch your use of commas. You are putting a lot of commas in where they don’t need to be, just write it how you would say it out loud. If you were reading it you wouldn’t pause in all the places you put commas.

Minor things really, a great letter and I hope you get onto the course!

http://www.projectperfect.com.au/info_supply_chain.php

Hope that helps

What jobs should I be looking for and how should I word my resumee to explain the gap in time. Ideally I’d like to work for a consulting company at a level with some responsibility that escalates, but doesn’t jump into 12 hours a day right away. Also if anyone knows of a mentor who can help me it’d be great. I’m really confused right now and would love to talk to someone in the field who understands. Thanks!

Before I offer some advice, I am so damn sick and tired of people asking "why do you want to go back to work?" "Why don’t you want to raise your child?" Do people ask the fathers this? No! Okay, breathe!
Okay, I’m calm.
LOL.
I am in the same situation. I am returning to the workforce in August, and I too have a Master’s degree (psychology), and I stayed at home to care for my daughter the first year of her life. I kept the gap on my resume and when I am interviewed, I plan to tell the potential employer that I took some time off to care for my family, and contemplate my next career move. I think you would be great at a company like Booz Allen that hires people with your background to do Performance Management/Project Management.
Returning to the workplace does not make you a bad mother. It makes you a well-rounded mother, who can handle a career, and raising a child. Best wishes to you.

what’s the problem?

A/ by Froggies angel / Like a Quality controller that understands each step of a project and should check it to make sure that each stage is completed correctly
>>

It should have been but it obviously wasn’t which makes me wonder where the problems all started from, was the initial project flawed or was the integration flawed, or maybe it was just the people on the project that were creating the problems

I’ve been largely a technical lead in the past. I’ve handled interviews and budgeting, but I’m concerned that since I have’t been "strictly a manager" for 5+ years, that I won’t be considered.

According to the job requirements, they want a "big picture thinker", and all the other traits fit me perfect. However, I know I’m skinny on the pure management piece, which is supposedly 20% of the job.

I don’t want to exaggerate my resume, but I want to make sure I phrase information about my team and project leadership in a way that makes me seem as experienced in management as possible.

Any tips?

Not to bust your bubble, but I probably wouldn’t hire someone for a director role of this scope who hadn’t had a significant amount of management experience. However, my job is to assist you, not evaluate you, so here are some ideas.

-Mention your involvement in any type of team projects – if you were a leader on the project, that is essentially a "management" function.
-Do you interface with team members in remote locations? There is a certain amount of management involved in matrix-managing remote resources
-Of course mention any sort of previous management experience you have, putting it toward the front of your resume points.
-Any leadership/management classes or school coursework that you could list? Seminars you’ve attended? Anything will help here…

Good luck.

Which certification will be a good stepping stone for someone with no degree and no project management experience?

It depends a little bit on where you’re located, and what industry you’re interested in working for.

Outside the US you’ll probably want to look at the International Project Management Association (see links)

In the US there a number of potential project management-related certifications. The most widely known are administered by one of the following four organizations :

•The Project Management Institute (PMI)
•CompTia
•Microsoft
•The American Society for the Advancement of Project Management (asapm)

Microsoft’s certification program is based around the use of its tool, Microsoft Project, and is currently being re-worked.

The asapm certification program is based on well established international standards, but has only recently been launched in the US. It is not widely known, and it is targeted at experienced project managers.

CompTia offers a single project management certificate. It is aimed at entry level project managers. However, it is not widely recognized, and is often, incorrectly, narrowly associated with the IT industry, since most of CompTIA’s other certifications are IT related.

PMI now offers four certifications, the most widely known being the project management professional (PMP). Three of the certifications, including the PMP, are targeted at experienced project managers. However , the CAPM (Certified Associate in Project Management) eligibility requirements are as follows :

•High school diploma, associate’s degree, or global equivalent
Plus
•Either 1500 hours of project management experience
•Or 23 hours of formal project management education

These requirements were changed fairly recently by PMI, and the CAPM certification has yet not taken off in the same way as the PMP. Whereas there are now over 240,000 PMPs worldwide, there are fewer than 3000 CAPMs. However, there are an additional 4500 people who have submitted CAPM applications and are now qualified to sit for the CAPM exam, suggesting that interest is growing quickly.

If I wish to study a doctorate on cryptology or information security, what should be the next steps? I understand about the CISSP, but still need some more information to get ready.

I hope you expect knowledgeable couselors to be tuned-in here.