Handbk Of Cost Data For Contra PDF Download

Excerpt from Handbook of Cost Data for Contractors and Engineers: A Reference Book Giving Methods of Construction and Actual Costs of Materials and Labor on Numerous Engineering Works Four years ago I announced in my little book, "Economics of Road Construction," that I had in preparation a handbook of cost data for engineers and contractors. At that time this handbook had been under way for eight years, and it seemed nearly ready for publication; but other duties prevented a speedy finishing of the task. The delay, however, has been fortunate in that I have added very much to my knowledge of the general subject. In the meantime, two books have grown out of the original manuscript, namely, my books on earthwork and on rock excavation. The writing of these two books has better fitted me for the writing of this book, and has put me in touch with many engineers and contractors who have generously furnished additional cost data. So far as I know, this is the first book on engineering cost data ever published. There are "price books" written for house builders, but they are essentially what their name implies - books on prices of materials and contract prices. This book differs from all such works, aside from the fact that it covers the whole field of civil engineering, in that it is a book in which costs are analyzed and discussed. A contract price is one thing, a contract cost is an entirely different thing, in spite of the common confusion of these terms. In order fully to understand any analysis of unit costs it is necessary to have a detailed description of the methods used in construction and operation. Hence, although itemized cost data occupy many scores of pages in this book, there are many more scores of pages devoted to descriptions of how the work was done, the organization of the forces, and the machines used. The records, in all cases, are actual records taken from every available source of published information, from personal letters sent by engineers and contractors and from my own records. It is often said that cost data are of no value to an inexperienced man. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.