One of the things that I absolutely hate – and I mean, HATE –is filling out my timesheet ; especially when I’ve been working on multiple projects. Luckily there is a FREE tool that makes it easier to track time and fill out your timesheet, it is called Toggl. 

 I don’t like to stop in between tasks to write down that I changed projects. Toggl is great because you can simply open the app, type in the job number and what you are doing, then hit start. When you finish you just hit stop. Toggl keeps track of the date, time, and duration of the task so you can fill your timesheet out with ease. 

The best part about this program is that you can run it through your web browser, your smartphone, or your desktop all at the same time. Toggl syncs all these platforms into one great tool. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Note: I don’t get paid for recommending any of the sites on this site.  

“How are we supposed to build this?”

“The plans don’t have enough detail.”

“Who would design something like this?”

Complaints like these used to make me defensive - especially when they came from contractors.  Having my plans or designs questioned by contractors didn’t seem right to me. After all, I was the engineer, right? 

I’ve since learned that complaints like these are an opportunity to get a better understanding of constructability. And when talking construction, contractors are the best people to learn from. 

It might seem intimidating at first, but talking to contractors is the key to identifying and avoiding mistakes. So whenever possible, I get my site visit equipment together and visit the construction site. This gives me a chance to understand how my designs are built and it lets the contractor give me feedback on our designs. Together the contractor and I are able to identify issues before they become expensive problems. 

Getting feedback from contractors is one of the best – and sometimes only - way you will learn lessons about constructability. Sure, the feedback is usually negative. But the biggest learning experiences in engineering come whenever something fails. And that holds true for the plans we create. Each time there is a complaint about our plans or designs there is an opportunity to learn and improve for the next job. 

As engineers we sometimes think we know it all. But contractors can – and will - give you a valuable perspective you can learn a lot from. As engineers, let’s not have such a big ego that our head won’t fit through the door. Get out in the field and talk to the contractor. 

The internet has become a major source of information for the civil engineer.  A lot of young engineers rely on it to answer questions when they are just starting out. However, Uncle Google has his limitations when it comes to the real technical questions civil engineers face. And as everyone who does an internet search knows, you cannot always trust the sources you get information from. Therefore it is important to develop a hard copy library of familiar trusted sources that you can refer to and feel confident in the information. 

Luckily there are vast amounts of textbooks and handbooks that have been written on all things related to civil engineering. A good civil engineering reference library gives you the answers you need from trusted sources quickly.  Throughout your career you should never think twice about buying a reference book related to your specialty.  

Textbooks truly are investments and can save your butt as a professional when you need to find an answer. I always advise new engineers to fight the urge to sell back their civil and math textbooks. (Even if it means they need to eat ramen soups for breakfast next semester) In addition, I suggest new civil engineers not hesitate when asking for recommendations for and purchase handbooks & textbooks throughout their career.

In the long run you will not regret it 

Civil engineering projects require that one keeps track of multiple tasks and moving parts. I have found that Primavera and MS Project are too complicated for quick daily use. The best FREE tool I have found out there to manage everything you need to do during a project is an app called Astrid which is available through the Apple Store or Android Market. 


This app enables you to sort tasks into lists, create deadlines, set urgency levels, and share lists with other users. In addition, Astrid has a sense of humor when it sends you a reminder to get a task done. 

I have yet to find any negatives with this app. I use it for both personal and work related tasks and have set the lists up according to David Allen's Getting Things Done Model. (A book and methodology I highly recommend.)

I have yet to explore the pay version of the app since the free version does just about everything I want it to do. 

Check out Astrid and let me know what you think. Also let me know what tools you use to stay on top of your work and personal tasks. 

The title of this post says it all. When people are counting on you to deliver, always under promise then over perform.

When you under promise, and over perform you look good. In the eyes of others, you deliver early, come in under budget, and provide a better design than anticipated. Everybody wants someone who can do this. 

When designing we always come across issues we did not anticipate. Under promising gives you the ability to solve these problems with enough resources to still deliver what you promised. 


