Debre Birhan University Final internship report 2006ec 20014GC

Chapter one
1. Back ground of the hosting company

1.1 Introduction
It is a known fact that now a days our country Ethiopia is showing some impressive progress on
building construction field. Therefore the current government has given a strong attention to improve
the quality of engineering and technology education today.
One of the plans of this program is to produce practical oriented and skillful engineers by permitting
them pass through real challenges on the real world before leaving the university to achieve practical
knowledge on their own field of study. So, theoretical knowledge is not satisfactory to overcome the
problem encountered in practical experience. Due to this fact internship practical work is the way to
achieves practical skills and it provides employers with an effective works to improve a qualified,
motivated group of students and determined the partnership which provides a meaningful learning
experiences to the students who are developing future engineers. So, the employer becomes an
important asset in the development of students who participate in the internship program and also to
depend on engineering knowledge acquired during their academic years through in the field practical
experiences that applied on the construction industry projects. And it enhances the relationship
between engineering department with the government and private industrial firms.

1.2 History
Rediete Dagim Engineering and construction plc is one of the Ethiopian well-known grad one
buildings Constructions Company owns by Ato facile Abrha who is a building engineer and the
general manager of this company. This company is established in 1997ec to engage a multifaceted
business sectors across on building construction works in our country Ethiopia.
The primary objective of Rediete Dagim engineering and construction plc is to providing
comprehensive multi-disciplinary construction services to both public and private sector agencies
engaged in the development of economic and social infrastructure. The company is presently
organized by qualified engineers specialized in various civil engineering disciplines.

1.3 Mission and vision of the company

1.3.1 Vision
Our vision is to become a successful contractor participating in road construction projects, bridge
construction projects and building construction projects and to maximize company profitability.

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 Debre Birhan University Final internship report 2006ec 20014GC

1.3.2 Mission
• To construct quality buildings, roads, bridges and other with competency and at currently
required standards. by creating strong linkage in industries to produce and supply industrial products
necessary in building construction both for nationally and international markets
• Through strong man power and material capacity and organization to win construction
projects at international standards effectively meets all client and stakeholders need and to increase
our level from building contractor to general contractor.

1.3.3 Goals
• Keeping its level of growth step by step to undertake different construction activities
• construct building of various standards for government, public and privet sector through
passing the competition
• Construct bridges and to undertake different activities in water, telephone, electricity services
and high ways in larger scope before.

1.4 Head district of the company and working areas

The head district of the company is Addis Ababa and having different working area of regions capital
city of the country. From different working areas some of them are Debre Birhan town, company
name Rediete Dagim engineering and construction plc.
[Link] 1554/1110 Addis Ababa bole K/K Woreda 07 house no new
Tel: +251-11-6-461539/40/41/42
Fax: +251-11-6-461538
E-mail: facilo@[Link]

1.5 General information of the project

Project Auditorium building project

Client/owner Debre Birhan University
Consulted by, dynamic construction plc.
Contractor name Rediete Dagim Engineering and Construction plc.

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 Debre Birhan University Final internship report 2006ec 20014GC

1.6Work performance in the past five years

No Name of employer Name of the Contract Completed

project&/location amount
1 B.G.I Ethiopiaplc 500’000HI per annum 70,000,000.00 03/09/2003EC
capacity brewery plant
2 Arssizone Dinkityhospital, 56,432,827.00 22/11/2003EC
admin/office secondary school
Digalu&Tijo meeting hall at ARSSI
Administration zone
office
3 Oromiya Oromiya agricultural 05/05/2003EC
agricultural outputoutput Wholesale 58,215,363.00
Wholesale Marketing
Marketing Agency Agency(Burayu city)
4 Oromiya healthJimma hospital(jimma 33,486,110.40 13/07/2004EC
bureau town)
5 Japan internationalConstruction of 9,303,982.64 10/04/2005EC
cooperation primary secondary
system(JICS) school under Japan’s
Grand AID(Akaki
kality sub city)
6 Agency for Roof tiles &roof 10,557,442.75 19/05/2003EC
government houses treatment
maintenance work
7 Agency for Roof tiles &roof 3,263,192.16 20/03/2003EC
government houses treatment
maintenance work

8 Ministry of Office 8,935,001.13 26/12/2003EC

agriculture & rural ,liberary,gravelroad&d
development ransage remaining
works
9 SPA service 1st class roof treatment 322,856.75 12/09/2002EC
enterprise
Table1 work performance of the company for the past five years

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 Debre Birhan University Final internship report 2006ec 20014GC

1.7 Equipment’s of the company

No Equipment type Quantity
1 Girder 1
2 Roller 2
3 Mixer 12
4 Excavator 2
5 Dam track 9
6 Field vehicle 10

Table2 number of equipment of the company

1.8 Main customers of the company

Rediete Dagim engineering and construction has well established organized company which the main
office found in the national capital city of Addis Ababa city at bole k/k in addition to the round areas
undertaking and working on much more construction works and his business at National level.
There are two types of main customers from this company. These are:
• Indirect users
• All citizens through the growth of other activities and marketing opportunity created to
local suppliers and producers like office, site engineers, and material production factories so
on.
• Direct users
• Low income people, Skilled and unskilled Laborers
• Working on the construction site workers and Construction contractors.
• Micro and small Enterprises,

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1.9 Organization structures and work flow of the company

Rediete Dagim engineering and construction has the following general organizational structures

General Manager
External auditor
Secretary
Lawyer
Deputy Manager

Technical Director Administration & finance directors

Engineering Production
Planning
department &maintenance Administration Finance
&monitoring
Department Department

Project Garage Metal

Head
General Supply Senior
office Manager Production
purchase Human
Service Accountan
&section Resource
t

Guard Transport
Cleaner
Liner Junior
Purchaser Store
Accountant

Casher
Clerk
The chart shows the Organizational structure of the project

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 Debre Birhan University Final internship report 2006ec 20014GC

Chapter two
2. Work description of the project site

2.1 The Contractor

Contractors are persons who execute the construction works by employing different workers such as
carpenters, masons, daily laborers and machine Operators etc. taking work contract from the clients.

2.2 Sub-contractors
In building work there has been a long trend to pass the majority of work to sub-contractors, who
specialize in various trades, where many operations are ‘packaged up’ and sub-let to them. Thus sub-
contractors may be let for excavation, formworks, reinforcement making and erecting, plastering
masonry work, bar bending, cutting etc. . . .
The advantage of permitting the sub-contractors is reducing the staff needed on the site and reduces
capital spending on plant and equipment. The contractor retains responsibility for the quality and
correctness of the work and of course has to plan and coordinate the sub-contract inputs, and often
supply any necessary materials from the project.
2.3 Project manager
The project manager is the one who manages the whole project through the project site organization.
He divides the site in to manageable units and assigns a Forman or an engineer in charge of the work
depending on type and volume of work, giving a special attention to avoid wastage of materials and
resources while allocating resources. He is also responsible for motivating individuals and teams in
the construction site by communicating and recognizing their importance in the project and making
recognition polices like certificate, cash award, dinner invitations etc. He gives special attention to
avoid wastage of materials while allocating resources.
Project management is the process of planning, organizing tracking progress, and managing tasks
and resources to accomplish defined objectives, usually within constraints on time, resources, or cost.
Planning is part of project management that helps to forecast work executed in the future in order to
allocate time, scope and budget of the project.
Another duty of project manager is preparing meetings, with different section heads for
reviewing schedules, evaluate performances, better understanding of problems and solutions, and
recollection of resources, removal of fears during work, accelerate plans etc… he also briefs to his
boss sufficiently before the meeting between the client and the company representative.
Take more rapidly monitoring is another important task of the project manager to check all
progresses of the site activity at close range possibly every day. The project manager also properly
manage his time for all those activities to be monitored by him and jobs regarding sub-contracts,

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 Debre Birhan University Final internship report 2006ec 20014GC

which include selection, sub-contract agreement management, releasing declarations relating

accountabilities to his contract.
In general, the project manager acts as leader (guiding the entire resources to an efficient
activity), as planner (planning within the agreed time), as decision-maker (representing the whole site
management).

. The main functions of Project Managers are listed the following below:
• Developing the project plan
• Managing the project stakeholders
• Managing Communication
• Managing the project team
• Managing the project risk
• Managing the project schedule
• Managing the project budget
• Managing the project conflicts
• Managing the project delivery

2.4 engineers
Engineers are the main responsible person in building construction activities which includes
architects, structural engineers, sanitary engineers, geology engineers and all consultants generally.
Function of engineers
 Work setting out in accordance with the drawing and specification of the designed building
project.
 Communicating with the project planning engineer regarding to all the construction work
programs.
 Checking materials and work in progress for compliance
 Checking materials and work in progress for compliance with the specified requirement of the
project.
 Job review of subordinate or secondary staff
 Observance of safety requirements
 Resolving technical issues with employer‘s representatives, suppliers, subcontractors and
statutory authorities.
 Quality control in accordance with the clients need procedures, methods of statements, quality
plans and inspections and test plans, all prepared by the project management team and by
subcontractors.
 Liaising with company or project purchasing department to ensure that purchase orders
adequately defines the specified requirements.

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 Supervising and counseling junior or trainee engineers

 Measurement and valuation (in collaboration with the project quantity surveyor where
appropriate)
 Providing data in respect of variation orders and instructions.
 Preparing record drawings, technical reports, site diary.
2.5 The Consultant
The consultant for the project is includes Architects, Engineers, and site supervisors which consulting
office and site activities. Consultants work on the side of the client have the responsibility of
conducting necessary quality control mechanisms of work to make sure that the project is being
constructed as per design and specification. The following are the main functions of consultants:
Contract administration is a major element of supervision and it has the following functions.

 Quality control: is the process of making sure the quality of the work accomplished is not
below the required standards. This is obtained by visual inspections before any major activity
like casting of concrete is not done without performing various tests, etc.
 Time control: is the process of making sure that the project is going according to schedule. Any
contractor has the obligation of finishing the required work on the required time, unless so,
the contractor will be penalized as per the contract agreements.
 Cost control: preparation of take-off sheets help in estimating the amount of work
accomplished and consequently the amount to be paid to the contractor. The consultant has
the duty of checking the take-off sheets prepared by the contractor, and also it has the
responsibility of making sure that the payments made are in accordance with the bill of
quantities from the contract agreement.

