What Engineers and Constructors have in Common

by Marvin Oey

Director, Construction Institute of ASCE

I originally began this article with a focus on the differences between in engineers and constructors; however, I was reminded that CI’s mission was to “Bring together all stakeholders to advance and improve the construction industry” and it was suggested that the focus of the article be on what engineers and constructors have in common rather than their differences.

It can be safely said that engineers and constructors are collectively focused on successful completion of the project and the public they serve. It is often believed that engineers may feel that the project was “not built as specified,” however, in most cases, the engineer does not care as much if the constructed project meets or exceeds the owner’s original requirements. The engineer is typically worried about marketing services for the next project while the contractor is more concerned about the bottom line. As the industry continues to migrate towards design-build this conflict of interest is fading.

Disagreements between designers and constructors lie in part in a mutual lack of understanding of the other parties' work processes. In many cases, designers do not fully understand the detail of how projects are constructed. Likewise, constructors are not familiar with design criteria and design processes. A common characteristic of successful projects is early involvement of constructors during the design process coupled with regular visits of designers to the project. Owners would have to include this construction activity in the designer’s scope of work.

A Construction Engineering academic effort, where students are trained in both design and construction, is a step in the right direction. Experience in both a design firm and a construction firm is a highly sought after quality; however, not every engineer will have the opportunity to work on a design-build project, thus, including construction in academic curricula is important. Ultimately, it is up to the owner, builder, and designer senior management to make certain that there is cross-pollination between designers and constructors.

The design-bid-build process has been fingered as the culprit to the architect vs. engineer and the engineer vs. constructor attitudes. Thus, I have mentioned the design-build approach as a major factor to dispelling those attitudes. However, some have found that a design-bid-build approach to project delivery has yielded great success with proper “partnering.” Engineers and constructors are realizing they have more in common as: design/engineers continue to take a less defensive posture with their documents and a willingness to listen and incorporate constructors’ ideas with a focus on how to improve the project; constructors begin to focus on big-picture project solutions that help the owner solve their problems; and owners properly allocate project budgets and strategies that will allow better interaction between the design/engineers and constructors, the construction industry.

I am sure there will be those of you who will agree and those who will disagree with what was said in this article. I encourage and look forward to your comments that you can send directly to me at Marvin Oey at moey@asce. org or feel free to call me at 703-295-6397.