What Is It? This site is the most comprehensive guide to construction, engineering, infrastructure and architecture resources on the Internet. Launched in 2000, it is the starting point for Web searches by construction industry professionals.  The Web contains an enormous amount of information – so much that it sometimes is overwhelming.  Through careful indexing and organizing, this site helps users take control when they use the Web to obtain information.

How Does It Work? More than 10,000 Web sites of interest to construction industry professionals are profiled and linked to.  That is, besides linking to other Web sites, this site profiles the contents of those other sites.  That way, users of this site don't waste their time looking around sites that do not have the information they need.  Instead, they can go right to the sites that are likely to answer their questions. 

How Are These Profiles Organized?  This site is divided into three main categories:

1.   Organizations

2.   Industry Topics

3.   Resources

Organizations that are important to construction industry professionals, such as trade organizations, government agencies and private businesses, are organized into 12 categories under Organizations, and their Web sites are profiled there.

Industry Topics are the issues that are important to construction industry professionals, such as bidding opportunities, best practices in performing projects, technical data, safety information, building codes and job opportunities.  Web sites are organized into 18 categories under Industry Topics and profiled there.

Often, information is cross-referenced and appears under both Organizations and Industry Topics.

Other useful information for construction industry professionals is organized under Resources.  This includes online encyclopedias and other reference materials, business travel information, news, people-finders and advice on how to search the Web.  Resources, in effect, puts a reference library on the desktop of users of this site.

Who Did This Work?  Professional librarians and researchers with years of experience and advanced degrees did the profiling and organizing. They were guided by a construction lawyer, who drew on his decades of experience in and knowledge about the construction industry.  The librarians and researchers located useful Web sites, surveyed the contents of those sites and wrote profiles describing information that would be of use to construction industry professionals.  Because he has worked closely with construction industry clients for many years, the lawyer was able to guide the librarians and researchers in looking for information of immediate use and value to construction industry professionals.  This site is designed and written for construction industry professionals, not lawyers.

Business Bulletins: These reports on construction law and business issues are written by lawyers. New Business Bulletins are published 50 weeks a year. More than 500 Business Bulletins are archived for reader reference by topic and by date.

Construction Calendar and Construction Bulletin Board: These resources allow businesses and organizations to announce their events and publicize information about their products, services and activities for free. Easy-to-use tools are provided for submitting events and announcements to our editors for review before publication. All postings also are featured on our RSS feeds. Click here to submit an event to Construction Calendar. Click here to submit an announcement to Construction Bulletin Board.


Navigating This Site: This site is designed so that the same navigation bars show at the top and bottom of each page at every level on this site.  (The home page navigation bar is slightly different from other pages.)  The navigation bar always provides links to this Web site's three main categories (Organizations, Industry Topics and Resources) and to the site's home page, site map, site search engine and index.

As you drill down into this Web site in any category, tools are included to help you move around. The vertical menu bar on the left lists all related pages at the same level as the page you are reading.  In the top right corner of each page is a "back to" button that will take you back to a starting page for the category you currently are viewing.  As you scroll down a page, Back to the Top buttons will be provided at intervals.  Clicking on them will take you back to the top of the page you are in.  Also, control + home always will take you back to the top of the current page.  Control + end will take you to the bottom of the current page.  The thermometer bar on the right side of each page will show you (relatively) where you are in the page vertically.

This Web site also has a search engine and instructions how to use it. Click here to make a search or to learn more about the search engine. Searches cover all pages on this Web site. The search engine can be accessed by clicking on the "Site Search" button on the home page or the "Site Search" button on any top or bottom navigation bar.

All of the tools on your browser's toolbar should work on this Web site.  In particular, the browser's Find function will help you locate a particular word or phrase on a particular page of this Web site.  Once you have drilled down to the topic or locale that interests you, the Find function may help you find the exact word or organization that you seek. You can search a page by typing control + f and entering the word or phrase that interests you.

Information Management:  This Web site was designed to be an information management tool for industry professionals by dividing it into categories that are meaningful to them and organizing its links and site profiles into those categories.  Instead of trying to keep straight dozens of bookmarked sites, construction industry professionals can let this site be their bookmark library.  We have tried to directly link to useful sites or to link to other sites that provide good links. If there are sites you think we should profile and link to, please let us know by clicking here and sending us an e-mail describing the site.

