Many clients who commission construction projects don\u2019t know how to get the most out of their partnership with the engineering company and end up wasting time, spending money unnecessarily and fraying their nerves. Paavo P\u00e4rn, a member of the management board of Sirkel & Mall, says that a basic background check, an understanding of how engineering companies work and the ability to ask the right questions can help a client save as much as 10% on construction costs. How then do you avoid a situation where mistakes made by an inexperienced engineer have to be fixed in the course of construction, costs have gotten completely out of hand and the project manager is no longer returning your calls?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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In choosing an engineering company to work with, the first thing you need to do is run a background check. Annual reports are freely available online: casting an eye over a company\u2019s finances will tell you whether they are reliable. Are they in profit? Is their turnover on the rise? Are they paying their workers proper salaries? \u201cIf a company is consistently in the black, it shows that its structure and processes are all in place,\u201d P\u00e4rn says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Look for testimonials and talk to the past and present clients of a company as well. \u201cFind out who their main clients are,\u201d P\u00e4rn recommends. \u201cAre they happy with the company? People often want to get the design phase over and done with as quickly as possible to make a start on building. But the design phase itself, if done right, can bring the price of construction down by a good 10%. Rush into it and it\u2019s likely to cost you a lot more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Something else worth investigating is whether the lead architect and lead engineer have been working for the company for a long time or whether there is a high degree of turnover in the roles. This information is easy to find on LinkedIn. If employees come and go in a company on a regular basis, this may be a sign of internal issues. \u201cIt can indicate that the company just uses the people it hires, sucking them dry and discarding them before doing the same to the next person,\u201d P\u00e4rn warns. \u201cIf staff are constantly overworked or underpaid, it doesn\u2019t bode well for the results should you choose to partner with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Sometimes engineering companies will enter into a contract with a client and only then put a team together from whoever is available at the time. \u201cYou might be introduced to someone at a meeting with the company\u2019s reps who ends up contributing nothing to your project,\u201d P\u00e4rn says. \u201cOnce you\u2019ve signed on the dotted line, your commission is simply handed to another team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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As such, it pays to ask before signing the contract whether the people at the meeting are the same ones who will be working on the project. There is nothing wrong with delegating in and of itself, but the client has the right to know who exactly will be working on their project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The key players are the lead engineer and the project manager, who is also the first point of contact for the client. But who is the architect? Who is the engineer? Who will be responsible for heating and ventilation? Who will be taking charge of water and sewerage? Have they worked on similar projects before, and if so, how much experience do they have? \u201cDig into their background and ask the company about the work they\u2019ve already done,\u201d P\u00e4rn urges. \u201cClients have every right to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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One way in which clients typically shoot themselves in the foot is by presenting the engineering company with a brief whose framework is far too narrow. \u201cIt\u2019s the engineer\u2019s job to draw up a detailed brief,\u201d P\u00e4rn says. \u201cThe client\u2019s role is to set out their needs; the engineer does the rest. Think of it like a doctor\u2019s appointment: the patient describes their symptoms to the doctor, who then diagnoses the problem and decides on the appropriate course of treatment \u2013 not doing whatever the patient thinks is best.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Kasutamaks projekteerimisb\u00fcroo ekspertteadmisi ja kogemusi maksimaalselt \u00e4ra, peaks tellija tulema laua taha avatud n\u00e4gemusega, kirjeldades oma vajadusi, ootusi, soovitud tulemust. Selle p\u00f5hjal saab projektiga t\u00f6\u00f6tav meeskond pakkuda v\u00e4lja sobivad lahendused, et optimaalsete kuludega parima tulemuseni j\u00f5uda. Projekteerija peab tooma v\u00e4lja, mis on normikohane lahendus ja miks ta pakub teistsugust lahendust. Kas projektijuht ja vastutav projekteerija suudavad selgitada, miks pakutud lahenduse iga detail just selline on? Millised osad on seotud funktsionaalsusega, millised rohkem ilu p\u00e4rast? Miks antud lahendus on tellijale parim? P\u00e4rn usub, et iga krundi jaoks on \u00fcks ja ainus \u00f5ige maja. \u201eSelle majani j\u00f5uad sa nii, et v\u00e4listad k\u00f5ik v\u00e4hem sobilikud variandid.