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The American
Construction Industry

The American Construction Industry meticulously chronicles the evolution of the


construction industry from its roots in the medieval guild system to the high-
tech jobsite of tomorrow. While celebrating more than two millennia of progress
and innovation, this resource for students and professionals uncovers the ways
of working that crossed the Atlantic with the earliest European settlers and will
continue to define building trades in the United States today and in the years and
decades to come. Full color illustrations bring the past to life and provide visual
links to the present day.

Brian Bowen retired as president of Hanscomb Inc. in 2000 after a career in


England, Canada and the United States. From that time, he supported the
College of Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology in various
capacities and was appointed a Professor in the Practice of Construction
Management. His focus has been on researching and teaching Construction
History. In 2008 he formed the Construction History Society of America.
“Architects, builders, and those with an interest in industrial history will
appreciate this definitive book – revealing our practices from the earliest of
times to the present in a narrative both entertaining and informative.”
A. Peter Hilger,
Morse Distinguished University Teacher,
University of Minnesota

“Brian Bowen’s The American Construction Industry is a much-needed cor-


rective to architectural history, placing contractors and builders at the center
of the long story of building construction. Relying on his background in the
industry and using illuminating examples of contracts, correspondence, and
other key documents across eras, Bowen explains the combined effects of
economics, the law, labor, and professional organization, among others, in
realizing both grand monuments and everyday dwellings. Essential as a refer-
ence and enlightening as a narrative.”
Thomas Leslie,
Morrill Professor in Architecture,
Iowa State University

“Professor Bowen’s manuscript provides important background and context


for understanding the origins of the American construction industry. This
meticulously researched book helps readers understand how the early crafts-
men and builders of the colonial area evolved into the industry that has
constructed the world’s largest and most sophisticated economy.”
Brian Turmail,
Vice President of Public Affairs and Strategic Initiatives,
Associated General Contractors of America
The American
Construction Industry
Its Historical Evolution and
Potential Future

Brian Bowen
First published 2022
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2022 Brian Bowen
The right of Brian Bowen to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Bowen, Brian, author.
Title: The American construction industry : its historical evolution and
potential future / Brian Bowen.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2021. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021006834 (print) | LCCN 2021006835 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780367654382 (paperback) | ISBN 9780367655402 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781003130000 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Construction industry--United States--History.
Classification: LCC HD9715.U52 B69 2021 (print) | LCC HD9715.U52
(ebook) | DDC 338.4/76240973--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021006834
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021006835

ISBN: 978-0-367-65540-2 (hbk)


ISBN: 978-0-367-65438-2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-13000-0 (ebk)

DOI: 10.1201/9781003130000

Typeset in Goudy
by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
Contents

Illustrationsvii
Sidebarsxi
Prefacexii
Acknowledgementsxiv
Sources of Illustrationsxv
Terminology and Acronymsxix

1 An Overview of the Construction Industry Today1

2 Classical Times10

3 Medieval Times - The Foundation of the Industry15

4 The Renaissance, 1350-160040

5 17th Century England57

6 The American Colonies, 17th Century62

7 Industrial Revolution - Great Britain, 18th Century68

8 The American Colonies, 18th Century79

9 Developments in the New Republic - 1783


to the Civil War90

10 USA from the Civil War to 1900114

11 20th Century to World War II145


vi Contents
12 World War II to the Present Time163

13 Some Conclusions183

14 The Future187

Index 203
Illustrations

Figures
1.1 Components of the industry 8
2.1 Khufu Pyramid, Cairo, Egypt, 2528 BC 11
2.2 Remains of the temple at Epidauros, Greece 12
2.3 Pantheon, Rome, Italy, 113–125 AD 13
3.1 Pope Gregory VII 16
3.2 Amiens Cathedral 17
3.3a Notre Dame de Paris, 1163–1345 19
3.3b St Denis Cathedral, Paris, dedicated 1544 19
3.3c York Minster Cathedral 19
3.3d Canterbury Cathedral 19
3.4 Rouen Cathedral. “Butter tower” to right. 21
3.5 Plan for new monastery, St. Gallen, Switzerland. Late 9th
Century AD 22
3.6 Stretching parchment 23
3.7 Tracing floor at York Minster 24
3.8 Graphic illustration of construction underway 25
3.9 Quarrying, carting, mortar mixing and setting. Cistercian abbey,
Schonau, Germany 26
3.10 St Mary’s Church, Hornby, Yorkshire 27
3.11 Scaffolding, Bibliothèque Royale, Brussels 30
3.12 Ox carts hauling wood 31
3.13 Medieval building equipment 32
3.14 Templates cut from tin sheet 34
4.1 Progression of the Black Death in Europe, 1347–51 41
4.2 Medieval trade routes 41
4.3 Duccio: Annunciation of the Death of the Virgin.
One of the first introductions of perspective into artwork 42
4.4 Model of cathedral dome. Attributed to Brunelleschi 43
4.5 House of Pietro dell’Abaco, near the Church of San
Cristoforo, Siena 48
viii Illustrations
4.6 Coats of arms of the Florentine guilds. Masons
and carpenters are included under “Fabbri” 50
4.7 Santa Maria Novella, Florence. Façade by Alberti, 1420 51
4.8 Rucellai Palace, Florence. Designed by Alberti, 1451 52
4.9 Santa Maria Del’ Fiore, Florence 54
4.10 Brunelleschi’s revolving crane 55
5.1 Clarendon House, Piccadilly, London, designed by Sir Roger
Pratt, 1667 58
5.2 The Great Fire of London, 1666: extent of damage 59
5.3 Price book, William Leybourn, 1668 60
5.4 Sir Christopher Wren (1631–1723), Surveyor General for Royal
Buildings61
6.1 Jamestown, initial settlement, 1607 62
6.2 Re-creation of early Plymouth houses 63
6.3 Early water-powered sawmill, undated 65
6.4 Whaleback shell midden, Maine 65
6.5 Contract for house construction, 1657 66
7.1 Water frame spinning jenny, 1759. Richard Arkwright. 69
7.2 Newcomen steam engine, first model 1712 70
7.3 Lombe silk mill, Derby, 1718 70
7.4 Consumer demand. London, 1796. 71
7.5 Original Bank of England building, 1801. Founded 1694 71
7.6 Iron bridge, Coalbrookdale, England. 1781 75
7.7 Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal 77
8.1 Selection of 18th C. colonial houses. a: Moses Wells house,
South Windsor, CT c.1735; b: Westover Plantation,
Charles City, VA c.1750; c: Mount Airy, Richmond Cty,
VA c.1762 80
8.2 Governor’s mansion, New Bern, NC 81
8.3 Redwood Library, Newport, RI, 1747 86
8.4 Extract, CCCP 1786 Rule Book 88
8.5 Stratford Hall, home of the Lee family, 1738 89
9.1 USA status at 1775 91
9.2 Internal improvements. a: Canals built to improve
internal access; b: The National Road, completed 1815 92
9.3 Winning submission in Capitol competition. Thornton
design, 1796 93
9.4 US Capitol building as built to Latrobe design, 1827 94
9.5 West Point in 1857 95
9.6 1850 advertisement, Philadelphia 99
9.7 Rensselaer College, 1824 100
9.8 Philadelphia Row Housing, Queen Street 102
9.9 Baltimore Cathedral. Designed by Benjamin Latrobe, 1821 103
9.10 Original L’Enfant plan of Washington, DC 105
9.11 Erie Canal, completed 1825 109
Illustrations ix
9.12 Excavation of canal – note piles of spoil each side 109
9.13 Erie Canal, locks at Lockport, NY 110
9.14 Viaduct on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, known
as the Thomas Viaduct, 1833–35. Designed by Benjamin
Latrobe Jr. Still in operation today 112
10.1 Potomac Creek railroad bridge 1862, built
by Union Army engineers in 9 days 115
10.2 Iron bridge, Coalbrookdale, England. Painting
by William Williams, 1780 115
10.3 Home Insurance building, Chicago, 1885. Designed
by William Le Baron Jenney 117
10.4 Monadock Building, Chicago, 1891 – load-bearing
brick façade 118
10.5 Haughwout & Co. building, New York, 1859.
Cast iron façade 119
10.6 Original Ransome reinforcement bars, New York 119
10.7 Baltimore Fire, 1904 120
10.8 San Francisco Fire, 1906. Ruins in vicinity of Post
and Grant Avenues 120
10.9 Elisha Otis demonstrating his safety elevator,
New York World Fair, 1854 121
10.10 Clayton brick making machine, patented 1850s 122
10.11 Sash & blind manufacturer, Opelika, AL 123
10.12 First resealable paint can, Sherwin-Williams 124
10.13 William Otis’s steam excavator, patented 1839 125
10.14 Value of fire losses 126
10.15 Pension Building, DC. Now the National Building Museum 128
10.16 Philadelphia Builder’s Exchange, 1890 131
10.17 Philadelphia Custom House, 1849 132
10.18 Samuel Hannaford & Sons offices, Cincinnati, 1890.
Note print frame top right 134
10.19 Slater mill, Pawtucket, RI 1793 136
10.20 Lockwood Greene & Co., letterhead 138
10.21 Rays Hill Tunnel, South Pennsylvania Railroad,
built by Mason & Hanger, 1881–1885. The figure
in the center is Andrew Carnegie 139
10.22 One of James Stewart’s many grain silos 141
10.23 Trinity Church, Copley Square, Boston. Architect:
H.H. Richardson. Builder: Norcross Brothers, 1877 142
10.24 Flat Iron Building, New York City. Originally
the Fuller Building, 1902 143
10.25 Reinforced concrete warehouse for Robert Gair.
Brooklyn, New York, 1904. Recent conversion 144
11.1 The original plasterboard, invented in 1888. It created
friction between plasterers and carpenters 146
x Illustrations
11.2 AGC logo 149
11.3 Construction activity, 1925–1938 150
11.4 Panama Canal prior to construction, 1905 152
11.5 Hoover (Grand Coulee) Dam under construction, 1934 152
11.6 WWI cantonments, Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas 153
11.7 Architects’ Small House Service (AIA) 154
11.8 Sears Roebuck houses, 1913 155
11.9 Empire State Building, New York, under construction
in 1930 158
11.10 Fort Gordon Cantonment, Atlanta, GA 161
11.11 Prest-O-Lite Plant, Indianapolis. Design and construction
management by Lockwood Greene 161
12.1 The Pentagon, Arlington, VA. Completed 1942 164
12.2 Alaska Highway under construction, 1942 165
12.3 US Army pontoon bridge across the Rhine, March 1945 165
12.4 Segi Point Airfield under construction by SeaBees
New Georgia, Solomon Islands, 1943 166
12.5 Kaiser shipyard. Liberty boats under construction, 1944 167
12.6 Interstate 55 under construction in Mississippi 168
12.7 Titan Missile Base 2A, Aurora, Colorado 1962 169
12.8 World Trade Center, New York, under construction 1969
Construction manager: Tishman. 171
12.9 Levittown house awaiting assembly, 1947 173
12.10 Construction put-in-place, 1970–2020 174
12.11 Operation Breakthrough, Descon/Concordia
submission, 1971 181