So the next time someone asks how long it will take you to complete something. Take the number in your head and double it. Then knock the task out twice as fast and you thought you could. People can not help but be impressed. 

There is a vast array of avenues that a person can take in their career after obtaining a civil engineering degree. And I’m not talking about the different branches within civil engineering like structural, water resources, geotechnical, etc.  I’m talking about the avenues that one can take within each discipline.  

• Do you want to be a designer, or in construction? 
  
• Do you want to be in an office all day, or do you want to wear a hard hat and literally get your hands dirty out in the field? 
  
• Public or private employment?
  
• Would you like to start your own company some day? 
  
• Are you willing to travel around the country (or world) for work? 
  

When I graduated I didn’t even think of asking these types of questions. I was just happy to get a call back for an interview. Since those days I have learned that I prefer design work with some occasional field engineering thrown in to get me out of the office. In addition, the thought of travel around the country, or world for work does not appeal to me; I enjoy working on local projects. You may be interested in something completely different.  I know that for me it would have been nice to know sooner in my career exactly what I was after so to help you out I have compiled a list of the types of positions a civil engineer can be involved in; along with general characteristics of each avenue. I hope they can help you decide on your path as you progress through your career.  

Design engineer
Licensure Required: Yes – All states require professional engineering licensure for those in responsible charge of civil engineering design work. 
Main Responsibility: Design of new projects
Where are jobs: Metropolitan areas and midsized cities (i.e. just about everywhere) – smaller companies with smaller jobs are more common and can be found in smaller towns. Bigger companies with big projects usually stick around major metropolitan areas. Don’t think you can live in Chular, CA and have job designing the world’s next tallest sky scraper. It isn’t going to happen. 
Requires management of others: Occasional depending on size of project 
Travel Requirements: Minimal occasional site visits
Environment: Office setting with business formal or business casual attire. 
Professional Liability: High – If the bridge falls 15 years after construction the first person they call is the person who signed and stamped the plans. If that is you, then you better have a real good memory.  
Stress level: Moderate to High
Time in front of a computer: High
Political Involvement: Moderate; may require public presentations and work with local government officials. 

Field Engineer / Inspector
Licensure Required: Yes
Main Responsibility: Ensure job is built as designed.
Where are jobs: Metropolitan areas and midsized cities (i.e. just about everywhere) 
Requires management of others: No. 
Travel Requirements: Substantial; requires travel to sites; wherever they may be. 
Environment: Construction sites, mobile office (car), minimal time in office.  Requires work boots and construction work type clothing, very informal 
Professional Liability: Moderate due to possibility of performing negligent inspection
Stress level: Low
Time in front of a computer: Low: requires documentation, correspondence, and coordination. 
Political Involvement: Low

City Engineer
Licensure Required: Yes
Main Responsibility: Project review and protection of public interest. 
Where are jobs: Metropolitan areas and midsized cities (i.e. just about everywhere) Public sector work.
Requires management of others: Yes 
Travel Requirements: None; all work presumably occurs in the same city. 
Environment: Office setting with business formal or business casual attire.   
Professional Liability: High – As city engineer you could be signing and stamping many plans and specifications. As the engineer you are liable. 
Stress level: Moderate to High 
Time in front of a computer: Moderate; requires coordination of public works projects, budgets, designs, and public outreach.  
Political Involvement: Very High

Construction Engineer
Licensure Required: No
Main Responsibility: Construct a project on time and under budget.
Where are jobs: Metropolitan areas and midsized cities (i.e. just about everywhere) 
Requires management of others: Yes. 
Travel Requirements: Substantial; requires travel to construction sites; wherever they may be. 
Environment: Construction sites, mobile office (car), minimal time in office.  Requires work boots and construction work type clothing, very informal 
Professional Liability: Low
Stress level: High; projects must come in on time and under budget. Unforeseen issues may cause delays and cost increases which can be stressful. 
Time in front of a computer: Low: requires documentation, correspondence, and coordination. 
Political Involvement: Low

