Civil Engineering Project Management (4th Edition)

execution of the contract, but he does not direct its day-to-day execution. He may
frequently visit the site but he is not full time on site. In the larger contracting
organizations which have many projects in hand, there may be – commercial
managers, project or contract managers, a chief engineer with engineering staff,
quantity surveyors and estimators, and a safety manager.
Men and women are employed in any of the foregoing positions in the UK
and other countries.
7.2 The agent
The contractor’s site organization 81
The agent is responsible for directing the construction work on site. He (or
she) will have wide powers to employ men, hire machinery and equipment,
purchase materials, and employ sub-contractors. His powers to do this without
reference to his head office, will depend on the size of the job, its nature
and distance from head office (particularly for overseas work), and his standing
within his firm. The agent must be knowledgeable in the arts of construction,
able to command men and be a good organizer. He needs a sound business
sense, because his job is not only to get the works built properly in accordance
with the contract but also to make a profit for the contractor. Some agents
have risen to their position mainly by experience gained through many years
on construction, others are professionally qualified engineers. A good agent is
probably the most secure guarantee an employer can have that his works will
be built well.
Control of the work is exercised through ‘down the line management’ which
operates through a hierarchy of responsibility. Directions proceed from the agent,
through his sub-agents, to the foremen and then to the tradesmen and labourers.
This is necessary so that each person is clear as to what his responsibilities
are and what he is supposed to do. Thus, if the agent sees some work being
done which does not meet his approval, he will issue his instructions via the
sub-agent in charge of that work. Day-to-day instructions are usually given
verbally; they need to be clear, as simple as possible, and not capable of misunderstanding.
This is not always easy to achieve when complex situations
arise. Unnecessary explanations accompanying an instruction are best avoided
because this can sometimes lead to misunderstandings due to pressure of work.
The agent’s chief problem is to keep the work progressing as efficiently as
possible. His main troubles occur when an unexpected difficulty is encountered,
or there are problems with labour, plant, or materials. When any of such
difficulties occur, the agent may have to change the day’s plan of work and
issue new instructions. He has to choose between the options open to him,
bearing in mind both his short-term strategy for the next few days, and also his
medium-term strategy of what operations must be completed within the next
2 or 3 weeks. As in a game of chess, present moves have to be decided in terms
of some overall strategy, the moves having to be re-thought whenever circumstances
change – especially the weather.