Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by officialchicken 15 days ago
> We started this when Sahil took a construction management class and realized how the estimation workflows hadn't changed in decades

That's because it's been used in the construction industry for literally a couple of millennium (e.g. ancient rome) and it's a fairly well-understood material. The variations come in with the newer "exotics" rated above 5k psi that are more chemistry than aggregate, water, and portland cement.

Did your one class teach you that any non-parabolic concrete cross section is approximately 7% steel? And that the bidding issues with concrete are centered around the steel rebar/wwm/wwf installation and formwork/earthwork prior to pour?