"When you're up to the backside in
alligators, it's hard to remember you originally went in to drain the swamp". The anonymous author thus aptly described
the eternal dilemma of the typical "man at the sharp end". Ravaged by the dramas and crises of the day, harassed by impatient
clients and bullying builders, it is a tough job to keep the show going from
one day to the next.
It is even more difficult, in such a typical
scenario, for the unfortunate Subbie to retain any overall perspective of the
job. As a result, the accumulation
of job changes and building delays can
gradually change the nature of the work (ie "draining of the
swamp"). However, the change
often goes unnoticed by the Subbie.
What is more, I have never yet found a Consulting Engineer who would
even begin to think on these lines. And
the Builder is usually too busy doing his Arnold Swartzneiger impression to
waste time on such a concept. Small
wonder that so many subbies go bankrupt.
So what to do? One way is to set a fixed day each month called a "Stand Back Day". On this day, you lock yourself away for a couple of hours, forget the immediate crisis, and you ask "Is this what I started out to do?". Very often, the answer will be "No way!". For instance, the celebration of your first fifty weeks as a "contractual prisoner" must be compared with an original thirty-five week period. Your current labour force of thirty operatives must be compared with an original plan for ten men. And did the documents tell you there would be a daily deluge of "ad hoc" variations? Get the idea?
Having stood back from your daily battle with
the "alligators", you can see that you are no longer "draining a
swamp" but dredging the Zambesi.
Having identified your situation, you must now act! This requires some courage, since no one
else will want to know. As to actions
required, terms which spring to mind
include "Delay notice",
"Extension of time request",
"Claim for loss and expense",
"Re-pricing of variations and affected contract work" etc.
More sophisticated subbies will tell me that
they already have "regular reviews".
For we lesser mortals may I suggest that you have your first "Stand
Back Day" next week on current
jobs, and as a matter of routine on all future jobs. In due course, I shall be suggesting some "Check lists"
which will be of considerable help in these routine appraisals. So go to it and don't be "swamped by
the alligators".
Keynote:
Is this what you set out to do?
John
Russell
Contracts
and Training Consultant
Cheshire CW4 7DP
Tel: 07770 986444
Email:
swsubbie@globalnet.co.uk
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