resident engineering question

[geopm]

hello. i was wondering if anyone is aware of any resources/references on using the engineering firm that designed a project as the resident engineer also. would this be considered a conflict of interest? does anyone know of the percentage of firms doing both the design and resident engineering for the same project? thanks for the help!

 

[VA_ENGR]

I am not sure what you mean by "resident engineer".

I don't think that one firm can do the site design and plan review on the same project.

If you are talking about construction admin, or QA/QC onsite/construction monitoring, or inspections, then that would be OK.

 

[GTScott]

My Firm does this for a number of clients. It is my opinion that this is a great setup as you are not retraining another engineer on a design that someone else completed. I find that we usually end of saving the client a fair amount when we do resident inspection / engineer on a job.

-GT

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

I worked for a firm that did design work and construction services on the same project. The plans were reviewed and approved by other agencies.

Where you get into a conflict of interest is where you sit on a board having jurisdictional authority over a project you designed. I'm on my town's planning board. If my company came before them with a subdivision plan we were to review, I'd have to step away from the review.

 

[Dleg]

I'm not sure as to the legalities and/or ethics, but I have been involved in a few projects where the designer was also performing CM, and serious design deficiencies arose during construction... and it just depended on the company that was involved: firm "A" took great pains and probably lost a lot of $$$ to correct the problems, and firm "B" just denied, denied, denied... covered up and caused all kinds of problems.

So based on that, I would say that it's good to very carefully examine the laws and ethics rules in your state, and if they allow it, to very carefully think about whether or not you could handle the type of situation I have decribed. And research the company - actually check their references, and find out as best you can whether they are like firm "A" or more like firm "B". Assume firm "B" if you don't get a clear answer.

 

[NSEARCH]

I think NOT having any construction management by the firm who did the design is acting foolishly. I'm thankful to have someone out there on the site on a weekly or day to day basis making sure that the contractor is not cutting any corners in my design.

VT's perspective is on the money.

 

[tmckeon_PE]

To be honest, if I were the one designing the project, then I would like to be the one overseeing it. Lawsuits on many matters can be handled at the construction level instead of waiting and turning blame upon blame.

I do agree with VT about needing to step away from opportunities to authoritatively approve your own projects within our current method of government and society (conflict of interest would seem to be a great concern there...and...well put, VT).

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

^ I agree. Even if your firm isn't acting as the CM, someone from your company, as the designer, should at least inspect the critical elements of the work.

 

[NSEARCH]

^ I agree. Even if your firm isn't acting as the CM, someone from your company, as the designer, should at least inspect the critical elements of the work.

My thoughts exactly.