Business News
Keeping Score: Compare What You Bid to What You Did
By Matt Desmond, President AGTEK, Vice President Heavy Construction, Construction Management Solutions at Hexagon
The same goes for the trades. A contractor may have estimated some correctly and others incorrectly. The goal is to be under where it matters the most: the final result. Understanding the course layout In golf, the caddy is more than the person who carries the golfer’s clubs. They’re a trusted partner who helps pick the right club for the situation, knows the lay of the land, and helps prepare for the round even before hitting the links—just as the foreman oversees the jobsite. Attacking a hole without first understanding the locations of the sand traps and water hazards would be impossible. With that knowledge, the golfer can confidently choose between a one-wood and a nine-iron. Teeing off and hoping for the best isn’t a strategy for success. Tackling the jobsite is no different. Crews need to know where the obstacles are, such as underground utilities, so they can adjust course and work around any potential hazards. It would be dangerous to start digging and hope there are no underground utilities in the area. Technology has enabled contractors to approach their jobsite with the confidence that it’ll be done right the first time.
Estimates aren’t just a “necessary evil” in the process of creating bids and design plans; they also ensure projects stay on track by offering a baseline to compare construction project activity—or a scoreboard—to measure success. Compare the process to sports. How to achieve the objective—a win— varies depending on the sport. In soccer, teams want to put as many points on the board as possible, while in golf, the goal is to have a lower score. Projects are no different. Teams must understand how they’ll be scored before taking the field—or the jobsite and most of the time, a low score wins, using less resources and finishing faster. Think of the jobsite as a golf course—not just because it’ll make the day go faster. Rather, there are a lot of parallels between the game of golf and how contractors and engineers approach the modern job site. If the project were a lump sum bid, everybody who finishes under par and sits at the top of the leaderboard would have made money, while those over par would have lost money. Dig deeper for a moment—a golf score isn’t just the result. In a tournament, players will put up scores across multiple days. Days of the tournament are, in essence, comparable to the various trades on the job—such as grading, underground utility installation, and paving. Some days a golfer may be above par, while other days, they’ll be below par.
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csengineermag.com
NOVEMBER 2023
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