In addition to this, the design and consulting office has the responsibility of preparing shop drawings
(working drawings) for the contractor. Shop drawings show design modifications and details in
drawings. The structural engineer also shows up regularly at the site to give of any structural advices
and limitations concerning the project, for example for this project case masonry and retaining wall
were approved after the building work was going in some progresses.

2.6. Site engineer

Site engineer is a person who has a responsibility to make sure that the work is implemented based
on the design, specifications, drawings and agreement contract documents of the project. He
communicates with the office engineers and construction engineer if the design has to be modified
and orders the general Forman to make it implemented. He visits the site on day to day basis for the
purpose of making sure that the work is flowing as a planned. But in this project site all site engineer
responsibilities were worked by general Forman. He makes necessary reports to the Project Manager
all activities on the site, and strictly follows the given time schedules to avoid any delay on the project
completion time.

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2.7. Office engineer

Collect data by the supervisor or data collector, from the site, then assemble and analyze these data to
prepare payments and take off sheets. He also makes reports to the project engineer and makes detail
drawings to be easy for construction and provide it to surveyor, Forman or any concerned section
workers.

2.8 Quantity surveyor

Prepares all the quantities using the drawing or plan given and site executed works and he also
compared both works how they going in cost and time effectively.
2.9 Forman
The Forman in construction is a person controls distribution of Masons, Carpenters and daily
labors. He also gives guidance on how the work is to be done and gives correction if there is any
mistake done. Forman and general Forman have the same responsibility. The Forman has the power
to give allowance to the workers to stop work and go home at the time of sickness or any other
occasions in the project site.

2.10 Trade Forman

Controls most of the skilled (masons, carpenters, plumber…) and unskilled (gang leaders) labors by
giving directions that he receive from the general manager or the site engineer.
 Mason; a production worker responsible for production of masonry. He is the main
construction worker for the structural shell.
 Carpenter; is a craft responsible for making wood structures for supporting different
structural components like beams and columns, formworks, and chip wood works.
 Machine operators; operate, fix and maintain different machineries on the site like, vibrator,
mixer, gene
 Metal workers; fabricate, assemble, install and repair sheet metal products and equipment.
 Gang leaders; controls the distribution of labor forces throughout by taking orders from the
trade Forman. He controls the number of laborers at each work place, transfer labor workers
from one site to other, and check whether laborers are performing their job properly.
2.11 Administrator
Administer the workers (employees), takes care of the employment of new workers and checks the
working performance and punctuality of the workers with the time keeper.
2.12 Finance
The finance takes care of monthly salary (fee) of the employees; finance the purchasing of requested
materials.

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2.13 Store and time keeper

Store and time keeper controls the attendance of the workers and the amount and type of material of
the construction Entering and leaving from the store by preparing paper formats.
2.14 Data collectors
Collect data which work is done per day like the type and amount of material used on the work, the
type and number of workers participated on the work with their professionalisms.
Quantity surveyor
Prepares all the quantities using the drawing or plan given and site executed works and he also
compared both works how they going in cost and time effectively.
2.15 project accountant
A project accountant is a person who interfaces with clients, contractors and project personnel in
order to ensuring the accurate and timely submittal of monthly requests and cost reports in
accordance with the contract as well as the corporate policy and procedures for the project.
Main functions of accountant
 Reviewing approved contractor requisitions and vender involves, identify and correct items
without sufficient or proper backup documentations and ether information into the
computerized system to generate monthly requisitions for the client and contractor.
 Reviews and administer the project with regarded to the terms of contract. Monitor and
analysis the project profitability or risk for projects with savings components and granted
maximum prices.
 Reviewing and analyzes post cost as well as the project future costs.
 Prepare monthly bank, revolving funds and petty cash reconciliations of the cash balances for
all items of works in the project.
 Review the contractor’s insurance certifications and requests for a rate increase to ensure that
they are incompliance with the terms of the contract.
 Prepare field payroll worksheets based on the payroll worked hours obtained from the project
superintendent. It used to that the payroll checks can be processed.
 Manage the disbursal of funds from the clients revolving funded account in addition to making
payments after the monthly equations has been funded
 Process and complete the monthly, quarterly and year-end closing process.
• Complete and perform monthly account reconciliations.
• Assist with the implementation strategies for changes in accounting standards/policies.
• Complete, update and maintain accounting policy manual.
• Resolve accounting issues, with a specific focus on revenue recognition, deferred expenses and
consolidations.
• File credit card statements from stores

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2.16 Construction Site Clerk

A site clerk is a person who working in the construction site office directly responsible for
coordinating all administrative work for the construction management team on site. This requires an
organized individual with excellent verbal communication skills, attention to detail, and a high level
of computer literacy and also be assisting the site supervisory staff in a multitude of functions in office
and on site. Site Clerk has the following functions at construction site
Companies in almost all industries have site clerks to perform ordinary, mundane tasks that are
essential for the continuation of the organizations work progress effectively. These tasks include
typing, answering phones, filing and running every day jobs or errands.
Phones and Customers: a site clerk is normally responsible for answering phones. Included in this is
taking messages and directing calls to the appropriate employees. Site clerks also fax documents and
sort through faxes a company receives. A site clerk also checks a company’s emails. She sorts them,
forwards them and responds to them, if possible. She also greets customers and answers any
questions they may have.
Computer Duties: Site clerks are often asked to type documents and letters for the company, or enter
data into the company’s computer system. Enter accounting transactions into the computer and
bookkeeping activities, such as payroll or calculating payroll taxes.

2.17 secretaries
Secretaries are a person who responsible for ensuring that an organization complies with standard
financial and legal practice and maintains standards of corporate governance of the company that are
not strictly required to provide legal advice; company secretaries must have a thorough
understanding of the laws that affect their areas of work. They act as Point of communication between
the board of directors and company shareholders and reporting in a timely and accurate manner on
company procedures and developments.
.Typical tasks include company secretaries are:
• Taking a role in share issues, and takeovers.
• Monitor the administration of the company's boarding house formats.
• overseeing and renewing insurance cover for employees, equipment and property;
• managing office space and property as well as dealing with personnel administration;
.
 Arrangements site documentations, research duties and composing correspondence and
reports. Stabilizing work procedures schedules managing projects and supervising other
personnel including clerical staff
The duties of clerk and secretary personnel significantly overlap, because both jobs involve clerical
duties. The two primary distinctions involve skill level and degree of responsibility

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1.18 Casher
Cashiers handle customers' payments in retail stores, restaurants and offices on the project. Usually
cashiers scan or type the price of items into a computer that calculates a total and collect payment for
goods and services, make change, and hand out receipts. Cashiers may also issue cash refunds and
credit slips to customers or cash checks for customers and employees. At the end of their shift, they
must balance the amount of money they have taken in with the total works and sales recorded without
made any mistakes on each works.
Function of casher at construction site work
• The first duty of cashier is to greet the customers entering into organization
• Handling all the cash operation of an organization
• Receive payment by cash, checks, credit card etc.
• Checking daily cash accounts in the project
• Guiding and solving queries of customer in the project
• Providing training and assistance to new joined cashier in the project
• Maintaining monthly, weekly and daily report connections

Finance: it is a management, creation and study of money, banking, credit, investments, assets and
liabilities of the project businesses.

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 Debre Birhan University Final internship report 2006ec 20014GC

Chapter three
3. Overall internship experience

3.1 How I get the company

Only few universities have a time for internship program for their engineering technology students in
Ethiopia now. Among those Debre Birhan University is one of them.
Previously Debre Birhan University is given permeation for his engineering students to search their
own internship hosting company by expecting the students need to work they selected company. So, I
have tried to search some companies but they have not a positive response to accept me because of
respond to me, they have accepted over number of interns they sated a plan and I also again start to
find a place and I went to one project at Debre Marcos town this project manager deal about the
program with me. He was so interested and gave me a warm respond. But at the end of August they
told to me that they finish their project, they have other new site in the city for the coming year but it
could be late and they tolled to me to find other place. Due to this reason my hope was on the
university industry linkage (UIL) which founded for the interest on having sound and fruit full
relationship between the industry and university.
Now when the internship program which aimed to the student have a practical knowledge about what
they learn and how really look like the real world beside the theory they knows before is officially
launched everything for the program was prepared by this staff.
Thanks to the university industry linkage (UIL) office they keep my primary selected and announce
the hosting company that I have choice from they announced from the company lists.
I began my internship at Monday 11/02/2006ec, simply going to the company and I was got the time
and store keeper tolled for her I am a practice student on their own company, showing her the
document I took from my university and she has message from the general Forman to accept the
coming students up to he come back .therefore she took my rogue book and registered my name on
the prepared attendance form and she invite me to visited the current activities in the site. In the next
day the general Forman introduce me all about the general rule, regulation of the site and what is
safety at site. He also, tolled the contract agreement between the company and this university to give
them a free service for four months, after this I being the member of the company staff and with our
supervisor we introduce all sites.

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 Debre Birhan University Final internship report 2006ec 20014GC

3.2 Work tasks that I have executed in the company

During my four month internship program, I have been working in both site and office works. I have
worked as quantity surveyor, data collector and Forman. When I reach the site, setting out and site
clearance of the auditorium building finished .it was unfortunate that I was unable to see the setting
out and site clearance works.
I was totally working in the site and office by assisting the quantities of each activity and collecting
data for projects.
Most of the time I was watching the procedure for every works in the site, which briefly described
below in the next in addition to the theoretical knowledge I have grasped in the school of my study.
In these two months my primary task was preparing tack off sheet and controlling the site materials
used for each tasks, by taking orders from the quantity surveyor. Since he has a great experience, I
fulfill my task according to his order. Mostly we share ideas to take measures when problems happen
in the site with my relatives also.
The first two months were the core of my internship program. I observed and managed different
operations directly relating to my theoretical knowledge and gave me a great experience about almost
all the site works (except super structure works). Other important thing I have acquired during my
first two months was how to manage problems which existing at site. For example how to workshop
drawings approved at site (masonry wall) and how to ask cost for the executed activities from the
client/owner.
In the third month, this project spent some days without execution according to the schedule sated
on the contract document because most site workers were go to their own families to celebrate
different holly days (epiphany, cries mass). But after they back the project they also worked overtime
work taking sub contract from general Forman for each items of work. The main activates worked in
this month were ground floor column construction, grade beam and scaffold erection.
In the final month the project was spending mostly worked different work items like top tie,
intimidate ,and grade beam form ,bar arrangements, including to its all supports ( making wooden
Christy), 3.95cm ground column construction , excavation, transporting back fill material from
borrowed area were executed effectively.
In general building construction work has to be divided in to two according to its location on the
building:

Substructure work

Super structure works

Substructure work is any structures that are done below the ground level are sub structure. It ranges
from a simple foundation to basement floor, or more complex structures such as subways or
underground tunnels. Sub-structure or Foundation is the lower portion of the building, usually

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located below the ground level, which transmits the loads of the super-structure to the supporting
soil.

