Table of content

Table of content ....................................................................................................................................................................... i

Declaration ............................................................................................................................................................................. iv
Acknowledgements................................................................................................................................................................. v
Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................................................ vi
CHAPTER ONE......................................................................................................................................................................... 1
1. Background of my internship hosting company ................................................................................................................. 1
1.1 Its brief history .............................................................................................................................................................. 1
1.2 Its Main products or Services ........................................................................................................................................ 1
?Objectives of the Company ............................................................................................................................................... 1
?Vision, Mission and Goals of the Company ....................................................................................................................... 2
Vision ............................................................................................................................................................................... 2
?Mission .......................................................................................................................................................................... 2
1.3 Its Main Customers or the end users of its products or services.................................................................................. 2
1.4 Its overall Organization and Work Flow ........................................................................................................................ 3
CHAPTER TWO ........................................................................................................................................................................... 3
2. Overall Internship Experiences ........................................................................................................................................... 3
2.1 How I got into the Company ......................................................................................................................................... 3
2.2 Section of the company I have been working in ........................................................................................................... 4
2.3 Working flow in the section .......................................................................................................................................... 4
2.4 The work tasks I have been executing .......................................................................................................................... 4
2.5 The Procedures that I used to preform my work.......................................................................................................... 4
2.6 How I was good in performing my tasks ....................................................................................................................... 5
2.7 Challenges faced during my internship period ............................................................................................................. 6
2.8 Measures in overcoming the challenges ...................................................................................................................... 6
?CHAPTER THREE ....................................................................................................................................................................... 7
3. Overall benefits that I have gained from the internship..................................................................................................... 7
3.1 Improving my practical skills ......................................................................................................................................... 7
?Some Site Languages ......................................................................................................................................................... 8
3.2 Theoretical Knowledge ................................................................................................................................................. 8

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 3.3 Interpersonal Communication Skills ............................................................................................................................. 9
3.4 Team Playing Skills ........................................................................................................................................................ 9
3.5 Leadership Skills .......................................................................................................................................................... 10
3.6 Ethics Issues ................................................................................................................................................................ 11
3.7 Entrepreneurship skills................................................................................................................................................ 12
?Human resource management ....................................................................................................................................... 12
?Equipment utilization management ............................................................................................................................... 12
?Financial management .................................................................................................................................................... 13
CHAPTER FOUR ..................................................................................................................................................................... 14
4. My project work covering necessary contents ................................................................................................................. 14
4.1 Office works ................................................................................................................................................................ 14
?Reading drawing ............................................................................................................................................................ 14
4.2 Site work ..................................................................................................................................................................... 14
4.2.1 Sub structure work................................................................................................................................................... 15
4.2.1.1 Trench excavation and Masonry work .................................................................................................................. 16
4.2.1.2 Grade beam........................................................................................................................................................... 16
Procedure used to construct a grade beam.................................................................................................................. 17
Hard core and mesh work or ground floor slab ................................................................................................................ 19
Procedure to work ground floor slab ............................................................................................................................ 19
4.2.2 Super Structure ........................................................................................................................................................ 20
4.2.2.1 Column .............................................................................................................................................................. 20
4.2.2.2 Stair work .......................................................................................................................................................... 21
4.2.2.3 Beam ................................................................................................................................................................. 22
4.2.2.4 Slab .................................................................................................................................................................... 22
4.2.3 Reinforcement bar (Re-bar) ..................................................................................................................................... 24
4.2.4 Form work ................................................................................................................................................................ 24
4.2.5 Concrete work .......................................................................................................................................................... 25
CHAPTER FIVE .................................................................................................................................................................. 30
5. RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................... 30
5.1 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................... 30
5.2 Recommendation ........................................................................................................................................................ 30
6. References......................................................................................................................................................................... 32
7. Appendix ........................................................................................................................................................................... 33

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iii
Declaration
I,FIREHIWOT MENGISTU, student of Wolaita Sodo University Institute of Technology hereby declare that
this internship report is submitted by my own and it describes my four months stay in Haile mixed use
construction at Wolaita Sodo municipality town. I affirm that all the materials and pictures used while
compiling this report contains actual events and facts that was observed and performed during my internship
program. All the contents are my own and it has not been submitted to any other institute.

MY ADVISOR NAME –Mebirat Abebe Amona

Date______

Approval of supervisor:

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Acknowledgements
First of all I would like to thanks the almighty GOD for his guidance through all the challenges and eases that I
have faced. Then I would like to tanks Wolaita Sodo University institute of technology and university industry
linkage office and my department civil engineering for arranging this internship program. Also I would like to
express my thanks to Wolaita Sodo municipality Construction Office for its positive response of my request to
host me as an intern and availing this opportunity to practice and learn about the practical world of building
construction and project management.

I would also like to thanks my site supervisor Feleke Dogiso, site engineer Alembrahan and my beloved
academic advisor Epherem.E for their guidance during my practice.

Finally I would like to express my thanks to all persons who, in one way or another way, contributed for the
accomplishments of my practice.

