RDK Engineers Blog

Welcome to RDK's newest addition to our website...the RDK Blog.  Though I'm an engineer by trade, I am going to try my hand at this blogging thing.  I figure this might be a place where we can share a little wisdom, or maybe even vent a bit when there's something I think we, in the AEC Industry, need to discuss.  I am hoping this is a place where perhaps we can start the beginning of some real conversations with each other. 

I'd like to start by asking a question: What happened to quality-based selection?  I believe we in the engineering community can readily admit that some of us are better in certain areas of work than others.  But in the past two years, it seems to me that what is often happening is that proposals are being written in such a way that could ultimately lead to the burnout of our staff.  Engineers and staff are having to work overtime without getting paid to meet bids that were not realistic in the first place. Companies are bidding for the same project and there is a huge disparity in the amount of their bids.  There could be an enormous fee difference, for example, if one firm accounts for HVAC services as part of their fee, and another one does not. Firms, RDK included, are bidding on every project, but our bids don’t reflect the same scope of work among all the firms who are proposing.  The documentation we preserve is evident of this. Unfortunately, rather than looking at the entire design project, and what the fee includes, the trend seems to be for end-users to choose the lowest bid.  So now, engineering firms are beating each other up (and as a result, their staff too) to come in as the lowest priced bid.

Today, my plea to the engineering community is this:  Let’s raise each other up by submitting great proposals, but moreso by being realistic in the amount of staffing and money needed to allow our designs to be implemented in the way they were truly meant to. This may mean that the fees have to go up so our end-users will ultimately feel assured that their new building, or medical lab, or college dormitory is not only cutting-edge, but also safe, sound, tested and re-tested before putting people inside these spaces.  I can't help but think of the story my father used to tell me to warn me that the cheapest option may not result in giving people the feeling that they chose the best-quality product. The story goes like this: On May 5, 1961, astronaut John Glenn became the first American in space. He climbed aboard his Mercury-Redstone 3, named Freedom 7, to make an historic 15-minute suborbital flight.   Later, when reporters asked Glenn what he he was thinking while sitting in the capsule waiting to be launched into space, he replied that, honestly, he was thinking about “The fact that every part of this ship was built by the low bidder.” Not exactly what you want your world-class astronaut to be thinking moments before he launches into orbit. And certainly not what we want our doctors, students, scientists, and any end-user thinking about as they walk into the buildings whose engineering systems we designed. Let's work together to get the industry to appreciate the quality of our work product again and let’s not compromise who we are in the endless pursuit of being the lowest bidder.

Blog author, Greg Titterington, is the president of RDK Engineers and has 33 years of building systems engineering experience, with particular expertise in the design of aviation-related facilities for both airlines and transportation agencies. Also a principal of the company, Greg is responsible for the oversight of RDK’s ISO 9000-2001 compliance program, MEP/FP systems analyses, IT design, and construction for a variety of facility types.