Finding Tools:  In many categories on this site, we include a choice called Finding Tools.  There, users will find profiles and direct links to other Web sites that do a particularly good job of focusing on a topic or type of organization and providing useful links.

Bad Links:  We regularly check the links on this Web site to make sure they still are good and still work.  However, the Web is in a constant state of flux and growth, so links can go bad literally overnight.  If one of our links is not working and goes deeper than a site's home page, try deleting some of the detailed address information from the end of the Web address.  Each slash or period in the address separates a deeper-level page from its "parent" page.  If necessary, delete everything back to the basic Web site address, such as ConstructionWebLinks.com.  Then, use that site's site map to find the information you need.

If you click on a link and do not get to the other Web site reasonably soon, click on your browser's "stop" button in its toolbar and try clicking on the link again.  If the link does not work the second time, try removing some of the detail from the address, as described above.

If all else fails, one of our Finding Tools sites may have a link that works.  Or, you can use a search engine to search for the name of the organization whose site interests you.  Our profiles always provide the name of the organization or of the Web site as well as its Web address.  Click here for the Web addresses of the major search engines.

If you have time, we would appreciate receiving an e-mail from you reporting any bad links (and the new link).  Click here for an e-mail form.    

Bad Sites, Offensive Sites:  By using trained, experienced researchers, we have attempted to profile and link only to sites that are useful to construction industry professionals.  If you find a site not to be useful or, worse, to be offensive, please let us know.  If you click here, you can send us an e-mail describing the problem and identifying the site.  If you find a site to be deceptive, you can complain to the Federal Trade Commission by completing a form on its Web site at www.ftc.gov or telephoning 800-FTC-HELP.

History and Honors: This site has been in continuous operation since 2000. Since its launch, CWL has received many expressions of appreciation from visitors. They praise the site’s depth of content and easy navigation. We always appreciate hearing from visitors, whether they have compliments or criticism.

The site also has been praised by a number of third party organizations. Early on, CWL was recognized by the Internet Scout Project, which is published weekly by the University of Wisconsin and is supported by the National Science Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Claire Giannini Hoffman Fund and Microsoft Corporation. CWL received a top (5-star) rating from Robert J. Ambrogi in The Essential Guide to the Best (and Worst) Legal Sites on the Web (2d ed.)

The site received a “Best of the Net” rating from About.com, an Academic Excellence Award from Lightspan, and was rated a Top Ten Site in construction and engineering by Telinks.com. In the United Kingdom, CWL received a Site of the Month Award from Sapling.info. CWL complies with the guidelines of the Internet Content Rating Association.


Marking This Site:  If you like this Web site or part of it, you can easily return to it by bookmarking it.  Your browser should have a bookmark or Favorites button on or just below the top tool bar.  Just go to the page on this site that you like and run the bookmark function.  You also can easily make any page on this site your personal home page on your browser. 

In Internet Explorer, just:

1. Go to the page on this site that you like.
2. Select TOOLS on the browser toolbar.
3. Select INTERNET OPTIONS on the pulldown menu.
4. On the GENERAL menu tab, in the HOME PAGE subcategory, select USE CURRENT and hit OK.
5. When you next re-boot your browser, it should open to the page you selected.

In Firefox, just:

1. Go to the page on this site that you like.
2. Click TOOLS on the browser toolbar.
3. Click OPTIONS, then click MAIN.
4. Under STARTUP, click on USE CURRENT PAGE.
5. When you next re-boot your browser, it should open to the page you selected.

Comments? We welcome them.  If you have suggestions, praise or criticism, please let us know.  Just click here for an e-mail comment form.

Linking to This Site: We welcome links to this Web site. You may link to our home page without contacting us. If you would like to deep-link to another, particular page on our site, please contact us and tell us to what page you would like to link and from what Web site you would be linking. We are happy to consider such requests. Click here for more details.

Links from This Site: If you would like a link from our site or if you would like to update or suggest a correction to our existing link to your site, click here to let us know. You are always welcome to post news about your company, its people and its products and services on our Construction Bulletin Board. Click here to post your news. You also are welcome to post news about your events, conventions and meetings on our Construction Calendar. Click here to post your announcement. Such submissions are promptly reviewed, often overnight. Items posted on our Bulletin Board and Calendar also are posted on our RSS feeds.