How to build a Supermarket!

The construction of the SUPERMARKET has become the craze of the day! Supermarkets specializing in healthy eating, as well as giant mega supermarkets, providing everything from pharmaceuticals to pre-made foods, are being constructed all over the nation. What does it take to construct a small and intimate food boutique, or a giant megastore, that offers everything from soup to nuts?

Some might consider the construction of a supermarket one of the least complicated construction projects in the retail sector if you have experienced some of the ultra, high-end retail fit-outs. Others, with their only experience being, the relatively small coordination issues and construction elements encountered in residential construction, may consider the construction of the supermarket a substantial feat of coordination, construction management, and supervision.

The difficulty is always based upon the relativity of previous experience, however, as with any type of construction project, the building of a supermarket requires the basic skills inherent to successfully construct any large commercial or institutional project. In addition to these basic skills, there are special issues, as well as characteristics of a supermarket, that need to be understood, prior to the successful completion of this type of construction project.

In an attempt to summarize the basics of the supermarket industry, I will present some of the most basic principles, as well as some specific particulars, learned from just completing a supermarket in a small urban area of the country. Estimating the cost of the project. The estimating of a supermarket is no different than estimating any other large construction project. Like any other construction project, with a specific purpose or functionality, it is important to solicit prices from subcontractors that are knowledgeable, regarding the construction of that particular specialty. In the supermarket industry, refrigeration, mechanical and electrical subcontractors should have experience and knowledge of their particular discipline. It is important to have vetted these subs, to ensure that their pricing will accurately address all of the work required to accommodate the construction of a large supermarket. What normally occurs, is that the general contractor bidding the project reviews the plans and the specifications. If the project involves any type of renovation or addition to an existing structure, a site visit, resulting in the creation of a detailed scope of work, will be required. Once the contractor reviews all plans and specifications, as well as any existing conditions involved, the general contractor develops the scope of work as a foundation to the estimate. A detailed spreadsheet is developed as an outline for the estimate. Once this outline is determined, the general contractor starts the estimating process. The estimating process will involve the submission of plans and specifications to specialty subcontractors, to solicit subcontractor values for the various line items listed on the outlined scope of work. If the estimator does not have, what the industry refers to as coverage, which basically means, at least one subcontractor for each line item in the scope, the estimator is forced to evaluate the line item themselves. This evaluation will include a quantity take-off of the material, as well as an analysis of the projected manpower required to complete this line item. Once all quotes from the subcontractors are assembled, and any holes in the estimate plugged by the estimator in charge, the estimate is summarized. The general contractor will then decide on the value of the general conditions. These general conditions are added to the hard numbers, of the estimate, as well as the overhead and profit established by the company. In most situations, this final number is reviewed by the upper management of the general contractor, and the final value of the project is submitted to the owner of the project for evaluation. If the number is low enough and the owner desires, the owner will issue a contract for the construction of the supermarket to the general contractor. This webpage will continue, with the assumption that the general contractor has received a contract for the construction of the supermarket project.

Site and project evaluation. Once the contract is awarded, the general contractor will visit the project site and establish a position for the site trailer, the site fencing, the company signage, order the porta johns, order the temporary power, install the erosion control, etc. The general contractor is now in the operation mode of the project, and the project’s construction will begin.

Procurement evaluation. Any retail job, or for that matter, any construction job, requires a detailed knowledge of material and equipment required to perform the work. The key element of this understanding is the ability to identify the ” long lead ” items. What is meant by long lead items are items that will require substantial time to obtain. These items might be light fixtures, toilet fixtures, air handling units, emergency generators, etc. Obviously, knowledge and understanding of the construction project are mandatory in order to identify the correct material and equipment that is considered a long lead. For example, the type of items that will be the long lead for a retail grocery store;

a.) coolers and floor coffins / these are the numerous coolers that stand on the floor, against the walls, or stationed as islands in the middle of the store ( these are noted as coffins )

b.) light fixtures / light fixtures are a typical long lead item on most construction projects. The light package is a major long lead item and must be coordinated and managed at the onset of the project.

