A comprehensive Machine Learning workflow with multiple modelling using caret and caretEnsemble in…

I'll use a very interesting dataset presented in the book Machine Learning with R from Packt Publishing, written by Brett Lantz. My intention is to expand the analysis on this dataset by executing a full supervised machine learning workflow which I've been laying out for some time now in order to help me attack any similar problem with a systematic, methodical approach. If you are thinking this is nothing new, then you're absolutely right! I'm not coming up with anything new here, just making sure I have all the tools necessary to follow a full process without leaving behind any big detail. Hopefully some of you will find it useful too and be sure you are going to find some judgment errors from my part and/or things you would do differently. Feel free to leave me a comment and help me improve! Let's jump ahead and begin to understand what information we are going to work with: "In the field of engineering, it is crucial to have accurate estimates of the performance of building materials. These estimates are required in order to develop safety guidelines governing the materials used in the construction of building, bridges, and roadways. Estimating the strength of concrete is a challenge of particular interest. Although it is used in nearly every construction project, concrete performance varies greatly due to a wide variety of ingredients that interact in complex ways. As a result, it is difficult to accurately predict the strength of the final product. A model that could reliably predict concrete strength given a listing of the composition of the input materials could result in safer construction practices. For this analysis, we will utilize data on the compressive strength of concrete donated to the UCI Machine Learning Data Repository (http://archive.ics.uci.edu/ml) by I-Cheng Yeh. According to the website, the concrete dataset contains 1,030 examples of concrete with eight features describing the components used in the mixture. These features are thought to be related to the final compressive strength and they include the amount(in kilograms per cubic meter) of cement, slag, ash, water, superplasticizer, coarse aggregate, and fine aggregate used in the product in addition to the aging time (measured in days)."