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Executive Summary

It is a clear fact that the knowledge of civil engineering cannot be upgraded without practical experience in each
field of the subject matter. This paper is a written report about the internship program which was planned to
help internship students grasp practical know- how of engineering projects, their design, implementation,
evaluation and management in general. It reports about the background of my internship hosting company
including its brief history and major achievements, my overall internship experience, my tasks and the
procedures I followed, the practical and theoretical knowledge I faced while preforming those tasks with
conclusionsandrecommendations

vi
CHAPTER ONE

1. Background of my internship hosting company

1.1 Its brief history

My hosting company, woliata sodo municipality was established as twon municipality in late 18* century. Since
reign of dictatorship system of Ethiopian government it was under south omo zone at wolaita awuraja as main
city was at arbaminch town.
In 1995 E.C in was established as new center of wolaita twon city manager and it was the time when wolaita
zone established as self stating zone and city administration was established. Since then sodo twon municipality
was administered by the own manager who was responsible for city Moyer as skeleton required and its own
mission and vision as per EFDR constitution and proclamation.

1.2 Its Main products or Services

The company is contractor of government. It gives building construction permission license for both
government organizations and private owners.

• It follows and controls design implementation whether it is based on the design approved or not

• It gives maintenance and painting works license

• It gives license for building use

• It controls illegal constructions

• It checks and approves different designs

?Objectives of the Company

The followings are the general objectives of the company.

• Constructing buildings and related schemes

• Constructing water works

• Implementing designed constructions

• Constructing multistory buildings

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 • Constructing site works

• Installing mechanical, electro mechanical and electrical line

• Constructing drainage lines

• Constructing irrigation structures

• Constructing real state house.

?Vision, Mission and Goals of the Company

Vision
• To be an international Engineering and Architectural consultancy firm known for professional and business
integrity.

• To see the people of Ethiopia at large get standardized infrastructure by rendering quality study, design, and
construction supervision and consultation services and be cases and proficient enterprise in east Africa

• To become competent in the construction and other similar sectors undertaking to have better contribution
in the area.

?Mission
To construct high standard and quality building few of them are listed above

• To create large amount of job opportunities for skilled and unskilled labor who lived in the town and the
country as whole.

1.3 Its Main Customers or the end users of its products or services
The main customers of this company are the society weather the project is governmental or private.The major
activities in which the company has engaged are the following.

• Building construction

• Other related constructions.

• Design works.

• Town’s people

• Private owner

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 • Consulting firms

• Housing association

1.4 Its overall Organization and Work Flow

Any project no matter how big or small the scale requires a well put together organization and work flow that is
suitable to nature of the project.

Figure 1 work flow chart

CHAPTER TWO

2. Overall Internship Experiences

2.1 How I got into the Company

As the curriculum of Wolaita Sodo university faculty of engineering and Technology Department of Civil
Engineering the fourth year second semester covers the practical experience internship program, it is obligatory
to be a part of it for every student.

The first step in the internship is choosing which construction site is best to get the better experience and
knowledge for my future. So I distributed few copies of the form for different companies to ask their
willingness to host me as an intern student in their company. Finally, wolaita Sodo to municipality construction
office announced me that they have confirmed my request and they told me to begin my internship at Haiel
mixed use construction site. According to their announcement I started my internship from March 01 up to June
30, 2010 E.C.

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2.2 Section of the company I have been working in
During the first weeks I was getting myself familiar with the overall construction works, the structural and
architectural drawings and staff members and my site supervisors.I was immediately placed in the site
engineering department when I started practicing to observe and learn the construction procedures and also
assist the site engineers in all possible ways I can.

2.3 Working flow in the section

A good project management will maximize efficient resource utilization, development of effective
communication and mechanization for resolving conflicts among participants and proper coordination and
control the entire process. The organization set up of wolaitasodo municipality company is shown in the
background of the company, but when it comes to the work flow at site that project management and
administration it can be narrowed down to the following chart

2.4 The work tasks I have been executing

The work piece or work task that I have been working is mostly was reinforcement checks, concrete quality,
checking dimensions of the structures, helping daily labors are some of them. This activity is mostly controlled
by the site engineer. And I am closely working with the site engineer. He gives me a chance to under control
and checks this work tasks. If I feel that some problem existing is beyond my scope I told to the site engineer to
take the correct measures. The reinforcement checks that are mostly to be checked include the number of bars
of main structures, alignment of the structures. These main structures include columns, slabs, beams and stair
case. The quality of concrete is also another thing that I control. This quality is basically affected by the mix
ratio of the concrete. Since the proper mix ratio will give us strong and durable concrete mix. To make a
concrete there are four basic materials you need. This are cement , aggregate , sand and water. The ratio of
aggregate to sand to cement is important factor in determining the compressive strength of concrete mixture. A
concrete mix ratio of 1 part of cement, 2 part of sand, and three part of aggregate will produce a concrete mix of
approximately 25mpa or C-25 concrete. Mixing of water with cement, sand, and aggregate will produce or form
a paste that will bind the material together until the mix hardens. The strength property of a concrete is inversely
proportional to water to cement ratio. Basically this means the more water you use to mix the concrete (very
fluid) the weaker the concrete mix and the less water you use to mix the concrete are the stronger the concrete
mix.

2.5 The Procedures that I used to preform my work

Procedures show the sequence of activities. They are chronological sequences of required actions. They are
guides to action, rather than to thinking. Every task in construction has its own procedures. The procedure I
used during preforming my task is as follows:
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• Morning routine
• Visit the site and see where and how the work was stopped on the previous day. This also helps to know
from where the work is to be continued and see the progress easily.
• Monitoring and controlling the progress and quality of the work.