Tables
0.1 The standard analytical framework used to describe
design and construction activity xiii
1.1 Composition of the three distinct industry sectors 2
3.1 Some features of the medieval surge in building 18
Sidebars

3.1 Medieval Template Makers 33


3.2 The Building Craft Guilds 35
3.3 Labor Wages and Prices, 1301–1702 37
3.4 Hornby Church Contract 38
4.1 Pietro dell’Abaco, a Renaissance Estimator from Siena
(active 1457–1486) 47
4.2 The Florentine Guilds 49
4.3 Leon Battista Alberti (b. Genoa 1404, d. Rome 1472) 51
4.4 Brunelleschi’s Dome 53
7.1 Measure and Value Contracts 73
7.2 The Iron Bridge, Coalbrookdale, England 75
7.3 British Canals (18th C.) 76
8.1 Peter Harrison – First American Architect 85
8.2 The Carpenters’ Company of the City and County
of Philadelphia 1786 Rule Book 87
8.3 William Walker – Undertaker, 1707-50 88
9.1 Philadelphia – Housing Development 1790–1850 101
9.2 Benjamin Latrobe (1764–1820) 102
9.3 Major Pierre Charles L’Enfant (1754–1825) 104
9.4 The Corps of Engineers – Its Early History 106
9.5 The Erie Canal (1817–25) 108
9.6 The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad 111
10.1 The Supervising Architect’s Office of the U.S.
Treasury Department 1852–1939 132
10.2 19th Century Evolution of Drawing Production
and Technology 133
10.3 Lockwood Greene & Co. and Mill Engineering 135
10.4 Brief Synopsis of Five General Contractors 138
11.1 San Francisco and the American Plan, 1921 156
11.2 The Quantity Survey Debate 156
11.3 The Empire State Building 158
11.4 Lockwood Greene Engineers – 1902–41 160
12.1 Lockwood Greene Engineers – 1942–58 179
12.2 Industrialized/Systems Building 180
Preface

After nearly 50 years in the construction industries of Great Britain, Canada and
the United States, I retired in 2000 as president of Hanscomb Inc. Prior to that
point I had been helping the College of Architecture at the Georgia Institute
of Technology with a new program of continuing education, one component of
which was to be a course on the construction industry for non-technical profes-
sionals, such as those in administration or business development. It was decided
that the course would open with a short introduction to the history of the indus-
try. I assumed that there must be texts of some kind on the subject, only to draw
a blank. Plenty existed on individual histories of design professions, aspects of
construction activity and company histories, but none on the industry at large.
In 2005 I was appointed as a Professor in the Practice of Construction
Management and chose as my field of research Construction History, on the
grounds that our students in architecture, engineering and construction man-
agement should understand the historical evolution of the industry in which they
would be making their careers. After 18 months of research, drawing on well over
100 texts, articles and papers, the course was taught for ten years and this has
provided the basis of this book.
Now to the book itself, one of the early challenges was to decide where to
start the storyline historically. As the book focusses on the North American
industry, should the narrative start in 1776, or reach back to earlier times?
Given that the first settlers arrived mainly from the British Isles and brought
with them skills and traditions of their trades acquired over the centuries, then
it seemed more logical to start at a time when those skills and traditions were
first formulated. This led back to a point in European history when it was in
recovery from the dark ages of the 1st Century AD, around 1000 AD, usually
referred to as the medieval period. This was a time of significant building activ-
ity, especially on the ecclesiastical and defense fronts, that led to the develop-
ment of a framework for design and construction that formed the foundation
of today’s practices.
The book includes a brief chapter on building in classical times to recognize
the achievements of the main European/Mediterranean civilizations which were
ultimately lost during the dark ages. This also brings the focus of the book closer
to others that deal with architectural and engineering design history.
Preface xiii
Thereafter the book follows relevant developments in Great Britain leading
up to the establishment of the American colonies and the new republic of the
United States. In most periods a standard analytical framework is used to describe
design and construction activity, which allows the reader to follow one of more
of these subtitles as they move from one period to the next. Reference Table 0.1
below.
Interest in construction history as a research discipline has led to the estab-
lishment of a Construction History Society in the United Kingdom in 1982 and
attracted a handful of adherents in the United States. A few of us decided to
form a sister Society here and this was incorporated in 2007 as the Construction
History Society of America (CHSA), which has been active since then. The
Society holds meetings, publishes a Journal and acts as a forum for all with a wide
interest in the subject of construction history.
Most chapters include one or more “sidebars” which are short pieces that sup-
plement the main narrative for further reading on People, e.g. Benjamin Latrobe;
Projects, e.g. the Erie Canal; Activities, e.g. Philadelphia Housing Development
1790–1850, and the like. In addition each chapter includes texts recommended
for further reading. It is also worth mentioning the proliferation of videos on You
Tube and other sources that deal with aspects of historic construction and design;
most of them are well produced and very informative.

Table 0.1 T
 he standard analytical framework used to describe design and
construction activity

a. Decision to build Driving elements behind project; who is responsible; key


objectives for building
b. Financing How funds were raised or provided and under what terms
c. Design Who prepared designs; how were they organized
d. Construction Who carried out construction; how were they organized
e. Basis of contracts Types and key contents of contracts for design and
construction
f. Procurement How were designers and contractors selected by the clients
g. Costs Who prepares estimates, measurements; how construction
prices were established; how paid; any form of cost control.
h. Schedule How long to design and build; any controls
i. Quality control How was quality of work ensured; who oversaw this
j. Material sources Source of key materials.
k. Labor Types and sources of labor; brief summary of payment scales;
how paid; labor relations
l. Management Who was the client/owner. Describe how project was
managed and by whom
m. Technology Brief description of any technological innovations used
n. Regulation What regulations were in place to guide design and
construction
Acknowledgements

In addition to my many colleagues in CHSA I want to acknowledge in particular


Sara Wermiel, who piqued my interest in the subject with her work on the early
general contractors in the 19th Century. I am also indebted to Adam Pressman
who encouraged me to submit a proposal to Routledge and to Ben Shapiro, Peter
Hilger, Pardis Pishdad, Barry Holden and Brian Turmail for their support. Finally
I had not realized that getting a book from an idea and into its cover is an under-
taking almost as complicated as putting a construction project together and, in
that regard, thankful for the support I received from Chloe Layman and Shannon
Welch of Routledge.
Sources of Illustrations

Note: CC = Creative Content; CCO = Public domain; ND = No derivatives


or adaptations allowed; SA = Share alike. For further information see https://
creativecommons.org

Figure 2.1 Wiki Commons. CC BY 2.0.


