Estimating and Bidding for Heavy Construction or Whos Afraid of the WTO

Estimating and Bidding for Heavy Construction

Author: S H Bartholomew

Reflecting the author's 50 years of experience in the heavy construction industry, this is the only book of its kind. It is comprehensive enough to integrate the basic principles of cost estimating and bidding in one convenient volume, and it identifies the organizational and analytical processes involved in implementing these principles. Focuses throughout on developing a competitive bid for acquiring a major heavy construction contract, performed under fixed price and time-commercial terms in today's competitive business environment. Explains and illustrates all key procedural steps essential to "setting up the estimate" that are specific to heavy construction projects. Explains in detail the various kinds of costs incurred by heavy construction contractors, along with the manner in which costs are typically displayed horizontally in the estimate. Discusses the vertical format of a bid estimate totaling to the final intended bid figure. Perfect for contractors who want to brush up on estimation skills, or for anyone who wants to learn more about the costs incurred in heavy construction projects.

Table of Contents:

Ch. 1	Preliminary Considerations	1
Ch. 2	Horizontal Format: The Method of Cost Expression	13
Ch. 3	The Vertical Estimate Format	38
Ch. 4	The Quantity Takeoff	60
Ch. 5	Setting up the Estimate	94
Ch. 6	Pricing Out the Direct Cost Estimate	114
Ch. 7	Drill-and-Blast Operations	132
Ch. 8	Mass Diagrams	171
Ch. 9	Load-and-Haul, Spread, and Compact Operations	188
Ch. 10	Concrete Operations	241
Ch. 11	The Indirect Cost	301
Ch. 12	Equipment Adjustment and Determination of Equipment Mobilization and Demobilization Costs	348
Ch. 13	Pricing the Bid Form for Schedule-of-Bid-Item Bids	366
	Appendix	382
	Bibliography	398
	Index	399

New interesting book: Contabilit� in un contesto economico, guida di studio

Who's Afraid of the WTO?

Author: Kent Albert Jones

Who is afraid of the WTO, the World Trade Organization? The list is long and varied. Many workers--and the unions that represent them--claim that WTO agreements increase import competition and threaten their jobs. Environmentalists accuse the WTO of encouraging pollution and preventing governments from defending national environmental standards. Human rights advocates block efforts to impose trade sanctions in defense of human rights. While anti-capitalist protesters regard the WTO as a tool of big business--particularly of multinational corporations--other critics charge the WTO with damaging the interests of developing countries by imposing free-market trade policies on them before they are ready. In sum, the WTO is considered exploitative, undemocratic, unbalanced, corrupt, or illegitimate.
This book is in response to the many misinformed, often exaggerated arguments leveled against the WTO. Kent Jones explains in persuasive and engaging detail the compelling reasons for the WTO's existence and why it is a force for progress toward economic and non-economic goals worldwide. Although protests against globalization and the WTO have raised public awareness of the world trading system, they have not, Jones demonstrates, raised public understanding. Clarifying the often-muddled terms of the debate, Jones debunks some of the most outrageous allegations against the WTO and argues that global standards for environmental protection and human rights belong in separate agreements, not the WTO. Developing countries need more trade, not less, and even more importantly, they need a system of rules that gives them--the smaller, weaker, and more vulnerable players in world trade--the bestpossible chance of pursuing their trade interests among the larger and more powerful developed countries.
Timely and important, Who's Afraid of the WTO? provides an overview of the most important aspects of the world trading system and the WTO's role in it while tackling the most popular anti-WTO arguments. While Jones does not dismiss the threat that recent political protests pose for the world trading system, he reveals the fallacies in their arguments and presents a strong case in favor of the WTO.