When a GC is identifying upcoming pursuits, leadership will need to evaluate the frequency and availability needs for construction engineering resources. Resource availability should be understood during the project lifecycle. Throughout the pursuit process, engineering will need to work closely with operations and estimating to determine a solution that the GC can perform and that meets the owner’s requirements. During the project, the engineering team will also need to be available to quickly respond to on-demand project changes. In-house staff often have a better understanding of operations and procedures and are able to adapt to changes quickly, especially if the changes are unexpected.

On the other hand, third-party consultants can free up a GC’s resources to focus on other project aspects. However, GCs may face challenges with availability due to variable procurement timelines and on-demand changes during a project. Another factor to consider is a consultant’s smooth integration with the company. Finding the right engineer that is available to a GC might be a challenge. A consultant can be the difference between winning or losing a pursuit and to the ability to make efficient changes throughout the project. Therefore, it becomes important to determine teaming efforts and the scope of work early to allocated resources with enough time to dedicate to a project.

There are several factors that contribute to costs, whether insourcing or outsourcing. These factors include expertise and availability, and software and technology proficiency. Understanding a project’s scope of work is essential to eliminating scope creep associated with cost increases. If a scope is fully understood the appropriate personnel can be allocated to the project with enough hours.

When determining the cost-effectiveness of bringing construction engineering in-house, software and technology costs, overhead, and work efficiency should be considered. Software and employee training is a significant initial cost and time investment. Construction engineering requires specific software to analyze designs and perform calculations. Employees must be properly trained on how to use the software to perform work efficiently and with a high degree of quality. Without sufficient training or knowledge of how to use information accurately in the software, serious mistakes could be made leading to lost time.

If a GC doesn’t see the need to utilize a specific type of design software in the long term, then an investment in software and training may not have a high return. However, these costs could also be offset by the GC’s cost for engineering oversight. If a third-party consultant doesn’t integrate well with a GC or understand the scope to develop the appropriate means and methods, direct costs will increase due to redesign.

Project oversight and communication occur simultaneously throughout the pursuit and project lifecycle. When determining whether to use a third-party consultant or bring services in-house, communication efficiency is a critical consideration.

Having in-house resources allows for better project oversight control and efficient communication between operations, estimating, and field staff. Teams that are aligned and have a vested interest can lead to better communication, resulting in improved project control procedures and efficient task turnaround times.

Since a third-party consultant may not be in direct contact with the client or on-site project team, a GC needs to make sure that the appropriate information is being filtered to the correct channels. Dedicating a person with consultant oversight may free up additional resources. However, oversight and communication challenges can arise when making sure that the design is practical for the on-site team and client. When using a consultant, a continuous collaboration of advanced construction engineering and construction ingenuity must occur between all parties.

After taking into consideration the company direction, expertise, availability, cost, and project oversight required to meet project demands, AB found it valuable to maintain an in-house engineering services department. The department is staffed with highly technical engineers that have developed through AB’s Operations Department as Co-Ops, Field Engineers, Project Engineers, and Project Managers. This hands-on experience, coupled with each individual’s technical capabilities, allows the in-house staff to complement Operations to develop means and methods solutions focused on construction efficiency. By turning technical ability into construction practicality the team can lower project cost and risk. The in-house staff is completely vested in the success of AB and are not focused on engineering a method to build a structure, but engineering a method to safely build a structure at low cost.

Founded on years of project experience, each member of the Engineering Services Department is well versed in AB owned equipment, field operations, industry design standards, and construction codes; as well as the use of advanced computerized structural engineering analysis and drafting software. AB’s engineers are licensed, or can obtain licenses, as Professional Engineers for most project locations in order to provide stamped drawings and calculations.

The staff’s technical abilities allow the Engineering Service Department to provide detailed construction engineering support during design-build pursuits and projects. The department works with and provides comments to the designers, in real time, during the design process by building and running parallel analytical structural models.

These models allow the department to tailor the design to our preferred sequence of erection, select appropriate equipment, and integrate required temporary works and any reinforcing to the permanent structure during the pursuit phase. AB’s in-house engineers work closely with the Estimating and Operations Department to develop construction plans and temporary works design for all of AB’s projects from start to finish. The Engineering Services Department gives AB a competitive advantage by providing advanced construction engineering at a low cost to the company and the ability to work directly with estimating, operations, and field staff throughout the project life cycle.

While AB realizes significant benefits to maintaining an in-house construction engineering group, not every GC will have the same needs. Thoroughly evaluating expertise, availability, cost, project oversight, project demand, and company priorities will provide direction in choosing whether to self-perform or outsource construction engineering.