Figure 2.2 Author.
Figure 2.3 Photo by author.
Figure 3.1 Creative Commons. CC BY 2.0.
Figure 3.2 CCO.
Figure 3.3a Photo by author.
Figure 3.3b Creative Commons.
Figure 3.3c CCO.
Figure 3.3d CCO.
Figure 3.4 CC SA 3.0.
Figure 3.5 Stiftsbibliothek, St. Gallen.
Figure 3.6 CC BY 4.0.
Figure 3.7 University of York.
Figure 3.8 Alamy.
Figure 3.9 Günther Binding.
Figure 3.10 geograph.org. CC BY SA/2.0.
Figure 3.11 Günther Binding.
Figure 3.12 Günther Binding.
Figure 3.13 Günther Binding.
Figure 3.14 Bradford-on-Avon Museum, UK.
Figure 4.1 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Figure 4.2 Wiki Commons.
Figure 4.3 Wiki Commons.
Figure 4.4 Wiki Commons.
Figure 4.5 Nicholas Adams.
Figure 4.6 Wiki Commons.
xvi Sources of Illustrations
Figure 4.7 CCO.
Figure 4.8 Wiki Commons.
Figure 4.9 CC BY 2.0.
Figure 4.10 Howard Saalman, 1980.
Figure 5.1 Royal Collection Trust.
Figure 5.2 CC BY SA 3.0.
Figure 5.3 Georgia Institute of Technology Library.
Figure 5.4 CC BY 2.0.
Figure 6.1 Historic Jamestown.
Figure 6.2 CC BY ND 2.0.
Figure 6.3 Library of Congress.
Figure 6.4 Maine Government.
Figure 6.5 Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
Figure 7.1 Andrew Ure.
Figure 7.2 J.T. Desaguliers.
Figure 7.3 Derby Museum.
Figure 7.4 Wiki Commons.
Figure 7.5 Rijksstudio.
Figure 7.6 Wiki Commons.
Figure 7.7 Wiki Commons.
Figure 8.1 Public domain.
Figure 8.2 Public domain.
Figure 8.3 CC SA 4.0 Kacey Victoria.
Figure 8.4 Library of Congress.
Figure 8.5 CC BY 2.0.
Figure 9.1 Wiki Commons.
Figure 9.2 Slidemaster and National Parks Service.
Figure 9.3 Architect for the Capitol.
Figure 9.4 Library of Congress.
Figure 9.5 Knowol.
Figure 9.6 Public domain.
Figure 9.7 Rensselaer County Historical Society.
Figure 9.8 The Free Public Library of Philadelphia.
Figure 9.9 Wiki Commons.
Figure 9.10 Library of Congress.
Figure 9.11 Scribner’s Magazine, 1896.
Figure 9.12 Cadwallander D. Colden, 1825.
Figure 9.13 Postcard, 1905.
Figure 9.14 Wiki Commons.
Figure 10.1 Library of Congress.
Sources of Illustrations xvii
Figure 10.2 Public domain.
Figure 10.3 Public domain.
Figure 10.4 CC BY SAb 2.5.
Figure 10.5 Library of Congress.
Figure 10.6 Old Structures Engineering.
Figure 10.7 Baltimore Fire Museum.
Figure 10.8 Wiki Commons.
Figure 10.9 CC BY 2.0.
Figure 10.10 The Practical Brick & Tile Book, 1880.
Figure 10.11 W.A. Andrews.
Figure 10.12 Smithsonian Institution.
Figure 10.13 Wiki Commons.
Figure 10.14 Economic History Association.
Figure 10.15 CC BY SA 2.0.
Figure 10.16 Carpentry & Building 12, 1890.
Figure 10.17 Library of Congress.
Figure 10.18 Engineering & Building Record 23, 1890.
Figure 10.19 Postcard, Medium Co.
Figure 10.20 Lockwood Greene & Co.
Figure 10.21 Public domain.
Figure 10.22 Some Stewart Structures, 1909.
Figure 10.23 CC BY SA 4.0.
Figure 10.24 Library of Congress.
Figure 10.25 Propertyshark.com.
Figure 11.1 Public domain.
Figure 11.2 Associated General Contractors of America.
Figure 11.3 Associated General Contractors of America.
Figure 11.4 Public domain.
Figure 11.5 CC BY SA 2.0.
Figure 11.6 Public domain.
Figure 11.7 Wiki Commons.
Figure 11.8 1913 advertisement.
Figure 11.9 New York Public Library.
Figure 11.10 Postcard (licensed).
Figure 11.11 Lockwood Greene.
Figure 12.1 Public domain.
Figure 12.2 Public domain.
Figure 12.3 Wiki Commons.
Figure 12.4 Public domain.
Figure 12.5 Public domain.
xviii Sources of Illustrations
Figure 12.6 Public domain.
Figure 12.7 Library of Congress.
Figure 12.8 Wiki Commons.
Figure 12.9 Levitt Bros.
Figure 12.10 Public domain.
Figure 12.11 www.census.gov
Terminology and Acronyms

The words “construction” and “building” are used interchangeably, as are “client”
and “owner”.
The construction industry is awash in acronyms. Here are some used in this
text:

AIA American Institute of Architects


ABA American Bar Association
ABC American Builders and Contractors
ACEC American Council of Engineering Companies
A/E Architect/Engineer
AFL American Federation of Labor
AGC Associated General Contractors of America
ASCE American Society of Civil Engineers
BCTD Building and Construction Trades Department
BLS Bureau of Labor Statistics
BIM Building Information Modelling
CAD Computer Aided Design
CII Construction Industry Institute
CMAA Construction Management Association of America
COAA Construction Owners Association of America
CURT Construction Users Round Table
CPM Critical Path Method
DBIA Design Build Institute of America
GC General Contractor
GMP Guaranteed Maximum Price
GSA General Services Administration
IPD Integrated Project Delivery
IOT Internet of Things
IT Information Technology
JOC Job Order Contracting
LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
LMI Lean Management Institute
NAHB National Association of Home Builders
xx Terminology and Acronyms
NLRB National Labor Relations Board
OSHA Occupational Health and Safety Administration
PMI Project Management Institute
PPP Public-Private Partnership
PWA Public Works Administration
VE Value Engineering
WPA Works Project Administration
1 An Overview of the
Construction Industry Today

Construction is an extraordinary endeavor. It is devoted to providing humankind


with its shelter and infrastructure. It produces the great symbols of civilization
which are witnesses to our history on earth. It tames nature to make our lives
safer and more comfortable. However, despite such a noble disposition and despite
being one of the largest and oldest employers in most economies, the industry
is largely taken for granted. Such press as it does receive, is usually condescend-
ing, with words and phrases such as “dysfunctional”, “inefficient”, “resistant to
change”, and the like, being used. It is perceived from the outside, as an industry
firmly locked in the past.
Most industries are a reflection of the society and economy they serve. The
construction industry, being largely a service industry, must respond to the vagar-
ies that its clientele demands: they want it good, cheap and fast, where and when
they need it and to a level of specificity they will decide. In order to deal with
this client-driven environment, the industry has evolved an unusual economic
structure. This chapter will explore the unique set of characteristics the industry
has adopted and, after reviewing more details of its organization and methods of
delivering its products, go on to an historical analysis of how this disposition has
taken place over the centuries.

Is the Construction Industry Really an Industry?


Most economists would probably challenge this entitlement. Indeed here is Julian
Lange claiming it to be more of a “sector” than an industry:

Construction … is often referred to as an industry but is more accurately


described as a sector of the economy, such as manufacturing, transportation,
or services. It is not a single activity, but a group of activities loosely related to
one another by the nature of their products, technologies, and institutional
settings.
(Lange, Julian and Daniel Quinn, eds., The Construction Industry.
Lexington MA, Lexington Books, 1979)

DOI: 10.1201/9781003130000-1
2 Overview of the Construction Industry Today
Nonetheless Mr. Lange, in titling his book, recognized general usage and we will
continue to reference it as an industry.

Some Statistics
First, the industry is huge. In 2020 it is estimated to surpass $1.3 trillion in the
current value of construction put-in-place.1 Although no one seems to agree on
its contribution to the GNP, estimates vary from 5% to 8%.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in 2019 that approximately 6 million
people were employed in construction crafts and as labor and a further 2 million
in supervisory and design positions. To this must be added all those in manufac-
turing and support professions (attorneys, accountants, etc.), that draw their live-
lihoods from construction activity. Conceivably the labor count may not include
undocumented workers, whose ubiquitous presence on construction sites is very
roughly estimated at 1 million, mostly in the residential sector.
While very large, the industry is heavily fragmented and this will be addressed
later. However, it does have two major fault lines dividing the industry into three
fairly distinct sectors:

• Residential Buildings
• Non-Residential Buildings
• Civil/infrastructure Construction

These tend to be discrete with little mobility of design and construction resources
between them, although they do share certain classes of labor and the use of such
basic materials as cement or wood or steel. Architects tend to be concentrated in
the Non- Residential sector and contractors (general and trade) usually specialize
in only one of them. Table 1.1 provides further definition of the composition of
each sector.
Two important sub-sectors imbedded in this classification are, first,
Alterations, Renovations & Repairs, and second, Heavy Industrial construction

Table 1.1 Composition of the three distinct industry sectors

Residential Buildings Non-residential Buildings Civil/Infrastructure

Single family housing Transportation Transportation


Multi-family housing Industrial Energy generation
Administration Utilities (power, gas, water, etc.)
Commercial Telecommunications
Health, welfare and safety Environmental/conservation
Amusement and recreation Resource development
Educational, cultural and
scientific
Religious
Military
Overview of the Construction Industry Today 3
(petro-chem, manufacturing, etc.). The first of these expenditures is substantial
and only tracked in the Residential sector where they represent roughly 33% of
the total. The second is distributed under the Industrial and Civil sectors. The
relative level of activity between the sectors varies of course over time. During
the last 20 years for example, the investment in residential construction has
witnessed a high of 57% of total construction put in place in 2005 to a low of
28% in 2009.
Of further statistical interest is the split between public- (21.4%) and pri-
vate-funded (78.6%) construction, which is skewed due to the fact that virtu-
ally all residential construction in the US is put in place by the private sector.
Looking at just the Non- residential and Civil sectors gives a different picture,
with 48% public and 52% private. More detailed statistical data is available at
Census.gov.

