HARDHATINDUSTRY

Money or health?

hardhatindustry — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 04:50:17 +0000

In the building industry many people tend to work under stress to meet deadlines and some are literally married to the job. How much stress can a person takes depends on the individual’s threshold of tolerance. Many people I know, especially the highly paid top management people, are on medication mostly for high blood pressure. Is money more important than health? Most bosses like their subordinates to be able to work under stress and if you’re one of those who cannot perform under pressure, they will likely to think that you’re no good. Are bosses being unreasonable?

I know of some highly paid bosses who like to scream and swear at you when things didn’t go according to plan or when they themselves are under stress from client or someone higher than them. Some of them do it to vent out their frustrations whereas others do it for personal gain. Generally, the higher you climb the corporate ladder, the higher are your responsibilities and stress unless you’re the blue-eyed boy of the big boss.

Yes money is important in today’s world but would you let it ruins your health? You can be earning tens of thousands of dollars each month but if your health is poor, you’re likely to suffer from heart attacks and may not even live to enjoy what you’ve earned.

In my opinion, there must be a balance in one’s life. A well paid job doesn’t necessary mean it’s a good job for you. Sometimes it’s better to earn a little less and be happy instead of having high income and always on medications. Life is short and unpredictable on this earth, so try to enjoy every moment when you’re still awake.

Posted in Miscellaneous Tagged: Construction, Health, money

Standard of public housing in Malaysia is one of the worse in the region

hardhatindustry — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 08:40:36 +0000

In Malaysia many of the newer low cost houses and apartments do not need architects and engineers to design the buildings at all. The buildings are nothing more than just a box with flat facades and some window openings. The quality of workmanship is bad and the paint specified is probably of the lowest quality. They are poorly maintained and usually after six months of completion, paint on the external walls starts to peel and the walls on all common areas smeared with hand prints and graffiti. The buildings are so simple that you could get a contractor to build without proper architectural and structural drawings. The older low cost houses and apartments however, have better designs and structural they appear to be stronger too.

Everybody knows that Singapore has the best public housing scheme in the region and probably in the world too. Some of the HDB buildings can be mistaken for being private condominiums.

In Thailand, the standard has improved over the years. The design and finishes are better. The common facilities provided include a market place, parks and a recreation hall.

In Vietnam, the government has recently also started their low cost housing project scheme thus encouraging private developers with lands to participate in the design ‘n’ build contract. The cost to build per unit is higher than in Thailand and judging from the design requirements, the standard seems to be higher too.

So why can’t Malaysia improve the standard too? In my opinion, most developers (government and private) there are merely interested in building the houses and apartments as cheaply as possible so that their profit margins are higher without taking into consideration the architecture of the surrounding buildings and the residents’ interests. This is a selfish attitude!

Posted in Construction Tagged: low cost housing, public housing

Irritating phone conversations!

hardhatindustry — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:08:25 +0000

I find it most irritating when you talk to somebody half way on the phone and the person suddenly puts you on hold or decides to cut short the conversation in order to answer another incoming call. I can appreciate it if the person expects an urgent call, otherwise I think it’s an inappropriate thing to do. Unless you find the person annoying and you want to get rid of him or her as quickly as possible, I don’t think we should be so inconsiderate. If the caller of the next incoming call has something important to tell you, he or she will usually call back. My finding is that many people tend to do it unconsciously. To them, it’s a reflect reaction…”oops, sorry I’ve an incoming call, call you back “, and instantly the phone goes into the engaged mode or becomes dead!

Posted in Miscellaneous

Value Engineering

hardhatindustry — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:13:15 +0000

Is value engineering becoming an in thing in the industry? Some clients and contractors like to engage an independent engineer to work out a more cost effective structural design. Sometimes they could save as much as 10% of the structural cost by adopting the less stringent design but still comply with the safety factors. My question is why the original consultant engineer didn’t design something more cost effective? Is it because their fees are based on percentage of contract sum or is it because they have no confident to adopt the minimum safety factors provided in the code whereas some other die-hard engineers are willing to sign their life away for a fee?

Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: building, engineering

Beware of scam emails, supposedly from your friends!

hardhatindustry — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 05:07:50 +0000

WARNING: Recently there are scam emails circulating around from syndicates who somehow managed to use one of your friends’ email addresses and names asking for help. How they do it, I’ve no idea. The message says that he (supposed to be your friend) is in a particular country for holiday but stranded because he’s lost his wallet and handphone and ask you for help to send money to an account where he can do the withdrawal. I’ve received such email so far from two friends whom I know and none of them was on holiday at that time. So beware and check with your friends first before you try to be helpful.

Posted in Miscellaneous Tagged: email address, scam