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Take the choice of walls as a simple example: depending on the material, it could add to the space in the building or take away from it. \u201cThere\u2019s a big difference in external walls between concrete elements that are 460 mm thick and timber-frame walls that are 350 mm thick in terms of the amount of usable \u2013 and therefore sellable \u2013 space the building will actually have in it,\u201d P\u00e4rn notes. For instance, in the case of a four-storey apartment building with a surface area of 600 m\u00b2 the difference is as much as 44 m\u00b2, which equates to ca 150,000 euros. The principal plans for such an apartment building would cost about the same. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Construction prices are changing rapidly, so the choice of materials and solutions is crucial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cAre you aware how much the team talks to construction companies and whether they\u2019re up to speed on modern building techniques?\u201d P\u00e4rn asks. \u201cDoes the engineer know how much the solution they\u2019re offering will cost, and are they capable of coming up with an optimised project that can be completed to a reasonable cost? Sometimes reinforced concrete is cheaper, at other times steel is. The prices go up and down. What\u2019s important is that the engineer is cognisant of those differences. These are things that clients tend not to ask about, but they could and arguably should.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If a team constantly keeps one eye on the cost of construction and materials, the client can be sure that the construction phase is unlikely to spring any major surprises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Are there any \u2018non-jobs\u2019 that engineering companies try to sell to clients simply to earn themselves more? \u201cNot just to make a fast buck, no,\u201d says P\u00e4rn. \u201cNot directly, anyway. But there\u2019s always the risk of taking the path of least resistance. Money matters are dealt with by the company; the work itself is done by the engineers. Even engineering companies find it hard to motivate salaried engineers to put more into their work and come up with solutions and do it all more quickly.\u201d And although EVS lists tasks and the stages in which they are done, this outline remains general enough for less elaborate projects to still fit the bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cThis is where how smart the client is comes into play as well,\u201d says P\u00e4rn. \u201cAn experienced client won\u2019t order draft plans, preliminary plans, principal plans and working plans, but specific activities and specific plans.\u201d What kinds of plans a client wants needs to be described in detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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P\u00e4rn also recommends thinking about insurance. \u201cIf I was a client with a building of critical importance, I\u2019d have it insured separately,\u201d he says. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t just rely on the general insurance the engineering company has. With big insurers, one-off cover can cost you 5000 euros or so. But if you need to claim on it, your case will be handled more quickly and in more depth than if you were just relying on the general insurance covering all of the sites the engineering company\u2019s working on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The right choice of engineering company will ensure that the lead engineer provides support during every stage of a project. \u201cThe team won\u2019t be focussed on just getting the thing done, but will want to be a proper partner and consultant to you,\u201d P\u00e4rn says. \u201cA good team is your partner in the drafting and designing stages as well as during construction, and is capable of dealing with changes and corrections in the project.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The client, for their part, must give the team enough time to take a step back if they need to do so: too much pressure regarding deadlines can lead to changes that would improve the final solution going unmade. Every building is unique in terms of its nuances, and it is a lot to expect the engineer to foresee all of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every project must have a project manager: not even the strongest team is capable of doing its best on a project without overall coordination. Like an orchestra needs a conductor, so a team needs a project manager. \u201cWe\u2019ve learned this the hard way ourselves,\u201d P\u00e4rn admits. \u201cWe\u2019ve attempted smaller projects without a project manager before, and few of them ended well. As soon as there are more than two people on a team, they need managing. These days, even projects for the simplest private homes sometimes involve as many as 14 specialists.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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P\u00e4rn adds that clients who have never requested a project manager because they think they can fulfil the role themselves and that it will save them money are mostly doomed to fail. \u201cThey simply underestimate the importance of the job the project manager does and don\u2019t realise the benefits it brings,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In summary, it can be said that insufficient preliminary work, too much rushing and a desire to save money where it ought to be spent can mess with a project\u2019s budget and deadlines alike.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kuidas hea projekteerimisb\u00fcroo valikuga ehituskuludelt 10% kokku hoida? N\u00f5u annab Paavo P\u00e4rn.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":574,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_breakdance_hide_in_design_set":false,"_breakdance_tags":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uudised"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n