• Afternoon routine
• Analyzing, arranging and summarizing data for the monthly report
• preparing site diary
Here are the detail procedures:-

During performing my task, I used different procedures to observe the work

• I take a photo especially for each site work by using a mobile camera
• I ask any question the site engineer and daily labors if there was doubt for me
• I refer the books that are related to the work for better understanding.
• I attended the work properly
I observed all work flows in site work and also I try to attend the work every day, because it helps me to saw the
work flow correctly.

2.6 How I was good in performing my tasks

In my first two or three weeks of my internship, I was been dependent on my site engineer who is responsible
to train me but later I gain more experience of I try to do things on my own way. But it is important that you
make good impression of work. If I make a good impression on my work, he is more likely to give me more
responsibility which can lead to promotion and raises. Sometimes I make mistake at a work which everyone is
inevitable does at some point. Some of the mistake I face while I was taking a measurement or checking an
alignment was corrected by the site engineer. But the most important thing is I do not ignore my errors or I do
not want to place the blame on others rather than myself. Because it’s me who take responsibility and I have to
come up with solution to fix my mistake. My boss may not be too happy about it, but he will at least be
impressed with my response.

I mostly want to concentrate on things that are related to my work activity’s and try to avoid topics which may
not help me to make a good impression at work. But it will keep me from making a bad one. Subject that do not
make for good work place conversion including, political, religion, health problems and other personal issues

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should be avoided, this factors are responsible to make the work efficiency and work process more less.
Managing my time effectively is crucial thing to my work. My ability to complete my work in a timely manner
will help me to be more lovable and more believable to my jobs. I should demonstrate that I know how to
manage my time effectively by handling project when or even before my deadline. But there are some things
that greatly influence how to manage my time as well as the working progress. Some of these factors are
scarcity of material, nature of the work, lack of skilled man power. Material is not always available to the
contractors when they need it. This happens because of the current price of material or the inflations and it may
be the financial problems. But in our case the client are responsible for the availability of the material. The
nature of the work also makes the work more difficult. Skilled man power is not available as desired.
Sometimes the contractors use less number of laborers than the assumed one. This also makes the work not to
complete in a time. Finally in construction work a team work is more crucial. This team work is crucial for my
effectiveness as working as supervisors or managing the works. Even if I am not in management or leadership
role yet, better understanding a team work can make more effective employee. The other crucial element of
team work success is that all the team effort are directed toward the same clear goals, the team goals relies
heavily on a good communication in the team and the harmony in member relationship.

2.7 Challenges faced during my internship period

It is clear that I am a practicing employer. Due to this there are some challenges which faced me at the real
construction site.
Some of the challenges are:-
• Unwillingness of some professional persons to share their experience and practical knowledge.
• Local (site) names of equipment and materials in the site
• During at the time of working on the site there are lacks of safety such as hot and cold environment,
presence of large amount of nail, wooden and metal pieces and debris which may endanger health.
• Lack of software skill.
• Lack of transport

2.8 Measures in overcoming the challenges

Some of the measures in overcoming the challenges are:
• Creating relation with Forman and site supervisor and I asked them. After that I became familiar with
every work and understood well.
• Creating smooth relation with unwilling persons.
• I asked carpenters and other daily laborers, through time I became familiar with all the site names.

6
 • When I move here and there on the site I moved with great care. As a result I finished the tasks safely
without any danger.

?CHAPTER THREE

3. Overall benefits that I have gained from the internship

In the internship program I have gained benefits which helped me to explore my skills, qualities and abilities.
Since it is my first practical experience everything done is new and interesting to me. There are lots of benefits
that I gained during the internship period also I’m practicing for the four months in the outside world activity
that related to my profession when I was in campus. I learned much theoretical knowledge some of them are
difficult to understand if not performed practically so in this internship good opportunity to gain or upgrading
upturned in theoretical, practical, leadership skill and other related issue with my profession.

Some of the benefits that I gained from the internship are:-

3.1 Improving my practical skills

The internship period was a good opportunity for practical skills. I changed the pervious academic knowledge
in to practical work almost all the time I learned in campus was theoretical. To change it into practical skill
there should be a chance like this internship. But I am not saying that I had no practical skills in campus. Of
course, I took workshop and soil mechanics lessons. However, this didn’t give full practical skill that I should
grasp enough. Since theory and practice are directly proportional to each other the more you have theory, the
better your practical capacity will be, if there is a chance of experiencing.
Practical skills that I gained are:

• The exact position in work- this means the position of responsibility they gave me as a data collector and
site engineer made me tough.

7
 • Many theoretical lessons taken before the internship

• Self-interest in my profession

• Construction of masonry

• How to construct formwork and pattern of reinforcement bar on column, beamandslab.

• How to bend, cut, lay, erect and tie reinforcement bars each other

• How to mix and cast the concrete

• The communication language used at construction site

• Different problems that can occur during construction and the possible ways to address those problem.
•

?Some Site Languages

• Kebeleto- A four leg ladder which masons and carpenters use
• Tumbi-plumb bob to check vertical alignment for all vertical formwork.
• Armata-Concrete
• Soleta-Slab
• Staffa-Stirrup
• Panel-Formwork
• Ferrayo-bar bender.
• Ferro-reinforcement bar.
• Stanga-an inclined wood used to tauten column formwork
• Fonte-scaffolding
• Kerebat-piece of woods used to fasten the ‘Fonte’
• Barella-a box with different sizes to measure fine and course aggregate
• Senkelo-small plastic bag labours use to handle concrete
These are the main practical skills I have benefited at my intern together with other skills I didn’t mentioned.