c.) linear diffusers and special ceiling diffusers / in most cases, any special or custom diffusers such as linear diffusers and special ceiling or wall diffusers are long-lead items.

d.) specialized stainless steel assemblies / all stainless assemblies must be identified, shop drawings made, reviewed, as well as approved. This takes time and is considered a long lead item.

e.) special shelving or gondolas / the shelving in a typical grocery store is mostly a stock item, however, any specialization or custom fitting must be identified and acknowledged as a long lead item.

f.) structural steel and miscellaneous iron / if there is any type of miscellaneous iron, such as handrails, or stairs, etc. that requires field measurement, it must be done as soon as possible.

g.) millwork / any type of specialized millwork or countertop work is considered long-lead items.

h.) field measured items / it is imperative that the general contractor understand the items that will require field measurement. Such items as millwork countertops, specialized cabinetry, specialized stainless steel, etc. Any item that relies on the accuracy of other finishes, is usually a field measured item. In some cases, if the schedule will not allow the time to field measure and construct the item, the general contractor will guarantee the dimensions. This means that the general contractor will take the additional time and effort to ensure that certain measurements are maintained on the project, guaranteeing that the item that should have been field measured, will fit into space.

It is recommended that the principal subcontractors be questioned regarding long-lead items. A special meeting should be conducted at the beginning of the project to identify all the items that will require time to obtain. This is important, and cannot be overemphasized. Each discipline will have a list of items that they understand to be long-lead materials and equipment. The general contractor must identify each of these items, and make sure they are clearly identified on the general contractor's procurement schedule. The procurement schedule is a schedule that identifies the scheduling requirements of material and equipment on a construction project. This procurement schedule is coordinated with the actual ordering parameters of each product used on the construction project. If the lights require 12 weeks to be delivered from the approved order into the manufacturer, then the procurement schedule should coordinate with the approval of the light package as well as the ordering, and subsequently to the actual delivery on the project.

The smart diaper is coming. Who actually wants it?

Over the past several years, a patchwork of tech and personal care companies have plunged millions of dollars into a race to control the baby product of the future: smartphone-enabled diapers.

Leading the charge is Huggies, which has rallied an obscure invention — a Bluetooth sensor that texts parents about their babies’ bowel movements — into the centerpiece of its “smart diaper” line Monit x Huggies. After launching smart diapers in Korea last October, the company appears set to bring the product to the US as soon as this summer. The technology is reminiscent of a similar feature that Huggies considered releasing in 2013, then scrapped: TweetPee, a diaper sensor that slides into a parent’s DMs when their baby needs to be changed.

Although Huggies would be the first major company to bring its product to market in the US, it is only one player in the sprawling diaper-tech war. The health care company Pixie Scientific has been testing diapers that track infant urinary health since 2013, while Google’s parent company Alphabet submitted a patent last year for a carbon fiber-laced diaper that alerts parents about a shift in diaper equilibrium, including by distinguishing between poop and pee. The Chinese personal care giant Hunan Cosom lists smart diapers among its products, as does the Chinese tech company Opro9.

Even Huggies’ main rival, Pampers, is working to revamp its product: Since 2014, Pampers has tested individualized diapers that fit each baby’s unique “pee points” to maximize urine absorbency.

That long march toward making smart diapers happen has been driven more by fears of slipping market shares than by any kind of real demand from consumers. The furious pace of innovation belies the fact that the US diaper market is in trouble. As the birthrate declines for the seventh year in a row, there are fewer and fewer new parents to buy diapers, and almost all major diaper brands have taken hits. After Kimberly-Clark, which manufactures Huggies, laid off 13 percent of its workers in January 2018, the CEO told investors, “You can’t encourage moms to use more diapers in a developed market where the babies aren’t being born in those markets.”

Last summer, to counter wilting sales, Pampers raised the price of its signature diaper by 4 percent. Huggies is making a bet different bet: By selling upscale diapers, it hopes to recoup the profits lost to a rapidly shrinking baby diaper market.