Industry Characteristics
Nineteen characteristics define the construction industry that make it very dis-
tinctive from other sectors of the economy. Many of these are being challenged
now and this current activity will be addressed later.

1. Cyclical Demand
The industry is susceptible to extreme swings in economic activity. Sectors within
the industry are well known for the tendency to over-build. A trend develops a
need in, for example, hotels at a particular location. Developers are attracted to
the opportunity and eventually build too many hotel rooms. Building of hotels
draws to a halt and none are built for another five or ten years. Any contrac-
tor or designer specializing only in hotels suffers. This leads companies to diver-
sify across many facility types and tends to inhibit the benefits that come from
specialization.

2. Variable Places of Work


Unlike manufacturing processes of production, in which the final products
are in motion while the instruments of production are stationary, in con-
struction the relationship is reversed: the products become fixed while the
ambulatory fixed capital and the hypermobile construction worker … are
moved, or find their way, to new sites.
(Projecting Capitalism, Marc Linder (Westport CT,
Greenwood Press, 1994), p. 3)

In other words, clients want their projects built where it makes sense for their own
interests, not those of the designer or contractor. This is probably one of the most
significant characteristics that separates the construction industry from all other
producing sectors.
4 Overview of the Construction Industry Today
3. Semi-Industrialized Status
For the most part, construction remains a craft-based undertaking with much
of the final product being assembled on site. Large sections of the industry are,
however, highly industrialized, such as for window glass or wallboard production.
Other elements rely increasingly on off-site prefabrication, which is a feature
being used now by designers and contractors to improve productivity.

4. Low Capitalization
The capital investment needs of construction companies are limited to tools
and equipment and for designers, IT and office equipment, all of which may be
leased annually or project by project, making it an easy industry to enter from this
aspect. Ultimately growing contracting companies will need to build up working
capital in order to secure bonds, and design companies will have the same needs
to finance their receivables (outstanding payments from clients).
The corollary of such easy entry is the speed with which companies fold
when little capital is available to weather difficult markets or explore new ones.
Bankruptcy levels in construction are probably one of the highest of any sector in
the country, although no reliable statistics seem to be available.

5. Minimal Recourse to Financial Markets


It is surprising how few companies in design and construction choose to go public.
Only 18 of the Standard and Poor’s 500 companies in 2020 were in construction
and of these, 11 were building product and equipment manufacturers and four were
homebuilders. On the other hand, nearly 15% of the Forbes Top Private Companies
(2019) are firms that draw their main revenues from design and construction. One
has to assume therefore that most companies prefer to be privately financed, and
perhaps Wall Street is wary of an industry that is so cyclical and loaded with risk.

6. Highly Fragmented
Everyone familiar with the industry is well aware of this phenomena – the numer-
ical dominance of small entities. There are perhaps 850,000 businesses operating
in the industry, and it is a reasonable assumption that two-thirds of these employ
less than four people.
Each year the Engineering News Record tabulates the top US Contractors,
Designers and Owners and includes, among other data, their volume of construc-
tion put-in-place (contractors), or revenues earned (designers), during the year.
For 2019 the market share for the top companies in each category was:

No. 1 Contractor (Turner) 1.08%


No. 1 Designer (Jacobs) 0.53%
No. 1 Private Owner (GM) 1.96%
Overview of the Construction Industry Today 5
Even if one aggregates the top ten firms in each field, we find the top ten
Contractors as a group deliver approximately 5%, Designers 2% and Owners 14%.
Note that both contractors and designers figures include extensive use of sub-
contracts and specialty designers. Clearly there is no one dominant group, or
single entity, in a position to exert leadership.

7. Little Vertical or Horizontal Integration


In other industries we observe much integration occurring. Companies acquire
competitors (horizontal) and also elements of their supply chain (vertical). So
in construction we would expect to see a similar pattern – contractors combin-
ing and acquiring sub-contractors and material suppliers, architects combining
with engineers, contractors with designers, etc. Only recently is it that we have
observed movement towards increased integration.

8. No Apparent Economies of Scale


This is a tenet of economics, but somehow its application to construction is a
little shaky. The tendency in construction has been for very large companies
built organically or by acquisition, to self-destruct due to the introduction
of a substantial overhead, bad management by non-technical people or by
drifting off into the property development or manufacturing fields. It remains
to be seen whether the current moves to larger integrated firms will head the
same way, or this may well be a sensible response to new market demands
for closer integration of design and construction, one-stop procurement and
global coverage.

9. Few Product Commitments


This is true only in the Non-Residential and Civil sectors. The Residential sector
has seen a total commitment to its production, for the most part, of single-family
homes, resulting in the transformation of this part of the industry. Recently five
companies operating nationally, all publicly traded, have been providing 11% of
this market. However elsewhere, the total concentration of business on only one
facility type, as noted above, is generally unwise. Thus, to return to the example
of hotels, if that is all you design or build, sooner or later (due to the propensity to
over-build) there will none to build or design. Most firms wisely spread their risk
by developing expertise in several facility types.

10. Minimal Research and Development


There are no reliable statistics available on the value of R&D conducted in the
industry, but everyone knows it is minimal by the side of the rest of the economy.
The building product manufacturers are, however, active in carrying out research
and some is done in academia. The industry is largely ignored by the normal
6 Overview of the Construction Industry Today
sources of government financing, such as the National Science Foundation. Unlike
some of the larger European and Japanese contractors, about the only research
conducted by American contractors tends to be market oriented, although with
the advent of IT apps in the industry, much experimentation is underway.

11. Slow to Adopt New Technologies


The industry has relied on adapting technologies developed elsewhere, but has
been slow to adopt these. So, it was many years before steam power, which was
actively integrated into manufacturing in the early 19th C., was adapted for use
on construction sites. Similarly, it took time before steel was accepted for use over
cast and wrought iron. Today we witness the slow adoption of IT solutions for
industry design and management.

12. Slow Product Delivery


We build slowly and this is an increasing frustration for our clientele. In a project
for Advanced Micro-Devices (AMD) during my career, the client was appalled to
hear that a new semi-conductor plant they were to build in Germany would take
18 months to complete. While we thought this to be an accomplishment, AMD
pointed out that they would probably be on the third version of the chip they
planned to produce there by the time it was finished.
View any construction site and there are always places where work could be
proceeding, but is not. We build slowly because it is convenient. It minimizes
management needs, avoids confusion between trades, leaves time for quality
assurance and for the vagaries of logistics and the weather.
Current pressures for earlier delivery have concentrated on alternative modes
of delivery and pressuring designers to complete their work faster. Both solve one
problem but tend to create others.

13. Separation of Design from Production


In few other industries are these functions separated. In construction, as will be
seen later, this separation was gradual as architects and engineers emerged as
professions in their own right in the 17th and 18th Centuries. Until the later part
of the 20th C. this was a reasonably workable model. Recent pressures, which will
be examined, have brought it into question and much experimentation is now
proceeding on how to better integrate the two functions.

14. Ephemeral Project Teams


While this feature too is coming under scrutiny, for centuries a team of plan-
ners, designers, builders and other assorted trades and consultants with over-
sight from the client, have gathered together for months, but usually years,
to put a project in place. Then they disperse and move on to another project
Overview of the Construction Industry Today 7
invariably with a different cast of characters, losing for the most part the val-
uable lessons learned.

15. Insulation from Global Marketplace


For centuries the construction industries of each country operated with very little
interchange of ideas. There was until the late 19th C., no transnational exchange
of construction services; there was no dependence on foreign markets and there
was no in-country competition from foreign design and construction firms. As a
result the industry was insulated from the kind of global competition common in
other industries. This situation is also changing.

16. No Industry-wide Representation


There is no Department of Construction, no National Construction Association,
nor any permanent amalgamation of existing representative industry bodies. So
no one speaks for the industry at large. None of the key bodies (AGC, AIA,
ACEC) will cede hegemony to any other and each fights its own corner of the
market. It leaves the industry at large rudderless in many respects.

17. The Industry Has an Image Problem


Given the unique characteristics and constraints under which the industry
operates, it is not too surprising that it has acquired a poor reputation with the
media, academia and the general public. Its products are considered expensive,
slow to deliver and of dubious quality. On the scale of today’s major concerns:
carbon emissions, equal employment, and the like, it has not performed well. On
the other hand the framework and procedures it has adopted have had to take
into account the fickleness of its clientele who tell it where and when to build
and by-the-way, keep it cheap, build it fast and be sure that it performs to our
specifications.
In summary, the cast of characters involved in managing, planning, approving,
designing, procuring, building, fitting out and commissioning a built facility, is
extraordinary and is seen by both outsiders and insiders with wonder that it can
ever produce the end result, but it does!