3.2 Theoretical Knowledge

In addition to the practical skill this program helps me to strengthen my theoretical knowledge and gain
meaningful engineering experience to complement academic studies. The courses taken, except surveying,
focused on theory. Since the practice depends first on theory, it was easy to work and correlate the activities and

8
enhance my understanding of constructing a building. Theoretical knowledge is dependable on principles, logic
and calculations.
It is interesting when the theoretical knowledge & the practice meet exactly as you wanted to.

Sometimes this relationship fails to some degree. Theoretical knowledge doesn’t show you the tasks which are
processed in the site. Generally speaking, my theoretical knowledge got strengthen more by those practical
techniques invested on site.

3.3 Interpersonal Communication Skills

Since construction work is a team work by its nature you will face different individuals with different
professions and personalities come up together and communicate with each other to solve different problems
and run the whole work.
Through time I believed that good relation and communication skill is the key for getting the experience and
knowledge I require for the internship program based on this I tried to change my approach to the people at the
work place.
As time progresses I was able to see improvement on myself. I can say that I have got good lesson regarding
communication skill while my stay in the company for the internship program.I have got many benefits from
the internship having a good communication skill. However previously I had got many difficulty in
conversation or mostly I miss understand with people while I am communicating. But when I start the
internship practice I got the experience how to communicate to a people and this internship has given me
effective communication skills that greatly improve communication being relationship to other people on
construction.
The most challenges for me in the internship period was communication skill, but every time I was trying my
best to improve this skill. So I get the following skill

• Always be confident of what I speak.

• Knowing different stake holders in construction is important

• Be ready to answer any question I am asked

• To know more technical knowledge, listen and respect technical people like the carpenter and mason.

3.4 Team Playing Skills

Team building is a process where a group of people analyze their group strengths and weakness, capacity and
potential in order to achieve and improve effectiveness. I can also be defined as a structured attempt to develop
the effectiveness of a group of people.
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Team playing and trust go hand in hand; once a person has earned trust from his/her colleagues by being
responsible can be able to build stronger teams by:
• Clarifying team goals
• Identifying the issues that prevent the team from achieving its goals
• Addressing those issues and removing them so that the goals can be achieved.
I have learned that a team work is best when:
• There is high level of interdependence among the members
• Each member is capable and willing to contribute their information skills and experience
• Both team and individual members are prepared to take risks
• Team member roles are defined
• Team members know how to examine team and individual errors without making personal attacks
From all this I have learned that as part of a team, an engineer should have to works with a positive attitude
within a group for the success of a project. When called upon to lead, an engineer must have good managerial
and organizational skills. Confident and enthusiastic engineers are able to succeed by gaining the trust of co-
workers. To perform the tasks that we were formed a group with the interns at the site. This group was good as
a team because most of the members were from my university and we know each other.so we preformed our
task effectively.

• Good team player possesses the following skill

• Communicates constructively
• Listens actively
• Functions as an active participant
• Shares openly and willingly
• Cooperates and pitches in to help
• Exhibits flexibility
• Shows commitment to the team
• Works as a problem-solver
• Treats others in a respectful and supportive manner

3.5 Leadership Skills

Leadership is the process of influencing individuals or groups to accomplish an organizational goal or mission.
Being a technical profession student, this was the most challenging aspect of project management for me.
However, as I grew in the project I was able to seek the project management responsibilities.
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As I learned from working for four months at construction site, the engineer should be on top everything by
supervising & showing leadership. At the site most of my tasks were very much related to the job of a site
engineer. So with that I was giving a lot of attention how to supervise the workers at the site and act as the
leader to organize the different types of skilled laborers at the site. I have seen how each worker is controlled
and organized to perform its day to day activities. Among all other managements I have seen that human
resource management is the most important one.I have actually observed the method of controlling the working
time and amount of work done by each worker so that the work proceeds according to the work plan.

My supervisor was the site engineer so I spent most of my time with him & that helped me a lot to improve my
leadership skills. He explained to me that a construction work is like a dictatorship & that a site engineer should
control & know about every work that is done on the site. And from what I saw I have to say I agree with him.

Leadership is a skill to guide, control and monitor peoples.

For effective leadership I understood that personal values like confidence, effective communication and
devotion are very important.

3.6 Ethics Issues

This work ethics is a set of values based on hard working and diligence. It is also beliefs in the moral benefits of
work and its ability to enhance character. From the work ethics of this company I able to gain just being
reliable, having initiatives, or maintaining social skills. If I exhibit a good work in theory (and ideally in
practice) I would be selected for better position, more responsibilities and ultimately promotion. If I fail to
exhibit a good work ethics, may be regarded as failing to provide fair values for the wage the employer is
paying them and should not be promoted or placed my position of greater responsibility.
It is always good thing to have a good work ethics and most employees look highly on appealed who maintain
good ethics and habits. There are many definitions to good work ethics but mainly it is someone who is hard
worker, who is willing to put the company first honestly and working well with other coworkers. All are
considered to be good work ethics as well.
GenerallyI have been guided and obeyed by the rule and regulation of the company. Some of the work ethics
include;
• Punctuality:-means keeping the companies work beginning and ending time and to complete a given
task within the given period.
• Reliability:-The worker should be qualified for the part he is supposed to be performing. He/she must
have appropriate skill and knowledge for the task assigned.

