(NTUST, 5908701)
Part 3, Advanced Civil Construction, 台科大高等土木施工學教材(2022)
MT KAO (Blog: http://mtkaoforum31.blogspot.tw/)
(mtkaoforum31@gmail.com)
(3). Architects
a. Architects are respected all over the world, for the dual roles they played as artists and engineers. In Taiwan, the laws and regulations are favored for their solo performance with the support of a powerful guild:
- The law now accepts joint venture of the architects, but it's still the cooperation between the individuals. For building design, various disciplines of professional engineers such as structure, mechanic or electric, and certain specialty companies have to be the second-tier performers of architects of the relatively small size. It’s an arrangement sometimes may not be working and cause troubles contractually or technically.
- As a response to the trend that modern buildings need to provide various services to meet people’s extensive demand, the architects have to be organized to include more disciplines of engineers facing new design challenges. And in today’s Taiwan they have to behave more like a firm than individuals.
- Internally, the architect boss needs to stay peace with his employees because the ever-complicated proposals offered to the client requires persisting and respectful performance of a stable team. And It’s the same as what happens to consulting firms, the boss shall place attention on the follow architects and individual engineers for their vision, responsiveness, work attitudes, remuneration, and entitlement. Because people always deem their own performances are impeccable especially those who link their career future with fame and credential. Partnership, profit sharing, publication and fame are used as the elements to retain the talents or contrarily to become the driving force to accelerate the division.
b. Like always happened in small engineering companies, senior architect usually grumbles for their follows’ impatience to demand profit and fame sharing before showing their contribution; but the hired will also complain their performance is never recognized:
- In reality, it’s not a big market and the established architects are not easy to come to terms with employees and will choose to recruit new staff when they fail to hold royalty from the old guys. And when the number of licenses granted to the new comers are high and many of them not appreciated by the employers will start own business the competition will be harsh.
c. Recently, the architects continue to plead the government for:
- The fees allowed for public building design are calculated as fix percentage of construction price, and it’s low compared to what adopted in other countries. The percentage must be adjusted.
- The construction cost per unit area of building is low in the government budget and there must be an improvement, so the basis for design and supervision fee will be fair.
- That the cooperation with reputable international architects shouldn't be necessary as local architects are artfully good and technically competent. Should any officer look for fantastic building outline and avant-garde design, he could ask local architect to provide. Current practice inviting foreign architects playing protagonist and forcing their local partner shoulder contractual obligation are not acceptable. Though, many private developers still court international architects because the "names" will boost the sale.
- The architects consider the responsibility of supervision during construction shall be rectified with clearer definition in the laws. There’re cases the developers and architects indicted and criminalized for putative wrong design and lax supervision years after buildings completed but damaged when incidents such as earthquakes causing troubles.
(4). Workers, Labor Gangs and Subcontractors
a. In Taiwan and many countries, General Contractors do not own equipment and hire technicians and labors for construction. They sub-let the laboring work to gangs or subcontractors to save efforts and troubles in recruitment, efficiency upholding and advance skill learning. But commercial consideration not directly to deal with labor will lead to a situation that many General Contractors may lose ability for and access to the construction reality:
- The commercial and contractual consideration for the frontage players to cope with labor laws, accounting rules, safety regulation, etc., will cause change and impact for project implementation and industry.
- There may and must be craftsmanship existed among the labors to guarantee work efficiency and quality; but the labor gangs or the subcontractors will only receive the payment according to rates and quantity entered in their contract with top tier contractors, which in most of the cases, are the replica of the main contract.
- The gang leaders are left with the responsibility to call for and pay the workers at fix wages disregard of what they’d have received according to the actual performance. It means that general contractors intend to transfer the risk of income fluctuation to the labor gangs and subcontractors; which is not feasible when the project deviates or the market shudders. There could be argument between disputing parties. But former and legal intervention sometimes cannot solve the problems, and people with engineer or manager sense won’t be easy to find a proper position in the disputes.
b. Originally main contractor may allocate the works to different gangs such as rebar, form work and concrete pouring, but still take care of coordination and supervision works required for the said structure; and now main contractor might ask one sub-contractor to undertake whole works with expectation that the enlarged contract value will add more cushion for sub-tier contractors to absorb shock when the situation is different:
- Though engineers will draw plans, pen proposal, and check mistakes; construction work has to be carried out by labors, technicians and foremen with hands, and it's them to materialize white collar's ideas for all difficult, dirty and dangerous work environs. The practice had historical background dated back from the days that labors were in over supply and their salaries suppressed and work condition miserable. At then, management of main contractors were able to leave the drudgery to social class distant from them.
- There should be interfaces to be coordinated between trades of workers, and it would have been done by the site agents from main contractors. And now a major sub-contractor would have taken care and the assistance from the main contractors would have become unnecessary. People involved finally would agree the cost of those supervisory staff is duplicated and better to be saved. The process continued and main contractor’s access to technical data and know how gradually diminished, so as their capability and experience of construction works.
