How Long Has This Being Going On?
As long as there has been construction, there have been cost, value, and schedule management issues. Our profession is much older than you may have thought! Even the great Bard touches on these issues way back in 1598.
"When we mean to build, we first survey the plot, then draw the model and when we see the figure of the house, then must we rate the cost of the erection; which if we find outweighs ability, what do we then but draw anew the model in fewer offices, or at least desist to build at all?..." - William Shakespeare, Henry IV,
Part 2, I. iii
But we can trace our roots much farther back. The oldest cost estimates found to date have ancient Egyptian units of measurement: cubits - and are priced in talents of silver.
Imagine the difficulties inherent in some of the ancients' major construction projects and how admirably they coped without the benefit of modern cost and schedule management tools.
It is quite possible to construct another Great Pyramid of the gigantic size as Cheops at Giza by using the same technology and resources as the ancient Egyptians.
The construction requires the highest levels planning and management. Work must be done very carefully to prevent an avalanche of blocks that will set the schedule back weeks or months.
Quarry production is on the critical path and needs utmost attention. The maximum placing capacity is sufficient to ensure a continuous flow of elements to the work platform. Production of the more than 2.5 million elements is the great achievement of the builders that constructed the Great Pyramid. Accommodation and feeding of the work force is the second major task.
Core construction can be estimated quite well using data from modern day experiments. A figure of 30 elements per hour gives a total construction time of about 20 years, as given by Herodotus in his book THE HISTORIES. He visited Egypt in the fifth century B.C. and made the following observations:
Line 11 states 'A hundred thousand men laboured constantly ...'
Heroditus exaggerates. An average work force of about 5,500 men was present at any time, excluding labor needed to produce and transport the blocks from the quarry site. Assuming it takes one day with two people to cut one element out of the quarry face and 30 elements are produced per hour, 360 elements were in production and transportation at once. Transport from the quarries to the pyramid face was by oxen sledges, so in order to produce and deliver 360 elements simultaneously, no more than 3,600 laborers are needed. The maximum number of workers employed at any time during the project, including staff, cooks etc. was probably no more than 10,000.
Line 20 states: 'The pyramid itself was twenty years in building.'
To construct the pyramid in this time frame, a quarry production of 30 elements per hour must be maintained.
Line 27 states: '...machines formed of short wooden planks.'
This may describe the levers used to transport elements along the sides and on top of the pyramid. The lever method is the only way the vast volume of heavy elements can be brought to the necessary positions.
Line 38 states: '1,600 talents of silver.'
One talent of silver is equal to 26 kg. This was the cost of food for the workers who built the pyramid.
Archimedes first described the mathematical aspects of using levers for moving heavy objects. It seems fitting to end with a quote from him:
'Give me a firm place to stand and I will lift the world.'
If you are considering building a pyramid, our expert team of cost and schedule management specialists would be happy to help you. We are also willing to consider assisting you with other more modern constructions.
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