“We shape our buildings, thereafter they shape us” – said Winston Churchill, constructions are the expression of human development. As claimed by McKinsey & Company firm, construction accounts for 14% of global GDP and is one of the largest industries in the world. However, profit margins are a problem that contractors often face, they have to always find ways to reduce costs while maintaining quality. In the current time of the COVID-19 pandemic, the arising costs are a huge challenge.

Let’s figure out if outsourced engineering services can really work during COVID time. We referenced viewpoints of Nearby Engineers and based on our over 10 years of experience providing outsourcing services to help you find the answer to this question.

In this tough time or anytime to come or anytime to come, using outsourced engineering services is a great decision to get rid of costs and productivity anxiety. There are two reasons that you should do outsource :

Developers and constructors do not need to assume fixed monthly costs such as salary, that they can pay at the time they hire according to the level of each service.
Constructors do not need to worry about expertise as outsourcing engineer services can provide the specialists immediately.

Building engineering experts is good but for a long race, it is not satisfactory. The reason is that companies can not always have projects, especially that is typical of the construction industry, just booming or bankrupt. The outbreak of COVID-19 has brought unprecedented difficulties, the government forcing the companies including construction to lockdown to take preventive measures.

Hiring expert engineer staff in design firms is very expensive and you have to pay them the salaries every month whether your company is on the projects or not. Engineers have higher expertise or experience, the higher salary is. On the contrary, when outsourcing engineer services, you just need to pay based on the level of projects or services. Professional engineering firms often offer upfront prices following various degrees of design, supervision, construction management, and consulting services. For example, the price you have to pay depends on the number of floors or systems that needed to be built.

Since the workload is always changing depending on the amount and extent of the projects, it is difficult to appropriately divide the salary among the internal engineer staff. For example, the money the company earns from projects only pays 50% for the engineers, but their salaries are twice that. And if you reduce the number of engineers down but still want to ensure productivity, they have to increase their salaries more. However, using outsourced engineering services allows you to pay depending on the volume of work on the project.

With inherent experience, professional engineer firms can complete projects in less time and handle unexpected problems faster. They also easily obtain construction permits from the local government and solve related procedures. For the above reasons, it is not surprising that your projects can be done earlier than expected, leading to limiting the costs incurred for you.

In the event of an emergency about the current coronavirus outbreak, it is very risky for engineering companies who work with multiple contractors or developers. Thanks to modern software and tools, designs are accepted and approved without direct communication.

The Flexibility of Outsourced Engineering Services

Engineer outsourcing firms are more flexible in meeting the demands of constructors with outsourced engineering services. For example, some trade contractors require a BIM model for project components, while general contractors are interested in clash detection and coordination among trades. Engineers with these skills are available to you to hire, but consider whether you are willing to pay a high salary as a staff member to participate in the projects or not.

Engineering companies always provide outsourced engineering services based on the requirement of projects and clients. Those engineers are often associated with functions on project design, approval, and supervision. Moreover, they are willing to take on other assignments if required such as :

Building Information Modeling (BIM) for an existing facility.
CAD Drafting Services
Checking the building to ensure that it is in compliance with the updated code or local law
Using energy modeling and financial analysis to compare energy efficiency measures

Buildings or structures always change their specific requirements during their active life such as renovation or remodeling. If hiring all the engineers for every sector, it is very impractical like construction code updates, and local laws may require a one-time building inspection and upgrade. Meanwhile, If you use outsourced engineering services from a quality provider, you may solve this with ease.

Even when the buildings do not need to be upgraded or you do not have any construction plan, engineering firms still have special services for existing properties. For example, they can measure the indoor air quality to prevent the risk of COVID-19 spread or improve the ability to withstand extreme weather of buildings.

The construction and engineering companies are particularly affected by global economic and political fluctuations. According to Deloitte’s 2019 Engineering and Construction Industry Outlook; although during this complicated period, the construction industry has been negatively influenced by relation to trade agreements, tariffs, and disruption to global supply chains, a bright future is coming to the construction industry.

This is a great prediction for contractors and engineering companies at this time. However, the companies are having difficulty in recruiting and retaining sufficient numbers of qualified engineer staff. Therefore, keeping up with the demand for high-quality services, delivered on schedule, is proving to be a challenge. This is a good opportunity for outsourced engineering services such as Civil 3D Drafting, CAD Drafting services, Survey Drafting Services, etc.

In reality, the exact sentence Deloitte mentioned was that “labor shortages are reaching crisis proportions”. This means the lack of resourcing has become the industry’s largest obstacle. Insufficient resourcing will lead to the inability to meet market demand, lose project bids, and no innovation.

In the construction industry, the capacity of innovation is essential for a company to thrive, especially if they have the ambition to win the bigger projects. Without innovation, productivity is lower, the opportunity to compete in the industry is lost and there is no ability to access new technology. Sustainability is important in all aspects, in parallel, there is an even greater determination on the technology required to meet those challenges. In addition, the increasing cost of construction materials makes it harder to keep equilibrium profits.

So how do you deal with the human resources issue while still controlling the budget? The answer is outsourced engineering services? A project is divided into many smaller units called subcontracting and project management is the center. Project management is core to creating success. This multifaceted field allows offshore outsourcing to stand out from the crowd.

Evidence is that over the years, the construction industry has provided outsourced engineering services both in the EPC sector (engineering, procurement, and construction) and the AEC sector (architectural, engineering, and construction). Relying on outsourced engineering services, companies are more confident in bidding for larger projects.

Efficiency results help companies focus on expansion strategies. Those areas often range from the office sector such as accounting and IT, through to 3D modeling and drafting services.

If you are still in doubt about how outsourced engineering services can really work during COVID time, please feel free to contact us. If you would like to learn more about how AXA Engineers works, please get in touch with us today, so one of our consultants will discuss your specific requirements with you.