“The fact that the birthrates are quite low in the US has stirred a lot of interest in trying to get the consumer to spend more,” said Ali Dibadj, who tracks the personal products industry for the investment management group Sanford C. Bernstein. “The only way they can increase their business is to bring better products to the market. Their whole hope is to create products that the consumer base will pay more for.”

That puts Huggies squarely in line with other companies advocating seemingly unnecessary tech infusions into ordinary hygiene products on the bet that it will widen their profit margins. The brands behind the major US diapers have already flooded the market with “smart” toothbrushes, razors, and skincare wands, all of which they hope will entice wealthier consumers who can be convinced to drop the extra money.

Later this year, Procter & Gamble, which manufactures Pampers, is launching an AI toothbrush that claims to improve brushing. While typical electric toothbrushes cost around $30, P&G is planning to start its AI brush at $279, a massive price jump that foreshadows the future of the smart diaper. Kimberly-Clark, for its part, promised more “meaningful innovation” of its personal hygiene products, although the company already boasts everything from smart toilet paper to smart restrooms equipped with sensors that relay data about soap and toilet paper use.

“THE FACT THAT THE BIRTHRATES ARE QUITE LOW IN THE US HAS STIRRED A LOT OF INTEREST IN TRYING TO GET THE CONSUMER TO SPEND MORE”

Tony Park, who developed the Bluetooth sensor used in Huggies’ smart diapers, told Vox that Huggies was planning to roll out the diapers in the US and Mexico this August. A spokesperson for Kimberly-Clark responded that while the company was considering a US launch, “we have not made any final decisions at this time.”

Yet smart baby diapers feel like an inevitable fixture of America’s future, not least because smart diapers for older adults are already alive and thriving. “The smart concept has impacted many of their other businesses,” said Dibadj, referring to Kimberly-Clark and P&G. “They usually don’t spend money on research without actually trying to commercialize it.”

There is not a lot to a smart diaper — the removable Bluetooth sensor, which resembles an orange disk, can be attached to the outside of any regular diaper. That sensor syncs to a Huggies smartphone app, where it relays information about the temperature and air quality, and — in addition to individual alerts about baby poop or pee — tracks the overall frequency of a baby’s bowel movements and calculates the times of day the diaper tends to need changing. No more than five people can register as guardians on the app.

Park also noted that companies like Huggies could use his sensor to gather data on their customers. When they change diapers, parents are supposed to place the Bluetooth sensor on the floor and then reattach it to the new diaper. According to Park, the sensor counts each time parents switch diapers, offering Huggies a window into the number of diapers customers use each month or year. “We can track their buying record through the app,” he said.

The modern disposable diaper dates back to Marion Donovan, a former Vogue editor and a mother of two who, in the early 1940s, grew tired of the excruciating old system for pee management: a leaky strip of cloth that parents needed to wash frequently. The only alternative at the time, rubber baby pants, was also a bust — left for too long, it irritated her babies’ skin. So Donovan devised a simple alternative: a waterproof outer lining called a boater that enclosed absorbent paper, which could be thrown out with ease.

In 1949, Donovan’s new disposable diaper hit the high-end fashion circuit, debuting at Saks Fifth Avenue to a groundswell of success. Only in 1961, when Procter & Gamble launched Pampers, did Donovan’s disposable diaper reach the wider public.

MOST BABIES ALREADY HAVE AN EFFECTIVE BUILT-IN ALERT SYSTEM (CRYING), AND THE COST OF A TEXT ALERT IS NOT WORTH IT FOR MANY PARENTS

In the subsequent decades, and especially after the 1978 launch of Huggies cemented it as the main competitor to Pampers, diapers have been the subject of a veritable innovation arms race: Diaper brands have poured billions of dollars into fine-tuning their products, to the point where diapers today are a multilayered marvel of scientific achievement.