Plan Check Engineer
Licensure Required: No
Main Responsibility: Ensure designs are up to standards, codes, and project can be built without massive change orders. 
Where are jobs: Metropolitan areas and midsized cities; however companies that specialize in this are scarce. Jobs are usually in the public sector. 
Requires management of others: Occasional. 
Travel Requirements: Minimal; occasional site visits
Environment: Office setting with business formal or business casual attire. 
Professional Liability: Low – Even though plan checkers review the plans the engineer or record (design engineer) is still ultimately responsible for the design. 
Stress level: Low
Time in front of a computer: Moderate; correspondence and documentation. 
Political Involvement: Low

Project Manager (PM)
Licensure Required: No, but most PMs are.
Main Responsibility: Ensure design projects are completed on time and under budget.
Where are jobs: Metropolitan areas and midsized cities (i.e. just about everywhere)
Requires management of others: Yes; entire project team
Travel Requirements: Depends on the type of firm you work for.
Environment: Office setting with business formal or business casual attire. 
Professional Liability: Can be high if licensed 
Stress level: High
Time in front of a computer: High; correspondence and documentation. 
Political Involvement: Can be High

Engineering Professor
Licensure Required: No
Main Responsibility: Research and develop the best systems for construction.
Where are jobs: Cities with universities. 
Requires management of others: Yes; graduate students.  
Travel Requirements: Moderate
Environment: Classroom, lab, and field with business formal or business casual attire. (As a rule professors must have at least 7 blazers with elbow patches, one for each day of the week)
Professional Liability: Low – reputation is more important. 
Stress level: Unknown
Time in front of a computer: Unknown 
Political Involvement: High

As civil engineers we tend to focus on designing new structures and systems. However, there is an entire field dedicated to the end of a structure’s life cycle that many civil engineers do not think of getting involved in. Demolition requires detailed engineering and planning that a civil engineering background is perfect for. Today we are going to talk to an expert in the field of demolition to learn about what he does and the advice he has for civil engineers who want to get into the field.

Bio: Please welcome our guest today; Professional Engineer Damon Kozul.  Damon is an expert in the field of demolition and web design. His demolition and engineering experience includes commercial and industrial demolition, wrecking, onsite concrete crushing, equipment salvage, rigging, demolition consulting, and concrete and steel silo demolition. He is the safety manager and in house engineer for R.Baker and Sons which has offices in Red Bank, New Jersey and Staten Island, New York. He has agreed to sit down with us to discuss his work and the advice he has for up and coming engineers.

Q: Thanks for taking the time to talk to us, Damon; It sure sounds like you have a lot of stuff going on. How do you find the time to do everything that is on your plate?

It’s extremely difficult; I have a wife, I have two kids, and I have friends and I do value my time with all of them;  but I’m very aggressive in what I do. If I’m not into multiple interests or subjects I tend to get bored easy.

The thing that really gets my creative juices going is doing internet consulting and setting up websites. But it is a balancing act. Sometimes on Saturday I will wake up a six o’clock I’ll get three hours in before the kids wake up and then later that evening instead of sitting in front of the TV, I will get some work done.

Sometimes it’s difficult to balance everything, but I’m in it for the long haul.  I have a full time job but with the economy the way it is I have to be able to count on myself. So I created  multiple revenue streams so down the road I can pay for my children’s colleges and have a nest egg so I don’t have to worry about what I’m going to do when I’m 60 or 70.

Q: Can you let us know a little bit more about what you do at R. Baker and Sons?

I work at R. Baker and Sons as their in house engineer, safety manager, and marketing manager. I also do the marketing for the Baker’s Marina Group. In addition to that, I also have my own consulting company which is called Three D Enterprises. That company is predominantly an internet consulting and search engine optimization firm in which I optimize client’s websites to ensure they rank high on search engines.

Q: In a typical day what issues come up for you as a safety manager and in-house engineer at R. Baker?

