1. Full prep
   Rough-in
2. Cut
   Read out

Many workers on a site have their own rough-in process during construction, but two major ones are electrical and plumbing. The process involves ensuring that pipes and wires and such are placed before walls are installed, for instance, so holes won't have to be cut in finished walls.

1. Hot wrench
   Crater
2. Biff
   Flam

To a small degree, "biff" has actually expanded beyond the construction industry and is sometimes, though not super often, used in the rest of the world to denote a mistake. Typical usage might involve saying "I biffed it" when acknowledging a mistake.

1. Disco
   Slab
2. Balls
   Eyeball

If you're measuring some land and the number happens to end in zeroes, you'll let someone know that it's zeroes by using the term "balls." For instance, if your measurement is 5.00, then you'd just call it "5 balls."

1. Router
   Honey wagon
2. HVAC
   Roach wagon

No one has nice names for food trucks in the construction industry, so maybe it's no surprise that "roach wagon" is a name for a food truck on a site. They're also sometimes called "gaggin' wagons."

1. Butter
   Grease
2. Slab
   Grey

If you're doing any brickwork, then there's a good chance you need to be using mortar as well. Just because bricklayers are the kind of people who like to keep things casual and fun, one of the more popular slang terms they'll use when talking mortar is "butter."

1. Subfloor
   Bid bond
2. Ginnie hopper
   Brownfield

"Brownfield" doesn't sound particularly glamorous, and for all intents and purposes, it's not. The word refers to basically any undeveloped plot of land or one that had been developed and is now abandoned but hasn't turned into green space or anything useful yet.

1. Eyeball
   Crater
2. Punch
   Under gauge

"Eyeball" is a standard work term for people who are just trying to get an approximate measurement. You could measure something and find the precise length or weight, or you could just eyeball it and make an educated guess.

1. Two-block
   Hot wrench
2. High chair
   Yard sale

If you've ever looked at cement work, like a concrete slab foundation or walls, you've probably seen rods of rebar embedded in it to make it stronger. How do you hold that rebar steady when you pour concrete? With a high chair!

1. Whiskey stick
   Honey hole
2. Hammerfor
   Joe McGee

This may be the most unattractive euphemism ever, but it's standard in the industrial world. A portable toilet is often called a honey hole, and the truck that comes to empty a portable toilet is generally called a honey wagon. Gross? You bet!

1. Apprentisaurus
   Millworker
2. Joe McGee
   Two-block

When your apprentice is older than you are or they have been an apprentice for a long time, you can call them an apprentisaurus. Works for anyone who may have grey hair and is fairly new on the job site. Doesn't happen often, but it may happen sometimes.

1. Percolation test
   Gantt chart
2. Property survey
   Roll out

A Gantt chart is basically the organizational tool that shows the whole project — when different jobs are scheduled and how work will be prioritized. It keeps the workflow organized so you don't have overlapping and conflicting jobs scheduled at the same time.

1. Disco
   Rough-in
2. Millwork
   Subfloor

Millwork includes baseboard or cabinet molding, various kinds of trim and wall crowns, and any woodwork that is detailed and somewhat artistic. Millwork is wood that is precisely cut in a mill.

1. Hammerfor
   Electrician's hammer
2. New York screwdriver
   Hot wrench

Sometimes a nut or a bolt is impossible to move with a real wrench. In that situation, you have to bust out the blowtorch to either loosen it up or just cut it right off — and that's a hot wrench.

1. R value
   Gantt chart
2. Punch list
   Property survey

A punch list, sometimes called an inspection list, is prepared by the owner or manager of the project being constructed. It will detail any work that either wasn't completed or doesn't conform to what was specified in the contract.

1. Back charge
   Biff
2. Scuttle fee
   Blank rate

If a subcontractor messed something up that the general contractor needs to finish or repair, they will back charge the subcontractor for the cost to get it fixed. Ideally, you want to avoid this.

1. Percolation test
   Open hole inspection
2. Plot plan
   Change order

Your plot plan or site plan is the overhead view of an entire site. This includes not just the building, as it also details any relevant utility lines, easements and even roads that will access the site.

1. R value
   Rough-in
2. Stem wall
   HVAC

An HVAC specialist is the person who can handle the heating, ventilation and air conditioning in a building. Basically, any kind of air in the building is managed by HVAC in some way.

1. New York screwdriver
   Plonk
2. Hot wrench
   Two-block

Sure, you could just call a hammer a hammer, but you can also call it a New York screwdriver to add a little bit of humor to your work. There's a good chance no one is calling it a New York screwdriver in New York.

