Construction by numbers

A few weeks ago, I started another counting project, similar to the Commuting by Numbers series I’ve been running on and off since February. But this one is much simpler:

I’m counting the ratio of construction workers visibly working to those just standing around.

I pass about a dozen enormous construction projects on my way to work each day, and I can’t help but marvel at how much standing around is getting done in this fair city.

Don’t get me wrong, construction is a tough gig. I’ve done it, and while it doesn’t rate among the worst jobs I’ve ever done, it wasn’t easy either, and I count myself lucky to be doing what I do today.

In construction, some measure of standing around is necessary. You can’t swing a hammer or work a shovel for eight hours straight - everyone needs a rest. And building a skyscraper is a complex puzzle of interwoven tasks that can’t all happen simultaneously.

But still… it doesn’t exactly look efficient. At the job site beside my workplace, it seems like at any one time, half the workers don’t appear to be working. So I decided to see what the proportion really is.

So, the task is very simple: take a look at any job site, and count how many people are working and how many aren’t. To make it fair, I use a very liberal interpretation of “working”: sitting in a truck or crane even if it isn’t moving; touching a tool or carrying anything (a piece of paper will do); holding a sign or looking around as if you are monitoring something - these all count as work.

Not working includes standing or sitting alone, eating and drinking, smoking, and the ever-popular watching someone else work (without at least making foremanly gestures).

Standing, like the gentleman pictured above, on the sidewalk with an upside-down traffic sign and leaning on a rail doesn’t count. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t give you the cutline about such sign-holders from a friend of mine: ‘Slow’: It’s not a sign, it’s a label.

Here are a few of my activity observation notes:

Construction site: RBC Centre and Ritz-Carlton, Wellington St., Toronto

Date: July 17, 2007 - 3:00 p.m.
Working: 10
Not working: 25

Date: August 29, 2007 - 2 p.m.
Working: 17
Not working: 27

Date: September 17, 2007 - 9:30 a.m.
Working: 39
Not working: 36

Date: September 21, 2007 - 4:00 p.m.
Working: 11
Not working: 16

For those keeping score at home, the proportion is 77:104 - at any one time, 43 per cent of employees were visibly doing something.

In the future, I may break this down by day of the week and time of day - for examply, anecdotally it would appear that much more gets done in the early morning.

So - take a look at a job site near you, and send me some numbers! I’ll post them here. And if you’ve ever worked construction, let me know what it’s been like.

Posted by: Paul Gorbould | 09-28-2007 | 11:09 PM
Posted in: Blather