A foundation is therefore that part of the structure which is in direct contact with the ground to which
the loads are transmitted.
Super-structure is the part of building structures which are found above ground level up to roof cover,
and which serves the purpose of its intended or planed for use.

3.3 Substructure work

3.3.1. Excavation and earth works

Earth work is the process of excavating of earth crus to reduce for the desired purpose

Before any construction begin the area to be take measurements, clearing of the site and setting out
work are done by decide the place to pile up the suitable excavated material and considering working
space outside the building perimeter during setting out.

I. Excavation

Excavation means to loosen and tack out soil materials to leaving space above or below the ground
floor level. It is done by hand or machine.

Machine excavation is a type of excavation which is takes with excavator. But hand excavation is done
with man power.

Advantage of excavation using machine or excavator

a) Work done quicker

b) A void dangerous condition of work by human works during existence of ground water or
collapse of soil
c) To achieve greater depth
d) Use fewer manpower and work done in lower cost(for larger scale work only)
Disadvantages
a) Involving larger running and maintenance costs
b) It require larger operating area
c) Access provision to working area
d) Less provision to working area
e) Less flexible in working planning
f) Idling time increasing time cost of worker
Advantages of hand excavation
a) Economical in case of small project site

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b) Low wastage (ignore extra excavation)

c) Not need large operating area
Disadvantages
a) High flexible in working planning
b) Requires workers training
c) Sophisticated and difficult to achieve greater depth
d) Larger manpower needs compare to machine excavation
e) Work delaying is high
Drilling (rock excavation): drilling of rock is carried out using excavators jack hammer driven by air
compressors from the areas to excavate the rocky ground. The broken rocks were wasted/spoiled
using excavator Becket and dump trucks from the site. Rock excavation was held by moving excavator
with his chin in the whole excavated which has opened one side of the commonly excavated pit holes
to excavate more pits commonly together.

II. Types of excavation executed in this project

There are different types of excavations which are done in this building construction project:
a. Bulk excavation: is excavation which is used to level the site after site clearing used to
prepare leveled site for making profile and create comfortable site movement to work any activities at
the project site. This is done before setting out of profile.
b. Pit excavation: is excavation for the base of footing column bulk to the final depth of
footing pad. This excavation reaches from 1.5m to 4m depth for this project case and with working
space of 25 cm.

Pit excavation

Trench excavation

Figure 0 pit and trench excavation

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c. Trench excavation: is excavation between two or more footings to constructed masonry

works before constructing grade beam and is the excavation of building perimeter using working
space 20cm and with depth not exceeding 1.5m.
NB Plumb bob is used to locate vertical points along the wire that forms the building layout. Earth
work for building construction work involves the following operations and procedures.
d. Excavation procedures
 Having, reading and understood the drawing which should be excavated pads, trenches.
 Select workman and equipment for the type of excavation.
 Prepare the plan on the profile board and fix the end points using plumb bob release down
from the rope stretched with consideration of working space 2ocm for each side.
 Prepare or made the equipment readiness that used to do dig (shovels, pickaxes).
 Remove any unwanted materials or debris near to the excavated site if any.
 Begin digging referring to the marked portion proposed. During this stage excavation was
done with cut layers depend on excavator power exerted on and wasted each layer segments
from the hole.
 Remove the rock fragments and soil particles from the site to minimize overstretching with the
banks of embankment. That procedure was continued until the specified depth reached.
Materials and tools used
Tape
Hammer

Wooden/steel pegs
Rope/ strings
Nails
Barilla
Shovels
Pickaxe
Plumb bob
Excavator and dump truck

3.3.2 Formwork construction work

Formworks are temporary works used to would different shapes and sizes of concrete structures when
fresh concrete poured in to it.
• It is also supports concrete structures until the concrete hardens and stand alone.

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 Debre Birhan University Final internship report 2006ec 20014GC

• It should be designed to carry its own weight, live load, weight of moving persons climbing on
it and weight of concrete in its fluid condition.
Material used for form work
• It can be made of steel, timber, etc.
• Timber products formwork panels are built joined by carpenters working at the construction
site but it fabricated at furniture or wood factories in other places.
In this project case steel & timber forms panels used to cast different concrete structures.
The differences between steel and timber forms are listed below.

Table 3 timber and steel forms

Timber form works Steel formworks
Advantage Disadvantage advantage Disadvantage
Cheaper than less durability durable High cost to purchase
steel
Can found locally Not use reusable Attacked by Corrosion
repetitively
It is adaptable Need trans to Difficult to get for
and can be made workers different shape
any shape
Easier to size Water absorbent Water in Had large weight
Lighter in weight from fresh concrete absorbent from
fresh concrete

A. Procedures of formwork erection

 Read the plans of the structures dimension from the drawing
 Chick the qualitative wood supports, boards or panels had and assigned workers (which one
is used for this).
 Stretching rope strings on the desired profile board and fastened pegs using plumb bob.
 Erected form work panels with the exact dimension of the structure’s one end should be
fasten the brace to the pegs, nailed/tie it when the other end had to be fit on the ground at
the right position. In this stage the position of all panels were checked with sprit level and
plumb bob in addition, if to connect more formwork panels together use string lines to
make sure they were align or not.
 Chick all dimensions including diagonally also.
 Securing all panels using nails, tie wire by installing braces of wood/steel and pegs.
 Check the rigidity and its position
 Pouring concrete begin
Points bear in mind during formwork erection
 The joint between form panels should be smooth and tightly attached.
 The dimension of forms should be correctly aligned according to the drawing.

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 Checking all the alignments correctly plumbed and taped.

Note the form of footing columns were developed on the crachery

Materials used for formwork works

Wood or steel boards

Pegs
Steel roads
Nails
Steel wires
Wood/steel braces
Barilla
Measuring tape
Carpentry hammer
Pencil
Square
Circular saw
Hammer
String
Penza to tie with steel wire

Fig2 pad formwork erection and lean concrete pouring

3.3.3 Reinforcement bar and its installation

Reinforcement bar: it is a construction material which is inserted to the concrete structure to increase
its tensile ability and durability by preventing cracks for this project case s-300 deformed steel grad
was used.

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Reinforcement bar arrangement according to this project case was divided in to two. Single reinforced
and double reinforced.

Single reinforced is a method of concrete structure reinforcing that steel added only the tension
side of the concrete structure (normally at the bottom).but in case of double reinforcing steel is
added at both the tension and the compression sides (both at the top and bottom side).

a. Bar cut and bends

Its common practice at site according to the drawing and plans bar cut was done at site I observed
when they bent bars on wooden table material having welded steel plat on it.

b. Footing pads
There are two types of footing pads used in the auditorium building .namely, combined footing and
isolated footing

Isolated footing is a type of footing which has one axial load on its single pad.

Combined footing is also a type of footing which has two axial loads is applied on a single footing pad.

It is a lower most part building structure which transmits over all building loads that comes on its
footing column to the larger ground surface. The auditorium building project has supported by the
two types of footings which are isolated footing pads and combined footing to withstand all loads the
building exerted.
Procedures of mesh reinforcement installation for pads and its construction
 stretching rope or string on the setting out profile board
 Prepare form work for footing pads with in a given dimension by adding a concrete cover of
50mm and erect form on its normal position checking by plumb bob sprit level and tape.
 Prepare (cutting, bend, and arranging geometrically) reinforcement for footing pad and
footing column according to the plan drawing.
 Add lean concrete c-25 having ratio [Link] at the bottom reduced and leveled ground surface in
the prepared formwork.
 Place both the footing pad mesh and main footing column reinforcements in to the form work
and connect them with steel wire, and add the spacer at the bottom of the reinforcement to
create concrete cover for reinforcements.
 Check all dimensions, and positions of the pad and footing column reinforcements.
 mix the concrete within a given mix ratio of [Link](1-cement,2-sand,3-aggregate) near to
footing hole
 Transporting and pouring or filling of concrete at specified depth as a plan of footing
indicates.
 Compaction the filled plastic concrete using a needle vibrator to avoided air bubble, voids
which existed inside the poured concrete to minimize future trades of bleeding and
segregation during the curing process.
 Surface famishment was made and checks the levelness with sprit level.

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At Rediete Dagim engineering and construction plc (auditorium building project)
 Debre Birhan University Final internship report 2006ec 20014GC

Quality control in the project site

Fig3 footing reinforcement erection and its arrangement

c. Footing columns
It is also the lower most part of a building structure next to footing pads which transmits over all
building loads that comes from super structures, and grade beams to its footing pad
The procedures of reinforcement installation for footing columns
Materials used for footing column construction
 Ø20 bars for main bars and Ø10 for stirrups
 Cement (Derba )
 aggregate
 sand
 water
 mixer
 vibrator
 man power
 carpentry saw
 Bar cuter saw
 plum bob(used to check the verticality of the members)
 Tie wires
 barilla(used to transport fresh concrete)
 timber panels
 wood supports
Procedures footing column construction
 Prepare wood frame (crachery) on the footing pad and nailed it with nails as a plan pulse
form work thickness.
 Prepare for wooden formwork panels and oiled it
 Ting 5cm concrete spacer on the reinforcement bars for each sides of footing column
 Erect each side panels taking reference rectangular wooden frame on the cured pad.
 Nailed together all panels and stabilize it with wooden yokes

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 Check the position with tape and plumbing using a suspended plumb bob
 If the position of formwork prepared ok, made it rigid or strengthen with wood supports at
each form sides.
 Mixing concrete c -25 started near to the footing column
 Transporting and poured concrete down to the form was done
 Compaction the poured concrete with vibrator
 All the above activates were done up to the desired height reached
 After 16 up to 24 hours remove all formwork panels because the concrete structure sustained
its own weight after 16 hours it casted.
 Spraying the casted footing column two times a day (curing with water)

Fixing control pointes using plumb bob, Wood crachery Form oiling
Fig4 Formwork erection for footing column, oiling of formworks and its bar
arrangements

3.3.4 Concrete and concrete work

1. Concrete work
Concrete is a mixture of cement, sand, aggregate and water with a specify ratio. Different grades of
concrete were used for different purpose on site. In this site the mix is proportioned by using a gauge
box, with dimensions 50cm*40cm*18cm, varying the ratio varies the grade of concrete. For example,

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for c-25 and c-5 concrete the depth was 18cm. Using the mix ratio and the same depth, different
concrete grades which was [Link] (cement: fine aggregate: coarse aggregate respectively) for c-25, and
[Link] for lean concrete produced.
The quantity of cement is measured by weight (one bag Derba cement weighed 50 kg) and each batch
of concrete use one or more whole bags and the quantity of aggregates measured by gauge box (in
volume) according to the specification ratio for each works at site.

