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Comment by leesec | Hacker News Reader

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leesec·

When's the last time a construction job was done on time? Or even within +/- 20%?

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Happens every day all over the world. It's just such a mundane event no one writes newspaper articles about it.

Well, I've never heard about it.

Both of my parents worked their entire lives on the construction industry. It's a running joke that this never happens.

Software people tend to assume that the rest of the world is far more organized than it actually is. In particular, they seem to think that construction projects tend to be well-oiled machines with perfectly followed specs written in advance.

I work in civil engineering so I'm fully aware of what monstrous cluster fucks some projects turn into. Doesn't change the fact that the majority of projects (by number) are simple, small, unambitious projects that basically go as expected.

So, just like software projects.

It happens when people really care. I think there’s a lot of corruption and incompetence in construction so unnecessary overages are tolerated.

Atlanta rebuilt its 8 lane highway segment early [0].

[0] https://www.ajc.com/news/local/bridge-fast-construction-safe...

After Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles area, many freeway interchanges were rebuilt within months. But there was extreme urgency here.

General Leslie Groves was chosen to administer the Manhattan Project because he got the Pentagon built on time and on budget, and was viewed as someone of superior skill at these things.

Here in Germany we often jokingly say that the Berlin Wall was the last big public construction project that was completed within time and budget.

;-)

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