New Engineer’s Knowledge for Success with Subcontractors and Trade Partners

Abstract

Working on construction projects can be complicated and challenging. There are many different entities and individuals involved with a project, and no two projects are the same no matter how similar the design may be. Construction engineers today need to be able to competently communicate, address complexities, and team with the different parties that each project possesses. In addition, the construction industry continues to evolve and advance with the use of new technologies, materials, and practices. For new, inexperienced construction engineers to succeed in the construction industry, they need to become well-educated in the core knowledge of construction and engineering as well as understand how to use new technologies and practices effectively and efficiently, such as building information modeling, sustainability, and lean construction. Communicating and working with the entities that construct a project, called subcontractors and trade partners, needs to be as important as learning construction and engineering knowledge and skills. This paper enhances past research on the core elements of construction knowledge that new engineers need to acquire in higher-education programs. These core elements are related to emerging technologies and practices; also, the combination of elements, emerging technologies, and practices then are related to subcontractors and trade partners. The knowledge of construction engineering and emerging technologies and practices will assist inexperienced construction engineers to successfully and effectively communicate and team with subcontractors and trade partners during construction on a daily basis as well as when issues arise.