P&G, for instance, boasts two separate diaper research and development centers in Cincinnati and Germany employing more than 250 researchers, who have filed 5,000 new diaper patents in total. They’ve turned obscure materials like “superabsorbent polymers” into commercial hits. The result is that modern diapers can do the miraculous: absorb urine within instants, all without making babies feel wet or compromising the light, fluffy texture that makes diapers wearable for newborns.

Diaper sensors that connect to smartphones are in some ways the natural progression of this tradition of invention. Companies that have exhausted the Marion Donovan-style diaper design see phone integration as the next best way to lure customers. Yet it’s not entirely clear who the target audience for tech-infused diapers even is. Diapers are a low-life-span purchase, meaning there is no great incentive for parents to invest in a particularly dynamic version.

Asked if he expects a lot of smart diapers customers to come out of the woodwork, Dibadj laughed. “I would not say it’s a big segment,” he said. While there are certainly some material benefits — instant alerts to a wet diaper can let parents focus on other tasks, for instance — most babies already have an effective built-in alert system (crying), and the cost of a text alert is not worth it for many parents. “I think you could find people who would want to buy such things, but I wouldn’t say it’s the top priority for consumers,” Dibadj said.

Park told Vox that the design is personal for him. Some babies, like his daughter, don’t cry when their diapers need changing, and figuring out when to switch diapers before a rash develops is a challenging guessing game. His target customers are millennial first-time parents who don’t have the time to constantly check diapers. “They are quite busy working two jobs,” he said. “They want to get involved in parenting, but they don’t have enough time to share with their baby. With our Monit device, they can get a notification whenever and wherever.”

“I THINK YOU COULD FIND PEOPLE WHO WOULD WANT TO BUY SUCH THINGS, BUT I WOULDN’T SAY IT’S THE TOP PRIORITY FOR CONSUMERS”

But with the US price of a Monit Bluetooth sensor estimated at $249, according to Park, it’s not clear that millennial parents already struggling to make ends meet will drop so much cash on a diaper that texts.

All of this comes in an era when nearly one-third of parents cannot afford regular baby diapers — meaning the kind that doesn’t text you when your baby pees — and diaper affordability is becoming a priority among U.S. lawmakers. In March, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) introduced the End Diaper Need Act, which would create a $100 million fund for distributing free diapers to low-income families — three years after the Obama administration outlined the need for a similar proposal.

“I would prefer that Huggies was going in the direction of affordable diapers instead of more expensive diapers,” said Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, president of the Seattle-based mother’s advocacy group MomsRising.

The problem of diaper unaffordability is entrenched. Although some diapers are cheaper than others, a supply of the average diaper costs around $1,000 per year, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Organizations like the National Diaper Bank Network have sprung up in order to offer free diapers to low-income families, but many advocates point to the need for more systemic fixes. The US is the only industrialized country that doesn’t guarantee paid leave to the parent of a newborn, for instance, which makes having a baby especially precarious.

“If you look at what’s happening with young families, the economic pressures are intense,” said Rowe-Finkbeiner. “A quarter of young families are living in poverty.”

For parents who work full time, not having access to diapers means further strain. Most child care centers require that parents drop off an adequate diaper supply along with their newborns, which means that the children of low-income parents are often forced to stay home.

To Rowe-Finkbeiner, these inequities are inextricable from the smart diaper discussion. She points out that the first country to receive the new Huggies smart diaper — Korea — already has paid parental leave laws. But in the US, with so many new families struggling to make ends meet, Rowe-Finkbeiner does not see the appeal of more gadget-friendly diapers.

“The pressure on families is really intense right now because we lack the basic support that many other countries take for granted,” she said.

In an era of such widespread inequality in who can afford to raise a kid and how, smart diapers seem like a play for the highest income bracket. But with the birthrate declining and baby care companies eager for ways to up their bottom line, diapers joining the ever-growing ranks of personal care products made “smart” might be inevitable.