11
 • Honesty:-Regarding this value each worker regardless of its status should abstain from bad behaviors
such as cheating, bias, corruption etc.
• Cooperation:-Each worker should interact and cooperate with each other while working that is because
it is through such system problems could be easily solved.

3.7 Entrepreneurship skills

A construction project mainly requires large human, financial, physical (material and equipment) institutional
(management) resources. Entrepreneurship is defined as special human talent that helps manage those factors of
production such as labor, machinery and capital and takes risks of making loses. An entrepreneur is required to
establish meaningful relationship between activity and authority which is intimately related to planning
function.

?Human resource management

Having a quality worker is a must if one needs to be productive and the need for employment testing comes to
picture to determine the candidates ability to perform the job, in addition interviewing provides more
opportunity to verify information on hand and to find out more about the persons interest, aspiration and
expectation. In the office and site engineering departments I have observed how skilled laborers of the company
were monthly evaluated to check their performance.
I have been able to understand that taking responsibility for the safety and well being of employees in job
related activities by providing safety wares (safety shoes & helmets) and insurances one can attain high level of
support from them.

?Equipment utilization management

Construction equipment management helps a person to plan implement and monitor construction equipment to:

• Enhance optimum utilization

• Increase efficiency or productivity of inputs to the products of the construction
• Harmonize standards and enhance the quality of work
When it comes to utilization of equipment there was a question of renting for short terms or purchasing the
equipment for long term use assuming that its products return that cost with in short period of time. The other
decision to be made by the construction entrepreneur is when to use human labor or machineries or the
composition of the two to different percentages.
12
These two questions are answered after estimating the direct cost of production for possible combinations of
resources and the output per each combination and the amount they would bring to the company.
For instance, when crane is used for floor slab concrete casting the time of completion of the work is reduced by
half and sub contract costs also by about the same factor. However the cost of the machinery itself is of
appreciable value. The main point here is that it is after detail calculation of output of labor and machinery one
can decide the effective combination.

?Financial management
Wide financial flow is achieved through detailed market studies and also taking long term contracts with the
best material suppliers in terms of quality and cost.
During my internship experience I have been able to grasp ideas about human resources management,
equipment utilization and financial flow and also develop self-confidence to play my strength in believing in
myself and taking risks in my future career.
Generally, I can say I have gained the potential benefits by taking this Internship Program.

13
CHAPTER FOUR

4. My project work covering necessary contents

My projectwork covers both site work and office works

4.1 Office works

From office work I have seen and go knowledge and experience about how can I read structural, architectural,
sanitary and electrical installation drawing.

?Reading drawing

Drawings are the means by which the designer conveys the physical, quantitative, and visual description of the
project to the contractor. The drawings are a two-dimensional representation of the physical structure that meets
the objectives of the owner. They are also known as plans or blueprints. It is the main language between the
architect, designer and any worker at the site or office to build the model in position as specified by the designer
and the client, based on the agreement. Thus to work as an engineer in the construction site it is mandatory
knowing drawings and any other specification. Drawings are the most common means of communication for all
types and sizes of project. Thus I understand each drawing and knew every symbol abbreviation for every
section and I able to communicate with different workers using it.

Reading drawing helped me the following:

• Arrangement of building

• Measurement of all necessary dimension

• Arrangement of bars

• Identifying type of bars

• Identifying number, spacing, diameter and length of bars

• To know where column, beam, stair, door, window and etc. are found.

4.2 Site work

Site work in general includes every kind of work which is carried out with in construction project based on the
given specification and methodology. I have been work most of my time at site to become more familiar with
site works and to get more practical knowledge.It includes the following main categories: -Sub structure work

Super structure
14
Reinforcement bar

Concrete works

Temporary supporting materials

4.2.1 Sub structure work

The sub structure work is a work which begins from site clearance of the project

The main tasks in sub structure work are: -

• Excavation work: - excavation work is the act of making hallow by cutting, scoping or digging out a part
of a soil

• Earth work: - Earth work is any work which is related to the excavation, backfill and cart away of surplus
material in the site.

• Concrete work:- concrete work includes all activities that begin from inserting and adjusting of the footing
pad and the foundation column bar up to casting of the pad and the column respectively.

• Masonry work: - masonry work includes trench work and construction of retaining wall

Steps which were followed during the sub structure work are: -

• Site clearance

• Setting out work

• Bulk excavation

• Working of the profile board

• Pit excavation

• Preparation work on the site

• Working of lean concrete and pad form work

• Working of foundation pad and column

• Back filling of pit

• Trench excavation and working of masonry wall

15
 • Grad beam work

• Back filling of site by select material

• Hard core and mesh work

But in our site I have not seen this all step because when I start my interns the project company finished works
up to back filling of pit, and I started from trench excavation

4.2.1.1 Trench excavation and Masonry work

Trench excavation is an excavation for the building of masonry. Masonry works are works that are executed by
laying building materials units of specified dimension through a binding material such as mortar. From the
architectural plan, we take the width and depth of masonry.Masonry work most of the time built at
substructure.Before the masonry built, lean concrete is casted. Since the ground for the building has to be level.
The other things we have to check during building of masonry are the quality of the stone, length and height of
the stone and the quality of mortar. Mortar is prepared at site which is a homogeneous mixture produced by
uniform mixing of binder with inert materials such as sand and water to make a paste of required consistency and
is used to bind a masonry unit. The stone available at the site was obtained only from approved quarry which is
igneous rock type. The stone used for masonry should be hard, durable, tough and sound, free from weathering,
decay or defects like cavities, cracks, sand holes, etc.

