It鈥檚 not that I鈥檓 against a good party. I鈥檓 as partial as the next person to aperitifs and petit fours. And I know there鈥檚 sport to be had on these occasions: guessing who鈥檒l be standing in for Nick Raynsford; or how many top-table guests will nod off before the speeches are over. Neither would I wish to rob members of the RICS or the Heating and Ventilating Contractors Association or whoever their chance to bond with other tribe members. Mind you, a bit of Egan rationalisation wouldn鈥檛 go amiss 鈥� I gather even Construction Confederation president Sir Martin Laing has been mooting that. And who knows, if a few of these dinners were integrated, the industry could make some headway into its 10% cost-cutting target.
It鈥檚 just a shame that, when the industry has just delivered the likes of the millennium wheel and the dome and our architects and engineers are revered the world over, and when contractors and quantity surveyors are at last getting switched on to IT and e-commerce, these achievements aren鈥檛 mirrored in its dinners. What鈥檚 so often on the menu at these occasions is the unedifying spectacle of the president, armed only with a Paul Shane joke book, delivering lines worthy of a cross between Prince Philip and a Butlins鈥� Redcoat. Anyone who attended the recent do in London where their honoured leader made some tenuous and cringingly naff link between the Movement for Innovation and a dose of the clap will know precisely what I mean. Isn鈥檛 it time to modernise these occasions, to bring them up to date with the rest of the industry? And that means something a tad more radical than the Chartered Institute of 黑洞社区鈥檚 recent innovation of ditching its white tie and tails dress code.
One tradition that large chunks of the industry seem only too keen to dispense with is building. When I first joined the business in the early days of the last recession, why anyone would want to be a builder was one of life鈥檚 mysteries, along with what QSs do and why architects take themselves so seriously.
So often on the menu is the unedifying spectacle of the president armed only with a Paul Shane joke book
Here was a business turning over dollops of cash, but with less to show for it than the interest on a savings account. Just now, though, as the market appears to be healthier than ever, the likes of Amec, Laing, Taylor Woodrow and Mowlem are, one by one, pulling back from traditional contracting. And when they do get their hands dirty, it鈥檚 only if they are clasping a negotiated contract.
Of course, the City has sent many of the bigger firms packing down this road. Latham and Egan have inspired many a smaller firm to erase the word 鈥渢ender鈥� from its vocabulary. But isn鈥檛 there a degree of naivety among some of those builders pinning their marketing strategy to the partnering mast? After all, if two parties could live happily ever after, the divorce rate would be lower. What鈥檚 more, contractors may fool themselves that negotiation means more profit, but there鈥檚 just as much chance of being beaten down on price around a coffee table. Tendering doesn鈥檛 have to equal bargain basement.
One builder told me how he turned down the chance to negotiate. 鈥淲e prefer a nice clean competitive tender. If we negotiate, the client thinks we鈥檙e loading the bid; we think the client is being mean.鈥� With competitive tendering, both sides are happy that they鈥檝e struck the right deal. And as another builder said: 鈥淚鈥檇 charge more on a competitive tender than I would to negotiate.鈥�
