Lazy design causes a range of painful negative consequences both during construction and during use of the finished product. 

Let’s examine two of these consequences that occur during construction.  These are the production of high levels of noise and toxic fumes, which have physical impact on people, sometimes causing trauma.

These two adverse consequences can greatly affect construction worker health and stress coping abilities.  And while worker health always needs to be a priority, it is the other, often unconsidered people who also can suffer, that is, neighbors.

I will relay a story of an experience I recently had regarding lazy design causing construction pain for neighbors.

The setting was my own home in suburban Brisbane.  My neighbor recently had a builder build a small house deck extension.  While this is a tiny project, it shows how across the industry, poor design can lead to construction pain.

The work was a first-floor deck of about 25 sq. meters built out the back of the house.  It was roofed and a concrete slab-on-ground was laid under it.

We both live on identical, old, long skinny, Brisbane sites.  My house is a modern 4-bedroom house which follows the long skinny shape of the site.  My neighbor’s house is a small old Queenslander cottage, so the new deck is located about half-way along my house, so I coped the full brunt of the construction noise and fumes.

Our inner-city blocks are ridiculously narrow (9.2 meters wide).  Our walls are 1.5 meters apart.  I was virtually living on a construction site.

I was working in my home office for the time of this build.  It has been a while since I had anything to do with a small job, and I was stunned by the noise and fumes.

The project started out with a small excavator removing the old small un-roofed concrete deck and the ground concrete under it, so diesel fumes were plentiful.  At this stage too, there was also a lot of concrete cutting and jackhammering noise.

The new deck was a little unusual as it used steel RHS bearers and joists, which were delivered in long lengths to be site cut.  A lot of steel rod wall bracing was also used, and was delivered again, oversize to be site cut.

All site cutting was done using circular blade power cutters.  There also was a lot of power-tool grinding.  These tools are naturally very noisy.  Bolted connections were absent, all the steel being site welded creating a lot of fumes.

The decking boards were timber needing site cutting and were surface screwed to the steel joists.  The balustrade was also timber, all site cut.

An existing fibro (asbestos) soffit was demolished.  I was not notified by the builder of this work.  I luckily looked out my window and saw two workers in full protection suits and masks.  If I didn’t run and close all my windows, dust from this removal would have been into my home via my children’s bedroom windows.

The new roof was 75mm thick sandwich panel polystyrene core.  Like the steel, these were delivered over-size to be site cut.  I never appreciated how long it takes to circular saw cut these panels of two layers of sheet steel and the core.  The noise from this cutting was tremendous and tediously long in duration.

And finally, we have the industry’s latest invention to save time, the impact self-driller which smashes fixings through materials.  All screwed connections on this project were made using this very noisy tool.

My stud framed walls and single glazed windows stood little chance against the noise, but thankfully they were able to keep out the dust and fumes.

Additionally, my neighbor is a DIY home improvement tragic.  He has been giving my family weekend construction work on his old Queenslander for nearly 15 years.  Before and after the builder’s work, he did ancillary bits and pieces which lasted for weeks either side of the main building work, creating more noise.

Designers can do a lot to avoid such adverse construction effects on workers and on neighbors.  If they really think about it, they can practically eliminate it.

Designers need to think through the construction process with full regard of these and other construction-generated hazards, create a design around them, document it, and be available to check and enforce it during construction.

Nearly all major components can be off-site pre-cut to the required lengths before they are delivered to site, even the deck boards and timber balustrade to a large degree.  This is not difficult, and it greatly speeds up construction.

Steel components can be designed to be fabricated off-site, delivered ready to install using bolted connections, again speeding up construction.

Many screwed connections can be documented as old-fashioned drill-and-screw.  The economics of typical modern construction demands the use of noisy tools like the impact drill which are faster, but their use can be reduced.

Decking can be laid using modern clip-on systems which require far fewer fixings than the double surface fixing method.  Having unpenetrated boards removes the risk of water-caused deterioration at the fixings.  The decking looks better too with no fixings visible and boards perfectly spaced, and construction is speeded up.

Timber deck framing can be used, especially under a roofed deck.  Timber construction is fast and easy.  Cutting timber is noisy but it is quick and if need be, can be cut off-site.

Acoustic screens can also be used, which has a cost that can be minimized when all the other time saving, noise and fume reducing strategies mentioned here are used.

Designers too need to be firm with clients about staying out of construction work.  It is so much more cost and work efficient, and faster, if all the work is done by the builder, and the owner goes away, returning when the work is done.

Finally, designers and builders need to know a little about the neighbors.  They could be out a work all day, shift workers needing day-sleep, babies and their care-givers also needing day-sleep, teenagers preparing for high school graduation exams (that was my situation).

Designers have a serious responsibility to all stakeholders in the process of construction which extends to protecting workers and neighbors from excessive noise and toxic fumes.  It just takes is a little extra time to think through the process and document it.  This is a very small cost for a result with enormous benefits.