Figure .1 Trench Excavation and Masonry wall i.e.

4.2.1.2 Grade beam

It is one of sub structure which used to transfer bending moment and shear force that come from supper structure
to the ground and the foundation.

Grade beam has two functions. These are: -

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• Used to support partition wall.

• To brace columns, by bracing column, it used to avoid slenderness of the foundation column.

Procedure used to construct a grade beam

• Piecing reinforcement and aligning the formwork.

• Ground is covered by lean concrete. The purpose of the lean concrete is to separate the grade beam and
the soil, to prevent from resting of the reinforcement and used as supporting for the grade beam the lean
concrete have 5cm in thickness. And it is C-5 characteristic concrete strength.

• Preparing side form works that is used resist initial pressure of the concrete. This formwork must be
fixed by a supporting material called joist and strict. Joist is a horizontal timber that is used to support a
strut. Strule is gun from the joist to the form work diagonally to support to the form work.

• Arranging the main bar properly based on drawing.

• Inserting negative bar at the end of span to resist negative moment.

• Inserting stirrup on the given c/c used to resist shear force

• Check the c/c and the required bars existence

• Insert spacer 50mm b/n the bars and the form work which used to resist cracking due to corrosion of
bar

• Keep the form work

• Concrete cast

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Figure- 2 Construction of grade beam

Backfill
Selected material used to fill in trench or excavation work. The act of filling or excavation, usually after a pipe
or some type of structure has been placed in trench or excavation. Compaction of soil:it is the process in which
a stress applied to a soil causes densification as air and water is displaced from the pores between the soil
grains. They compact the soil by both compacter machine and by man power.

Figure-3 Compaction of back fills of selected material

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Hard core and mesh work or ground floor slab

Ground floor slab is a slab that lay on a specially prepared ground and constructed with a great care to prevent
capillary action and subside with passage of time. Ground floor slab is specially supported by the ground unlike
the suspended slabs.

Hard core materials to be placed should be properly selected and preferably be granular, most commonly
crushed basaltic stone

Procedure to work ground floor slab

• stretching of string from one grade beam to other side to find the level of hard core fill

• Hard core was placed on a properly compacted, and well consolidated soil

• Crushed and well graded rocks was provided to fill the void space

• The ground slab bar was laid down on the hard rock

• Provision of Styrofoam between the slab and the grade beam to create expansion joint

• Casting of the slab

• Spilling of water at least for 7days

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Figure-4 Hardcore and mesh work for floor slab

4.2.2 Super Structure

Super structure is the part of a building which extend above the grade beam or everything above the sub
structure includes slab (1st floor slab), column, beam, stairs etc. The purpose of the super structure is to
enclose and divide space as well as spread load structure. In our site I have seen that columns, beams, slabs and
stairs work.

4.2.2.1 Column
Column is a structural part of a building which is a vertical member that support vertical, horizontal and
moments coming from the beam, slab, stair and other member of the structure and transfer in to sub structure
that is foundation. They are given different shapes such as circular, rectangular and square as per architectural
consideration of a structure. In our site they constructed both rectangular and circular column.

Column construction: - Construction of a column starts by setting out the alignment for the corner columns
using string, plumb bob .These corner columns are used as a reference for setting out the rest of the columns.
This will facilitate the construction process and make it simple and easy. Then fixing of the column
reinforcement bars on the starter bar (over laps) takes place. Over laps are bar lengths which are extensions of
previously fixed reinforcement bars. Overlap lengths (development length) are obtained by the formula 4 Ø,
where Ø is diameter of reinforcement. The main bars are tied by the stirrup to give better strength and keep the
bars in place. Concrete spacers are then tied randomly around the column bars before the formwork are placed.
This will help to hold the reinforcement bars away from the sides of the formworks, So that when the concrete
sets. It completely envelops the reinforcements. They should have the same strength as the concrete that is going
to be placed and have equal thickness with the clear cover provided on the design. Next column formworks are
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fixed around the column bars and the concrete covers provided the exact size of the column. The formworks
must be painted with form oil to make dismantling easy. Then concrete is filled in to the formwork. The concrete
must be compacted at regular interval by a concrete vibrator. In order to avoid the presence of air bubbles the
compaction should not exceed to prevent segregation. After that the formwork is removed.

Figure-5 Process of formwork alignment for a column

4.2.2.2 Stair work

Stairs are sets of steps leading from one floor to another and stairs are provided in a building to afford a means of
communication between the various floors. Stairs are different types. However the types of stairs used in our site
is half turn stair.

Figure-6 stair construction ??? write down of the figure

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4.2.2.3 Beam
Beam is a structural element that is capable of withstanding load primarily by resisting bending. The bending
force induced in to the material of the beam as a result of the external loads, own weight, span and external
reactions to these loads, is called bending moment.

Beam construction:-The beam construction is the same as the case of column, but in this case the formwork is
set up in the horizontal direction. While the case of column it laidvertical. The placing, compacting and curing
processes are to other chemicals that are bonded together in such a way that creates one of the best building
material.

Figure-7 Reinforcemet for beam

4.2.2.4 Slab
Slabs are horizontal structure members to support live load and dead loads. The slab is simply supported on
walls and beams which in turn supported on columns. Slabs can be one way or two depending on the ratio of the
long span to the short span if the ratio of long span to the short span greater than two, the slab said to be one
way; but if this ratio is less than two the slab is said to be two way. When a slab is one way, the bending is one
directional and when it is two way, the bending is two directional. Slabs can be categorized in to three; solid,
flat, or ribbed. Solid slab is made of reinforced concrete. Ribbed slab is made of RC precast beam and ribbed
blocks. Flat slabs are made without beams. In our site the solid types of slab was preferable.
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Solid slab

In solid slab bottom reinforcement bars are in both direction covers the entire slab panel whereas, the top bars
cover the area of one-third of from nearby beams. It is made of reinforcement concrete. In this bottom and top
reinforcement steel spacer (kebeleto) is used to provide the required spacing between them. Negative bars
provided on top to take negative tension. Main bars and distribution bars can be bent up to serve as negative
bars. Before casting of concrete electrical conduit installation are placed within the reinforcements. Also
circular and rectangular boxes will be positioned later to be used for locating junction boxes and to spaces
sanitary pipes.

?Before casting concrete into solid slab things to be checked are;-

• Alignments of formwork and reinforcements

• Quantity and quality of reinforcements bars

• Tying of reinforcements to beams

• Providence of concrete cover 15mmfor slab and 25mm for beam

• Oiling of formwork, cleanness of surface on which the rest on

• Lengths of negative bars and where supports are provided to hold negative bars in places

?Procedure to construct solid slab

• Arrange beam and slab reinforcement

• Arrange electrical installation

• Put steel spacer(z bar) between positive and negative bars

• Tie spacer between slab reinforcement and form work

• Check c/c positive and negative bars

• Cast the slab and beam at once

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Figure-8 kebeleto

4.2.3 Reinforcement bar (Re-bar)

Re-bar is the name given to steel bars of various shape. In reinforced concrete works,

Reinforcement may be used in the form of:-

?Deformed bar: - is reinforcement in shape of deformed surface.

The deformed Surfaces help to minimize slippage of concrete and to develop a great bond between concrete and
steel.

?Plain or smooth bars: - is the reinforcement in the shape of smooth surface. The range of diameter that where
available in the site is: - Ø6, 8, 10, 12, 16, 18, 20, 24.

?Stirrup: - serve as shear reinforcement. Also it tied on longitudinal reinforcement to provide resistance against
out ward buckling.

?Longitudinal reinforcement: - provide resistance to compressive and tensile loads with concrete.

?Negative bars: - provide to resist negative moments produced on the support

4.2.4 Form work

The form work is temporary construction used as a mold for the structure in which concrete is placed and in
which it hardens. The formwork that was used in the site was made of wood and steel (metal).To list some of
them:-

• Bottom soffit (Fondo)

• Side board (Sponda)

• Cristae
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 • Prop (fonte)

• Scaffolding

In no circumstances, formwork shall be struck until the concrete reaches strength of at least twice the stress to
which the concrete may be subjected at the time of striking. The operation of removing the formwork is
commonly known as stripping. The stripping time differs from different structural parts.

• Vertical formwork for column, beam 16-24 hours.

• Soffit form work to slab 21 days
• Props to slabs and beams 21 days

?Requirements of formwork

A good formwork should satisfy the following requirements.

• The material of form work should be cheap and it should be suitable for re-use several times.

• It should be stiff enough so that deflection is minimum.

• It should be practical water proof, shrinkage and swelling should be minimum.

• It should be as light as possible.

• It should be strong enough to with stand all loads coming on it, such as, dead load of concrete and live load
during its pouring, compaction and curing.

• The surface of the form work should be smooth.

4.2.5 Concrete work

Concrete is a mixture of cement, sand, aggregates and water specific proportions that harden to a strong
consistency over varying length of time. When this materials are mixed and placed in forms and allow to cure,
the chemical reaction between the water and the cement forms ahardened binding medium or cement paste while
surrounds and holds together the aggregates by adhering to them a varying degree.
• There are different types of concrete. They are:-C-5, C-7, C-20, C-25. But in our site they used C-5 and
C-25.

• Their mixing ratio is:-

• C-5 and C-7 is 1:4:6 for lean concrete
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 • C-20 is 1:4:5 for ground slab
• C-25 is 1:2:3 for column beam and slab.

?Components of concrete
Cement: - is a material with a binding property in a concrete. It is the most expensive material in a concrete
making. Therefore, it should be fresh and stored in an enclosed ventilated space that would protect it from
deterioration. In the site they had stored in dry media. So almost there is no freeing of deterioration.
Aggregate:-is filler material of grade size from fine sand to piece of stone of varying diameters and shapes.
From 70% to 80% of the volume of concrete is aggregate keeping the cost of the concrete low.
Types of aggregate
-Fine aggregate:-is usually sand
-Course aggregate:-is usually gravel or crushed stone.
Water: - is one component of the concrete that facilitate the chemical reaction which cause setting and
hardening.
Types of concrete
I have observed two types of concrete in the site:-
•Lean concrete
•Reinforced concrete
Lean concrete: - is a mixture of cement, sand,aggregate and water with compressive strength of C-5 and C-7. It
has a mix proportion of one bag of cement, four box of sand and six box of aggregate by volume. It laid under
footing pad, masonry wall and grade beam with 30 cm thickness and 50 cm off set without reinforcement.
• It protects all structure element from moisture
• It prevents the soil particles that are present under structure from any relative
movement.
• It helps as host stratum to hold sub- structure on the soil and other.
Reinforced concrete: - it differs from lean concrete being massive, having high compressive strength, used
with reinforcement and for structural parts.
Reinforcement concrete can have different quality in different parts of sub structure and super structure as it is
designed. In our site they have used concrete with compressive strength of C-25.
Batching of the concrete

