Engineered Solutions,
Northside Farm,
Harlow Hill,
Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE15 0LZ
E: enq@engineeredsolutions.org.uk
T: 01661 853198 - F: 01661 854233
Engineered Solutions,
Northside Farm,
Harlow Hill,
Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE15 0LZ
E: enq@engineeredsolutions.org.uk
T: 01661 853198 - F: 01661 854233
The best people to project manage:
It usually takes about 8 to 10 years to become qualified and well practiced at these disciplines.
The reality about building warehouses (sheds) is as follows:
Architects don’t spend 10 years doing this just to design sheds. Their fee structure is still in place and widely used in their services.
Engineers don’t charge large fees to provide sheds because we make them.
Nobody understands why they can’t just buy a shed from a fabricator and put it up themselves (the DIY approach).
Architects’ fee rates are still widely used, engineers’ fee rates are largely not used.
So what does a project manager do? Well it depends on the area of specialization, which in our case, is industrial, storage handling, engineering design etc. We have identified a need to help with small project work which falls outside the scope of the larger project management operation and is very straight forward in terms of design and build. However there are complications, which are reasonably straight forward to us, but widely misunderstood by most people outside the industry.
The best use of design and build companies are for well specified projects, the best use of project mangers is to ensure the project is well specified and properly run.
If you have no idea of what you want or how to get it then an architect is by far the best choice to lead the work especially with awkward shapes, prestigious offices etc.
If you think you know what you want but don’t know how to get it and it is technical, then an engineer will be best to lead it.
Or you can DIY, and end up losing time, money and sleep?
Some considerations
Don’t single source projects under £2m. For most small businesses and large businesses requiring sheds only, they pay massive fees to get rid of a problem or rush it and pay very big over run and rework costs on site.
For sheds you do not need structural steel drawings to obtain planning, nor do they have to be in Technicolor.
You will have to be patient with your Local Authority and know exactly what you want, most people do not.
There are four fundamentals:
Our specialities in project management centre around the following:
Divide and Rule
A building comprises many different materials and disciplines.
If you divide these out into their component parts (and pay a project manager to do it) you will pay substantially less for your building. It may cost more up front to manage the planning process, but having transparency in this service is advantageous. Other operators will merge this cost into the overall project without you even knowing.
Our Project Management Approach and Costs
Why does our project management work?
1) We ensure the building fits the operation.
2) We are specialists in industry and commerce and then engage building specialists to build a system. If you do it the other way round you will get building specialists with insufficient knowledge of commerce and industry guessing at your needs, it costs millions.
3) We pick equipment that does the job; others may pick equipment that wins the contract.
4) We know that a project occurs every 12.5 years. This is a powerful motivation for contractors to take the work any way possible. It is a very long time to have an underperforming asset due to lack of industrial engineering knowledge or experience.
Example: used in the right sequence and dimensionally corrected by 7mm on the height, 24mm on pitch and 308mm on span, you can have 35% more capacity out of the same asset. In our experience alone, in the first six months of 2007, contractors have got these details wrong through ignorance and charged a premium for their services.
In all cases the drawings and presentations of a contractor may be more impressive than ours, but then we split the work up only incurring those costs essential to project progress.
However when our drawings do arrive they are as part of the contract price, are substantially less, comply to all legislations and are correct for the operation. They also look pretty good too.
How we get it right
In a project we have just completed, for one of the country’s biggest industries we were asked to provide garage and workshop space for a remote location in a mountainous region of the country.
We first visited site and surveyed the application to ensure there was sufficient space. We then drew up in detail a plan of the equipment and layout, we then put the shed round it – sounds simple enough – eventually, we were chosen to manage the project, which was completed under budget and on time.
The cost of our services varies from project to project, depending on the complexity of the work. As a rule of thumb, the following indicators can be used as a guideline for projects in the £500k to £2m price bracket.
For surveys, detailed planning and everything up to application stage: 3-4% of total cost.
For complete project management to handing over to principal contractor and arms length support thereafter: 8-15% of total cost.
Other chargeable, stand alone services we offer:
Consultancy – invaluable if you are not totally sure about the layout and options that might be suitable for your needs.
Surveys – a visit and report that includes detailed 3D imaging of your possibilities.
Prices vary according to location – please call to enquire.
To find out more about these surveys, please click here to place your enquiry.
Your choice now – use the experts to consult on your business, or risk introducing ineffective, expensive and inefficient change.