October Extra Blog

   Hello, so, this October things proceed well. My mentorship is going strong and I hope to get my independent component approved so that I may start it. I wasn't able to go to my mentorship that much this month so nothing extremely exciting has happened. But I was finally able to get some pictures which I hope will help you understand what I do.

So this is my desk, at the time I was going over the Auto Cad file for the current grading project and recording depths and widths in order to be able to calculate area later. This became my desk due to the fact that it was "broken" and basically abonded by the other workers. I just got a new battery for the mouse, re downloaded some corrupted files and viola a perfectly good computer (i still need to fix the printer).

Here is an example of one of the giant "Blue Prints" that I have to go over and read, looking for notes left by the engineer or special measurements that may be needed later. Fun fact Blue prints are actually the ones used in the field, they are blue so that they do not reflect the sun harshly in the workers eyes. The ones in the office are white.

Here is one of the boring reports I often have to read. When construction is proposed the owners hire a third party geology company to record a lot of data about the soil and any special precautions that must be taken when grading. These reports are often over 200 pages long.

Here is one of the boring machines in our very own parking lot! 

Here is an example of me calculating the area of dirt that needs to be removed (in this case it was for an underground garage). The figure on the calculator is actually the estimated cost to remove the total amount of dirt. IT costs on average 3,000 dollars to remove one cubic yard of soil, this my start in to very rough estimation(what my mentor does.)

So thats pretty much what I have been doing so far in my mentorship, next time ill bring more photos and hopefully update on my individual component. 

-Joseph Mirabal 

Blog 8: Research and Working EQ

1.  What is your working EQ?

As of now I am still trying to decide on a working EQ, I need to talk to a teacher to understand more of what is required but this has become difficult with Purthers absence. As I learn more and more about the grading process I'm staring to realize how important balance is in a grading operation. There are so many different forces at play from bidding costs to the cost of operation that it becomes quite the balancing act to complete a project and turn a profit. 
As of now my working EQ is: What is the most important factor in turning a profit in a grading operation?

• proper initial estimation: The original estimation and bid should be as accurate and competitive as possible. If you over estimate you will be less likely to be hired to to your uncompetitive price and if you underestimate you can end up losing money on a project.
• Proper research: The contractor should know EVERYTHING about the project so that no unknown deterrences may occur. You do not want to find out that you have contaminated soil or are building on native american land halfway through a project. Unforeseen setbacks can result in an immense  loss of capital.
• Competent staff: The operators and workers of your company must be able to perform well at their job and not cause unforeseen accidents and otherwise slow down your construction process.

3.  What is the most important source you have used that has helped you come up with an answer to your working EQ?

The most important source by far has been my mentor. He is always there to answer my questions and as I spend more time working with him I learn more about the grading process. He is really able to put all the things that I learn in documents together. Also the Magazine Grading Contractor is quite helpful for learning about the forefront of grading technology.

4.  Who is your mentor, or where are you doing mentorship, and how does what you are doing relate to your working EQ?

My mentor is Tom Chavez who works as a grading Estimator at Earth-Tek Industries. I help him an other employees around the office. As I help these people with their tasks i learn more about the grading industry. I help with  auto cad, the copier as well as read reports and summarize them to Tom. Often he will give me a small project such as to estimate the cost of doing X and then we will compare what I got to what the company got. Working with Tom helps me understand more about what does into the grading process and how it can be efficient. Because he is the main estimator  his approach to my eq has been crucial in the companies success, no one is better qualified to help me answer my Eq.