Different grades of concrete used in for this project site;

 C5 (lean concrete) - to protect the structural concrete from damage and to give level
surface act as a stratum with mix ratio of [Link] was made.
 C25- commonly used grade of structural concrete at the site with mix ratio of [Link].

There are two types of concrete used to construct different structures in this project site were plain
concrete and reinforced concrete.
a. Reinforced concrete c-25 having concrete compressive strength 25 mega Pascal used for casting
structures (footing, grade beams and shear walls).

Reinforced concrete is a type of concrete which is reinforcement bar is used for to construct
structural members (load bearing structure).

Advantages of reinforced concrete

 Gives more rigidity to the structure. It is durable and fire resisting.
 Its maintenance cost is negligible.
 Impermeable to water and moisture.
 Crack is negligible compare to plain concrete.
Disadvantage
 High cost of steel
b. Plan concrete (it is c-5 concrete or lean for this project case) is a homogeneous mixture of
coarse aggregate, sand and hydrated cement without reinforcement bar used during construction.

Advantage
 low cost
Disadvantage
 Exposed more cracks

There were two types of concrete used in the auditorium building project according to its compression
strength, lean concrete and normal grad concrete.

I. Lean concrete

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 Debre Birhan University Final internship report 2006ec 20014GC

Most of the time a low grade c-5 concrete works are called lean concrete. It is mostly used under sub
structures. It is a 50 mm thick qualify of C-5 with minimum cement content of 150 kg/m3 of concrete.
It has some advantages like;
 It acts like a hard stratum
 It protects all sub structural elements from extra moisture which had negative impact
on reinforcement bars.
 It prevents the soil particles under substructures from any relative movement
Normal grade concrete
These types of concrete produced at site used to the ratio of [Link] with box size of 50cm x 40cm x18cm
length, width, and height respectively.

Fig5 lean concrete under footing pads and grade beam

II) Normal strength concrete

This type of concrete was used the major concrete work at the site which has c-25 concrete with a
compressive strength of 25 mega Pascal with the minimum cement contents of 360kg/m3. It used for
casting for all structural works at the auditorium building project site

2. Concrete making materials (ingredients)

Concrete is produced from the mixing of ingredients which are cement, sand, aggregate, water.
a) Cement: is one of the basic raw materials used to produce concrete. Generally in mixing of
concrete cement used as binding material.

Precautions on site work to ensure the specification and the strength of each structure must be use
cement in the excellent condition.
 Check the date on the bag to see that it was manufactured recently; cement deteriorates over
time (expiration date).
 Store in the normal condition that do not rest on the ground.
 Check the age of cement before use (date of delivered).
b) Aggregate: is the main body of mixing concrete that occupies about 60-75%in volume of
concrete and it increase the compressive strength of concrete this is because of compressive
strength of concrete ensured by aggregate. In our site we use size of aggregate [Link]
choose aggregate if it should be

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 The aggregate used in construction must be workable or well graded. Grading is the process of
proportioning, mixing aggregates according to its sieve size.
 Strong durability
 Economical
Good aggregates should be
 Clean and free from impurities (silt, mud) so that the cement can adhere to them.
 Strong enough to produce the final strength of concrete.
 Durable enough to resist extremes of heat and cold.
 Inert or inactive in presence of water.
Based on their size we classify aggregates in to:
 Fine aggregate with sieve size <4.75mm (it is river sand).
 Coarse aggregate with sieve size >4.75mm (gravel or crushed rock from the quarry). The
aggregate used for the auditorium building has a good and appreciable quality the laboratory
resulted shows from Addis Ababa.

c) water
Water is one of the concrete making materials which are good for preventing plastic shrinkage,
cracking and it used to hydrate the mix of concrete work. Water Used to for construction for this
project was from water which used to for drinking. Water was used in concrete construction work for
the following purposes.
 To flux or fluidity the cementing materials over the surface of particles of aggregate.
 To create chemical reaction cement and water (hydration).
 To make the concrete workable.
 To dump aggregates during construction.

3) Concrete mix design at the project site

According to our internship project site gauge box is used for batching fine and coarse aggregate. In
this time the mixing ratio of grade of C-5 and C-25 for lean concrete and common work of structures
respectively.
The types of cement used for all of the structures were Derba cement.

Box size for normal structures c-30 concrete work (beams, footings and shear walls) =50*40*17cm
Box size for normal structures c-25 and c-5 concrete work (beams, footings and shear walls)
=50*40*18cm (only ratio was different)

Where Length =50cm

Width=40cm
Depth =17, 18 cm

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Fig6 shows the concrete beaching box of c-25, c-5 and c-30

Mix calculation calculated of concrete work at site was as follows

a) Volume of concrete = 1m3 and the Ratio of concrete =[Link] (cement, sand, aggregate) it is
given for the specification of the auditorium building
b)

c)

d)

e) ( ) ( )

Note the project was used concrete ratio for normal structures c-25 [Link] (cement, fine aggregate,
coarse aggregate respectively

f)
g)
h)
To determine the volume of water used to the following relation
i) volume of concrete = volume of water + volume of cement + volume of aggregate
1m3 = volume of water + 0.16 + (0.5 + 0.33)
Volume of water =1—0.16—0.83
=1—0.99=0.01m3, therefore for one m3 concrete the project was used 0.01m3 water but in real works it
depends according to the mixer operator assumed for the workability of concrete at site .

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Note 1m3 water =1000litters

1m3 = 1000 litters

0.01m3 = x 3
*1/1m =10literes

4. Mixing of concrete
Concrete is mixed in our site using an efficient automatic mechanical mixer of two types, with
350 lit capacities and 500 lit capacities and hand mixing for mortar.
The two types of mixing of concrete in this project site was hand mixing and machine mixing.
a. Hand mixing
It is a type of mixing for concrete mortar for small works like masonry works used to the ratio of 1:4
cement and sand respectively.
b. Machine mixing
It is the process of mixing of concrete ingredients which are cement; fine aggregate, coarse aggregate,
and water using mixer machines.
 All ingredients or concrete making materials like cement, fine aggregate, coarse aggregate, and
water are put in to the mixing drum which is rotating.
 The drum is rotating for 2 to 3minutes.
To mix on batch of concrete the mixer should be washed after operation. Concrete is mixed in our site
using an efficient automatic mechanical mixer of two types, with 350 lit capacities and 500 lit
capacities.
NB during mixing we use correct proportion ingredients depending on the compressive strength or on
grade. In the auditorium building projects the following Procedures of concrete mixing was used:

Procedures of concrete mixing using machine

 First set up the mixer at the optimum and stable place that was comfort for transportation of
plastic concrete and then start on the mixer generator to give it a power to rotate the mixer.
 Next add required water to clean an empty mixer.
 Add the required water to an empty clean mixer.
 Again add one box sand and one box aggregate in to the mixer.
 Then add any desired admixture to the mixer (if any) but in this project case no admixture
used.
 Add cement to the mixer on the mixed sand and aggregate.
 After this add the remaining sand and aggregate in to the mixer again.
 If necessary, add the remaining water to the mixer until proper consistency was achieved.
 Then, mix thoroughly all ingredients for three to five munities (it was vary according to the
operators).
 After the above activities was done laying the plastic mixed concrete on the proposed place by
rotating the mixer to it.
 Transport the plastic concrete to lay or pour in the desired formwork of the structure.

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 Compaction by vibrator started to remove air bubbles and voids from the poured concrete.
 Lastly the surface finish done by fracas, trawls and the surface checked with sprite level.
 Note the tape measurement was taken at different layers to construct the exact height of the
casted structure and those processes were done repeatedly for all concrete works.
Materials used during concrete mixing
Shovels,
Concrete (cement, water, sand and aggregate),
Barrel (it made from galvanized iron sheet),
Standard wooden box, it measures concrete ingredients.
Tools:
Safety gloves
Glasses
Cloths,
Drum mixer
Needle vibrator

Fig7 concrete drum mixer

Procedures of hand mixing

 Measure quantity of sand was prepared evenly.

 The required quantity of cement was damped on the sand spread evenly.

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 The sand and cement was then mixed well with shovel turning the mixture over and over
again until it was even. The whole mass should be mixed at least three times by shoveling and
turning over by twist from center to side then back to the center and again to the sides.
 Three quarters of the total quantity of water required should be added while the material was
turned in towards the center with shovels.
 The remaining water was added by a water can fitted with rose head, slowly turning the whole
mixture over and over again until a uniform consistency was obtained.
 Transported the mixed mortar to use
 Place the mixed mortar over the masonry base of the masonry and use any work tasks.
 Wash and clean the equipment’s and tools used when the mixing and works were end

Fig8 hand mixing of mortar

5. General procedures of concrete structure construction at

the project site
Concrete construction work consist the following basics stages at construction site:
 First excavate the bases of the structure. it was taken according to the dimension given for
each pads plus working space.
 Then compaction the reduced ground.
 After prepared formwork for the structure in the excavated hole with sound support,
 Lean concrete c-5 compressive strength 5mpa was poured.
 Next reinforcement placing on the spacer assembled with longitudinal and traversal (small
direction) bars were made.
 If placement of bar finished, checking and approving by the site responsible persons (Forman,
site engineers).
 Concrete mixing and pouring in the prepared formwork is carried out but during this stag the
pad is casted, construction joint is left (development bars) for the purpose of creating
interconnection between the footing pad and the footing columns (development bars).
 Next vibration or compaction the poured concrete was started with vibrator. If the dimension
of the structure designed ok.
 Finishing work (create smooth surface finish) worked with trolls.
 Lastly curing of concrete takes place.

3.3.5 Transporting of concrete

In our site concrete is transported using human power by barrows.
Placing of concrete is a proper distribution of concrete in the structure formwork.

