You could construct an airport runway

Or lay the foundation of a city

Or lay the foundation of a city

Control some very large equipment

You could build bridges

You could lay a railway line

You could dig a tunnel

You could create a harbour

THIS IS NOT PLANT

THIS IS PLANT

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LEARN THE LINGO

Like every industry, there is a lot of language that’s unique to us.

Here’s a few tips to understanding the world you are about to enter…

  • Attachment: Something you feel for your dog. It’s also an interchangeable tool fitted to the end of the arm of some Plant. We have lots of them like Buckets, rock hammers, and drills.
  • Box out: Not talking about garbage, but digging out the earth ready for construction
  • Bucket: A little plastic thing you put water in. Also, it’s a large metal thing on the end of the arm of an Excavator. We use them to dig into Material, pick it up, and move it.
  • Builder: Not us. Builders stick bricks together, fix toilets, and hammer little pieces of wood together. We build freeways, ports, railway lines.
  • Bulldozer: No idea what this is. We don’t call anything that. Check out ‘Dozer’.
  • Civil Construction: This is what we do. We build things that are used by everyone. Stuff like roads, railway lines, harbours, stormwater…it goes on and on.
  • Civil Infrastructure: What’s been built in the Civil Construction process. If you want to be technical, it’s the noun to the verb Civil Construction
  • Civil Maintenance: After constructing things, there is always maintenance to do. Someone has to fix the potholes in the roads…that’s us.
  • Contractor: An employer who does Civil Construction work.
  • Dozer: A very tired person. It’s also a type of Plant with a big blade on the front used for moving Material by pushing it along the ground.
  • Excavator: A piece of Plant that moves Material using a Bucket at the end of an arm. Can also use Attachments to do lots of other things. Lots of fun!
  • Grade: Not your mark after an exam but the slope of the ground
  • Grader: Bit like a grader that grates your food, our Grader grates the ground taking slices off at a time
  • Loading/Unloading: Putting on or off a truck. Could be Material is loaded or a piece of Plant is unloaded
  • Material: Depends on the context, but it’s often used as a grab-all term for earth, soil, sand and rocks etc.
  • Operator: Another name for a vehicle driver
  • Plant: This is the mobile machinery you see on constructions sites
  • Ripper: Real good thing. It’s also a set of teeth dragged behind a piece of plant to tear up the surface of earth
  • RTO: Registered Training Organisation. These are approved by the Federal Government to give training on some qualifications. Not all RTOs do all qualifications. (P.S., and not all RTOs are as good as each other!)
  • Scraper: Something you use to clean shoes with. Also, it’s a big machine that scrapes an exact amount of earth off the ground…very fast. Awesome fun!
  • Site: Any place where Civil Construction work is happening
  • Spotter: Are you good at looking and watching things? That’s what this person does to make sure when Plant is working that no one around it gets hit.
  • Sub-contractor: A business that works for another company. It’s very common in our industry for companies to work for other companies. They all do their bit to help build the job.
  • Truck and Dog: No, not the pooch chasing after something it shouldn’t…it’s a very big truck and its trailer that are used for carrying Material.