Constructuring
Associated General Contractors (AGC) and FMI recently published a survey of contractors’ perceptions of risk together with an analysis of factors expected to drive change in the U.S. engineering & construction (E&C) industry in the coming years. See Managing Risk in the Digital Age. The survey (completed late 2017 and published in 2018) yielded in four key findings: The “people factor” remains one of the biggest risks for E&C firms in today’s business environment. Industry stakeholders expect to see more change in the built environment within the next five years than there has been in the last 50 years. Most survey respondents are innovating “around the edges” and adopting technology in a piecemeal fashion (or not at all) but not fundamentally transforming their business approaches. For years, contractors have tackled risk by purchasing insurance programs and managing claims. Today that is no longer enough. The survey notes that business is strong and is expected to continue well into 2019. Despite the current positive activity, E&C industry leaders are concerned with a variety of risk factors including: labor shortages (especially skilled trades and field supervisors but including managers), the decline in the quality of design documents, and the accelerating pace of …