Best Practices
Who’s On First?
Covering your bases in a resource-challenged industry

by Jim Atkins, FAIA and Grant A. Simpson, FAIA

Summary: “A reality in the design, development, and construction industry is that we are only as good as our project team,” note Jim Atkins, FAIA, and Grant A. Simpson, FAIA. Even the small practitioner who relies on occasional contract labor may have difficulty in finding help when that larger commission arrives. They offer options for handling increased work with current staff.

Abbott: I say Who’s on first, What’s on second, I Don’t Know’s on third…
Costello: Well then, who’s on first?
Abbott: Yes.
Costello: I mean the fellow’s name.
Abbott: Who.
Costello: The guy on first…
Abbott: Who is on first!
Costello: I’m asking YOU who’s on first.
—Who’s On First? Bud Abbott and Lou Costello

A reality in the design, development, and construction industry is that we are only as good as our project team. Accordingly, we strive to assign and staff our projects in a way that will be most beneficial for the client and the scope of work. However, in this extended active economy, available personnel for owners, architects, and contractors alike have been significantly tapped. Even the small practitioner who relies on occasional contract labor may have difficulty in finding help when that larger commission arrives.

The response for many firms has been extensive overtime, a marked increase in average salaries, and less experienced employees promoted early to management level positions. This issue spans the breadth of our industry, and more and more owner, architect, and contractor project managers are running projects for the very first time.

The overall result in some cases is understaffed project teams, with limited experience, struggling to keep pace with project demands. For clients this may result in owner representatives with less experience at managing building programs, understanding construction costs, and working with architects and contractors. Contractor project managers may have less experience at preparing the contractor’s work plan and directing or coordinating the subcontractors. The design professional’s project manager may struggle with document completion and coordination, or coping with client expectations.

Meanwhile, those of us involved with risk management are waiting for the inevitable ballooning of claims that has happened in the past when such conditions were experienced.

Good news, bad news
The good news is that most everyone is busy and profits are reaching record levels. The bad news is that the expensive days of claim defense and settlement will likely fall in later years of lower workload and lesser profits. Other bad news is that many of those recently hired employees could be laid off. Those of us in the business for the past few decades have seen this event at least two times before, and if we hang in there long enough, we will likely see it again.

This article is about ways to cover your bases in these days of increased work and limited employees. We will examine alternatives for improving your work production with your current staff, ways to outsource your work, and ways to minimize future layoffs. Don’t be bashful about evaluating these options and testing them in your firm. You are not alone in your workload status, and your competition is likely already using some of these alternatives. Also, do not be bashful about suggesting alternatives we may not have considered or of offering criticism of those we have.

The challenges/opportunities we see and address in the full-text article [LINK] are:

• The hole in the workforce (a result of our last huge slump around 1990)
• Options to address workforce shortages, including positive action to keep and develop talent, going outside, and going way outside (offshore) for supplemental staffing
• Steps to control workload.

Conclusion

Costello: … I throw the ball to first base. Whoever it is grabs the ball, so the guy runs to second. Who picks up the ball and throws it to What, What throws it to I Don't Know, I Don't Know throws it back to Tomorrow - triple play.
Abbott: Yes.
Costello: Another guy gets up - it's a long fly ball to Because. Why? I don't know. He's on third and I don't give a darn!
Abbott: What was that?
Costello: I said I don't give a darn!
Abbott: Oh, that's our shortstop.

The development, design, and construction industry will always ebb and flow with the state of our economy, and, accordingly, our business will always be a “feast to famine” endeavor. But since we have had a strong economy and plentiful work for more than a decade, a large portion of our work force has never felt the sting of “famine.”

We present a few options for managing these busy times and hope you find them helpful. But be forever mindful that change is always on the horizon, and those ideas may morph with other concerns and present new challenges.

What challenges? Will the workload of today perpetuate and become a way of life? Many of us have been looking for signs of a turndown in work for years, and as we write this article, it does appear that signs are on the horizon. Of course, we may only be seeing what we wish (or fear) to see. Mixed in among the challenges of delivering today’s work and looking out for tomorrow’s work is the certainty that BIM and integrated practice are going to alter not only how we deliver our services, but our relationships with owners and builders as well.

Metaphorically, these can be confusing times. Who’s on First? Naturally! As you sign the owner-architect agreement for that new project and ponder, maybe even worry a little, about how you are going to cover your bases, be grateful that it is a time of feast, take comfort that you are not the only one facing the same or similar challenges, and remember to be careful out there.