Steve G I agree with you. With the fee structure we are seeing less oversite. Consulting fees have dropped so much that to break even you have to cut back on site services. When I started on the consulting side about 15 years ago I would be at a project site every 2 weeks, now I am lucky to get to some projects once a month. There is a real lack of experience out there as well. one of my responsibilities is to train your engineers in field work. how to act and what to watch for. My first year in Construction was 1980, I knew most engineers and contractors after a few years. You knew who did the best work and who to watch out for. There is a real thirst for the knowledge but no funds to spend the time to learn. I did have a young EIT tag along with us recently on a large industrial project. the EIT was employed by the contractor. By the end he was over whelmed by what he learned but his willingness to learn was a good sign.
With the problems on the Valleyline so glaring I do not believe we will see the same issues on the other lines. On projects this large P3 may not be the way to go. The liability is just to great to try to nickel and dime it.
Currently have a project that has an experienced owner. We are on site once a week. This project is currently slightly under budget and moving along great. We will even hand it over on time if not a week or 2 early. I may have a year or 2 left in the industry but loads of time to train and pass on knowledge.
edmontonjournal.com