Organizational Structure of the Industry


The industry is too large, fragmented and expansive to be easily classified. Perhaps
the most simple approach is to organize and describe the key participants and
their relationships. Figure 1.1 below provides a point of departure.
Designers define the facility to be built and contractors build it. Owners may
retain the designers, or may have these resources in-house, and then separately
select the contractors, or they may seek a combination of designer and contractor
in a design-build organization.
8 Overview of the Construction Industry Today

Figure 1.1­  Components of the industry

Manufacturers and suppliers produce the materials and components. It used


to be that labor unions supplied the bulk of the labor. The unions now rep-
resent only 13% of the labor force are somewhat side-tracked in most of the
country.
Financial sources provide the investment funds with the bulk of construction
being built with borrowed money. Insurance and surety companies offer risk man-
agement coverage.
Regulatory bodies issue codes, standards and regulations and administer them.
Each profession, trade and interest group is represented by an organization.
Educational establishments provide the training of the professions and
workforce.
The industry’s “products” are designed and built using a wide range of delivery
options, but all of them involve a sequence of events that need to be executed for
a successful completion:

1 Pre-design activities: feasibility, site selection, permits and consents, project


definition, selection of designers.
2 Design: evolving in sequential steps – conceptual, development, final design.
3 Procurement: of construction services via bidding or negotiation.
4 Construction: mobilization, construction, fit-out.
5 Commissioning: move-in, punch list.
Overview of the Construction Industry Today 9
This sequence had evolved by the 19th Century as the classic method of project
delivery on a linear basis, known today as design-bid-build, and has come under
much criticism from all three of the major players – client, architects/engineers
and contractors. This has resulted in multiple variations to the linear approach
which will be addressed in Chapter 12. Remember however, that one way or
another, all of the five steps above must be performed and when moved out of
sequence, potential for confusion results.
The approach outlined above required legally-binding contracts between
the key parties: owner–designer and owner–contractor, although no contract
between designer and contractor, wherein lay problems ahead. These contracts
can be standard forms developed by the American Institute of Architects (AIA)
or by the American General Contractors of America (AGC). Many owners prefer
their own versions, especially in the public sector.
A final comment on the industry today concerns the extent of regulations
and controls, which include controls over safety and the environment. The most
extensive of these are the Building and Zoning Codes which regulate what can be
built and where with limits to size and height, plus user safety issues concerning
fire and collapse and a wide range of other concerns. Until recently there had
never been any demand for a national code and the task was left to the individual
states, who passed it on to the cities and counties, with the result that there were
thousands of versions. The prospect of a national version with local amendments
is in the process of being adopted by each state.

Note
1. Bureau of Census. Figure excludes land acquisition, furniture, fittings and equip-
ment and general maintenance and repairs, but does include major repairs and
replacements.

Further Reading
Bureau of Census, www.census.gov. Construction statistics.
Excellent source of data on construction put-in-place over time.
Bureau of Labor, www.bls.gov. Construction labor statistics: NAICS 23.
Another good source on employment over time.
Cassimatis, Peter J. 1969. Economics of the Construction Industry. New York: The
Conference Board.
Dated of course but a brilliant “unpacking” of the industry of that time.
Engineering News-Record, www.enr.com
About the only magazine that covers the bulk of the industry. Its annual reports on Top companies
in each field are scattered through the year.
Liebing, Ralph. 2001. The Construction Industry – Processes, Players and Practices. Upper
Saddle River NJ: Prentice Hall.
Useful but dated and restricted to non-residential facilities.
2 Classical Times

This chapter starts a voyage of discovery and exploration into the evolution of
today’s industry. While the efforts of early humans to establish civilizations are
fascinating to trace, an examination of this period will not contribute much to
our own story of the American construction industry, so the coverage will be
brief. It should be noted however that this period is fundamental in the study of
architectural history and to some extent, engineering history. For readers inter-
ested in learning more, a list of texts is appended at the end of this chapter.
Three projects in each of Egypt, Greece and Rome are touched on briefly to
illustrate construction activity at the time.

Egypt
The kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt developed along the Nile River around
3,000 BC. Shortly thereafter royal tombs were under construction, culminating
in the famous Khufu Pyramid, the biggest of them all, which was completed in
2528 BC (Figure 2.1).
Conceivably more has been written about this structure than any other on earth,
largely because no records survive, even if there were any and this has led to much
speculation on how it was built. On the face of it, it is just a pile of stones, but what
a pile: 53,000 m2 at the base, 146.6 m high, 2.3 million stone blocks each averaging
2 tons. It required substantial surveying and layout skills, plus a formidable labor
force culminating by one estimate (Smith) at 25,000. The builders had sources of
limestone quarried close to the Nile, copper for tools, hemp for ropes, some wood
and lots of water. What they did not have was iron, animal power for hauling,
wheels or pulleys. The best estimate of the time to completion is 23 years, derived
from the date of Khufu’s accession to his death. Theories of the techniques that
were used to haul and position the stones are varied widely and include:

• External ramps with manpower haulage teams doing the pulling


• Internal ramps ditto
• Ramps with encased stones being rolled
• Hydraulic power (“corks in a bottle” theory)
• Lifting with kites
DOI: 10.1201/9781003130000-2
Classical Times 11

Figure 2.1 Khufu Pyramid, Cairo, Egypt, 2528 BC

And of course, for some it was all created by extraterrestials!


If there is anything to be learned from this for today it is – “Where there is a
will and a bottomless budget, there is a way.”

Greece
There is more information about building in the Greek city states than elsewhere
at this time. As the civilization grew mature (c.750 BC) the Greeks appeared to
be obsessed with keeping records and these were engraved on stone steles, many
of which have survived to this day. This has allowed scholars to research issues
from the mundane to the substantive.
About 50 years ago Alison Burford wrote up her examination of the building
work on a temple at Epidauros (Figure 2.2). It is an amazing piece of scholarship
from which we can determine:

• the building program (temple, cult statue, clinic, hostel, gym, 15,000 seat
amphitheater)
• the schedule (370–250 BC)
• the cost (150–300 talents
• the contracts (about 80 in all)

Of these, for our purpose the contract details are of particular interest and include:

• a requirement to inscribe this contract


• a specification, drawings or models perhaps
12 Classical Times

Figure 2.2 Remains of the temple at Epidauros, Greece

• list of guarantors (i.e sureties)


• contract amount and method of payment
• time for completion and penalties for delay
• inspection by an architekton, fines for poor work
• no delegation of contract; limit on taking other contracts
• remedial work, dispute resolution

The amazing thing about this form of contract is how close it is to the clauses that
are seen in contracts today, 2,300 years later.
One last comment relates to the word architekton, certainly the root of the
word architect we use today, but the original Greek implied more of a technical
function that of design. Burford found that architekton were paid 1 drachma per
day versus 4 drachma paid to the cult sculptor.

Rome
The Romans were vigorous builders and not just in Rome itself. To hold their
vast empire together, over 40,000 miles of roads were constructed and every city
settlement was serviced by aqueducts to bring fresh water.
Strangely however, we know less about their approach to design and construc-
tion than we do of other ancient civilizations. Much documentation must have
been lost during the long disintegration of the western empire (300–450 AD),
especially as most contracts were written on papyrus or parchment.
Classical Times 13
We do know however that architects became more versatile, as evidenced by
Vitruvius’s writings, although he sheds no light on their management functions
or the contractual terms under which they worked. Construction was performed
under contract, just four of which survive. The contractors seemed to be members
of the publicani, individuals or family concerns that took contracts for any kind of
work for the state including building.
The contracts that survive include much the same clauses as the Greek ver-
sions: price, time, basis of payment, inspection, surety, etc. One of them, for a
country villa, had an unusual payment clause whereby the final contract amount
would be determined by the number of roofing tiles installed.
In keeping with the approach for Egypt and Greece, a suitable project to
study Roman constructing abilities would be the Pantheon (Figure 2.3). It
was built in 113–125 AD and presented an enormous challenge – a 142 ft
diameter dome, 142 ft high. This would not have been possible if the Romans
had not stumbled over the use of a volcanic ash (pozzolana) with lime and sea
water to create an hydraulic cement of great strength. Experts have argued
for years on how the Romans used centering/formwork to cast the dome. For
a good review of the theories read Rabun Taylor’s book (pp. 190–211) refer-
enced below.
By about 350 AD the Western Roman Empire, which had separated from the
Eastern Byzantine portion, was overrun and a period known as the Dark Ages

Figure 2.3 Pantheon, Rome, Italy, 113–125 AD


14 Classical Times
ensued. It turns out that times were not as dark as assumed, and the story of con-
struction will be picked up in the next chapter.

