Hey! Happy Saturday! Matt here.
Welcome to the Construction Curiosities newsletter. Especially to all you New Subscribers and CY Crew Members! It’s your support that keeps this side project going.
This weekly Newsletter explores my Curiosities about the Construction Industry. It’s meant to make you think, smile, and become a better, more well-informed Construction Professional.
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Summary
This week we will look at:
- One Interview: Alex Fichera
- Eleven Pieces of Random Advice
- Two Articles: Turkey Earthquake- Why so many collapses and Arrest Warrants
- One Quote: Build a Door
- One Meme: Electrician’s pickup line
One Interview
In Episode 3 of The CM mentors Podcast, Kyle Grandell and I chat with Alex Fichera, Owner & Business Anthropologist of Intuito Group. The general topic is Personal Energy Management and tips for reducing burnout for yourself and your team, but the conversation takes many interesting turns, as it does anytime you chat with Alex.
Other topics include:
- Business Athletes
- How to find people that are hungry
- Staying away from the Trouble Makers
- Using sports analogies for construction
- Showing Middle Management some love
- What happens when someone is unwillingly and unhappily promoted
The CM Mentors Podcast’s vision is to be an informative, entertaining, and interactive experience for construction managers by construction project managers.
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LISTEN:
Upcoming Podcast Live Recordings:
📅 Felipe Engineer-Manriquez – Monday, Feb 20 @ 3:00 pm CST
𝗧𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰: Construction Scrum & Project Engagement
📅 Jason Schroeder – Friday, March 3
𝗧𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰: Elevate the Construction Industry through Lean Construction Practices
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Pop Quiz Trivia Question
How is rebar sized? i.e. Whats the Diameter of a #3 bar? #4 bar?
Answer is at the bottom of the Newsletter
Random Advice
A month or 2 ago on LinkedIn, I opened up a Random Piece of Advice Thread Part II
I promised to post the top-voted ones in a future newsletter. So here we are in the future. Here are your fan favorites:
And one of my favorites, from next week’s CM Mentors Podcast Recording:
For the full list of great comments check it out here: Random Advice
Two Articles
Turkey earthquake: Why did so many buildings collapse?
Construction regulations have been tightened following previous disasters, including a 1999 earthquake around the city of Izmit, in the north-west of the country, in which 17,000 people died.
But the laws, including the latest standards set in 2018, have been poorly enforced.
“In part, the problem is that there’s very little retrofitting of existing buildings, but there’s also very little enforcement of building standards on new builds,” says Prof Alexander.
Turkey earthquake: 113 arrest warrants connected to building construction
For years, experts warned that many new buildings in Turkey were unsafe due to endemic corruption and government policies.
Those policies allowed so-called amnesties for contractors who swerved building regulations, in order to encourage a construction boom – including in earthquake-prone regions.
One Quote
One Meme
Happy belated Valentine’s Day 💘
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Trivia Answer
Rebar is sized by eighths of an inch of the bar’s diameter. For instance, a #3 bar has a 3/8” diameter. A #4 bar has a 1/2” (4/8) diameter.