Batching of concrete means measuring of the ingredients to produce a concrete of desired

properties. There are two method of batching.
• Volume batching
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 • Weight batching
In volume batching cement is usually measured in cement bag where as sand and aggregates are measured by
box of 50*40*18 of standard dimensions.
Weight batching is prepared over volume batching specially on important jobs, which needs
accuracy.
Concrete mixing

The process of mixing cement, water, fine aggregate and course aggregate in suitable
proportion is known as mixing concrete.
In our site the mixing method is machine mixing. Concrete produced by machine mixing is more homogeneous.

Figure-9 Concrete mixer

Placing and compacting of the concrete:-Compaction is one of the last best important steps in concrete
making because the density, strength and durability of the concrete depend on much on it. Its objective is to
illuminate air holes and to achieve maximum density, which constituent materials and embedded
parts.Compaction is done by vibrator. However, they have used vibrator to compact the concrete. During
casting of concrete, it should be thoroughly compacted so as to form a dense homogeneous mass properly
worked around embedded fixtures, reinforcements and into the corners of the formwork. Any compaction
methods, however, shouldn’t cause any disturbance or movement of the formwork or location of the
reinforcement.

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Figure-10 Compaction of concrete using Vibrator

Curing of concrete

Curing is the maintaining of a satisfactory of moisture content and temperature in concrete, So that the concrete
may develop the desired strength and hardness. Correctly cured, concrete shrinks, cracks and dusts less, while
gaining strength, durability and wear resistance during the hardening of concrete, heat is generated and this
would result in rise in the temperature of the concrete.

Purpose of curing can be summarized as:-

To prevent rise in temperature on account of the heat of hydration developed during hardening of cement to
prevent drying of concrete.

Spacer

A spacer is material which is made up of steel or mortar. Spacers are used to maintain uniform thickness of cover
to reinforcement in substructure and superstructures which were reinforced. They were pre-made at the site by
using plain concrete with its required dimension of cover to reinforcement in substructure and super structure in
which were reinforced. Spacers were put between the formwork and reinforcement bars by using metal ties
which were connected with the spacer while preparing them.

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Figure-11 Spacer

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CHAPTER FIVE

5. RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION

5.1 Conclusion
The internship program is to enable the intern to experience the practical activities carried out on the site and
correlate it with the theoretical back ground gained through learning. Other include if problems exist to identify
its cause and take engineering measures to solve it, to get familiarized to the working environment, to be
governed by the rule and regulation of the employer, to be more of team player. There was a gap between the
things which we know in the class with the outside environment and this gap is now narrowed. I have got
practical work experiences and benefits from my internship program.
Some of them are;
• Communication skills with professionals
• Work flow
• Leadership skill
• Working standards
• Work ethics
Nowadays Construction is the most undertaking investment in Ethiopia. There are many companies which work
on construction. These companies may be Consultants in which the design the Structural, Architectural,
Sanitary, Electrical and Mechanical are made and Contractors which change the designs on paper into
something tangible. The General and social experience which I gained from the internship are :-

• When I woke up in the morning, I was thinking as I am going to work.

• Transportation Problem was another interesting experience.

• In the launch and tea time there was a good time with our boss.

• Work flow and work order in the company had a good experience.

5.2 Recommendation
For the company:-It is well known that health and safety are priority of everyone at the construction site. Since
the construction site contain different employees of the country. Emphasis should be given for safety case. In

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my site they have not used helmets and safety shoe. Concerning this I recommend the company should provide
helmets’ and safety shoe for the workers.
The other negative side of the company was shortage of daily labor. Since the construction work is mostly
depend on daily labor that there should be sufficient number of labor.
I observed that some daily labors were not executing their work properly, like suitable backfill compaction.
I also observed that there was shortage of construction materials like formwork/panels. So the labors obligated
to use by attaching the panels these leads to unnecessary flow of concrete these means separation of aggregate
from cement and water especially in case of the column. For this, the contractor must supply enough materials
to the site we direct these to site engineer.

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6. References
Data recorded from the site
• Reinforced Concrete Book
• Company Profile and other Related Book

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7. Appendix
• Cabeleto- A four leg ladder which masons and carpenters use
• Tumbi-plumb bob to check vertical alignment for all vertical formwork.
• Armata-Concrete
• Soleta-Slab
• Panel-Formwork
• Ferayo-bar bender.
• Ferro-reinforcement bar.
• Stanga-an inclined wood used to tauten column formwork
• Fonte-scaffolding
• Kerebat-piece of woods used to fasten the ‘Fonte’
• Barella-a box with different sizes to measure fine and course aggregate
• Sekelo-small plastic bag labours use to handle concrete
• Kebeleto-z-bar used in slab
• Cristae: pole like structure made from wood used for supporting vertical formwork of beam during
construction.
• Sponda: vertical panel formwork of beam supported by KISIT and used to cover width beam.

• Staffa: stirrups used to resist shear failure and can hold the bars to give a required shape.

• Fondo(bottom soffit): horizontal panel for beam formwork placed on CRISTY to cover thickness of
beam.

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