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Points that will be considered during placing of concrete are:

 The inside of form works should be inspected before placing of concrete.
 To avoid sticking of concrete form work should be oiled.
 There should be no segregation of concrete when it is placed.
 Walking on freshly laid concrete is avoided.
 The concrete should not be placed from large height but placed from the minimum height
possible; the maximum free fall should be from 1.5m to 2m.

Fig9 concrete transportation work at the auditorium building project

3.3.6 Concrete Footing construction

Build concrete footings according to the layout shown on a particular set of architectural drawings
and a plan drawn by a designer, architect or engineer shows in detail the concrete footing
reinforcement and dimensions to be taken.
Depending on the structural plan reinforcement were prepared for each footings .For footing pad
work:

a. Materials used for footing construction

Different diameter reinforcement bars for main and stirrups (Ø20, Ø10 bars)
 mixer
 vibrator
 man power
 saw plum bob(used to check the verticality of the members)
 tie wires
 barilla(used to transport fresh concrete)
 spool
 Timber
 Leveling instrument used to check the depth referring from the natural ground level

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 String or rope to fix end corners

 Hammer
 Shovel (square nose)
 Support wooden Pliers
 Wood saw
 Bar cuter saw
 Concrete (water, cement, fine and coarse aggregate)
 Farceuse used to level the concrete surface
 Plate to bend bars according to it’s the drawing specification
 Hose level to fix elevation
b. Procedures of footing pad construction
 stretching rope or string on the setting out profile board
 Prepare form work for footing pads with in a given dimension by adding a concrete cover of
50mm and erect form on its normal position checking by plumb bob sprit level and tape.
 Prepare (cutting, bend, and arranging geometrically) reinforcement for footing pad and
footing column according to the plan drawing.
 Add lean concrete c-25 having ratio [Link] at the bottom reduced and leveled ground surface in
the prepared formwork.
 Place both the footing pad mesh and main footing column reinforcements in to the form work
and connect them with steel wire, and add the spacer at the bottom of the reinforcement to
create concrete cover for reinforcements.
 Check all dimensions, and positions of the pad and footing column reinforcements.
 mix the concrete within a given mix ratio of [Link](1-cement,2-sand,3-aggregate) near to
footing hole
 Transporting and pouring or filling of concrete at specified depth as a plan of footing
indicates.
 Compaction the filled plastic concrete using a needle vibrator to avoided air bubble, voids
which existed inside the poured concrete to minimize future trades of bleeding and
segregation during the curing process.
 Surface famishment was made and checks the levelness with sprit level.

3.3.7 Footing columns construction

It is also the lower most part building structure next to footing pads which transmits over all
building loads that comes from super structures, and grade beams to its footing pad
a. The procedures of reinforcement installation for footing columns
Materials used for footing column construction
 Ø20 bars for main bars and Ø10 for stirrups
 Cement (Derba )
 aggregate
 sand
 water
 mixer
 vibrator

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 man power
 carpentry saw
 Bar cuter saw
 plum bob(used to check the verticality of the members)
 Tie wires
 barilla(used to transport fresh concrete)
 timber panels
 wood supports
b. Procedures footing column construction
 Prepare wood frame (crachery) on the footing pad and nailed it with nails as a plan pulse
form work thickness.
 Prepare for wooden formwork panels and oiled it
 Ting 5cm concrete spacer on the reinforcement bars for each sides of footing column
 Erect each side panels taking reference rectangular wooden frame on the cured pad.
 Nailed together all panels and stabilize it with wooden yokes
 Check the position with tape and plumbing using a suspended plumb bob
 If the position of formwork prepared ok, made it rigid or strengthen with wood supports at
each form sides.
 Mixing concrete c -25 started near to the footing column
 Transporting and poured concrete down to the form was done
 Compaction the poured concrete with vibrator
 All the above activates were done up to the desired height reached
 After 16 up to 24 hours remove all formwork panels because the concrete structure sustained
its own weight after 16 hours it casted.
 Spraying the casted footing column two times a day (curing with water)

Fig10 isolated and combined footing column

3.3.8 Compaction of concrete

The objective of compaction is to achieve maximum density by removing air voids from the concrete.
We compact the concrete using machineries like vibrates. It is a tube that is closed at one end forces
the concrete compactly by touching with its chose vibration movement and gets of air bubbles.
The function of Vibration concrete during pouring is to keep the following:

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 Keeps the concrete mixed.

 Levels the top of the layer and
 To mixes the top layer of concrete with the layer beneath it and to fill voids with concrete.

Fig11 needle vibrator for concrete used to compaction

3.3.9 Concrete Finishing work

Concrete finishing work is one activities of concrete structure casting during pouring that the crafts
man makes the concrete surface smooth and desired using float, trowel tape, sprit level and hose level
when the required height was reached.

3.3.10 removing of form work

Pouring concrete usually requires that construct a set of forms beforehand. The formwork serves as a
frame for the shape of the concrete, holding the poured material in place as it cures. Once the concrete
achieves a state of hardness that's capable of supporting its own weight could be remove the forms.
Removing forms isn't a difficult process, but it is labor-intensive.

Materials required

 Hammer
 Stake puller
 Pry bar
 Thick strings to support large formworks

Procedures of form work removals

1 Allow the concrete to dry before removing the forms and concrete to be hard and
strong so that removing the forms does not result in a sagging surface. Allow the
concrete to cure overnight.
2 Remove forms starting at the top of casted structure. Use a hammer to remove nails
from the stakes holding the forms in place.

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3 Remove the stakes from the ground that support the forms with a stake puller to avoid
damaging the stakes or the forms.
4 Pull the forms away from the sides of the concrete structure using as little force as
necessary. If a form sticks to the slab or is difficult to remove, use the pry or interface
bar to pry the form upward from, loosening the form from the concrete in the process.
Pull the loosened form from the concrete. Be careful not to gouge the structure with the
pry or inserted bar in the process.
5 Remove forms alternatively for each sides of the structure to maintain the structural
balance of the casted concrete structure. For example, with starting at the upper
corner, then remove the form from the lower corner, then the upper followed by the
lower one. Remove all forms in this manner and forms were reusable, clean and store
them in a dry place. Otherwise dispose of the forms.
Removal time of forms for structures is different according to the specification given for this project.

Work types No of days/hours

Column, beam 16 to 24 hours
Soffit of slab and beam 21 days
Removal of props under slab 21 days
Table 4removing of forms

3.3.11 Curing
It is the process in which the concrete structure after removing forms is protected from loss of
moisture and kept within a reasonable temperature range. The result of this process is increased
strength and decreased permeability of the casted concrete structures. Curing is also a key player in
mitigating cracks in the concrete casting stage which severely impacts its durability. Placing,
Compacting and Curing
Concrete should be placed as close to its final position as possible. To minimize segregation, it should
not be moved over too long a distance. After concrete is placed in the formwork, it has to be
compacted to remove entrapped air. Compaction can be carried out by hand rodding or tamping, or
by the use of mechanical vibrators.
For concrete to develop strength, the chemical reactions need to proceed continuously. Curing refers
to procedures for the maintaining of a proper environment for the hydration reactions to proceed on
the concrete structure. It is therefore very important for the production of strong, durable and
watertight concrete. In concrete curing, the critical thing is to provide sufficient water to the concrete,
so the chemical reaction will not stop. Moist curing is provided by water spraying, ponding or
covering the concrete surface with wet sand, plastic sheets, burlaps or mats. Curing compounds,
which can be sprayed onto the concrete surface to form a thin continuous sheet, are also commonly
used. Loss of water to the surrounding should be minimized. If concrete is cast on soil subgrade, the

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subgrade should be wetted to prevent water absorption. In exposed areas (such as a slope),
windbreaks and sunshades are often built to reduce water evaporation. For Derba cement concrete, a
minimum period of 7 days of moist curing is generally recommended.
Under normal curing (at room temperature), it takes one week for concrete to reach about 70% of its
long-term strength.

Fig12 column formwork erection and curing with water wooden

yokes

3.4) Masonry wall and retaining wall construction

1) Retaining wall
Retaining wall is a structure designed and constructed to resist the lateral pressure of soil when there
is a desired change in ground elevation that exceeds the angle of response of the soil disturbed by
unbalanced load, water movement free-throw and inappropriate vibration. Retaining wall is a
solution to prevent the lateral movement of soil. Retaining walls are built to prevent soil from being
lost due to erosion or displacement down a slope and it can also be used as a beautifying feature in a
garden. Depending on the site, different types of material can be used to make a retaining wall. This
includes natural stone, wood, bricks and mock stone bricks but for this project case natural stone was
used.

Material needed for retain wall construction

 Shovel
 Gravel
 Hose level
 Measuring tape
 Mortar
 Concrete mix
 String

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Procedures for construction

 Identify the site where the retaining wall is to be constructed referring the drawing.
 List the building material to make the retaining wall and make it around the wall should
construct according to its size.
 Clear the building site of debris tread on the ground.
 Measure the length of the wall with a measuring tape.
 Use a hose level or a piece of string to mark the wall boundary.
 Scrape the marked points and footing columns using needle hammer to create good
bond between wall and footing.
 Spread a uniform layer of mortar on the cured lean
 Build a layer of natural stone blocks on the poured mortar and make sure that the stone
blocks are close fitted. When using interlocking blocks, fill concrete holes with gravel
after arranging a layer and secure them with mortar.
 Use stretching or string rope to align the units in place.
 Pour mortar on the upper surface of the first layer for the next layer construction.
 Add several layers until the wall is of the desired height.
 Pour concrete through the concrete holes of the blocks used in the topmost layer.
 Add further stability to the soil at the base of the retaining wall (filing).

Fig 13 Retain wall under grade beam (base=90cm, top =50cm, 1.05m height)

2) Masonry
It is a type of building construction work that made with lying up of stone, brick and other such unites
joining with mortar is called masonry work.

3) Mortar
It is a mixture of cement paste and fine aggregate used in setting stone units or filling joints between
stone units. For this project case [Link] mortar ratios was used and Cement past is contains cement
plus water.

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Building a masonry wall is one of the most important works in construction work which is constructed
from dressed stone blocks in this project site. .

a) Building Stone Masonry Walls

Stone masonry walls are laid with mortar for added stability of foundation. Because mortar is used
walls can be built and to join stone block unites together. The importance of stone selection is not as
grand as it is with dry stone walls because the stones are attached or bonded together. Despite this
combination each stone needs to fit together and create a desirable looking wall.

