During my first summer after high school I had a job working on a large construction site.  About two thirds the way through the summer I was rewarded with an opportunity to oversee a concrete pour on some large formed walls.

Because of the height of the walls the concrete had to be either pumped or distributed by way of a crane and buckets.  The process to be utilized involved using two buckets. One bucket was filled with concrete on the ground while the other was being unloaded from above with the crane, and operators on top of the wall.

About halfway through the pour a couple of the guys on the crew convinced me that one bucket was nearly as fast as using two.  After all it didn’t take that long to fill up the bucket and it eliminated the necessity of moving the cranes hook from one bucket to the other.  This seemed to be a logical argument, however it soon became apparent the reality was otherwise.  Later that day the job superintendent sat me down and had me go through all the calculations relative to the cost per minute based upon a 20 man crew and equipment.  Ouch, those lost minutes were incredibly expensive, yet it proved to be a valuable lesson that I have carried with me throughout my career!