(Part 3, NTUST, 5908701)

Part 3, Advanced Civil Construction, 台科大高等土木施工學教材(2023) 

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, 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, architects continue to plead the government for: 

- The fees allowed for public building design are calculated as fix percentage of construction price, and it is 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. 

- 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 II players to observe the 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 receive the payment according to rates and quantity entered in their contract with upper tier contractors, which in most cases, are under so called back to back terms.

-        The gang leaders are left with the responsibility to call in 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 to the labor gangs and subcontractors for anything reducing the efficiency. But there could be argument between the parties as the project is fickle and the market fluctuate vibrantly. Formal and legal intervention cannot solve the problems, and only settlement based on parties’ vital interest and concerns will stay.

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; and now they 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 goes wild:

-        Though engineers will draw plans, pen proposal, and check mistakes; construction work has to be carried out by labors with hands, and it's them to materialize white collar's ideas for all difficult, dirty and dangerous work environs. There was historical background when labors were in over supply, that 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 take care and the assistance from the main contractors would be unnecessary. People finally would agree those supervisory staff is duplicated and cost better 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 Taiwanese construction industry become more vertical like fault line, i.e. a sub-tier contractor will do in situ construction while the main contractor may offer the name, provide guarantees, and take care of documentary works. The balance between upper and lower tiers contractors is broken in dire expectation to save limited amount of money while increasing risk short of coordination and supervision. A tendency inadvertently favors the parties like the gamblers rather than the professionals. 

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 curtail labor supply in Taiwanese construction industry. Crew number shrinks and members aged, they demand safety, reject toil, fall short in dexterity, easily to elude work commitment.

- 3years epidemic further deteriorate the situation, the authority has to change the regulation to admit more TCN (third country national) into the industry. Before, TCN were only permitted to work in public works, and now it extends to private work as all the classes of constructors are free to hire them. The amendment will be made at the second half of 2023.

- The work conditions at construction sites, compared to factories and service sector are worse, but the wage difference is not big now. 

(5)   Specialty Contractor.

a.      First the specialty contractors were envied because of the leading technology it embraced. They also enjoyed the prices and rates nearer or even better than the international average.

-        The construction history in Taiwan was recorded with people of spirit de entrepreneur scrambled to imitate, or simply request authorization of foreign technology: the construction method; equipment and machine; material engineered and manufactured.

-        The ideas to respect patent right were weak before millennium, giving time for people to learn, to make and to try, short for perfection but still enough for imitation.

-        The second stage came quickly, many of the international specialty contractors had to withdraw from Taiwan as natives took over, though maybe many of them looked weak and small.

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.

-        For one who successfully to become specialty contractor, there must be several crumbled; the speculation cost was so high considering the devotion they paid pent and the risks undertook.

-        The market is small, and the kind of infrastructure projects built is not many; so the R & D cost can hardly be distributed after long.

-        In general, the companies doing the specialty works in Taiwan can't distinguish themselves with general contractors; instead, they’re under pressure to find jobs to support their equipment, plants and crew. So, they're forced to bid the same tender package as the general contractor.

-        Then the borderline between the specialty and general contractors is blurring and the specialty contractors are not respected for their expertise.

-    Events such as labor shortage and de-carbon construction may bring prospects for the specialty contractors: precast or prefabricated element, automatic machines, green construction material such as graphene concrete. There would be sufficient motives and requirement for high minded people to join the specialty contractors.

(6)   Employers.

a. The employers pay for the construction cost and have vest-in interest for the in time and quality completion of the projects: 

- For public projects there will be elected officers and administrative in the government agencies speaking of detailed civil requirement under certain budgetary constraint; but they’ve to listen to the opinions from experts, media, and councilors. 

    A dutiful civil servant will know how and when to make compromise on different opinions, so as to plan and build a facility maximizing its value for price paid.

- For private business, it seems like the investors have tremendous power to look after for their own benefit, but it has to be bound by laws, regulations,

social opinions and various unspoken rules of democracy.

    Scrutiny is unavoidable, and also, it’s the reason that many powerful and wealthy will speak for rent-seekers.

b. The employers in developing their projects must consider rate of return higher than normal. They have to decimate risk and uncertainty that fund and banks won’t accept: 

- Among the employers or 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 a modern-day approach sometimes that the turnkey contractors will appease the owner with guarantees for product sales (in quantity and price) for long time. 

- 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 a hedged and assurance, 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.

-    Therefore, the competitiveness to vie a contract nowadays will include not only handling material and equipment to be incorporated into the project, but also to obtain the endorsement of the so-called independent parties. And it’s the reason why the contractors from the first world, despite their seeming expensiveness for substantial works, still can get a lot of contracts.

c. Public clients tend to be hard to deal with because they’ll be blamed 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 and there won’t be standard answer. Only the professionals can offer solutions to remove the blocks huddling on the way since construction works start. 

- 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.

d.      Investors, private and public, are now asking the professional companies to work for them as PCM, a good system but occasionally not functional because the clients don't really delegate powers. The other extremity is the government agencies don't have their own people installed in the high positions of the project to determine how their true demand will be met in concert with financial capability known to insiders.