Advocates like Rowe-Finkbeiner are not inherently opposed to diapers that text you about your baby’s pee and poop, either. She just has a few demands she’d like to see first, including a national system for paid family medical leave, increased access to child care for working parents who can’t afford it, and institutional support for new mothers. “And then maybe after that, we can get smart diapers,” she said.

Insanely Easy Ways to Build Your Own Furniture!

You don’t need to be a master craftsman to furnish your home with style. DIY your way to a dream furniture collection with these 20 stunningly simple projects for every living space. 

This space-smart bench is not only the ultimate cure for clutter in a cramped entryway, but it's also extremely easy to build—it requires just a few materials and an afternoon. After nailing support boards underneath the benchtop, attach table legs with leg anchors. Then, paint and distress the bench to maximize storage and style! Shelf Life

2/20

Give a burgeoning book collection a shoulder to lean on with these floating bookshelves built from precut and stained scrap pine boards. Spray-paint the L-brackets and attach them to the wall, then rest the shelves on the brackets. For a seamless finish, paint the screw heads to match.  

1. Slim Storage

   3/20
   

   Add style and practicality to a narrow span of a wall with this simple console table. What sets this version apart from the crowd (aside from its attainable assembly) is the smart use of dining table legs to connect the top and base of the unit. With a few coats of paint and an aged finish, this slim space-saver is sure to catch the appreciative eye of every visitor. 

   
   

   Swing It
2. 4/20
   

   Building an indoor swing for your home? Child's play! This fun and functional hanging canvas chair is perfect for kids and adults alike and can be made with a few basic stitches, some simple knots, and a drill. For a personalized touch, outfit the chair with a painted-on pattern that speaks to your style, and don't forget to secure the swing to a stainless steel spring snap link in the ceiling for safety. 
3. Industrial Ease
4. 5/20
   

   Here's proof that industrial-style furniture doesn’t have to come at a high price. You can construct the base of this ultramodern side table from L-angles secured with bolts, lock washers, and nuts, and then quickly fasten it to a plywood plank tabletop stained or painted to suit your taste.

5. Hosed Down

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   An ordinary rubber air hose makes the perfect deck chair when you weave it through holes drilled along two L-shaped plywood plank frames. Once you get the hose spacing and tension right, enjoy the springy, relaxing support of this surprisingly comfy lounger.
6. Island Style
7. 
8. Enhance your kitchen's storage capability by building this space-smart island. The maple plywood base features ample shelves and drawers, while intersecting boards form a crafty wine rack. To complement the rustic butcher-block countertop, paint the island legs, front and side aprons, and cabinet faces a sophisticated, solid hue.

   
   

   Right Frame of Mind
9. 8/20
   

   A minimalist’s dream DIY, this simple bed frame can conceal the unsightly box spring and have you sleeping in a sleek style. To create the frame, line pine or whitewood boards around the mattress and secure the frame joints with screws. Then jump in and catch up on your beauty rest!

   A Good Sign

10. 9/20
    

    Relying on a simple metal-bending technique, these road sign stools are sure to stop traffic in the kitchen. Construct the base of the stools from scrap wood and the seat from a spare road sign bent into a U shape. Secure the seat to the base, then take a bow—and a seat!

11. Decorative Display

    10/20
    

    This eclectic pallet TV stand is inexpensive and quick to build, and adds an element of personalized charm to any space. The fun finishing factor is the glass top, which serves as a display case for entertainment essentials, a cool collection, or anything else that suits the owner's style.
12. 11/20
    

    If the diminutive dimensions of your bath have dashed your hopes for storage, consider a more off-the-wall approach to corralling loose clutter. With only a wooden board and a few screws, you can erect this above-the-toilet floating shelf to hold sundries and decorative items in a small space, but with lots of panache. 

13. Fine Art

    12/20
    

    Give your little ones a creative outlet with this DIY art center. Precut plywood panels let you skip the sawing and simply attach the apron and legs to the tabletop before connecting the shelves. Finish off this artful workspace and storage solution with a set of kid-size stools and a roll of paper for doodling.