1. Disco
   Do-si-do
2. Whiskey stick
   Contract overrun

Although you can get a number of different kinds of levels, the standard, old-school bubble level that many people still use is sometimes called a whiskey stick because that bubble is floating around in alcohol. That's to prevent freezing.

1. Clodhopper
   Gandy stick
2. Honey wagon
   Manual backhoe

If you're not having fun on the worksite, you're not working right. You could call a shovel just a shovel, or, in the spirit of fun, you could call it a manual backhoe, which is a cleverly convoluted way to explain what a shovel is.

1. Crater
   Disco
2. Biff
   Balls

Disco is the simple abbreviation for the disconnect switch for a building. If you've ever seen that big grey box with a large black switch on the side in a basement or some such, that's the disconnect switch.

1. Pier and beam
   Slack time
2. Subfloor
   Slab

Before you put a floor in place, you want a subfloor. Before you put a subfloor in place you need to have the slab down. The slab is literally just a flat concrete base on which everything else will be built.

1. Hammerfor
   Two-brick
2. Footing
   Butter

The joke here comes when you say it out loud and think about it for a second. The boss asks the new guy to go grab the hammerfor. New guy says, "What's a hammerfor?" We all laugh because the new guy doesn't know what a hammer is for.

1. Brownfield
   High chair
2. Electrician's hammer
   Hot wrench

An electrician obviously has a different set of tools, in general, than other workers on a construction site, and one thing they don't always have handy is a hammer. But they do have linesman's pliers that can be used for dang near anything, including being an electrician's hammer.

1. Juice a brick
   Run a line
2. Drop the hammer
   Fake a play

When you're recharging a dead battery or anything else that can be recharged, you can tell someone you're juicing a brick. "Brick" pops up in everyday slang sometimes too, most popularly when your cell phone locks right up on you.

1. Runner time
   Dead time
2. Slack time
   Edge time

Slack time is a factor in any job. It covers the amount of time any construction work can be delayed on a job without impacting any of the other jobs that need to be done or affecting the whole project deadline.

1. NTE
   MVP
2. PRB
   STP

NTE stands for "not to exceed," and it's a number you need to include in your contract, though it can change as things progress. In general, it means that the cost of a build is not to exceed that number, and if it does, then the contractor is responsible for the amount in excess.

1. Winger
   Lefty-righty
2. Rope-a-dope
   Do-si-do

When you're working the high steel, you need to move a lot of massive steel beams on cranes — something you've no doubt seen in movies and even cartoons. When you spin that beam 180 degrees, that's a do-si-do.

1. Slab
   Subfloor
2. Brace
   Bundle

In general, you don't want to lay down any floor, whether it's laminate tiles, some kind of hardwood or anything else, until you get your flat and level subfloor down first. A good plywood subfloor ensures you're level and gives a good surface onto which you can secure the real floor.

1. Stem wall
   Property survey
2. Contract overrun
   Punch list

Your contract overrun, which in some cases can also be an underrun, is the difference between the initial cost of work as laid out in the contract and what the final price of all the work turned out to be. An overrun is not good news for the person paying the bills.

1. Pusher
   Cowboy
2. Two-brick
   Ginnie hopper

It's not super hard to figure out why a foreman is also called a pusher, because it's their job to push you to work. A toolpusher is a foreman on an oil drilling site, and the term is fairly widely used in that field.

1. Slab
   Breadwinner
2. Two-block
   Biff

"Two-block" is meant as an insult for a crane operator who biffs in a specific way. When the crane has hooked its own boom because the operator wasn't paying attention or just messed up in general, that's a two-block.

1. Busted joint
   Peter Pan housing
2. Crash course
   Tin can

"Peter Pan housing" isn't a kind term in the construction industry. It's used to criticize a home that was designed without taking into account the needs of elderly people. Problematic features may include laundry facilities in the basement, slippery bathrooms and narrow hallways.

1. Stopgap
   Bucket
2. Splatter
   Yard sale

"Yard sale" is a good catch-all term for that moment when you mess up and dump your toolbox on the ground. Essentially it covers any kind of scattered mess which leaves all your stuff looking like it's laid out on sale.

1. Rest
   R value
2. Bid bond
   Full slot

A bid bond has a lot in common with a bail bond, in the sense that it's a sum of money meant to guarantee something is going to happen in the future. In this case, a contractor's bid bond is a payment that guarantees they'll do the work if they win the bid on a contract.