For every project that we do; whether it is demolition or rigging, there are numerous engineering or safety plans and documents that need to be developed and reviewed. For example, if we are doing a demolition I will develop the site specific safety plan, and will work with supervisors and managers to develop the project specific work plan. We also have to do an Occupation Safety and Health Association (OSHA) engineer survey and JSA task hazard analysis. The JSA task hazard analysis requires us to go through each specific task in a project and identify the specific hazards and how we are going to mitigate or abate the risk.

In addition to that I also develop a lot of the toolbox talks given every morning by our work crews before they start work.  These talks ensure everyone understands what the day’s tasks and risks are. During these talks I will give them documents they can read which are specific to the hazards they will have to face that day. For example, if they are working on man lifts I will give the managers safety documents to read to the crews that relate to man lifts. This way they understand what the hazards are and how they can avoid them.

OSHA has made the construction sites very safe. R. Baker and Sons and I are 100% behind that. R. Baker and Sons  performs projects on active facilities such as pharmaceutical plants or petro-chemical plants, so if there is an accident it is not going to affect just one person, it is going to affect many people and their families.  Nobody wants that. My main task at R. Baker and Sons is to make sure that never happens.

Safety is the main reason all the planning and documentation we do gets done. My daily and weekly tasks are geared toward making sure accidents don’t happen. Everything we do in demolition has to be planned.  If you go in there hap hazardly you are asking for trouble and I don’t want anything to happen on my watch.

Q: What is the most interesting demolition project you have worked on?   

We worked for an active refinery.  On all four sides of the project area we had active lines that made taking down a “unit” very difficult. In this project there was rigging, and demolition. In fact there were a lot of different trades involved and it was extremely daunting. We came away from the job without any accidents because we planned from day one and every day after that while the job was going on.

R. Baker also does a lot of rigging and relocation work. If you go to the R Baker website you can see many interesting projects we have performed. We did a lot of the rigging required to get the World Trade Center artifacts into the 9-11 museum. It was a very moving project for us.  There were a lot of emotions and it all went smooth. If you watch the Discovery Channel video you can see that we lowered the fire truck ladder into the museum. We also moved and erected “the cross” and in total we will have rigged and moved 30 artifacts at project completion. At R. Baker we are very honored to be a part of this particular project. We had great sub contractors and a great team that all put in a tremendous amount of planning to get this done. I just played a small part.

Q: For a project like that how long does the planning and engineering process take?
It is all project specific. If we are moving one piece of equipment through a plant, then it is just a couple days. But when you get into demolishing structures on active facilities or the type of rigging we did for the museum, the planning can take months. A major portion of the planning is meeting with the people involved and making sure that everyone has reviewed and signed off on the plans. It was because of all the planning, that the 9-11 museum project went so smooth. And that is what you want. You don’t want any issues to come up during the actual operations.

Q: What kind of engineering decisions need to be made when doing a demolition? 

You have got to make sure you have the right team, the right operators, and the right laborers. All these people are important.  For example, when the operator is demolishing a structure, he is going to have the best feel of how that structure is going to come down. In addition, we have spotters that watch to see if anything doesn’t look right. At R Baker& Son, everybody has the right to stop the job; especially if it has to do with safety. Even with all the planning, you have to remember that you are still out there in the real world.  Conditions change, things happen.  You have to stop and make sure everything is safe and if need be revisit the planning again. You could put your blinders on and keep going, but then you are asking for trouble.

Q: What is it like to work with explosives (if you do)? 

I do not. The majority of demolitions are done by mechanical means.  In the industry there are specialists with proper licensing and background checks who work with explosives. I have only been involved with explosives twice. We “shot” (that is the vernacular for using explosives) two stacks.  On each one we worked with a specialist.

They were definitely interesting projects to work on but the explosive demolition was just a small part of the overall project.  The demolitions that use explosives are the ones you see on TV because they are so dynamic. But in terms of the overall demolition world they are a small percentage.  Even so, when you implode something like a stadium, you still have a big pile that needs to be cleaned up by mechanical means. So in come the excavators and trucks to clean up the mess once it is in a pile. Explosives just make it easier to take certain structures down. 

