Profiling The Site

I figure that by the end of this project, I would have learnt as much as I need to enable me set myself up as a building contractor. Honestly, I am learning new stuff every day. It certainly pays to be onsite when you are building a house. Be on site every day. You do not have to be on site from morning to closing time. At least make it a point to show your face for at least 4 hours. You will be amazed by what you can learn from just asking questions. The questions do not have to be directed to the building contractor. For example, today I arrived on site around 11.00am. The builder, his architect and a few other workmen were already on site sorting out the profile for the site. Under the shed, the "steel bender" was busy shaping the 12 mm iron rods which he had cut the previous day. Whilst I watched him in fascination I realised that there were some actions he was performing which I quite did not understand. For instance, how did he know at what length he had to bend the end of the iron rod? 

The whole process of Profiling the land as per the architects drawings is very interesting. The use different colour nylon strings, nails, flat boards and wooden pegs. Along the edges of the boards, at varying lengths 5 nails are hammered into the wood. Measurements are taken and 5 more nails are driven into the edge of the plank of wood. This is what I learnt. The two outer nails represent the width of the foundation and the two inner ones act as guide for the block work.