The context for my question is as follows: the first settlers arrive to American shores. Armed only with knowledge and the tools they brought, how did the construction of a settlement go?
How long did it take to build supportable homes? Did they live on the ship while homes were being built? Did they bring tents?
How did they set up mines and smithies and by (about) how many years after they made landfall? Armed only with the knowledge of smelting and setting up forges, how much effort did it take to set these up? (In this, I may also be complicating how a forge is made; I have no education in the matter.) Is it as simple as assembling stones to make a basin and furnace and then improving it from there?
I appreciate the time; I'm genuinely interested in how communities with very limited supplies created the utilities a town would sport and rely on back home, when all they had was the idea of how to build it, without previous generations having already done the heavy lifting. Please feel free to comment on any structures/utilities, and not just the ones I listed above.
In Jamestown, part of the issue in developing a lasting settlement stemmed from many of the settlers refusing to participate and contribute to basic survival tasks.
These "gentlemen" had invested in the Virginia Company, and were therefore settling in the "New World" for the prospect of gold and riches. Building homes, finding food, farming, getting firewood, preparing for winter etc. were tasks that were beneath them, since they had already funded the voyage. It was a fatal mistake that contributed to the disaster that was the "Starving Time."
As a more direct answer to your question, in the case of Jamestown, a small settlement, which included a fort, church, and a few houses, was built within a month of their initial landing.