In Five Points the Government MUST Consider Before Doling Out Billions to the Construction Industry construction expert Barry LePatner has this to say:
Create stipulations aimed at avoiding wasted labor costs.The construction industry, now at the crossroads of so many needed projects and potential revival of our jobless situation, has a very bad (though not widely known) reputation for waste. Shockingly, some 50 percent of all labor costs of a project are lost due to late deliveries, poorly coordinated subcontractors, and other circumstances that regularly prevent employees from engaging in productive onsite work. These inefficiencies spring, in part, from the "mom and pop" nature of the businesses involved. But it is also a function of the industry's minimal use of technology, its lack of capital resources, and the fact that productivity per worker has gone down over 22 percent over the past forty years.
"In order to combat this problem, stipulations must be placed in the government contracts awarded," insists LePatner. "Contracts must require that skilled, experienced onsite construction representatives with in-depth knowledge, who can oversee not only quality but the true cost for the work, are retained for these projects."
Excerpted from The American Surveyor.