Q: How did you start out and what advice would you give to a young engineer just getting out of college who wants to get into your field? 

I started off in an engineering company. I learned the basic engineering principles, how to be organized, and I learned a lot about contracts. Later in my career I got into projects that involved demolition and of course I fell in love with it.

I recommend the young engineers get the fundamentals down. Work for an engineering company, lean the basics, learn how to organize your information and paper work and then try and get field experience.

I have found that there are book smarts and then there is knowledge of what really happens out in the field. Most people who I deal with that are really sharp have both. And that doesn’t just go for the engineers I work with that is in general. If someone wants to get into the demolition field at least from an engineer standpoint I definitely recommend getting in with a good engineering company; perhaps someone who works with clients to facilitate the reconfiguration of their plants and possibly oversees some demolition. Then definitely get out in the field to see how it is done. There are many demolition companies out there that are always in need of engineers.

Q: What kind of information would you say you didn’t learn in college?


My education is from an environmental civil standpoint and the information that was not imparted to me in college was the business aspect of engineering. It wasn’t until I got out of college that I learned how businesses and contracts worked. In fact, contracts and subcontracts took me a lot of years to learn. I’m not an attorney but  I can take a first look at a contract and see if there are any errors or omissions that would not be acceptable to the company.  


Another thing I didn’t learn was how important it was to get out into the field and see how the work is actually done. I learned that it is important to see how much an excavator can produce, how much it can dig, and how much of a building it can take down in a day. You are not going to learn that in school, you have to see it done. And then put all those principles and education together to develop your plans, write your bids, and make sure subcontracts are tight. The learning process is a combination and an evolution.

Q: What do you wish you knew when you were straight out of college and just starting out in your career?

When I first started out I wish I would have known how things are done in the field. I didn’t get a lot of field experience early on and I don’t know that a lot of young engineers are going to get a lot of field experience in the first couple of years. When you see something on paper or you are trying to develop a plan. If you have not done it before, and you haven’t been out in the field, it is very difficult to put the two together.

Once I got out in the field and made the connection. I was able to understand and ask questions like “What am I designing?” “What am I reading?” “What are we trying to say here?” and make the connection between all those questions. It would have made my life a lot easier when I designed specifications for a demolition if I had actually done a demolition. When you come out of college you have the math and science behind what you are doing; and that is great. But when you are writing the specs about how it is getting built in the field it’s definitely a difficult task if you have never been out there.

You learn from your mistakes too. It is all part of the learning process. In my career, I’ve been in demo field at least 17 years and I’m still learning. Every project is unique and that is what I like about being in this business.  Every day there is a unique problem to be solved and every project is different.

Going back to original question; I would also not have gotten so frustrated when I was asked to do plans.  To me, drafting plans was just paper work. But now I really appreciate the time I spent doing that work because planning is one of the most important parts of every project; as I have been saying this entire interview.  We generate a tremendous amount of documents on one project but it all pays off because we get the project done on time, correctly and most importantly safely.

Q: Is there any other wisdom you would like to impart on our readers before we wrap up?

I can’t stress enough that everybody has families and friends and parents, and you don’t want them to leave injured from your job site in any way shape or form and the only way you are going to do that is with planning, planning, and more planning.  Getting the job done right for the client is important; but not at the risk of safety. To me if one person gets injured on a project that is not a successful project. We could have built the most amazing monument to society but if one person gets injured what was it worth?  I don’t want to go to anyone’s funeral. A person’s life is priceless and I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that everything is planned right and that safety is a priority.

Sometimes people lose track of that because a project gets behind schedule and they say keep pushing, keep pushing. But if you push too hard something is going to happen. I don’t care what they are doing, construction, demolition, whatever it is, you have to take a step back and ask;  is this being done safely? I know at R Baker and Sons, we do that every day.

Thanks again Damon for taking the time out to talk with me and give the readers some great advice.  We look forward to hearing more from you.

So what questions do you have for Damon? Write them in the comments and we can get them answered by the man himself.