References
Anderson, James C. 1977. Roman Architecture and Society. Baltimore MD: Johns Hopkins
University Press.
Burford, Alison. 1969. The Greek Temple Builders at Epidaurus. Liverpool: Liverpool
University Press.
Rowland, Ingrid D. & Howe, T.N. 1999. Vitruvius, Ten Books on Architecture. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Smith, Craig. 2004. How the Great Pyramid Was Built. Washington DC: Smithsonian
Books.
Taylor, Rabun. 2003. Roman Builders: A Study in Architectural Process. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
3 Medieval Times – The
Foundation of the Industry

Following the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th Centuries
AD, Europe descended into the so-called Dark Ages. There followed a loss of
continuity in Western Europe in the considerable talents of the Romans and
Greeks in the building arts. In some cases, it would be centuries before some of
those skills (concrete, for instance) returned. Historians are now claiming the
period was not so dark after all and that it saw many technological innovations,
such as the improvement of the plow and the introduction of the padded horse
collar. Both led to an increase in agricultural productivity which was an essential
precursor to sustained population growth and stability. There was of course much
building at this time, particularly of Romanesque churches and of monasteries,
but the techniques used were relatively simple in comparison with what was to
follow. Building skills were in short supply. For instance Charlemagne had much
difficulty in finding enough masons to build his palace in Aachen in the 8th C.
Starting in the late 11th C. there began a sudden surge of building largely
focused on ecclesiastical facilities of all kinds. This chapter will examine the fac-
tors that initiated this and follow its progress to the middle of the 14th C. This is
an important period in that the foundations of the European construction indus-
try, especially in France, Italy and England, are laid at this time. At the same
time much construction activity was expended on defensive works – castles and
fortifications of all kinds, but in the interests of brevity, this chapter focuses on
religious building design and construction.
So what led to this outburst of energy that resulted in hundreds of cathedrals
and thousands of churches, chapels and monasteries being built?

• Growth of Christianity. Christianity had become the dominant religion in


Europe by this time. The spread of Islam had been halted by the Franks in
the 8th C. Contrary to Roman practice, where worship took place in the
home, Christians were expected to gather in a church for this purpose. The
older churches were small and inadequate.
• Population growth and economic cycle. The period experienced an episode of
global warming which led in Europe to increased food production and a rapid
growth in population from 30 million (1000) to 74 million (1340). This also

DOI: 10.1201/9781003130000-3
16 Medieval Times
saw the growth of cities, the rise of international trade and a merchant class.
It provided an economic base from which the expansion could be financed.
• Church establishment. By this time the Church was becoming institution-
alized and was strongly controlled by the papacy. Gregory VII (1073–85)
(Figure 3.1) fought to free the Church from secular control with some suc-
cess. Over the period 1100–1270 seven crusades were launched, many return-
ing with precious relics that needed to be housed appropriately. As will be
noted later, the Church also devised some ingenious methods of fund-raising,
much of which was used to keep the building frenzy going.
• Competition. Once the cycle of building got under way, competition between
towns and cities, each striving to outdo the other, made sure it would con-
tinue, with egregious over-building the result. The city of Amiens built a
cathedral (Figure 3.2) large enough (200,000 ft2) to hold its entire population
of 10,000.

Figure 3.1 Pope Gregory VII


Medieval Times 17

Figure 3.2 Amiens Cathedral

The center of this activity was initially in France, England and Flanders, fol-
lowed by Italy, Germany and Spain. Some random statistics (see Table 3.1) give
evidence to the extent of what followed up to about 1340.
Following the analytical framework introduced earlier in the book, how all
this was achieved will be examined. For this purpose it is fortunate that so much
scholarship and research has been directed at this period of history. The key ref-
erence books used are listed at the end of the chapter.
18 Medieval Times
Table 3.1 Some features of the medieval surge in building

France England

80 cathedrals Major cathedrals: 8


500 large churches Norwich: 50 churches
Innumerable chapels, abbeys, etc. Lincoln: 49 churches
Paris basin: 559 edifices built between 1140 and 1240. York: 41 churches
Approximately one church or chapel for every 200 people.
Chartres Cathedral tower: 350 ft high.

a. Decision to Build
Most of the reasons for starting construction have been previously listed. However
it is worth examining how several of the cathedrals covered in the Kraus book
were initiated (see Figure 3.3):

• Rouen (1155) started as a re-build of an existing Romanesque basilica. At the


time Rouen was part of the English crown’s Norman possessions and a com-
petitor with Paris, so some of the early financing was provided by Henry II.
• Notre Dame de Paris (1163) conceivably may have been built in response to
Rouen. It replaced a 7th C. smaller church on the site.
• Lyons (1167) was a re-build following the devastation of the old church dur-
ing an invasion in 1160.
• Amiens (1220) replaced a Romanesque church that burned down in 1218.
• York (1220) would seem to have been started to compete with Canterbury.
The two archbishoprics had a long-standing feud.

b. Financing
It is impossible to establish how much was spent on ecclesiastical construction
over this period, but whatever it was, it was considerable. One estimate (Gimpel)
believes that one-third of all church revenues were devoted to the “fabric”, that is,
to building. Nor do we have any complete records of the cost of building any one
structure. John James, an Australian architect who devoted much of his career
to studying French medieval ecclesiastical building and in particular Chartres
Cathedral, calculated an equivalent 1972 cost of building this at $50 million
(probably $150 million today), which seems impossibly low.
The economy at this time was based on cash and barter transactions. Long
term loans and mortgages were practically unknown. It was therefore necessary to
raise cash for the building works and the sources were many. Interesting absentees
were the papacy, the Crown and the bishops, who only seem to have contributed
in difficult times.

Local Community
The burghers, burgesses and local merchants were the primary source and were
relentlessly pursued by the clerics. They gave generously in most cases, especially
Medieval Times 19

Figure 3.3a Notre Dame de Paris, 1163–1345

Figure 3.3b St Denis Cathedral, Paris, dedicated 1544

Figure 3.3c York Minster Cathedral

Figure 3.3d Canterbury Cathedral


20 Medieval Times
where the relationship between the community and the church was good, which
was not always the case. They gave from devotion (this was a highly religious
time), guilt or to save their souls. Some of the funding was focused on specifics,
such as dedicated chapels and stained glass windows.
The artisans and the trade guilds were also a major source of finance and much
of the stained glass was donated by them. Sometimes donations came from dubi-
ous sources; for example according to Gimpel, the prostitutes’ guild in Paris gave
to the Notre Dame building campaign.
The local chapter (the canons, the clerics, the lay persons) responsible for the
structure also were expected to contribute.
Then there was the citizenry in general, who gave their sous and pennies
through alms boxes and service collections.

Diocese
All in the community were also subject to a wide and ingenious system of fines
and fees devised by the diocese:

• Tithing: the expectation of dedicating a portion of one’s income to the fabric.


• Burials, especially those within the church, which carried a high price.
• Indulgences for the expiation of sins through payment of a fine. These
were numerous and eventually got out of hand, being a key factor in
the Reformation of the 16th C. As an example, in Rouen a major tower
(Figure 3.4) was funded through an indulgence given to permit the eating of
butter (this was Normandy) on fast days. Even today the tower is known as
La Tour de Beurre.
• Revenues from church properties: the church had always encouraged bequests
and legacies of property and some of the revenues from these might be
devoted to the fabric.
• Relics: these were much abused. First their provenance was often highly ques-
tionable. The thought that a thorn from the crown of thorns would be in
pristine condition after over a thousand years stretches credulity, but clearly
not then. There was money to be made in their sale and in their exhibit.
Charges were made to visit and touch their cases; they were often taken on
tours for the purpose of fund-raising1.

Interestingly, no feudal labor was expected to be granted, nor was there any
pressure for free labor as a gift to God. Gifts of materials were accepted and the
stone and wood used were often sourced from quarries and forests that had been
bequeathed to the bishopric.
A piece of formidable scholarship on the subject of financing cathedral build-
ing is included in a book by Wim Vroom, Financing Cathedral Building in the
Middle Ages (2010). The author had access to many original accounting and other
records largely from the 15th and 16th Centuries, and deals with the sources of
finance in great detail in its 700 pages.
Medieval Times 21

Figure 3.4 Rouen Cathedral. “Butter tower” to right.

c. Design
When most of us look at any of the extraordinary creations from this period, we
make the automatic assumption that there must have been a grand master design
produced before the work began. Logical though this seems, this was not in fact
the case. Certainly some idea of size, footprint and configuration must have been
established, even if no such document or drawing has survived, but no conceptual
design was prepared as we would understand it today.
No architect in the modern sense existed and the master design had to have
been created by a combination of the clergy and the master masons, with the details
being left to the latter to devise as the work proceeded, which was of course carried
out over a long period of time. The better masons must have had a sound grasp of
basic geometry and mathematics. Much was also learned from the frequent col-
lapses that occurred – today we only view the remaining successful structures.
22 Medieval Times
As the period proceeded many of the master masons became kind of proto-ar-
chitects,2 specializing in managing the work of design, procurement of mate-
rials and labor and directing construction. Very few drawings have survived3
(Figure 3.5). Parchment (Figure 3.6) and vellum were expensive and were used