Procedures of stone masonry construction

 Categorize stones by its size and placed near to the wall will constructed.
 Create a trench that length and width for the desired wall and set out it with steel peg for each
four corners and join with the string at least equal to the deep of the first course. Mix concrete
with water. Pour the mixed concrete into the trench. Create a desired layer of concrete in the
trench.
 Set the first stone into the concrete at the start of the trench. Choose a flat large stone as the
starting stone. Center the stone in the concrete and press down.
 Set a large stone next to the first stone near its bottom. Set a second large stone next to the
first stone near its top. This way the two large stones are paired head to head after the first
stone. Make sure the stones are level. Set more large stones after the first pair by astounding
the joints between the stones. Make sure all stones are level. Continue until the first layer is
completed.
 Spread mortar over the top of the first layer in small sections with a trowel. Set paired stones
into the mortar alternating the joints. Make sure the stones are level during laying them.
Spread mortar and set stones into it until completed the next layer of stones.
 Spread mortar over the next to last layer of stones. Set large flat cap stones into the mortar
horizontally so the stone ends point to the ends of the wall.
Materials used for stone masonry wall construction

 Masonry stone blocks

 Shovel
 Tape measure
 Level
 Concrete
 Wheel barrow
 Mortar
 Trowel
 Stakes
 Mortar board
 Masonry stone blocks
 Hammer
 Stone chisel
 Tape

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Fig14 stone masonry wall construction under grade beam

3.5) Shear wall construction

Shear walls are a wall which used in construction to increase a structure's resistance to lateral loads,
which are loads that stress a structure horizontally. Common causes of lateral stress include
earthquakes and high winds.
Material used for shear wall construction
Wood supports
Steel panels
Nails
Wood saw
Reinforcement bars according to the drawing (diameter 10mm)
Steel weir
Tape
Procedures of shear wall construction
 Measure the overall length and height of shear wall.
 Laying lean concrete c-5 under the wall base from column to column.
 Erected steel formwork panel for the shear wall considering concrete cover.
 Installing shear wall reinforcement in exact geometrical shape of it.
 Checking all diminutions according to the drawing.
 After checking, pouring plastic concrete in to the prepared formwork.
 Removing formwork panel.
 Curing with water

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Fig15 shear wall construction and its reinforcement arrangements

3.6) Back filling and cart away

In construction a back filling is a material used to refill an excavated area when after construction of
structures were executed. It is a natural material which fills the voids and air bubbles left in the
poured concrete. Back filling is a combination of stones, soils having clay behavior and other
materials that were lifted over after the main portion of the project structures was completed. It used
for protecting foundations, landscaping, and filling of voids in the site. There are two types of back
fillers in this project site. Machine back filler and hand back filer.

Machine back filler is a machine (roller) which back fills from the selective back fill material to the
excavated holes.

Hand back filler is type of back filling method using human power.

Procedures of back filling

 The ground over which the filling has to be done should clean.
 Compacted the reduced ground which should been filled in the future.
 Select the refilling materials and stock it separately near to the hole.
 Estimate or judge the material quantity for the filling area with the availability.
 Place orderly any fill materials required and then engage laborers for filling.
 Keep all tools and equipment ready to use.
 Back filling was started. Filling was done in layers and compaction with wooden logs or steel
rumors and roller machine for this project site. Each layer was spraying with water and
compacted thoroughly.
 The process of filling in each plinth, spraying with water and compaction should be carried
out until the required ground level was reached. While during compaction care was taken to
protected foundation columns, retain walls, and masonry walls which were already
constructed to preserve from damage. Compaction is the method of ground soil stabilization
which makes it rigid.

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Fig16 back fills material and use of water

Cart away: it is a transportation of surpluses soil materials from the project site. The main
function of cart away was to minimize the over load of the site over all from the embankment of
excavations dug out soils for footings, bulked, site clearance, trench.

3.7) Grade beam

Grade beam: It is a reinforced concrete structure which usually found at ground level to form
foundation for the walls of superstructures are build is called grade beam.
Procedures of reinforcement bars of beam
Installing the rebar structure on the cured lean: There are cases in which reinforcement bars that do
not install on the proposed place such a complexity of rebar structure (in the case of constructions,
large spans of concrete and high loads to install).
 First connect some rebar rod ninety degree with development bars secures with steel wire to
make sure support the weight of the rebar structure.
 Then connect all rebar together above the foundation of the structure (Short rode very
development bars).
 After connected properly the rebar structures geometrically set the whole structure on the
bottom of the foundation by pull out all the rebar structure to sits on the lean until the
reinforcing structure falls in the foundation of the structure.
 Check one more time if the connections between the rebar structures are made properly
according to the drawing, otherwise the structure should not support the weight of the house.
So, that the joint is rigid and secured properly with wire. Make sure the reinforcing structures

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are aligned properly, as the structure will be built exactly over them. During the construction
of bar structures, the process must be supervised by a qualified professional in this field
(supervisors, site engineers in addition to Forman).
 After the above points are meet the reinforcing structure is made properly and aligned
according to plans, pouring concrete started.
 Note the shorter reinforcements were tied at the inward side of the longer side reinforcement
bars.

Step 1 erection and arranging step 2 placing its right position step 3 casting

Fig17 grade beam and its bar arrangements

3.4 Super structure works

Super-structure is the part of building structures which are found above ground level up to roof cover,
and which serves the purpose of its intended or planned for use according to the clients and
stakeholders need. According to the auditorium building project progress the following building
components were done at the north of west side of the building.

1) Ground floor columns

2) Scaffold
3) Top tie beam
4) Intermediate beam
1. Ground column construction
Ground floor columns are types of building columns which supports first floor slabs and above to it
loads. Ground columns are transmits axial loads coming to the super structure to the building
foundation or footing columns above to it.
The size of columns varies in size and shape for the auditorium building according to the design. All
columns are rectangular in shape and the columns on this project have the same diameter
reinforcement used for all columns main bars (20mm) and stirrups (10mm). Even if all column bars
used were the same in diameter their number are varies according to the size and the plan of the
columns between 4 and 16. 10mm stirrups had different center to center distance.

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Column is a structural part of a building which transfers load that comes from superstructures like
roof, roof structures, top tie beam, intermediate beam, slabs and walls in to the foundation (footing
columns)

The formworks used for the rectangular columns they have used rectangular formwork made of
timber to the desired dimension. The formworks had to be oiled before erection to cast the desired
reinforced concrete structure in order to simplify the removal of concrete formwork panels adhering
to the form face.
Column formworks were done and arranged by the carpenters and in turn checked by the general
foreman. The following steps were observed during formwork erection for columns in the site.
2) Materials used for column construction
 Ø20 bars
 Ø10 bars for stirrups
 Cement(Derba)
 aggregate(20mm)
 sand
 water
 vibrator
 drum mixer
 barilla
 spool
 timber for form work
 plum bob
 steel wire
 man power
 Penza
 Tape
 Rope
 nails
3) Procedures of column construction and formwork erection

 Bar cutting, bending and arranging in geometrically order according to the drawing (Ø20 and
10 mm bars) and erecting it on the development bar.
 Prepare timber formwork panels for columns and tying 2.5cm concrete spacer on the bar
erected reinforcement.
 Crachery (form bracing on the cured grade beam) was prepared with a dimension of 2cm
greater than the dimension of the columns on each side of the column.
 The oiled formwork panel inserted to inside the crachery prepared and then erected correctly
 Insert the formwork panels prepared in to the crachery on the four sides of erected
reinforcements.
 Joining each four corners with nails and attached it with wooden yokes
 Check the verticality of the formwork using plumb bob or suspended stone and tape.

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 Mixing concrete within a given mix ratio of [Link](1-cement,2-sand,3-aggregate) to prepare

concrete c-25.
 Transport fresh concrete with a barilla and fill in the prepared formwork.
 Compact and vibrate fresh concrete to avoid the void spaces inside the concrete poured.
 After filling the concrete within 16-24-hours remove the formwork from the casted concrete
column structure.
Lastly curing of concrete at morning and evening time per each day and covering a sack its surface to
create normal temperature for the structure. These procedures were repeatedly to build all columns in
the project site.

Fig 18 shows column work

2. Construction of Wood Scaffolding

Scaffolding is an elevated single- or multilevel working platform to help support the weight of
machines, people and various materials. Scaffolds are also known as temporary structures that
support buildings and painting in construction work. They are constructed for the purpose of
providing an above-ground support for workers who are working on buildings

Materials used for scaffolding construction

Measuring tape

Wood pads

Wood cleats

Wood planks

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Circular saw

Wood boards

Nails

Hammer

Procedures of scaffold erection

 Clean the surface for the location of scaffold structure thoroughly and make sure that it is free
from any debris and there are no damp areas.
 Draw a quick sketch for wood scaffold to know how and where to start building the structure.
Using measuring tape measure the dimensions of the area cover with the wood scaffolding.
 Place one of wood planks on the ground surface on its location and check if the ground is
completely level. This will serve as one of the sills of wood scaffolding, and shall be positioned
at the bottom part of the inside of your scaffold frame. Place wood pads under the slat to make
it level in case it is tilted.
 Position the scaffold inside posts against the walls. Tie the post to the wall using wood cleats
and attach its shelf to posts, nailing it at the bottom. Place these at every 1.50cm on the
scaffold length.
 Place two posts at one end as the plan the layout of the rest. Cut the boards and wood posts
with the circular saw to fit the scaffold’s measurements.
 Nail the board at the top of the posts from the posts’ top edge.
 Place the outside part’s bottom shelf at the bottom of the posts. See to it that the two shelf or
sills are completely parallel. Nail these onto the post with hammer.
 Connect inside and outside posts, while attaching the boards to posts’ sides. Attach the board
and disassemble the scaffold later. Make sure that the boards are installed right at the same
height as they will be holding platform.
 Install the wood boards’ right over the boards that are used to connect the posts. Position the
boards horizontally to serve as the walking platform.
 Place the panels above the boards and screw them in place.
 Mount diagonal braces in order to add stability to the wood scaffolding and nail the wood
boards to the posts in a diagonal position.

3. Reinforced Concrete Beam construction

Reinforced concrete beams are a load bearing building structures which required steel reinforcement to
withstand the loads imposed by dead load of the structure, furniture and occupants or live loads. The

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construction methods of all super structure beams are the same even if their position of supports and its
location are different at construction site works (top tie beams, intermediate beams).
The loads carried by a beam are transferred to columns, walls, or girders, which then transfer the force to
adjacent structural compression members.

