Course: Intro to Engineering (Construction Engineering)

Topic: Construction Engineering contract negotiation, delivery methods, LEED certification, return on investment

Type: in-class activity / group project / role playing game

Components:
Intro to Construction Engineering presentation
Game Documents for owner, contractor, and civil engineering design student teams with ROI worksheets.

Time:
Game: 50min. 

Materials:
Intro to Construction Engineering PowerPoint
One six sided die
Handouts
Timer(s)

1. Introduce students to construction engineering risk management through an interactive role playing game.
2. Support discussion of risk and profit sharing in building projects.

Overview

Civil engineering freshman usually take an introductory course in their discipline, or in general engineering. This course may serve a number of purposes including an orientation and driving curiosity about the different engineering disciplines or civil engineering sub-disciplines, opportunities to network with other engineering students, and exposure to student success tools and tips. A game the authors developed presents construction engineering in the introductory class both as a branch of civil engineering and as a newly offered degree program at their institution. The game simulates the work environment and substantial decision points faced by construction engineers as they seek to create value for owners and make connections between design engineers, construction engineers, and owners. Through game interactions, students are able to make additional connections between their freshman-level courses and future courses in the engineering curriculum.

Details on the development of the construction game can be found here, here, and here from ASEE conferences.

Method

Class 1 (or pre-class video)

1. Introduce the concepts of project delivery methods and LEED certification to students.

2. Create student teams (typically one owner team, 2 construction engineering teams, and 2 civil engineering design teams.) Distribute role handouts to be reviewed before the next class.

Class 2

1. Instruction provide instructions on the flow of the game to students.

2. Pitch Preparation: Owners declare their target LEED certification level and give student teams a few minutes to finalize their pitches and acceptable terms.

3. Design Pitches (x2): Each design team has 1 minute to pitch their contract terms to the owner team.

4. Construction Pitches (x2) Each construction team has 1 minute to pitch their contract terms to the owner team.

5. Design Negotiation (x1): The owner team invites one of the design teams to negotiate a final contract.

6. Construction Negotiation (x1): The owner team invites one of the design teams to negotiate a final contract.

7. Design Cost: The design team roles a 6 side die, determines their cost from the risk table, calculates their cost to the owner and evaluates their profit or ROI.

8. Construction Cost: The construction team roles a 6 side die, determines their cost from the risk table, calculates their cost to the owner and evaluates their profit or ROI.

9. Value: The owner team roles a 6 side die, determines their building value from the risk table, sums their cost from the design and construction teams and evaluates their profit or ROI.

Discussion Points

All teams present their ROI and discuss the likely outcomes when teams made too much money or lost money. Un-selected design and construction teams may calculate their hypothetical ROI.