Figure 3.5 Plan for new monastery, St. Gallen, Switzerland. Late 9th Century AD.
Medieval Times 23

Figure 3.6 Stretching parchment

several times. Of the 3,000 or so drawings from the period that have survived, not
one of them includes any dimensions. Clearly the intent was to show a general
impression of design with the details to be worked out on site. There is evidence
of models being used to communicate design intent and a further technique was
the use of tracing floors. These were essentially large spaces on site where a design
for say, a tracery window, could be traced on a temporary plaster screed, allowing
each stone to be carved and fitted loosely in place. Two of these survive, at York
Minister (Figure 3.7) and Bruges.
24 Medieval Times

Figure 3.7 Tracing floor at York Minster

There was much mimetic design and this was perpetuated by the mobil-
ity of the masons, who carried their own sense of style and broadcast design
approaches being used elsewhere. This brings us to another design issue: the
mason’s templates used as a guide for carving stone. Each mason had his
own distinctive “signature”, and if you wish to know more about this, read
Sidebar 3.1 concerning the researches of John James on Chartres Cathedral
and other churches.

d. Construction
Construction activity is well illustrated in Figures 3.8 and 3.9. A further good
point of reference on construction is the David Macauley book which includes
excellent graphics on the building of the fictitious Cathedral of Chutreaux. Of
particular interest are the flying buttresses to carry the lateral thrusts down to the
foundations and the use of the pointed arch providing greater flexibility than the
previous Roman semi-circular version.
Construction was carried out by separate trades under the supervision of either
a master mason or master carpenter, which were the two main crafts involved in
building. The other key trades were the laborers, carters, smiths, tilers, slaters,
plumbers, plasterers, glaziers and painters.4
The masons were classified as either masters, free-masons,5 carvers, layers/
setters/wallers, or quarriers. The carpenters were either masters, rough carpenters,
joiners or sawyers (always in pairs).
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Title: Red Mesa


A tale of the southwest

Author: Warren H. Miller

Release date: March 28, 2024 [eBook #73274]

Language: English

Original publication: United States: D. Appleton and Company,


1923

Credits: Tim Lindell, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed


Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file
was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RED MESA


***
RED MESA
NILTCI GOT ONE GLIMPSE OF VASQUEZ, STANDING WITH
HIS RIFLE POISED.
RED MESA
A TALE OF THE SOUTHWEST

BY
WARREN H. MILLER
AUTHOR OF
“THE BLACK PANTHER OF THE NAVAHO,”
“THE RING-NECKED GRIZZLY,” ETC.

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY


NEW YORK : : 1923 : : LONDON
COPYRIGHT, 1923, BY
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA


CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Cañon Honanki 1
II. The Lure of the Mine 25
III. Vasquez 47
IV. Pinacate 70
V. Red Mesa 95
VI. The Soul of the Indian 119
VII. Blaze 143
VIII. Hano 166
IX. The Sun Dance 187
X. The Defense of Red Mesa 208
XI. Gold versus Nature 226
XII. Out of the Desert 244
RED MESA
CHAPTER I
CAÑON HONANKI
ABOVE a timbered valley in the southwest rises a towering wall of
gorgeous cliffs such as only Arizona can produce. Their rock
pinnacles are banded with color—red strata, ochre, blue, green, and
white—all in wavy horizontal lines like layer cake. These long walls
were scoured clean and smooth long ago by prehistoric water action.
They were broken with deep fissures—fissures that now cleave the
cliff from top to bottom—“chimneys” that mean seven hundred feet of
sheer ascent to him who would dare scale these heights.
Two riders sat gazing up, searching this cliff face, while an Airedale
dog of huge and leonine aspect prowled about in the creek bottom
near them, investigating this and that with snuffing nose.
“That cliff dwelling is up here somewhere, according to Doctor
Fewkes’ map, John,” said the smaller and rangier of the pair, his
puckered-up black eyes never leaving off their scrutiny of the cliff
face. “Think we’ll find her?”
The older man, a great, bony and leathery cowman, who might have
hailed from anywhere in the west from Montana to Arizona, took off
his sombrero and mopped a sweaty brow with the loose end of his
bandanna.
“Search me!” he grinned. “I’m a cowman, not no prophet—as the
greenhorn axman said when the lumber boss as’t him which way his
tree was goin’ to fall.” He looked lugubriously up at the cliff, shaking
his head solemnly. “It’d take a horned toad with suckers on his feet
to bust her, Siddy son.”
The youth tugged determinedly at the fine fuzz of black mustache
that adorned his upper lip. “Honanki Ruins or bust—that’s our motto,
John!” he retorted, his black eyes twinkling merrily at the reluctant
cowman. “Here’s Fewkes’ map, with the ruins marked ‘Inaccessible’
on it, and, by jerry, we’re here, if the map’s right. They’re somewhere
above us, and it’s up to us to bust ’em.”
“Yaas,” said Big John, shifting his weight to the nigh stirrup to give
the white horse under him a change of load. “Somethin’ hed orter be
done about it, thet’s shore! You mosey up—an’ I’ll hold yore hoss!”
All of which preliminaries usually meant that Big John really meant to
take the lead in climbing himself once the ruins were found. Sid
knew that all this feigned reluctance about climbing cliffs was mere
camouflage on Big John’s part. He urged his pinto across the cañon
so as to get a better view of the cliff face. He wanted to size up that
cañon wall first, for he knew that the only way to keep Big John off
that cliff was to tie him down, which “ain’t done.” The two had been
boon comrades for a long time; first up in Montana on the hunt for
the Ring-Necked Grizzly, later in the Cañon de Chelly region where
the Black Panther of the Navaho had met his end. That expedition
had been Sid’s start in practical ethnology. Now they were down in
the White River reservation of the Apache, seeking out ruins that had
been noted by Dr. Fewkes of the Smithsonian but had been left
unexplored for lack of time and facilities.
“There it is!” rang out the youth’s voice excitedly from across Cañon
Honanki (Bear Cañon). “Come over here, John!”
The huge cowman trotted his white mustang over to where Sid had
halted his pinto under a big western pine. Far up, at least three
hundred feet above the floor of the valley, they saw holes like
swallow’s nests pierced in the cliff at irregular intervals. They
seemed small and round and black as ink, and near them were
carved on the rock odd circular spirals, lightning zigzags, primitive
horses, apparently all legs, and geometrical armed-and-legged
designs intended to represent men. Ragged holes further along on
the cliff face showed that galleries and passageways ran in behind
the living rock up there. These natural caves, common enough in
Arizona, had been scoured out by water action in geologic times.
But it was a fearful place for human beings to attempt to climb to! Tall
perpendicular folds in the cliff face cast their black shadows on the
surrounding stone, the cracks beginning and ending nowhere. There
were impracticable clefts, ledges that shaded off to flat precipice
faces, dents and scoriations not over two feet deep, yet they seemed
to be all the footholds for climbing that the place afforded.
“Gorry!—a cavate dwelling!” whooped Sid, overjoyed. “The kind that
is built in the solid rock instead of being made of stone slabs, John,”
he explained with the ethnologist’s enthusiasm.
Big John grinned. “Gawsh!” he exploded. “I s’pose that humans once
tried to live in such places—but eagles would know better! Nawthin’ll
do but we gotto bust her, eh?”
“Yep,” said Sid confidently. “A shaman or a pueblo priest lived up
there once. Sort of hermit, you know. Holy man. If that old scout lived
there we ought to be able to climb up once.—What think?”
“He didn’t come pilgriming down to shoot up the gulch muy plentiful,
I’m bettin’!” averred Big John sardonically. “I’ll tell ye, Sid; thar’s only
one way to bust her, and that’s to make a string of long ladders,
same as he done. You don’t get me off this hoss on no fly-creepin’
climb without a-doin’ jest that—savvy?”
“Oh, thunder!” exclaimed Sid impatiently. “It’d take two days of
perishing work. Le’s try to get up this cleft here.” He pointed to the
beginnings of a practical ascent.
“No!” barked Big John, and his tone was final. “The Colonel, yore
pappy, he’d stake me out an’ build a fire on me tummy ef I let ye do
any sech thing. Thet halter’s still waitin’ for you, Sid, I’ll admit, to
save having it proved on me, but I ain’t aimin’ to cheat your friends
out of their necktie party none. We camps right here an’ does the job
proper, sabe, lil’ hombre?”
Sid acquiesced, after a little further study of the cliff. There was a tall
vertical cleft that led up to the swallow’s nest holes by a series of
breaks and rises. It was easy to reconstruct the old shaman’s route
by imagining the proper ladders set up so as to negotiate a number
of these vertical rises. They could be made of slender lodgepole
pine, with the branches left on for steps in place of the heavier logs
with notched steps which the aborigines had used. And not over half
a dozen of them would be needed altogether. It was worth doing, to
“bust” an “Inaccessible.”
Making camp in that rainless country was a simple matter. Sid simply
selected a pleasant site on a knoll down the cañon overlooking the
brook under a canopy of huge pines, while Big John unsaddled both
horses and took them to the nearest grass plot, staking them out and
leaving Blaze, his Airedale, on guard. The dog had been a present
from Colonel Colvin after the Black Panther trip. He had the noted
sagacity of his breed, and with a year’s hunting experience with
Ruler, the giant coonhound of that expedition, had become a most
devoted and dependable “pardner” on all their hunts. After merely
piling the sleeping and cooking gear and hanging up their food bags
above the rodent zone, Sid was ready to go ladder cutting.
The White Mountain region is pine forest, sparsely timbered, the
trees not crowded or packed so densely as in eastern forest growth.
As a result, the mountains, which resemble much the rounded and
rolling Alleghanies of the east, seem stippled with individual trees
instead of banked in mossy green as with closely growing timber. In
the river valleys, however, there are thickets as dense as in any well
watered clime, so Sid lost no time in getting into such a pine grove
armed with his light belt ax. That light, little long-handled ax of his
was far more efficient than any sort of hatchet. It would drop a four-
inch pole thirty feet high almost as quickly as a full ax.
Before the first tree crashed down Big John had joined him.
“This here Pinus Contorta (sounds like Julius Seizher only it ain’t) is
the boy that will bust her quick, Siddy boy,” he laughed, rolling up his
sleeves and baring a forearm like a lean ham. “You give a leetle
feller like me elbowroom!” He took a full ax in one fist and smote a
tree with it like chopping with a hatchet. About two judgmatical cuts
sufficed to send it crashing down, whereat the giant cowman started
after another. Sid saw that he would have his hands full just trimming
the felled ones so he went for their boughs with his small ax.
“You cut off them tops whar’ there’s somethin’ substantial to it, Sid,”
rang out Big John’s voice from the timber as he sent another pine
tumbling about the youth’s ears. “Remember that I weigh a pound or
two more’n a straw hat, son!”
“Help me put up this first one, now, John, she’s ready,” announced
Sid, struggling to lift the trunk clear of the underbrush. Big John
came over and heaved the whole tree unceremoniously up on his
shoulder. With Sid guiding the lean end they made for the cliff.
Pushing and panting they up-ended it and stood it ladderwise in a
vertical fissure which gave on a ledge above. Sid swarmed up the
short branch stubs, climbed out on the ledge, and waved his arms
down to Big John below.
“Looks like one of us’d have to shinny up and haul the next one with
a lariat,” he called down.
“Son, I got an idee—ef she don’t get away while I’m picketin’ her
down,” said Big John. “You git up thar and hang my lariat honda over
that point of rock, sabe, an’ then we’ll run yore lariat through the
honda and snake up the next pole by one of the hosses.”
He got both lariats up from camp while Sid waited. Presently he
returned, to cast it up with the sure whirling pitch of the born rope
artist. Sid snatched it in and hauled his own up by the end of the
other. Then he coiled both, attached them to his belt and started up
the next cleft. The very pockets in the rock where feet of the ancient
log ladders used to rest were easy to pick out as he climbed. What
men had done a man could do! By the time he had everything fixed
and the honda, or brass eye of the lariat, hung with the other rove
through it, Big John was below with a horse and a fresh pole. It came
snaking up as the cowman led the horse away, hauling on the lower
end by the lariat tied to a cinch strap above the pony’s back.
Sid set the pole and climbed higher to the next ledge so that they
could repeat the maneuver with a third pole. This was the limit for
that horse-hoisting stunt, however, for he was now up over eighty
feet and there was not rope enough in camp to double through the
next honda. Big John yelled up as he tied on the fourth pole and then
he led the horse back to graze again.
In a few minutes Sid saw him climbing up below him. He had no fear
of height himself. That all belongs to the tenderfoot aloft for the first
time. It attacks man in a sickening sort of stage fright at first, whether
on cliff, high building, or the upper rigging of a ship. After a time
familiarity wears it off and in its place there comes a cheerfulness
over the immense outlook, the height and the distant scenery of it all;
a joyous sense of freedom that must be part of the bird’s outlook on
life. He waited for Big John on the ledge, looking about him
interestedly. It was narrow but not dangerous up here. An old woman
might have wanted a rail fence or something, he thought, but things
were done on such a huge scale on this cliff that this very ledge that
looked from below like a mere trace proved up here to be nearly
three feet wide. Plenty!—Thousands! as the facetious Big John
would have said.
Presently that cheerful son of Montana arrived, breathing heavily but
entirely at ease. “Waal, son, it ain’t goin’ to freeze up an’ snow on our
scheme jest yit! Tail on to this yere lariat and we’ll yank up another
pole.”
They hauled away on the long rope which the cowman had tied to
the butt of the fourth pole while down there. It weighed perhaps fifty
pounds—nothing at all to mountain men! After a period of grunting
effort the butt end came up over the ledge and the pole was
gathered in and laid lengthwise. They then started on to prospect for
the next fissure.
“Gosh durn it, how come, son? Hyar be stone steps leadin’ up back
hyar, or you can steal my hoss!” came back Big John’s voice in the
lead as they rounded the face of the huge pinnacle of rock. Sid
hurried to catch up. That simplified matters a whole lot!
“Look yonder, John!” he cried excitedly, as they climbed up the row
of stone pockets, “one more pole finishes us! See that hole in the
wall across the crevasse?”
“Sho’ I do! But Sid, you ought to show some respect for the naked
truth, son—which-same means we’re busted! Yore hole’s across a
no-bottomed chasm, hombre, an’ we ain’t flies nor yit eagles,
nohow!”
Sid climbed more notched steps that led up over a smooth billow of
rock and then eyed the hole opposite, measuring the distance
carefully. Here, evidently, began those scoured-out caves and
tunnels in the living rock which led up to the cavate dwelling. There
had been a log bridge across here once, but it had long since rotted
through and perished.
“Let’s drop our fourth pole across and then, we’ve got her, John—
that’s the answer!” declared Sid.
Big John shook his head solemnly. “Ef she breaks an’ lets this gent
down, they ain’t goin’ to be no come-back, that’s sartain! No sir,
nawthin’ stirring!”
“Oh, shucks—where’s that pole, John? Le’s get her up here and let
her fall over anyhow!” exclaimed Sid hopefully. “Maybe we can hit
the hole opposite with its other end.”
“I’ll try that much,” agreed Big John. “I ain’t purty but I’m shore strong
—as the bohunk said when they as’t him to tote a saw log.” And
without more ado he retraced his steps and picked up the pole. With
it on his shoulder he came teetering along the ledge.
“Thar, Sid—miss an’ out! We got jest one shot,” he grunted, standing
the pole up and aiming its fall carefully.
“Wait!” shouted Sid. “Tie the lariat to the middle of it! You’ll feel better
if you’ve got that to keep her from breaking,” he suggested.
“Center shot, son; plumb center! Shore you got almost human
intelligence!” grinned Big John, lowering the pole again. Sid seemed
to have an even better idea than that, now. He coiled the lariat and
cast it up, to fall around a rock pinnacle above them. Then he tied its
other end near the center of the pole and they let it fall slowly, paying
out rope while Big John guided it by main strength until its other end
rested square in the jagged black pit of the cave across the chasm
from where they were standing.
“Ain’t afraid of nawthin’, now, with that good old rawhide lariat holdin’
her up,” declared Big John, beginning to climb across. Sid followed
him, once the heavy bulk of the cowman had left the pole on the
other side. Below him dropped away an endless shadowy chasm,
with the tiny pines and firs of the valley visible hot in the sunlight far
below. On both sides towered above him the huge smooth walls of
the chimney made by the pinnacle and its neighbors. Sid cast a
mere glance at the prospect below, and then climbed over swiftly
and joined Big John in the black depths of the tunnel.
It was some time before their eyes became accustomed to the dim
light. Up and up inside the living rock the narrow fissure climbed. Old
steps, cut in the rock or built of flat stone slabs, guided them. Here
and there light was let in by those irregular ragged holes in the cliff
wall which they had seen from below.
“No one but a shaman would live here,” declared Sid, speaking
ethnologically; “a basket of corn, some dried meat and a string of
peppers would last him a whole season. But there’s water up here
somewhere.”
“Hed orter be!” said Big John laconically. “This place’s as dry as the
professor’s book, whar the dust flewed out of the pages when you
opened it. Besides, that Indian’d grow a beard a mile long while he’s
jest gittin’ down out’n hyar fer a drink!”
There was water up there. After a long climb, when their aching
knees positively refused to lift for another step, they came to a little
basin hollowed out of the rock by human hands. A thin trace of water
came weeping down from somewhere in the interior here, to lose
itself and evaporate on the outside cliff face. A spruce growing out of
the crevice, which they could see through the next window, showed
that all that water was being preëmpted by just that one tree. A
spruce seed had found it somehow. Nature leaves nothing unutilized.
A blaze of light now lit up the chasm ahead. The gallery in the rock
became more open and led upward to a wide door cut out of the
rock. Here the shaman of long ago had looked out on the frailties
and follies of the world below him, serene, indifferent, meditating on
the destinies of his people. Those times surely needed one wise
man to sit apart and do the thinking for them all, for in this pueblo
country the hostile and warlike Apaches had been fearsome
invaders even before the time of the Spaniards. How long before that
they and the Navaho had come down from the far north no man

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