Material need during construction

4) Steel rods to reinforce concrete and increase its tensile behavior when load imposed over it
(Ø14 bars and Ø10)
5) Concrete (water, cement, fine and coarse aggregate)
6) Formwork panels to prepare beam formwork
7) Tape measure to measure different dimensions
8) Hammer or small sledge hammer
9) Metal cutting blade to cut metal bars in the desired length
10) Tie wire used to tie reinforcement bars
11) Wood post used to support beam formwork
12) Sangallo(a cut plastic container which used to transport concrete and water)

 Barilla used to transport concrete

 water
 drum mixer
 timber (wood)
 plum bob
 man power(super visor engineer , Forman labor (servant))
 gas (kerosene )for mixer
 vibrator
 barilla (used to transport fresh concrete )
 sack (to cover the casted concrete)
 nail (to connect the timber)
 water level
 rope string
 wood or steel peg

Procedures beam construction

 Fix the rods of steel to the tensile machinery, which will stretch them. Arrange the rods in two
layers of an equal number, such as three rods above, three rods beneath.
 Build formwork around the steel rods, ensuring that the rods will run through the center of
the concrete beam.
 Pour concrete into the formwork, ensuring all the steel is covered (concrete cover).
 Removing formworks after 16 hours and allow the concrete with water to cure for a few days.
 Release the supports from the soffit of beams, and transport it to the desired location place.

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3.5 Work quality control at the project site

1. Quality Control
Quality control starts with matching expectations about quality levels with budget, time, and scope
during planning and design reviews and continues through construction delivery with a program of
inspections, tests, and certifications. It requires a coordinated performance among the entire project
team in order to completed all building program to fully satisfy a client's and the building users'
expectations. Having a process implemented at the beginning of the project will help define the goals
as well as provide a continuous measurement system over time to make sure the objectives are being
met. From visioning to post occupancy, a good quality control system like the Design Quality
Indicator helps eliminate errors, reduces cost, and improves overall building quality it also by site
tests according to the project specification. The following tests were taken at site during construction
stage

i. Concrete Slump Test

The slump test is done to make sure that a concrete mix of the auditorium project was consistence
and workable. The measured slump must be within a range or tolerance from the specified slump.

Tools
 Standard slump cone (100mm top diameter, 200mmbottom diameter, 300mm height)
 Small scoop (spoon), steel float
 Bullet noise rod 600mm long, 16mm diameter
 Ruler
 Slump plate base
General procedures for slump test,

Sample cone arrangement ------ fresh concrete transporting ---------filling and Tampering procedure--
-----Removing con -----Height measurement

Procedures slump test

 Clean the cone dumped with water and places the cone on the slump plate. the slump
plate should be clean, firm, level and non-absorbable.
 Collect a sample ( fresh concrete )
 Stand the slump tube firmly on the foot pieces and fill one third the volume of the cone
with a sample, compacted the concrete with by rodding 25times. Rodding means to
push a steel rod in and out of the concrete to compact it in to the slump cone
 Fill to two third concrete in to the cone and compact again 25 times just in to the first
layer

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 Fill to overfilling, rodding again this time just in to the second layer. Top up the con
until it overflows.
 Level of the surface with the steel rod using the rolling action. Clean any concrete from
around the base and top of the cone, push down on the handle and stop of the foot
pieces
 Carefully left the cone straight up making sure not move the sample
 Turn the sample upside down and place the rod across the natural cone
 Take several measurement and report the average distance to the top of the sample
 The slump of the concrete = height of the cone (normal) – height of the subsided
concrete (molded).the result must be in the laboratory slump range (3.5-4mm)
If the sample fails by being outside the tolerance (the slump is too high or too low) another sample
must be taken. If this also fails the remainder mix reject

Fig19 standard slump cone its measurement

ii. Compaction test

It is one type of construction concrete quality controlling methods at construction site which is done
for knowing the compression strength of hardened concrete. For this purpose concrete cube test was
done in laboratory. But concrete cube for testing is done or made on site to check the compression
strength of concrete. Minimum three specimens are made at a time on site. The average test result is
taken to determine the compressive strength of concrete. It depends on the mix design of concrete but
it affected by mixing of concrete, curing of concrete and quality of concrete ingredients at site work.

Apparatus for making concrete cube:

 Cube mold ( 150mm X 150mm X 150mm)

 Bulled-nosed rod (16mm diameter & 600mm long)
 Small scoop (spoon), steel float
 Bullet noise rod 600mm long, 16mm diameter
 Slump plate base

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Procedures of making concrete cube

 Clean the cube mold properly and apply a coat of form oil on the inner surface of mold. But no
excess oil should be visible on inner surface.
 Fix the nuts & bolts tightly with base plate and no gaps should be within the parts of cube
mold.
 It is necessary that the cube mold should be placed on a clean, level & firm surface.
 Concrete for specimen should be collected from three or four random mixes.
 Place concrete into the mold in each layer of maximum 50 mm thick & compact each layer at
least 25 blows of 16 mm rod.
 Level off the top with the steel float and clean any concrete from around the mold and leave
the mold undisturbed for 24 hours.
 Give number and casting date of the specimens on the top surface.
 After 8–10 hours the mold was covered with damp hessian cloth (jute cloth) but no water
should fall on the surface of the specimen. Surface can be covered with sake.
 After 24 hours the specimen was uncovered and removed from the mold. The concrete is still
weak at this stage. So, should be handled carefully.
 To remove specimen from mold - loosen all bolts & nuts, side off the base plate and then top
the mold gently to free the specimen.
 Just after removal from mold the specimen should be put straight into a tank of clean water.
The specimen should be fully submerged under water.
 After7, 14, and 21 days, send the specimen to the testing laboratory to determine the
compressive strength of concrete three specimens together per each three days.

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Chapter four
4.1 Office works
Office works are a construction work activities that worked in office. The following activities were
done in the office during this internship duration.

1. Bill of Quantities and take off sheet

The Bill of Quantities is defined as a list of brief descriptions and estimated quantities of for each
work at site. The objective of preparing the Bill of Quantities is to contribution payments for the work
executed in the site to produce an accurate work efficiently and to assist the post contract
administration to be carried out in an efficient time, quality and cost-effective manner. It should be
noted that the quality of the drawings plays a major part in achieving theses aims by qualifying the
taker-off to produce an accurate bill and also by allowing making sound engineering judgments on
methods of working and amounts of work.

Quantity take off sheet was required both office information of drawings and site record data to carry
out the assignment each works done at site and to compare it with the true field work according to
the contracted agreed documents in the project. All dimensions were taken from the measurements of
the site executed dimensions from the real works, the following table formats was vital to prepare tack
off and bill of quantity.

Formulas
Works expressed by square meters
Area =Length * width (site clearance, lean concrete)
Volume =Area * height (pit, trench, reinforced concrete works)

Volume for retaining wall=area * length but

( ( ))

Where h=height, L
B1 top thickness,
B2 bottom base B1

B2
( ( ( ) ))

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Fig 20 Retain shaped figure

Project: auditorium……………………………………………………peg -1
Title: take off…………………………………………………………..date 2/04/06ec
NO X(M) Total unite Description
iii. Substructure work
1) Excavation and earth work
1 59 1.1) Removal of top soil up to 200mm depth
57 3363 M2

57 1.2) Bulk excavation average depth up to 200mm

55 M3
3135
1.3) Pit excavation
a) Pit excavation for weathered rock from 1.5m to 4m
1 Pit excavation for weathered rock from 1,5 up to 4m depth F1@
axis 13 (N-F)
32.92
3.5
2.11 243.05 M3
1 12.87 Ditto but f2,f3,f4 at axis 7 (N-K)
2.4
1
30.9 M3
2) Concrete work
6 3.1 2.1) Concrete for pad
3.1
0.7 3136.2 M3

Total
Fig5 the table format of works other than reinforcement bar

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a)Preparation of takeoff sheet for reinforcement bars

It is clear that the reinforcement bar is one of the essential units of in building structural elements.
Determine the type and amount of steel or reinforcement required for the structures ware the other
main issue of the project quantity surveyors. During bar quantity determination proper spacing
between adjacent bars and to make sure the appropriate elevation difference is kept between negative
(top) and positive (bottom) bars .After identifying the type of bars present needed to take the
necessary dimensional measures, which was number, diameter, spacing, length of a particular
reinforcement and the distance which they were placed on. The bar schedule included the bar type,
diameter, spacing, length, a representative figure of the shape with dimensions and the number of
bars with its full, readable dimensions.
.
During preparation of takeoff sheet for bar reinforcement required was used the following take off
formats could be determined it in the following forms
Project: auditorium page: 2

Title: take off date: 2/04/2006ec

N location Shape Lengt Diamet Num Numb Total length(m) descrip

O of h er ber er of Diameters(mm) tion
Bendi (m) (mm) of memb
10 12 14 16 1 20 22
ng bars ers
8
(mm)
Axis 2.7 3 20 4 48 Main
grid A 0.3 footing
colum
n bar
for F1
axis 3
(A)

Total 48
length(m)
Weight 0.6 0.8 1.2 1.58 2 2.4691 2.9
factor(kg/L) 17 88 09 87
Total weight 118.51
(kg) 68

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At Rediete Dagim engineering and construction plc (auditorium building project)
 Debre Birhan University Final internship report 2006ec 20014GC

Table 6: reinforcement takes off sheet format. The other types of bar also calculated
like this manner.

Formulas
No of bars = [(length edge to edge) / (c/c spacing)] + 1 (for odd number of bars)
No of bars = [(length edge to edge) / (c/c spacing)] (for even number of bars)

Total no of bars = no of bars * no of elements

Total length of bar for a given diameter = length * total no of bars
Total weight = unit weight * total length * total no of bars calculated for a known diameter

unit weight a bar =0.00617d2

b) Preparation of the amount of concrete and formwork required

Takeoff sheet for the amount concrete and the formwork required necessary carried out the
construction effectively of the project.
Formwork is a temporary structure that is required to support and form concrete members
False work is the complete structure erected to support the wet concrete
Scaffolds are steel or timber structures build to give access to different parts of a building, mainly to
external walls

c) Measurements taken at construction site of the project

There are various approaches to measurement for bills of quantities for the auditorium building
project and these are as follows:
- Area (Square meter): lean concrete, formwork, site clearance.
- Volume (Cubic meter): masonry walls retain walls, Excavation, Backfilling, Reinforced Concrete, etc.
- Weight (kg): Metallic works, Reinforcement steel, etc.