- Work division in Taiwan construction industry become more vertically like fault line in many cases, i.e. a sub-tier contractor will do in situ construction; the other maybe the main contractor offering the name, provide guarantees, and take care of documentary works. It allows certain type and numbers of people venturing to obtain profit while the other parts have to struggle for mere survival all the way. A tendency more favorable to the speculators than the engineers.
c. Right now, the contractors undertaken the construction contracts can't find enough gangs and workers for their projects and cause delays or tender abortion in both government and private projects:
- Year by year, the demography change and economy growth start to exert influence on construction labor supply in Taiwan. Crew number shrinks and members aged, they demand safety, reject toil, fall short in dexterity, hesitated to commit in works as their forerunner.
- The epidemic situation doesn’t help to improve the situation, those TCN (third country national) qualified to join the public work construction are delayed in visa application.
- The work conditions at construction sites, compared to factories and service sector are bad, and there’s no longer tremendous wage difference. The parallel was like coal mines of Taiwan in 60's: unsafe, hard, rough and low pay. The workers were aged and disappearing. Contrary to what officials thought of that it was the exploitative owner-labor relationship hurting the industry, the mine owner didn’t close the operation until the final moment because old men didn’t know how to make a living in other industry.
(5). Specialty Contractor
a. First the specialty works was honored because the leading technology it contained and the high prices and rates the users having to pay close to the international level.
- The construction history in Taiwan was recorded with people with spirit de entrepreneur scrambled to imitate, create or simply request authorization for the imported technology: the construction method seldom seen before were eagerly studied by engineers, foremen and fellow labors engaged in the works; equipment copied and made in local; the construction material engineered and manufactured in Taiwan to replace the imported; all in high efficiency.
- The ideas to respect patent right were weak before millennium, giving time for people to learn, to make and to try.
- The second stage came quickly, many of the international specialty contractors had to withdraw from Taiwan as natives learnt swiftly and took over; the stories happened to work items such as diaphragm wall, grouting, travelling wagons, system formworks, and cable and tendons, all taking places within very few years.
b. To certain degree the locals created wonders; many of them endured failures and finally smack technical Okays. But their financial success didn’t match devotion and risks they had paid:
- For one who successfully to become specialty contractor, there must be several crumbled; the speculation cost was so high considering the huge cost they spent for development and sales’
- The market is small, and kind of infrastructure projects built is only prevailing over limited period. Taiwanese specialty contractors are not big enough to pioneer overseas market and at in the long run only received limited overhead and profit.
- In general, the companies doing the specialty works in Taiwan can't distinguish themselves with ordinary contractors, instead, they’re under pressure to find jobs to support their equipment, plants and crew. So, they're forced to bid the total tender package as other general contractors if they're also qualified.
- Then the borderline between the specialty and general contractors is blurring and it’s hen and egg problem that the specialty contractors are not respected for their expertise. The industry will cease to progress technically because the people exhausted fighting international colleagues only attained mere survival in the event they could win. So, they wouldn't have motives and strength to go for another round of invention.
When the specialty contractors have little prospect to grow and go for international, it's not advisable for the freshman to develop their career in such companies.
(6). Employers
a. The employers play key roles in construction projects as they have vest-in interest for success of investment.
- For public projects there will be elected officers and administrative in the government agencies speaking of detailed civil requirement but it has to be confined by opinions from experts, media, and councilors.
- For private business, it seems like the investors have tremendous power searching for maximal benefit, but they have to be bound by laws, regulations and the same-public opinions, the hidden rule of democracy.
b. The employers in developing their projects must consider rate of return higher than standard. They have to decimate risk and uncertainty that fund and banks won’t accept.
- Among the employers and the funder’s concerns, quality and in time completion shall be most critical, but that's only fundamental. In the case of real estate, the developers must consider buyers or tenants' requirement for buildings; and for plant owners they must consider product sales and market stability. So, it’s not joke that sometimes the turnkey contractors will appease the employers with guarantees for product sales (in quantity and price) in long period.
- Because long term investment security is now desired, the frontage investors should pay additional premium to guard their principle so that the ultimate capital holders are assured and pleased.
- It's 21st Century, in order to get hedged and assured, cost paid to notaries, law firms, inspectors, laboratories, appraisers, and certifiers can be regarded as more important than expenditures for tangible object such as concrete and steel, despite the cost compared to the additional protection for investment is big; completely different to the days when material was scarce and expensive.
c. Public clients tend to be more difficult for they’re not allowed for any mistake:
- They want everything to be clear and definite from day 1, but not to quantize the risk or uncertainty. Because the construction projects aren’t always the same that the routine won’t be routine. Only the professionals can offer solutions to remove the blocks huddling the launch of construction works.
- Theoretically, consensus must be collected before set up project goal, but the political requirement: compromise, prejudice and well wish will impede or distort the implementation. Any correction will have to undergo onerous procedural justification.
- The experts' opinions will start with who will be the experts and end in the deaf ears of bureaucrats and those who think they represent the public opinions. It’s a kind of hubris under which the professionals are frustrated and have to be mute.
- Election and office change will complicate the matters as politicians and voters are not predictable. Sometimes U-turn is necessary; consequently, projects hard to finish is everywhere over the world.
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