Site leveling:
- Measured in m2 (area) if thickness less than 30 cm.
- Measured in m3 (volume) if thickness more than 30 cm.
Soil transportation:
- Transported soil = total volume excavated soil – (volume of backfilling + concrete works)

Concrete works:
Concrete works includes of both plain concrete and reinforced concrete.
Plain concrete
- Measured in m2 (area) if thickness < 20 cm.

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At Rediete Dagim engineering and construction plc (auditorium building project)
 Debre Birhan University Final internship report 2006ec 20014GC

- Measured in m3 (volume) if thickness ≥ 20 cm.

- Average thickness should be mentioned when measurement is done by area.
Reinforced concrete:
- All reinforced concrete elements measured by volume (m3)
Working space
Working space is to be measured in circumstances where workmen have to operate in
Situations that require them to work in trenches below ground level,

2. Cost escalation
It is the determination of payment certificates depend on the agreed unit [Link] has the following
table format. The format is also used for payment asking from the client.

No Work executed item quantity Unit price Total price

1 Excavation work total
2 Concrete works total
3 Reinforcement bar total
used
4 Formwork and false total
work
Gross total

Table 7 cost escalation format

Note the above work executed was approved by site supervisors before to ask cost from the client

3. Challenges faced and measures taken

Challenge
Involuntariness to supply most drawings to see for each work sections
There was no office given to do the tasks given for us intern students.
The site doesn’t give specific task or responsibility for intern students
 Measures taken
 Showing good approach for each member and helped them whatever any works they work.
 Asking questions after giving services and supportive works
 By stipulating engineering prospective ideas for any activities
 By showing the voluntariness to do any work activates and asking to do work
 Shure with their own workloads to simplify it

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At Rediete Dagim engineering and construction plc (auditorium building project)
 Debre Birhan University Final internship report 2006ec 20014GC

Chapter five

5.1 Over all benefits gained from the internship program

a. Practical Skills

 This program gave me many opportunities to test and refine my skills. All in my learning years
my knowledge has been theoretical. This program has changed this and now developed my
practical knowledge which helped to build and improve my confidence on the work area.
 I was practically able to see how construction materials are managed and controlled in
a way that is efficient and wastage reducing( understood about the effective management
effects)at construction site . Controlling construction materials starting from the time it is
taken out of store up to the time it is implemented on the work . Take off and quantity
works can be mentioned among such controlling methods.
 Some of the things that help me to improve my practical skill are
 Procedures and Laboratory tests are performed that I have learned in theoretical
classes greatly helped me to know practically.
 The theoretical lessons helped me to understand the activities easily at real works.
 My motivation and needs for new ideas and things to know.
b. Theoretical Knowledge

 In addition to the practical skill this program helps me to strengthen my theoretical knowledge
and gain meaningful engineering experience about different construction works. The courses
taken before focused on theory. Since the practice depends first on theory, it was easy to work
and correlate the activities and enhance my understanding of constructing a building.
Theoretical knowledge is dependable on principles, logic and calculations of reality.
c. Interpersonal Communication Skills

 Since construction work is a team work by its nature you will face different individuals
with different professions and personality come up together and communicate with each
other to solve different problems and run the whole work.
 Through time I believed that good relation and communication skill is the key for
getting the experience and knowledge require for the internship program .Based on this
I tried to change my approach to the people at the work place. As the time progresses I
was able to see improvement on myself. I can say that I have got good lesson regarding
communication skill while my stay in the company for the internship program.

Prepared by Asmamaw yeniealem 4th year COTM 54

At Rediete Dagim engineering and construction plc (auditorium building project)
 Debre Birhan University Final internship report 2006ec 20014GC

d. Team Playing Skills

 I learnt that as part of a team, an engineer should have to works with a positive attitude within
a group for the success of the project objectives. When called upon to lead, an engineer must
have good managerial and organizational skills. Confident and enthusiastic engineers are able
to succeed by gaining the trust of co-workers.

 Good team player possesses the following skill

 Communicates constructively
 Attends actively
 Functions as an active participant
 Shares openly and willingly
 Cooperates and grounds in to help
 Displays suppleness
 Shows commitment to the team
 Works as a problem-solver
 Treats others in a respectful and in supportive manner
 Effective completion of tasks according to the specification.
 Increasing productivity (work task faster).
 Shure work knowledge for different tasks.

e. Leadership Skills
 I have seen how each work was controlled and organized to perform its day to day activities.
Among all other managements I have seen that human resource management is the most
important one at construction site.
 I have actually observed the method of controlling the working time and amount of work done
by each worker so that the work proceeds according to the work plan (payment was taken with
work hours executed).
 Leadership is a skill to guide, control and monitor peoples, resources, time and budget
according to the agreed contract document.
 For effective leadership I understood that personal values like confidence, effective
communication, idea creation, decision maker and commitment are very important on every work
progresses.
 Know yourself and seek self-improvement.
 Be technically skillful.
 Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions.
 Listen ideas of others and timely decisions.
 Know your people and look out for their well-being.
 Keep workers up-to-date.
 Ensure that tasks are agreed, supervised, and skilled.
 Proper responsible use and understood the full competences of the organization.
f. Work Ethics Issues

Prepared by Asmamaw yeniealem 4th year COTM 55

At Rediete Dagim engineering and construction plc (auditorium building project)
 Debre Birhan University Final internship report 2006ec 20014GC

I have been guided and obeyed by the rule and regulation of the company. Some of the work ethics
include;

 Punctuality: - means keeping the companies work beginning and ending time and to complete
a given task within the given period (gating permeation was vital if any).
 Office disciplines: - in work place participate without disturb the working atmosphere. For
example abstain from opening loud voice, loud music, songs and things which disturb others
workers working frame of mind.
 Reliability: - The worker should be qualified for the part he is supposed to be
performing . He/she must have appropriate skill and knowledge for the task assigned .
 Honesty: - Regarding this value being honest for each members of the site. The status should
abstain from bad behaviors such as false , partiality , corruption undesired talking etc.
 Cooperation: - Each worker should interact and cooperate with each other to do more
work tasks . That is because the problems could be easily solved.
Generally, I can say I have gained the potential benefits by taking the Engineering Internship
Program

5.2 Conclusion
The objective of the internship is to upgrade my theoretical knowledge’s that learnt before, changing
it to practical skill and this internship program gave me more knowledge, confidential to the
theoretical knowledge’s by observing those practical works.
Therefore, the company has a big role in the development of our country by giving services to
different aspects, by constructing many engineering works all over the country, and it plays a great
role in succeeding the transformation plan. In addition, this internship has met all the objectives and
its success has exceeded my hopes. It has opened my eyes to working life educated me socially and
matured me as an adult. It has strengthened my technical base and enabled me to integrate theory
with engineering practice.
Generally this internship gave more knowledge for me on the different activities that are done in this
project mostly on the sub structure works of the building.

5.3 Recommendation
Recommendation for our university
o I strongly feel about the goals of the practical attachment of this internship program. It
prepares the students effective on the real working environment and the program is significant
to producing competent engineers due to this reason this program must be taken on time,
unlimited, and continuity to meet its objectives effectively.
o Organizations and companies hosting the students don’t pay much attention to students. This
carelessness affects the motivation and work habit of the students, I recommended the
universities and concerned bodies to make strict follow up on students by working in close
relationship with hosting organizations.
o Another matter that needs change is the teaching system, in my opinion it was only focuses on
the theoretical aspects of the subject. It shall be include the practical knowledge during the

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At Rediete Dagim engineering and construction plc (auditorium building project)
 Debre Birhan University Final internship report 2006ec 20014GC

educational process and I don’t think that only four months practical work enough to supply
students with sufficient practical knowledge. A practice has to be all year long process and has
to go hand in hand with the theoretical learning. It will help students to easily visualize what is
being told in class with practically.
o Field trips and educational exhibitions should be arranged more frequently. In our
department there was no any program arranging a site visit to develop the students’
background before the internship program. Therefore all the concerned bodies should be
coordinate together and more think on such programs are good in my perspective.
o As you all know our university not focused more on different software like: AutoCAD, MS, sap
and other technology software before I recommended to you on such programs worked more
in the future and create the students back ground near to the technology on their own field of
study by fulfilling technological facilities (minimizing scarcities) with arranging different
programs before for each year.
o I also recommended the company to be effective key persons turn over he must be minimize
(example managers were changing timely I observed)
o The other I recommended our university some courses should be supplied before the
internship program (report writing , scheduling)

Recommendation for the company

• Employ office and site engineer for fasting the work..
• Increasing subcontracting of the work to fasten more.
Material storage in the site
The quality of material is the major to fulfill the design strength. So, the material needed by the
construction should store well so that we can have better quality. But in the site this was the basic
problem that should be recommended (especially for the reinforcement)
• Steel reinforcement is not stored on the wood bed prepared so that moisture and soil
content is avoided
• Management problem: the time to time change of site managers leads the project site
suffered with management problems(example mixers and vibrators were un-functional at site)

Services for employers

Same facilities were not available in the site and this not enables to have enough site office and every
employer have not working cloths and helmet for the safety of health and to fast the work. But this
makes for employers uncomfortable. So I recommended this project the above

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At Rediete Dagim engineering and construction plc (auditorium building project)
 Debre Birhan University Final internship report 2006ec 20014GC

5. 4 References
Main references
Concrete basics a guide to concrete practice
Teacher supplied handout
Direct interviewing from the site
Contract document of the project
Secondary references
[Link]

-bin/a/[Link]?jobid=6094&site_id=148
[Link]
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[Link]#ixzz2qUCYN000
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[Link]
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At Rediete Dagim engineering and construction plc (auditorium building project)
 Debre Birhan University Final internship report 2006ec 20014GC

Appendix
• Crachery…. used to erect and stand on formwork columns.
• Tumby ….Plumb bob it is used for checking vertical alignment and location of lines on
ground.
• Soffit ………beams bottom form work.
• Creasty ….it is used to prop or support for floor beam.
• Grilla…...reinforcement mesh bar for pads
• Staffa- stirrups
• Modino – profile board
 Balankilo…….a bar rod used to re-nail joints
 Wuhalk……..hand sprit level

Prepared by Asmamaw yeniealem 4th year COTM 59

At Rediete Dagim engineering and construction plc (auditorium building project)